Consumer complaint received 2022-02-01
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: LA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
This company repeatedly and willfully non complied with FCRA laws that should have preventing Transunion from misrepresenting me as a consumer by furnishing inaccurate and incompletely verified information. For more than 12 months I have been disputing the following referenced accounts and Transunion repeatedly lied about performing an investigation and also impaired not only me as a consumer but the entire banking system since I could not extend my credit to anyone and help the economy.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates the consumer reporting agencies that compile and disseminate personal information about consumers. 15 U. S. C. 1681 et seq. The Act also creates a cause of action for consumers to sue and recover damages for certain violations. 1681n ( a ). TransUnion is a credit reporting agency that compiles personal and financial information about individual consumers to create consumer reports and then sells those reports for use by entities that request information about the creditworthiness of individual consumers. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( XXXX ). In this case, a class of 8,185 individuals sued TransUnion, in federal court under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The plaintiffs claimed that TransUnion failed to use reasonable procedures to ensure the accuracy of their credit files, as maintained internally by TransUnion. For 1,853 of the class members, TransUnion provided misleading credit reports to third-party businesses. It was concluded that those 1,853 class members have demonstrated concrete reputational harm and thus have Article III standing to sue on the reasonable procedure. In this letter I will prove I also have concrete reputational harm and thus have Article III standing to sue on the reasonable procedure In XXXX, XXXXongress passed, and President Nixon signed the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 84 Stat. 1127, as amended, 15 U. S. C. 1681 et seq. The Act seeks to promote fair and accurate credit reporting and to protect consumer privacy. 1681 ( a ). To achieve those goals, the Act regulates the consumer reporting agencies that compile and disseminate personal information about consumers. First, the Act requires consumer reporting agencies to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy in consumer reports. 1681e ( b ). Second, the Act provides that consumer reporting agencies must, upon request, disclose to the consumer [ a ] ll information in the consumers file at the time of the request. 1681g ( a ) ( 1 ). Third, the Act compels consumer reporting agencies to provide to a consumer, with each written disclosure by the agency to the consumer, a summary of rights prepared by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1681g ( c ) ( 2 ).

The Act creates a cause of action for consumers to sue and recover damages for certain violations. The Act provides : Any person who willfully fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this subchapter with respect to any consumer is liable to that consumer for actual damages or for statutory damages not less than {$100.00} and not more than {$1000.00}, as well as for punitive damages and attorneys fees. 1681n ( a ).

In the above referenced case the jury awarded each class member {$980.00} in statutory damages and {$6300.00} in punitive damages for a total award of more than {$60.00} XXXX. The XXXX XXXX rejected all of TransUnions post-trial motions. 
The U. S. Court of AppealXXXX for the XXXX XXXX affirmed in relevant part. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). The court held that all members of the class had XXXX XXXX standing to recover damages for all three claims. The court also concluded that XXXX claims were typical of the classs claims for purposes of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 
Now respectfully I, XXXX XXXX, the consumer in question have been fighting tooth and nail with Transunion to get a few inaccuracies cleared from my reports. However, each attempt I was sent a notice by Transunion claiming the items were either valid or verified. Ive sent complaints into the CFPB, XXXX, and XXXX  and they have forwarded the information to you explaining my concerns and I was given no valid explanation as to why those inaccuracies were not being cleared even after I reached out and notified the company that they were fraudulent accounts. Not only is that a violation of 15 USC 1681c-2, It violates my consumer right to privacy 15 USC 1681 ( a ) ( 4 ) and there was no Permissible purpose as Transunion never had my consent to report any of these accounts. 15 USC 1681b ( a ) ( 2 ) makes it very clear that ANYONE which included TRANSUNION, must have my written consent to furnish anything on a consumer report relating to me. After expressing to the company in my XX/XX/XXXX dispute these things should have been resolved but it has taken me over a year, and I am now finally getting the compliance I have been requesting for a year now. 
I have incurred numerous actual damages over this past year as I have been denied for many extensions of my own credit directly because of things that Ive been reporting as inaccurate, invalid and fraud, but Transunion refused to remove. The following accounts have been in dispute multiple times over the past year and each time TRANSUNION has lied to me about conducting a reinvestigation and only sending me automated verified responses without investigating according to the definition of investigation as defined by the FCRA. A real investigation involves someone from Transunion going out and interviewing my friends, family and neighbors who could testify to my character as Transunion CAN NOT. A true investigation was never done but I was told, and a comment was placed on each account stating that an investigation was done and that the account MEETS FCRA standards which was a lie each time. 
I would like Transunion to pay me what is owed to me for these violations, or I will hire a lawyer and included the attorney fees along with my actual damages. I understand that it is against the law to threaten someone to sue them with no intentions on filing a lawsuit. I want to ASSURE you that I am a litigious consumer, if you have not noticed by now, I have learned the laws related to consumers and I have realized how much of an advantage you have had over my ignorance all this time. 
15 USC 1681n states that you are liable to ME since I am the consumer that was affected a civil liability for non-compliance, and I am owed {$1000.00} each violation. The following accounts are the accounts in question, and I need my compensation for this HUGE inconvenience, or we will have to let a judge and jury decide which will result in a lot more than I am currently asking for Violations and Damages as follows : XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Account # XXXX I have enclosed proof of you claiming it was verified as accurate as you have been doing for a year now. This account has been reporting since XX/XX/XXXX thats 29 months of violations and 29 months you failed to assure maximum possible accuracy as required by the FCRA. You reported transactions and experiences on this account which violate 15 USC 181a ( i ) exclusions. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX  Account # XXXX This account was fraudulently listed on my consumer report XX/XX/XXXX thru present 17 months of violations and was recently removed from the other XXXXwo NCRAs because it is a direct violation of my right to privacy and accurate information on my consumer report. Ive attempted to demand this be removed several times and continuously my rights as a consumer are violated. Openly, willfully and knowingly. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX Acct # XXXX same issue as stated before. Transunion failed to properly verify the information received from this furnisher and just listed whatever they were told without any knowledge of me or my actions as a consumer. Willful noncompliance as I have reported this account several times and nothing was corrected. 
As a courtesy since there is a global pandemic I am giving Transunion one LAST opportunity to cure this situation by paying monetary compensation for each violation of my consumer rights as described above or we will be going to FEDERAL court and we can allow a judge to put a price on this hindrance to the banking system. I havent even began to speak about the actual damages and denials of credit due to these things being on my consumer report. I was just denied a loan 3 months ago of only XXXX. Thats ridiculous! I have to hold you accountable for your mistakes as you had a responsibility to me as a consumer since you volunteered to report consumer reports. Not the other way around. I have all the proof to support my case and I have attached a few documents just to show that I am well prepared for this fight. What evidence would Transunion be able to provide? None. As you never did a proper reinvestigation per FCRA guidelines and that directly caused me damages as I have recently been denied a car loan by my own bank. Although I make a nice amount yearly, these items defamed my character and showed me to be irresponsible and untrustworthy. That has been a BIG burden on myself and my family in addition to this whole pandemic.

So, I am leaving it up to you. This is your last attempt from me to settle this without the extra attention of a federal trial. You can either pay me with the reasonable amount of 45k or we can allow the judge to decide my award because I will win. Court is about what you can prove, and I can prove everything I am accusing Transunion of. What Transunion can not do is prove that it is not true. 
Remember that you have already supplied me with all of the evidence I needed to prove that it has been an entire year of these disputes ( Exhibit D is dated XX/XX/XXXX ) and you remain in default. I will not just brush this issue under the rug. I will not just go away. You have already admitted guilt by finally removing the inaccurate items that I had been warning you needed to be removed. I am sure that I am not the only person this is even happening to as I have seen information of your misconduct all over the CFPBs website. I will be including them in this correspondence as well as I do not believe Transunion is responsible enough to uphold the law without a meditator. I think that it outrageous that a consumer must go to these extremes for their voice to be heard and justice to be served. However, I am prepared to enroll counsel if you do not comply with my request in 5 days. Its been long enough of a wait. As a CRA you have the responsibility to be able to take on millions of consumers a day and address issues. This is a disservice to the public. I will await your response by mail with a settlement offer. 
Regards, XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief