Paying off your Bad Debt might get your Phone to Start Ringing

The credit bureau Experian is now signing up debt collectors up into their new program... good news for Experian... bad news for us. Apparently, they are monitoring our credit bureaus and when a creditor puts us on the watch list they will get notification if our situation to pay improves.

The introduction of additional trigger criteria and attributes within Collection Triggers increases the ability for companies to act quickly whennew information is available. Subscribers to Collection Triggers arenotified within 24 hours when the financial status of a consumer withintheir collection portfolio has improved.

So, Jimmy bounced a check. A collector has been trying to collect for some time now. The collector puts him on Collection Triggers with Experian. Two years later Jimmy gets his act together and pays off a credit card, finally. This action might just be an action that would notify his debt collector that he has some money availabe to pay his old debt.

Personally, I believe that this "service" is an infringement and goes way beyond what the purpose of the credit bureau was. Credit bureaus were designed so consumers could gain the trust of a company by showing a postive history. Since then, the bureaus have turned into a marketing company selling off your name and addresses and now your private credit information.

PRNewswire - "Experian Now Empowers Collectors With 'Improved Ability to Pay' Consumer Intelligence "