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The shocking news to me is that in the US, a random company A can cause you to not be able to obtain heating from another company B, due to the existence of "cr

• sokoloff 13y ago
  A good predictor of whether you'll repay a new debt is your track record of paying back prior debts. Credit reporting agencies act as a clearinghouse of information on your past and current debt repayment track record. All of that is pretty helpful to a smoothly functioning (and well-priced) lending/credit market. The only thing that's gone wrong here is a merchant is (to my very lightly informed opinion) abusing that system in a way contrary to the original intent. That will almost surely get cleaned up in due time.
  • rayiner 13y ago
    The credit reporting system has long since gone beyond its original purpose and turned into a corporate tool of abuse. People are getting denied for jobs for their credit history.
• nathanm412 13y ago
  Company A can report to the credit reporting agencies that they have an unpaid debt that has been sent to collections. If your furnace dies in the middle of the winter and you don't have enough cash on hand to buy a new one, you might attempt to put the purchase on credit. The store would check your credit status before opening an account with you. In this case, the company filed a false report and will end up paying for it.