We offer our members an alternative to credit prison despite the disrepute which taints credit improvement. A credit report is no more than an allegation. Most consumers never challenge that allegation. By enlisting the Association attorney network to their defense, our members essentially enter a plea of not guilty.

Our attorneys take an affirmative defense and leave it to the bureaus(s) to substantiate their allegation. If the bureaus claim to have investigated and affirmed the allegation, the decision is appealed. Eventually, we find that most credit report allegations are untenable and removed.

"Removing the record of a negative credit item is, without doubt, ethically sound."

We belong to a fundamentally capitalistic society and the credit bureaus capitalize on consumer information. Unlike our legal system, the bureaus take no oath to truth, equity and the common good. No citizen has a moral obligation to support any business venture, much less a publicly traded corporation, which may well destroy his or her financial life. If it weren’t for federal laws that directs bureaus to remove most items after seven years…the credit bureaus would maintain every piece of credit information forever… with errors uncorrected. Under the regulations, the credit bureaus must themselves practice credit repair at the seven-year mark. If it is right to remove accurate credit accounts after seven years, why would it be wrong to do so in less time?

Credit bureaus do not concern themselves with the impact on consumers. Primarily their profit margins guide their judgment rather than consumer rights.

Credit history information often misrepresents the credit worthiness of the consumer. By tagging good citizens as deadbeats, they damage everyone…creditors, the economy and most importantly - the individual. Several policies and techniques employed by the credit bureaus appear most abusive to the consumer. These we cite as justification of our opposition to the present credit reporting system. Seven years credit bondage (10 years for bankruptcy and some court actions) punishes the debtor unjustly. At no point have the credit bureaus ever conducted a study determining that seven years is the point of rejuvenation. The seven-year mark is entirely arbitrary. In fact, Dr. Bonnie Gution, advisor to president George Bush on consumer affairs, remarked, "…it is our understanding that computer models that predict credit information find that most information that is more than 2 years old is nonessential."

Based on the experience of our members, seven years is entirely too long. Within a year or two, most consumers completely recover from a financial crisis. For the remaining five or six years they are left hobbled--- forced to rent homes, pay outrageous interest on sub-prime auto loans, forgo the convenience of credit cards and pay cash for every expenditure.

"The credit bureaus have not been able to maintain reasonable accuracy in their credit profiles."

The bureaus claim an error rate of less than one percent. In reality, independent studies show the credit bureau error rate to be closer to 79% percent. One bureau has testified in court to "greater than 50 percent error rate." Unfortunately, the bureaus choose to error on the side of negative information.

The bureaus fiercely resist the correction of these errors. It costs them time and money. Credit bureaus make their money from the sale of information and from the sale of generic target marketing lists to invasive personal investigations. They cull a pool of information larger than any in the world. The loser is he who values privacy. Jobs are lost, insurance cancelled, reputations ruined - all by error-prone records collection, sloppy record keeping, and "up for grabs" dissemination of information.

"We need a grand scale revision of the US credit reporting system."

Recently, we have noticed a high incidence of file mismerges—the worst kind of file error. In a file mismerge, the credit information of another person with similar name or social security number is added onto the file of an innocent bystander.

America is not the only country that utilizes consumer credit reporting systems. However, most other countries extend credit based on present standing. In England, for example, Equifax and Experian cannot maintain credit information longer than five years. Americans need a grand scale revision of the US credit reporting system. Until then, feel comfortable that removal of negative credit accounts before the seven-year mark is NOT unpatriotic. It is NOT unfair or unethical.

By expelling the consumer from the credit loop, the economy suffers. Many of our members come to us on the upswing. If they can afford our membership, they are likely on the way back to financial abundance. Our members are consumers who have fully recovered from a crisis, anxious to re-enter the credit economy and be financially responsible. For them, we offer a well deserved parole from predatory lending practices.

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