BEWARE... due to amendments to the FCRA (FACTA) that will be implemented by the end of the year or so, we will no longer have our constitutional right of access to the courts! No, the states won't either! It seems that they have slipped that into what they tout as a stronger FCRA which affords us a free credit report every year and mandates that they must do more in depth investigations (yeah, right) and "allows" us the right to dispute with the furnisher as opposed to just the cra's. Those of us that have been through all this before know that we have always gone above and beyond what we were mandated to do for protection under the FCRA and disputed with the furnisher anyway. It never did any good and still will not work!

But now it seems that because they have placed what they call "stricter standards" for investigating disputes on furnishers, We can't hold either the furnisher or the cra's accountable through the courts! Yes, that's right, any inaction on their part is unenforceable by private actions brought by consumers and preempted from state regulation.

So, what recourse are we left with? If the Government is so concerned with Identity Theft growing at such an alarming rate, why would they take away our right to stop the abuse and the detrimental effects it has when these corporations won't correct their errors. Basically, the free credit report yearly is just their way of saying to us, here, review and let us know if there are inaccuracies. It is doing their work as an unpaid employee!

It has never been a question of the "monetary damages" we lose through identity theft directly as the creditors pay for that but rather the more devastating effects of what it does to us having inaccurate information damaging our credit reputation and humiliating us everywhere we turn. Not to mention the anxiety and frustration we deal with trying to correct their errors. This new FACTA amendment barring us from access to the courts is unconstitutional and we should fight to overturn it. Most of you all know what I have been through trying to hold them accountable for inaccurate information which landed us in Federal Court ( if not just type in Denise Richardson credit reports into any browser and you'll see). Now, I find myself once again in the agonizing clutches of being at their mercy yet again with inaccurate information ruining my credit. Here is the latest unbelievable condensed version of my latest nightmare.......

In June 2001, 4 years ago....I had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. I went to the emergency room which covered my expenses through Blue Cross Blue Shield. I had just moved to Florida and wasn't insured to make a doctor's office visit then, but I was insured to go to the ER. A couple of months later, I received a notice from the hospital that Blue Cross rejected the portion of the bill that covered the physician seeing me. I immediately called BC and found that the hospital had coded the bill wrong and had inadvertently billed it as a doctor office visit. We did a three way party call and while I was on the line BC explained this to the hospital and told them they would pay it if they re-submitted correctly and BC provided them a confirmation number to place on their new submission form. Several months later I received a call from a collection company for this same bill.

I again contacted BC. Their records indicated that the hospital never re-submitted and BC called them on the phone with me on the line. The collection company, IMBS, said not to worry that they had not and would not report this to the cra's. BC waived their normal policy of not paying due to the length of time it took them to submit the bill and gave them a confirmation number that it would be paid and said they would just send out the check.

They did send out the check and I received notice that they had. Once again believing all was well again....just last year, another call from yet another collection agency. This time they were called NCO. Again, I contacted BC and after much time and effort on both our parts got NCO to accept BC's explanation and proof the check had been sent out directly to the physician that was on the bill they received. Again, assurances that this was not reported to the cra's. After doing some research BC found that the check they sent out had not been cashed. BC made numerous calls and even contacted the physician where the check was sent. Upon finding out the check was never cashed BC supervisor said they would stop payment on it and send out another check. They did so and it was finally cashed.

In 2003, out of the blue I got a call from a company called Gold Key saying they were the collection company trying to collect this $220.00 medical bill. Totally frustrated I went into the whole explanation and yet again got BC on the phone with us. During that conversation the woman at Gold Key was extremely rude to both BC and myself so BC said they would make calls and call me back. Stating "Denise, I will make this my mission to get corrected after everything documented shows what we have been through". When they called me back the BC representative told me they had never dealt with such rude people and that they would not put her on with a supervisor or management but rather gave her a fax number. She faxed them a letter with proof that the check was cashed and that this should never have been in their hands to begin with.

Thinking this was all taken care of 4 years later, it has now just been placed on my credit report as delinquent collection of $220.. Past due. I immediately faxed 14 pages of documents to both the collection company and the cra to dispute this being on my credit in the first place. After disputing it I received my results of the first investigation..I read in horror as it stated they have verified it to be accurate!

So I contacted BC, and Gold Key and after three hours of dealing with them and BC going above and beyond faxing them all the information they wanted they assured me they would take care of it and report it to the cra as error. Of course, not trusting them I re-disputed with the CRA and re-faxed all the pertinent information to where they requested and yesterday, I finally got the results of their SECOND so called investigation back...."verified as accurate with the creditor". There was not even a mention that it was paid nor was there any information placed on my credit report that this is in dispute! So much for in depth investigations or taking the consumers authentic documents as proof!

With FACTA taking our access to the courts away...where do we turn? Where do we innocent, exhausted consumers turn to for accountability? When do I get to stop doing the cra's work for them? My once perfect credit appears to be gone through no fault of my own. I fought so hard to keep my perfect credit and to have them destroy it yet again leaves me re-living all the horrors of my first nightmare with them. The sleepless nights, the anxiety, fear and frustration level is right back where I was the first time around. I fear for all consumers once this new FACTA is implemented. Given that the FCRA preempts state regulation of these obligations and eliminates the right of consumers' to enforce them, violators have little to fear from flouting them and consumers will have no recourse to hold them accountable.