Credit Reporting Agencies: ¿No se Habla Español? Posted by ayusra at 02/17/06 04:59 PM

Good credit is something to be treasured and monitored closely. It helps us get access to car loans, mortgages, and even insurance at more favorable rates. It makes us players in our economic system.

In 2004, Congress passed a new law giving us the right to get a free copy of our credit report each year from each of the three national credit reporting agencies -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. But the new law, implemented mostly last year, has a major flaw: It is accessible only to those who read and speak English, ignoring millions of other citizens.

Latinos in the U.S. today number roughly 40 million, and about half of them speak little to no English. In other words, they're not able to take advantage of a right designed to give them, as well as the rest of us, a key to unlock economic opportunity. And a key to guard and protect against ID theft, a particular problem in this community.

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion feel that if bilingual access isn't required by law and the Federal Trade Commission does not put the heat on them, then why bother? Similarly, the FTC has been timid in forcing the issue, contending they cannot make the companies do something that the law doesn't require them to do.

Consumers Union is appealing directly to the CEOs of each credit reporting agency to do the right thing. While we have yet to receive a formal response to our letters, the issue has gotten plenty of attention in the national media.

Equifax, for one, has figured out a way to compile data about Spanish speaking households and by its own admission acknowledges that this is a growing, important, but untapped market. It makes its data available for purchase by others who want to tap into this market. So, while it doesn't want to bother with making free credit reports accessible to this market, it has no problem selling data it has compiled about this market to others for a hefty fee! Sounds a little like the classic, "let's profit from these folks but let's not serve them" mentality. See: http://www.equifax.com... (pdf file)

Increasingly, business entities today are actively engaged in marketing to non-English speakers, particularly to Spanish speakers, because this linguistic group comprises such a large segment of our society. There is a strong argument to be made that Latinos with their growing affluence (word doc) will reward those services that cater to them with their business. Those who ignore them do so at their economic peril.

We remain hopeful that the companies will do the right thing. However, we will take any necessary further steeps, including bringing it to the attention of members of Congress, to secure this valuable right for millions of our citizens who have been ignored. Stay tuned.

comments (3)

1 Posted by Heather at 03/23/06 10:20 AM

You would think that putting out this information in Spanish is a given. It seems very un-capitalistic to not tap into a market when the majority of other businesses have done so. Wouldn't putting credit information in Spanish be beneficial to everyone? It could help Latinos become more accostumed to the way our economy works and perhaps give them the motivation to learn English. Is there a place where I can keep up with this issue and its developments?

2 Posted by Pete at 04/27/06 03:35 PM

The credit reporting agencies, flawed as they are, are leading by example. A Spanish language option SHOULD NOT EVEN EXIST in the United States of America, as the language of the land is English.

Hispanics have refused to enter this country through legal channels and to properly assimilate into American culture by first and foremost learning English. This has given rise to Corporate America bending their knee at the altar of Political Correctness and personal gain in order to capitalize on the "Hispanic Market." To real Americans, this is an aberration, a fundamental usurping of American culture and values in the name of making money from Spanish-speaking people. Marketing in Spanish makes it unnecessary for Hispanics to ever learn the English, and thus perpetuates the frustration of 91% of Americans. (I personally speak, read and write Spanish, but I should not have to use that language IN MY OWN COUNTRY.)

When I walk into a Wal Mart and hear advertisements in Spanish, I feel like I'm in a foreign country, and I also think that the market that is being targeted by this line of advertising in most cases isn't here legally, and therefore the market and the advertising SHOULDN'T BE HERE AT ALL.

My grandfather was an Italian immigrant, yet I don't see any billboards, TV ads, or publications in Italian. He had to learn English. I have a co-worker who is Korean by birth, and she speaks English because there are no options to get information in Korean in this country. Any foreign national who wants to be in the United States of America better learn that if they want to speak their own language, they can do it IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY.

3 Posted by pepper at 07/21/06 12:46 PM

I just did a trial for credit monitoring and it occurs to me that the 3 bureaus should be obligated by law to notify us about our credit FREE OF CHARGE as a fiduciary in collecting, buying and selling our personal information. IT SHOULD BE THEIR DUTY not an option they charge $10/month for. Our information is becoming ever more sacred and we have a RIGHT TO KNOW. Is there any way we can get a petition started to get this before Congress? Since they already built the consumer alert system it can happen now. How can I help?