Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act apply to Equifax's National Consumer Telecom and Utility Exchange?
A little known credit check that telecom and utility companies do among themselves may have a significant impact on your ability to receive services and whether or not a deposit will be required. The National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) is a member-owned database managed by Equifax. According to the NCTUE website, the database exchanges information on new connects and defaulted and/or fraudulent accounts among members. It also gives the companies access to consumers' current contact information on defaulted consumers, and provides treatment and collection strategies for alleged unpaid bills.
The twist here is that not only have you never heard of this company, but according to the latest issue of Privacy Times, NCTUE may be running afoul of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
According to the Privacy Times, it appears that some of the companies using the database may not be providing notices to consumers when the companies take an adverse action against a consumer based upon the information in the NCTUE database.
Neither Equifax nor NCTUE specifically responded to the Privacy Times inquiry as to whether it believed NCTUE was subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act or whether consumers have access to the information in their files and the ability to dispute and have corrected inaccurate or incorrect information.
What seems clear though is that the NCTUE should be subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act because it appears to be providing a consumer report within the statutory definition.
UCAN, therefore wants to know about your experiences.
Have you ever been denied service or charged a deposit based on your NCTUE file?
Has a telecom or utility ever sent you a notice that adverse action has been taken based upon your file in this database?
Have you ever requested to see your file from NCTUE or Equifax and did they give you access?
Having an accurate credit profile is a necessity today and any database that affects your ability to receive essential services such water, gas, electricity, and phone should be available to you.
The Privacy TImes is edited by Evan Hendricks. The referenced article "Is Little Known Database Subject to FCRA? Equifax, NCTUE won't say," is available in Vol. 29 No. 19 October 23, 2009 of the Privacy Times.
Communications: Communications Technology -
Money & Privacy Financial Privacy & ID Theft -
Tags: consumer - credit history - Energy - Equifax - Fair Credit Reporting Act - FCRA - NCTUE - telecom - Utilities -
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NCTUE does not operate in Califronia
There are two separate entities that operate in California. The state regulators do not allow utility or telco consumer credit data to be used outside of the state. One is called Centralized Credit Check System for telco data. the other is the California Utility Exchange that is for utilities. The only exception is intra company requests. For instance if you are asking ATT for a new account they will see your out of California ATT records in NCTUE sicne they own them anyway.
This does not mean your regular credit file in not checked. Unfortunately since California does not participate in the national NCTUE the appeal and usefulness is limited.
So California in their uber-regulatory environment is actually doing a disservice to the consumers of California. They do not get any "credit" for paying their utility/telco bill on time when applying for new services. Every consumer pays for lost billings at utilities and telcos.
Either way: if you are charges a deposit because of credit issues get a reference number and the dispute phone number right then. The company is not required to provide the credit report but they are required to provide you a means to obtain to from their provider. More then likely the operator will only a yes/no on their screen and not know it was a CCCS/CUE or Credit file transaction.
Be persistent but not rude. See if they are a CUE/CCCS member and get the reference number and dispute phone number right then. Be sure to indicate if the source was CUE/CCCS or you will just get a copy of your regular credit file.
Unfortunately most operators at utilities are not trained very well to handle disputes. However it is my understanding that disputes and problems with CCCS/CUE and NCTUE are very low compared to the regular credit file.
Just be glad that the bill requiring utilities to report to the credit file did not pass. That would have cost consumers billions in rate hikes.
Follow up
According to FCRA rules the City should give you a inquiry record number and a phone number to the CRA that issued the information. You can then call and get the records.
This is the same for the regular credit file and NCTUE.
Note: You may not have a file with NCTUE or the California specifics file. This may be the reason for the deposit. It is known fact that a good credit does not mean you are a good utility/telco credit risk.
Sorry for you - your city does follow the FCRA rules....
my experience
I recently moved and I had to call to set up new service with the local water utility. During the application process, I was told that I would have to pay a $100 deposit based on information in a report from Equifax. (I have recent copies of my credit reports from "the big three" and I know that there is nothing bad on my credit, so I'm assuming they were talking about NCTUE instead of Equifax) I asked for a copy of this report and I was told that I had to fill out a form at city hall. They never sent me a notice of adverse action.
I went to city hall on Friday and filled out a "Request for Information" form which had to be approved by the city attorney before they would release any information to me. A woman from city hall called me today and told me that her supervisor wanted to know exactly what kind of credit report information I was requesting. I told her that they had taken adverse action based on information in a consumer credit report by charging me a deposit, and I was entitled to a free copy of this report and that's what I wanted. She proceeded to tell me that the credit reports they use aren't like regular credit reports and they don't actually contain any readable information that would make sense to me -- it's just a computer screen that tells them "deposit required" or "deposit not required" -- and then she asked me if I still wanted it. I told her again that I wanted the report that I was entitled to. She said she didn't know anything about it and she would have to talk to her supervisor.
In the meantime, I think I might try to request the report directly from Equifax. I guess we'll see what happens...
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