January 23, 2002

Via Facsimile
Ms. Christine Baker
(address deleted)

RE: Christine Baker v. Trans Union, LLC, Cause No. 801 2001 CV 1751 UN; In the Justice Court of Mohave County, Kingman, AZ.

Dear Ms. Baker:

On January 22nd, I received your January 16th eight page letter regarding your case. I believe there has been some type of misunderstanding in what Trans Union has filed; hence, why I left a voice mail message yesterday asking you to return my phone call. Because, according to you voice mail, you will not speak with me by telephone and will only communicate with me by fax, I write to explain and clear up any confusion.

The Answer that was filed in your case is a standard answer that attorneys file in all cases. All defendants have to file an answer or a judgment can be taken against them. Essentially, in the answer lawyers have to make all potential arguments that could ever be raised. If they do not, the lawyer will waive their defenses. This is why all of the arguments you did not understand were included in the answer. Additionally, the paragraph that begins "WHEREFORE, Defendant respectfully requests that this Court dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint..." is also standard lawyer talk, so to speak, that is included in all answers. There was no ill intent in filing the answer or some attempt to trick you. Trans Union was obligated to file the answer with its potential defenses.

Additionally, my original phone conversation with you was to solicit information about your case so I could have Trans Union begin investigating your disputes. This is entirely separate from the answer that was filed. Last week, Trans Union completed its internal investigation of your case for me. Until this was complete, I was unable to explain anything to you regarding your case. I would have just been speculating. I hope this addresses the first five or so pages of your letter.

With regard to your additional comments, I will explain them in turn. As for your Fair Isaac requests, Trans Union does not issue Fair Isaac scores. The individual creditors will score your credit history. Thus, Trans Union does not have any Fair Isaac credit scoring software. In fact, Trans Union does not even know Fair Isaac's formula for scoring credit reports. Perhaps, if you contacted Fair Isaac, Fair Isaac will be able to give you a better idea of the formula that it uses. Additionally Trans Union does not use any type of inquiry coding for Fair Isaac. Also, like you request, Trans Union does list on your credit report the type of account that is being reported so Fair Isaac does have that information. Moreover, your credit report does contain all of the information on your credit report.

With regard to your late payments, your creditors only report to us how frequently you were late with payments. For more specific information, you must contact the creditor directly to find out the dates of your late payments. By talking to the creditor, you can also explain your late payment history and the creditor can then correct it if it needs to be corrected. The FCRA does not require that the credit bureaus list every date that the consumer was late with payment.

As for your request for a user changeable pin, there is no such user changeable pin requirement under the FCRA. Pin/passwords are issued when a consumer requests a credit report on-line but there exists no other pin number for credit reports. Trans Union uses social security numbers, other accounts, previous addresses, and other verification means for verifying the accuracy of the consumer that only the true consumer would know. Because there is no pin mechanism in place by any of the credit bureaus nor is one required by the FCRA, Trans Union cannot set one up for you.

I hope the above helps explain the issues the you addressed in your letter.

In your summary, you stated that if Trans Union answered your above questions, paid your $50 plus the filing fees, and provides you with a complete credit report and PIN that we could resolve the case. I have answered the above questions as best I could in a letter. I am also enclosing your latest credit report. I have also included a copy of contact information of the creditors who are reporting adverse information on your file so you may contact them directly. As mentioned above, Trans Union does not have a pin system in place, thus, there is no way to accommodate this request. Trans Union will pay you $50 and your filing fees if you will let me know what that amount is. If this is acceptable, please let me know and I can have the check processed and draft the settlement documents, to be filed with the court.

Please let me know if you want your address changed to the P.O. Box on your credit report and I will have Trans Union do that as well. I look forward to hearing from you and if you have any questions, feel free to call me.

Very truly yours,


Amanda Stamps

ALS:jfk
enclosures