Is it true that any random company I once did business with can call up a credit ratings agency and claim that I owe them money?
What standards of proof do the credit agencies require?
What standards of proof do the credit agencies require?
Anyone can report to a credit ratings agency. However, you first need to be approved by the corresponding agency, and each one has a process. It's similar to getting API access to a proprietary corporate API; they want to know who they're dealing with before they hand over the keys. For example, here are the instructions on reporting to Experian:
[0] http://www.experian.com/consumer-information/reporting-to-cr...
> What standards of proof do the credit agencies require?
They take your word for it once you've been established as an authorized reporter. In the event of a dispute, the credit reporting agency is required to open a formal investigation.
If you don't produce the appropriate documentation, they remove the item from the credit report. You may also be subject to various civil penalties and fines under the FCRA if the reporting error was egregious, malicious, or otherwise not merely a clerical error of minor import.
This is a unilateral "fine", it's not an actual credit line that was taken out. Very strange, my guess would be that this company is breaking the rules for reporting actual credit issues.
They have alert on their site.