NYT reports that the three major credit bureaus each keep a special VIP list of important people who are given preferential treatment when fixing their credit reports. The list has the names of celebrities, politicians, judges and others on it. When they have errors on their reports, they are fixed by employees who work in America, and fixed swiftly. The rest of us get our requests shunted overseas to be dealt with in a cursory manner.

An error on your credit report can mean you are denied or have to pay more for a loan than you might otherwise. In more extreme cases, your record could be confused with a felon’s, resulting in your employment application being denied or sheriff’s deputies showing up on your doorstep with collection notices, and it’s up to you to prove that the incorrect information has to be removed.

NYT says they got their information by interviewing consumer lawyers and examining documents. One of the consumer lawyers said he had deposed several Experian employees and has seen their internal procedure manuals.

None of the agencies would confirm to the New York Times that they kept a VIP list.

Want to know how to dispute negative items on your credit report? Sorry, no VIP phone number here, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. This post will help you out.

Credit Error? It Pays to Be on V.I.P. List [NYT]

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