INDIVIDUAL FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE AND PRIVACY

We the undersigned are in strong protest of the current Fair Isaac Credit Monitoring System and seek to create a system by which a citizen will be able to calculate his/her own credit score based on each credit action, deal directly with credit institutions illiminating the need for arbitrary institutions, such as Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion as a middleman, or any other arbitrary institution, and have complete access at all times to one's own credit report. A credit report is an individual's financial record, a private document, by which the privacy thereof is protected by law. Furthermore, the current secrecy of the scoring system is in direct violation of an American citizens right to due process and protection under the law. The Fair Isaac Credit System does not allow for checks and balances, which is the construct of our Constitutional Government. Finally, this credit system fails to educate and enlighten it's citizens, but rather keeps it's citizens in the dark, helpless and ignorant on the subject of credit and financial matters, and even more disturbing and disconcerting, allows for individuals and corporations to financially benefit, exploit and prey on confused and helpless citizens through programs that promise credit repair. A citizenry that can directly monitor their own financial actions will be better able to learn from their actions and will be empowered to improve their financial health. Reinstituting the constitutional right of our citizens to Individual Finacial Governance and Privacy will aid the economy through a check and balance system that insures accuracy, speedy resolve of errors, and ethical business practices.

Below are the irrefutable problems and injustices of the Fair Isaac system:

1). Score Monitoring:

A). A citizen has no way of knowing how much his/her score will go up, or down with any given credit action.

B). A citizen does not know exactly what action, or sum of actions will create a score change. One can have no change to his/her report, but his/her score may go up, or down due to some mysterious collection or compilations of credit actions, seen or unseen. Even an attempt by the citizen to acquire credit leads to a credit inquiry, which leads to a drop in one's score. The very institutions that benefit by charging higher interest rates are in complete control of the scoring system.

C). The citizen is not able to access his/her report without first writing to some institution, by which they must pay a fee to retrieve their report. One's credit report, like one's bank statement, is a financial record that is the right of the citizen to have access to at all times and possess at all times immediately and without charge.

D). It takes far too long (60 to 90 days) for a citizen to correct errors on his/her report once discovered. A citizen should be able to check for alerts to one's credit report without paying an arbitray institution for that privelege, as it is a constitutional right. A citizen should be able to correct his/her own report by dealing directly with the creditor and only the creditor, not some arbitrary agency like Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax. There should be a direct relationship and a private and single relationship between creditor and debtor.

E). A practice known as Rapid Rescoring by which a credit report score is updated within 72 hours is available only to lending institutions and their agents, whereas a private citizen's request for a rescore can take up to as long as 60 to 90 days, violating a citizen's rights to request and receive their rescore in a timely manner, and address their reports directly.


2). Checks and Balances:

A). Credit scoring is in the hands of the credit bureau's and the creditors and the citizen has no way of disputing his/her score, or checking it for errors. The credit scoring system is a mystery to the citizen, and the citizen is dependent upon the credit institutions for accuracy and fairness. The citizen has no rights, and he cannot be assured that the credit institutions are acting responsibly and ethically if he/she cannot monitor his/her own score.

B). The Fair Isaac system leaves far too much room for errors and gives the credit bureau's and credit institutions far too much power.

C). Under the Fair Isaac system, the FTC will not attempt to resolve a complaint from a single citizen, but will only address a class action lawsuit, leaving the citizen with NO REPRESENTATION.

D). Fair Isaac completely takes the control of individual finances out of the hands of the citizens. The citizen has no control over his/her score, as he/she is not privy to the scoring tool, as such is necessary for allowing the citizen to monitor his/her report and check for errors. It is unconstitutional to create a system that directly affects a citizens financial health, and not allow the citizen to monitor his/her own records.

E). The individual American citizen should own his/her report and the policy effecting a person's credit score must represent the right of the individual affected and not an arbitrary agency.

Noreen A. Cardinale

Author