6 ms·

Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could tr

Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field. I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.

ssgodderidge 3y ago
I feel like this has to happen. They operate like a private utility company, with little to no other options. Imagine if they were like password manager apps? We could evaluate all of them, choose what we wanted, and migrate whenever something happened.
djbusby 3y ago
Businesses report data to them. So, you'd have to avoid businesses that report to one. But, they all report to multiple.
paulddraper 3y ago
As a consumer? No As a business? Sure, report to the ones you want to
atrettel 3y ago
There is no way to opt out of credit reporting. Lenders report the information to the credit bureaus, typically all three of the big ones, so if you want no information reported, simply close all your credit cards and loans, etc. and place credit freezes on your credit reports. I don't think that "increased competition" will work here. We are not customers of the credit bureaus. We are the product. The customers are lenders and other people who need your information. From the lenders' perspective, this is all working out fine, largely because the onus for "identity theft" is placed on members of the public as individuals rather than on lenders to accurately verify applicants' identities before extending credit. As many people have pointed out before, "identity theft" is a misnomer designed to pass the buck onto individuals. Ideally, it should be the lenders' responsibility to prevent criminals from misusing your information and to make things right whenever a criminal tries to use your information fraudulently, but right now the onus is placed on individuals. A better solution would be to have higher standards for identity verification by lenders. That would shift the burden onto lenders to actually verify people's identity before extending credit. Some lenders actually do a pretty good job of verifying people's identities before extending credit in my experience, while others just seem to accept the information given uncritically (as far as I can tell!). High industry-wide standards should help solve this (either voluntarily or mandated by law).
- ISL 3y ago
  A statutory fine of $50k per compromised account would get the attention of the credit bureaus. (It might drive them out of business, but it sure would get their attention.)
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    $50k seems at least four or five orders of magnitude too low to be of any concern to them
    - dghlsakjg 3y ago
      $50k per record affected, not per occurrence.
      - MikeDelta 3y ago
        And legal conequences for the board members.
  - foob 3y ago
    For reference, Equifax leaked the personal information of 147 million people (myself included). Multiplying that by $50k is over 7 trillion dollars. In actuality, they were ordered to pay up to $700 million in total which works out to about $4-5 per person. I agree with you, but the gap between what you propose and the status quo is staggering.
    - precommunicator 3y ago
      So yeah, in this case Equifax would go bankrupt and other companies would get very valuable lesson to spend more money at security side of things. I see no issue here.
  - ClimaxGravely 3y ago
    I don't want to get ahead of myself but currently that seems to be having an effect on Vancouver AirBnB's as we're starting to see craigslist posts like these : https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/17t6tes/posted_on_craigslist_under_gigs_paying_people_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/17t6tes/posted_o...
IggleSniggle 3y ago
The problem is that we are not the consumers. They receive our data from all the companies we do business with. You would have to figure out on a case by case basis all ties relating to the credit bureau. Probably if you never got a credit card and never took out a loan, you would be somewhat protected from their "research."
WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
> is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? Without it (also without a sufficiently high number), most avenues to housing are cut off
cco 3y ago
Plaid just started a Credit Reporting Agency (what Experian et al are). First company to attempt to compete in the space seriously in a long time.

ssgodderidge 3y ago

I feel like this has to happen. They operate like a private utility company, with little to no other options. Imagine if they were like password manager apps? We could evaluate all of them, choose what we wanted, and migrate whenever something happened.

djbusby 3y ago

Businesses report data to them. So, you'd have to avoid businesses that report to one. But, they all report to multiple.

paulddraper 3y ago

As a consumer? No As a business? Sure, report to the ones you want to

atrettel 3y ago

There is no way to opt out of credit reporting. Lenders report the information to the credit bureaus, typically all three of the big ones, so if you want no information reported, simply close all your credit cards and loans, etc. and place credit freezes on your credit reports. I don't think that "increased competition" will work here. We are not customers of the credit bureaus. We are the product. The customers are lenders and other people who need your information. From the lenders' perspective, this is all working out fine, largely because the onus for "identity theft" is placed on members of the public as individuals rather than on lenders to accurately verify applicants' identities before extending credit. As many people have pointed out before, "identity theft" is a misnomer designed to pass the buck onto individuals. Ideally, it should be the lenders' responsibility to prevent criminals from misusing your information and to make things right whenever a criminal tries to use your information fraudulently, but right now the onus is placed on individuals. A better solution would be to have higher standards for identity verification by lenders. That would shift the burden onto lenders to actually verify people's identity before extending credit. Some lenders actually do a pretty good job of verifying people's identities before extending credit in my experience, while others just seem to accept the information given uncritically (as far as I can tell!). High industry-wide standards should help solve this (either voluntarily or mandated by law).

ISL 3y ago
A statutory fine of $50k per compromised account would get the attention of the credit bureaus. (It might drive them out of business, but it sure would get their attention.)
- LoganDark 3y ago
  $50k seems at least four or five orders of magnitude too low to be of any concern to them
  - dghlsakjg 3y ago
    $50k per record affected, not per occurrence.
    - MikeDelta 3y ago
      And legal conequences for the board members.
- foob 3y ago
  For reference, Equifax leaked the personal information of 147 million people (myself included). Multiplying that by $50k is over 7 trillion dollars. In actuality, they were ordered to pay up to $700 million in total which works out to about $4-5 per person. I agree with you, but the gap between what you propose and the status quo is staggering.
  - precommunicator 3y ago
    So yeah, in this case Equifax would go bankrupt and other companies would get very valuable lesson to spend more money at security side of things. I see no issue here.
- ClimaxGravely 3y ago
  I don't want to get ahead of myself but currently that seems to be having an effect on Vancouver AirBnB's as we're starting to see craigslist posts like these : https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/17t6tes/posted_on_craigslist_under_gigs_paying_people_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/17t6tes/posted_o...

IggleSniggle 3y ago

The problem is that we are not the consumers. They receive our data from all the companies we do business with. You would have to figure out on a case by case basis all ties relating to the credit bureau. Probably if you never got a credit card and never took out a loan, you would be somewhat protected from their "research."

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago

> is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? Without it (also without a sufficiently high number), most avenues to housing are cut off

cco 3y ago

Plaid just started a Credit Reporting Agency (what Experian et al are). First company to attempt to compete in the space seriously in a long time.