Re:
Hello,
We'll for starters, the only thing I did with the State's Attorney General's Office was file a complaint online. It seems that they do not prosecute consumer matters, yet the FTC was the department that had advised me to seek council. The FDIC informed me to have the bank in question undergo an investigation to determine if the said account details were correct or not. And they were not. Several years back I opened a bank account with CalFed (California Federal), which is now CitiBank. There was an incident with an overdraft, some time lapsed, and I was reported to ChexSystems. Well, when I able to repay the amount, I proceeded to do so while closing the account out simultaneously. CalFed sent me a letter of verification stating that the account was indeed paid in full and closed out. Several months later I tried to open a new account with Bank of the West, and they denied me, stating that " ChexSystems reported me, and that I was unable to bank there." Also, they mentioned that all banks usually operate under the same premise, but it was a descretionary act. I then took it a step further, and called to ask if CalFed could have ChexSystems remove the incident from their records, so when I try to open an account, I would not be flagged. They (CalFed) mailed me a letter in response to this stating, " That I personally would have to mail a letter to ChexSystems myself requesting this action." This was in 2001. I felt that I had no recourse then, so I just let it go. Now in 2004, I found out that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the bank is obligated to, upon discovery of investigation of a consumers bank account, if any information is inaccurate or unavailable, that it has to be removed. Well, I just recently tried to open a new account at Union Bank of California, and they denied me stating that the account had been reported from ChexSystems as being "unpaid." When I had heard this news I suddenly became distrought. The bank rep at U.B.O.C. also mentioned that if my ChexSystems matter was over 3 years old that ChexSystems would be irrevelant, and I wouldn't have a problem. But since the account was shy of that 3 years, it would have to be paid. I proceeded to contact CitiBank to have them reprint me another confirmation letter, stating the matter was resolved, paid, and closed out. They said that since the account was old one, an investigation had to be made. I conceeded, and waited. In the meanwhile, I decided to contact the relavent agencies to determine what recourse I had available. They all told me to wait and see what they said, but mentioned that I could file a complaint now because of the prevoius attempt to have CalFed rescind the ChexSystems record. So I filed a compliant with the State Atorney General's Office and the FTC at that point. A week later I recieved a letter form Citibank, and enclosed was a detailed transcript of the entire account, which showed all activity for the opening of the account to it's ending. I called CitiBank and mentioned that I was being reported by ChexSystems to other banking institutions as having an "unpaid" account with them, and that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, they had to report this information as being inaccurate, to ChexSystems. They (CitiBank) agreed after a lengthly phone conversation, due to the fact that the represenative on the phone with me was being coached by his superior. The representative told me that they would have ChexSystems reflect the correct information as the matter being resolved and the debt settled. I felt that the matter had then been resloved then, and pursued it no more. I recieve another letter form CitiBank a week after that phone call, stating that they would not address ChexSystems about mt account, and that I, again, would have to write them a letter requesting the removal. I then went to ChexSystems website, and discovered that the bank was responsible for this, since ChexSystems is only a credit reporting agency and just maintains information about consumers financial history. I started calling every single institution, Federal or not, affiliated with this incident and got names and times of the conversations. This is when the FTC advised me of seeking legal council.
