I would say if the government took over, the process COULD be much much much more difficult and painstaking. Government is also slow, bureaucratic so it may be much worse.

MikeJ wrote: My inner libertarian screams as I write this but do we really want non-government entities having so much power over our lives with such little government oversight? IMHO, credit reporting agencies have far too much power to effect peoples' lives in a negative manner. There are far too many loopholes in the FCRA that creditors can and do exploit. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the credit bureaus lose some of their power.

I know how you feel because I'm usually the last person to suggest more government involvement and regulations, but I agree with you that the bureaus have too much power. So, based on the bureaus being a private sector entity, how would it work to streamline them? It's not unheard of for the government to meddle in the private sector, whether it be good or bad.

MikeJ wrote: My inner libertarian screams as I write this but do we really want non-government entities having so much power over our lives with such little government oversight? IMHO, credit reporting agencies have far too much power to effect peoples' lives in a negative manner. There are far too many loopholes in the FCRA that creditors can and do exploit. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the credit bureaus lose some of their power.

I think more government oversight and clear rules on where debts must be reported and how would be a good thing, but I wouldn't want the government taking it over. They already have the IRS so they already know most of the details anyway!

My inner libertarian screams as I write this but do we really want non-government entities having so much power over our lives with such little government oversight? IMHO, credit reporting agencies have far too much power to effect peoples' lives in a negative manner. There are far too many loopholes in the FCRA that creditors can and do exploit. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the credit bureaus lose some of their power.

I won't comment on positives or negatives of Trump, but I will say the credit reporting bureaus are not government funded entities so the private sector needs to be the leader in changing the scope of credit reporting.

FrugalFran wrote:

FrankN wrote: It is extremely complicated, and I do not foresee it getting any simpler.

I wonder if this is something that Trump has on his radar.

That's the first thing that came to my mind as well. But I think that you can't get much higher on the national issue priority scale than the economy, and this is a big part of the economy. Everyone across the country should write to their congressman about this needed change so Trump can see Americans need this. He might already know anyway, but the way credit reporting is done really does need to change. This effects our lives very directly.

FrankN wrote: It is extremely complicated, and I do not foresee it getting any simpler.

I wonder if this is something that Trump has on his radar. We have much bigger national and global issues that need to be tackled, but with a republican Congress, I don't think it would take much for him to suggest a merging of the bureaus and a simplification for reporting.

Perhaps if the Fair Credit Reporting Act actually standardized and clarified exactly what creditors and consumers could do... I think that credit is of sufficient importance that it be regulated by the government a little better than it currently is. There should be far less complication and mystery involved and, IMHO, far less leeway for creditors to effect peoples' credit in certain situations.

It is extremely complicated, and I do not foresee it getting any simpler.

And then there's your FICO score, which is separate from the score that the big 3 has on you. I can't stand the non-standardized credit management system that our nation uses.

haha I agree, you would think its pretty simple to do. Someday I would bet all 3 reporting bureaus will eventually merge, but I am not sure when that will happen.

I've stomped my feet about this before, but it drives me insane that we don't have a set standard for credit reporting. If we had one central agency for it and all lenders were required to report at a designated time, we wouldn't have these credit score discrepancies.

Breakinger wrote: I've noticed this too. When I looked into it I found out that not all lenders are required to report to all bureaus. Plus, sometimes it depends on when you check your score. The lender may report to the bureaus at different times of the month.

This is correct. They report at different times and this could make them all different. It is odd but I have seen it happen several times since I've been tracking mine.

Correct ... lenders may not report at all. One of my gas lenders only reports to two CBs. Contacted them and stated they were not reporting to one bureau and they informed me that was their choice. Did not know before this.

I've noticed this too. When I looked into it I found out that not all lenders are required to report to all bureaus. Plus, sometimes it depends on when you check your score. The lender may report to the bureaus at different times of the month.