If you have something on your credit report that does not belong to you, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires you to send a dispute to the credit reporting agency, such as Experian, Equifax and Trans Union (“credit reporting agencies” or “CRAs”). The CRAs have 30 days to investigate your dispute and if they cannot confirm the accuracy of the item, they have to remove it. The only reason a CRA can decline to investigate your dispute is if it deems the dispute as “frivolous.”
Well, guess what? Experian has decided to expand the law all by itself! If it thinks your dispute came from a credit repair company or a credit repair lawyer, they will decline to investigate your dispute and send you a letter accusing you of sending them a “suspicious request.” Not only is Experian declining to investigate your dispute, they are threatening you with criminal prosecution that is utterly baseless. The Experian letter reads in part:
We received a suspicious request regarding your personal credit information that we have determined was not sent by you. This could be deemed as deceptive or fraudulent use of your information. We have not taken any action on this request. Any future requests made in this manner will not be processed and will not receive a response.
Suspicious requests are taken seriously and reviewed by Experian security personnel who will report receptive activity, including copies of letters deemed as suspicious, to law enforcement officials and to state or federal regulatory agencies.
We have heard from one person who received this letter, that she called Experian to find out why she got this letter. The person from Experian had told her that Experian thought that the letter had come from a credit repair company and Experian will not deal with communications from credit repair companies. That is wrong and illegal.
The Good News: We have filed several lawsuits against Experian for sending out this letter to people. Experian has settled most of these lawsuits.
The Better News: We have about 200 more of these lawsuits to file against Experian. People are knowledgeable about their rights. With the internet and law firms such as Michigan Consumer Credit Lawyers, New York Credit Lawyers, Minnesota Credit Lawyers, people are no longer going to get pushed around by the likes of Experian or any other credit reporting agency.
If you have received one of these suspicious request letters from Experian, call or email me, Attorney Gary Nitzkin toll free at 888-293-2882. The call is free and the advice is priceless. Don’t let Experian push you around and blow you off. You have rights. We know your rights and so should you.
