Very Fine Print > There oughta be a law

There oughta be a law

ya now you have to read the fine print thats on the fine print!!

reply to Maxo
Especially since every time someone checks your credit, it goes down. My mother was trying to buy a house a few years ago and the real estate agent checked her credit, something wasnt right with it, so she checked it again, and again, like once a week for a month. By the time it was over my mom couldnt even get a credit card with a $100 limit. So if Comcast reserves the right to check your credit whenever they please, dont be suprised to find that you soon have no credit left.
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what doesn't this button do?

Unfortunately you cant challenge the inquiries on your report either. For example if someone who you did not give access checks your credit, you cannot have that removed, even if you prove that they accessed it without your permission.

Overall individuals have very little protections against having an unfair credit rating (not that the system is even very fair the way it is supposed to work.(
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~Age and Treachery will always overcome Youth and Skill.~

Slightly OT - Credit Reports

said by drakkkar:

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not that the system is even very fair the way it is supposed to work.(

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reply to Maxo

Re: There oughta be a law - -

reply to pnh102

Re: Slightly OT - Credit Reports

said by pnh102:

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They do nothing overall to increase your credit worthiness.

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said by vic102482:

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It sucks, each inquiry will lower your rating, and if you get 5 or 10 inquiries from different companies......

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"The more inquiries on a borrower's credit file, the more likely a borrower may be not to pay his or her bills as agreed" according to the Fair, Isaac and Co. - the nation's leading credit scoring firm and inventor of the FICO scoring system used in over 75% of all mortgage loan originations.

Numerous inquiries, according to lenders, are often a sign that a consumer is obtaining multiple credit cards at once, increasing his/her credit risk and perhaps overextending their ability to repay debt.

That means when you comparison shop online for home or auto loans, guess what?!? Fair, Isaac says it ignores inquiries within the past 30 days when scoring your credit, but lenders DO consider too many inquiries to be a red flag. They typically stay on your credit report for two years(!) and can definitely impact the rate you receive for a car or mortgage loan.

So to give anyone, Comcast or your paperboy, the right to do this with your personal info, can certainly harm your perceived credit worthiness. And to hide this all in the “fine print” is shameful.

You say “carpe diem;” I say “carpe, eat ‘em.”

said by bistro777:

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So to give anyone, Comcast or your paperboy, the right to do this with your personal info, can certainly harm your perceived credit worthiness.

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reply to bistro777
If I'm understanding this correctly you could just start a company and then say someone screwed you over and put bad credit on their report. The person has no way to challenge it so they are just stuck with it. I experienced an issue where a company billed my telephone company (Sprint) on my behalf of some items I never purchased nor received. So Sprint bills me, and my options are pay Sprint or face bad credit. The legal fees to fight it are more than the $26 bill. Sounds like companies can do whatever they want with your credit and you don't really have a say in it at all.
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God I love being a turtle. - Michaelangelo »www.maxolasersquad.com

reply to pnh102
Their reasoning, I think, is it appears you suddenly need credit lines (whether home equity, credit card) for reasons that might include job loss, illness, etc. - with the potential risk of not being able to repay, especially, any unsecured credit lines.

I agree it sucks that this impacts your status in the eyes of lenders, especially in cases where you're "rate shopping" for a loan or where credit checks are run without your explicit consent. (That the crux of the whole opt-IN v. opt-out argument in the link I posted from the Electronic Privacy Information Center.)

"I have been battling something I cannot win and I am withdrawing from the field with honor." -- - actor Roddy McDowall shortly before his death in 1998

reply to Boogeyman

Re: There oughta be a law

reply to Maxo
Minor checks do not give your full credit file, only a limited amount of information (it categorises you). Only you can see the list of companies that has requested that (thus they do not affect your credit).

Merchants who you have an account with can see slightly more. For example your Visa card may get a monthly report of your basic overall credit worthiness or major changes. Once again, only you see these, and they do not affect your score.

This clause is most likely used to pull the second type of report listed (thus giving them lists that they can sell and are more valuable than the first type which any company can get from the credit bureaus.).

It is, however possible that they will use this clause to justify pulling FULL credit reports. This WILL negatively impact your credit rating. It is, however, fairly unlikely that they will do this too frequently. I think it costs them something like $6 each time. The first 2 types of reports are very inexpensive when purchased in bulk (I think 5 cents or less). It is not likely that they will spend $6 a month pulling full credit reports on you for a $40 a month service (but the scary part is that it is possible).
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~Age and Treachery will always overcome Youth and Skill.~

reply to pnh102

Re: Slightly OT - Credit Reports

reply to bistro777
If you go shopping for car insurance they do a credit check even if you are going to pay cash.
This has bit people so many times the state of Utah is contemplating laws against it.

reply to Maxo

said by Maxo:

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If I'm understanding this correctly you could just start a company and then say someone screwed you over and put bad credit on their report. The person has no way to challenge it so they are just stuck with it. I experienced an issue where a company billed my telephone company (Sprint) on my behalf of some items I never purchased nor received. So Sprint bills me, and my options are pay Sprint or face bad credit. The legal fees to fight it are more than the $26 bill. Sounds like companies can do whatever they want with your credit and you don't really have a say in it at all.

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said by Jim Gurd:

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Tell them you are disputing the charges and are willing to sign an affidavit of fraud.

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reply to drakkkar

Re: There oughta be a law

said by drakkkar:

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Unfortunately you cant challenge the inquiries on your report either. For example if someone who you did not give access checks your credit, you cannot have that removed, even if you prove that they accessed it without your permission.

Overall individuals have very little protections against having an unfair credit rating (not that the system is even very fair the way it is supposed to work.(

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reply to bistro777

Re: There oughta be a law - -

said by bistro777:

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You’d think the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act would protect you, right? Nope! When you “sign your life away” to Comcast, you’ve probably also given them the right to sell/market your personal information to “affiliates” – which, in the credit/marketing industry, has by definition historically included nearly anybody willing to pony-up to buy your personal info. (CitiGroup, for example has over 1,5000 affiliates.)

It gets worse. The law does not allow Credit Reporting Agencies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to sell information from credit reports for the purpose of direct marketing. But a loophole in the FCRA enables them to sell "directory information" from credit reports - "credit headers" - your name, address, telephone number, date of birth and Social Security number. The FCRA’s opt-out provision that applies to pre-approved offers of credit does not apply to credit headers. You are not able to opt-out of the sale of your credit header information by the CRAs. And Comcast, I believe, do the same with your info and its “affiliates.”

Here’s a recent letter from the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the Senate Banking Committee regarding this issue. One point it raises is “Researchers at Michigan State University recently studied over 1000 identity theft cases and found that victims in fifty percent of the cases specifically reported that the theft was committed by an employee of a company compiling personal information on individuals.” Makes ya want everyone to have your personal data, huh?

I can see it now - -
Lender: Your mortgage application is denied.
Comcast Customer: Huh? Why’s that?
Lender: It seems that you’ve had 175,000 credit checks run against you in the last 6 months?
Comcast Customer: But I haven’t applied for any new cards or loans!
Lender: Well your credit report shows you have 187 new car loans and 324 Visa cards running an average balance of $185,000 per month.
Comcast Customer: WHAT?!?
Lender: Too bad, pal, you’re SOL. But how’s your digital signal coming-in these days?

"Stand up wherever you are, go to the nearest window and yell as loud as you can, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.” - - Peter Finch in "Network"

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