The very latest developments from the big three:
1. Equifax: is trying to convert to a fully automated dispute process where no human eyes (or human judgment or sentiment) will ever become involved in processing your disputes. It will all be done by computer. No matter what you write to Equifax, it will be encoded in some pidgeon-hole which probaby does not even fit and sent, via computer code, to the furnishers.
I think the way to demonstrate to Equifax that this system might not be workable would be to completely computerize the medical diagnoses of the members of Equifax’ board of directors, as well as their family members. No matter what they say, a computerized encoded message will be sent to a pharmacy and a prescription filled, with no human interaction. I think that might make the point to them.
Equifax, as we all know, has long outsourced its dispute handling to Jamaica, Canada and now Pakistan. Jamaica is my favorite: “Hey, mon, why are you so uptight about your credit report? Have a draw on this spleef–it will help you chill out!”
Experian, Transunion: yep, outsourcing on the way. Experian still has its “performance quotas”, where its customer service representatives have to process, I think, a minimum of seven disputes per hour to be kept on the payroll. Let’s see, that’s one dispute every eight minutes, not counting bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, etc. Yeah, I really think eight minutes is plenty of time to untangle a complicated identity theft situation. (Not!)