“这份信用报告让我借不到房贷”

在王女士的按揭贷款申请被银行拒绝之前，她并没有意识到自己在Equifax的信用报告中有一项不良记录。

Not until Ms. Wang’s mortgage loan application was turned down by a bank, had she realized that she had a disparaging item in her credit report with Equifax.

银行当时对她说：“你的信用报告中有不良记录，因此我们不得不拒绝你的按揭贷款申请。”

“You have a bad record in your credit file,” she was told by the bank.”As a result, we have to reject your mortgage application.”

这个不良记录源于王女士和前房东的一场房租纠纷。据王女士称，她的公寓住所的房东称她拖欠两个月的房租，总金额为$1680元。王女士被指搬离两个月都没有通知房东，因而违反了房约条款。

It seems the item arose from a dispute with her former landlord over rent. According to Wang, the landlord of her apartment building claimed that she had owed her two months’ rent, for a total of $1680. Wang allegedly moved out without giving two months of notice – which breached her obligations under the lease.

但王女士称:“这非常荒谬，我搬离是因为房间里到处发霉并且蟑螂横行，根本没法住人……我在7月就写信通知他们，直到8月底才搬离，但他们认为我的书信通知根本无效。”

“It is ridiculous,” says Wang. “I moved out because the room was marred with mould and infested with roaches, which left the unit unfit for habitation… I wrote to them in July before I moved out at the end of August, but they refused to accept the letter as a valid notice.”

王女士称，在几个月后房东找了一家讨债公司追讨租金。所谓的欠款记录也在她毫不知情的情况下载入她的信用报告。

Wang says the landlord handed the file to a collection agency a few months later. A record with the alleged balance was entered into her credit file without her being notified.

而在此之前，王女士一直保持着优良信用记录，总是按时足额偿付账单。

Prior to this incident, Wang had maintained an excellent credit record, always paying her bills in full and on time.

由于低信用评分导致王女士无法从大银行获得按揭贷款。

But the low credit score has left her unable to get a mortgage loan from a major bank. .

王女士称：“我从没想到信用评分会给我带来这么大的伤害。”

 “I didn’t expect this could cause such damage to my credit score,” said Wang.

据王女士称，房东曾提出让她支付一半租金以解决争端，但被她拒绝。

According to Wang, the landlord offered her a deal for half of the balance to settle the dispute, which she refused.

王女士称：“我没有做错任何事情，为什么要支付不合理的账单？”

“I had done nothing wrong,” she said. “Why do I have to pay for an unjustified bill?”

实际上，即使争端得以解决，讨债公司可能也不会通知信用机构，并将记录删除。

 In fact, even though the dispute was settled, the collection agency may not tell the credit bureau about it and have it removed.

其实信用报告并不是总能准确反映消费者的信用记录，在消费者的信用报告中存在很高错误率。据美国联邦贸易委员会的报告称，有五分之一消费者发现Equifax等信用机构提供的信用报告中有错误。

Credit report cannot always accurately reflect consumer’s credit record. There is a high error rate in consumers’ credit reports. According to a report released by U.S. Federal Trade Commission, one in five consumers had an error with their credit report from credit agencies – including Equifax.

但是，当王女士查看她在TransUnion的信用报告后，更是目瞪口呆。因为其中满是不良记录，欠款额从$16 元至$1800元不等。可讽刺的是，这些记录都与她无关。

But when Wang accessed her credit file with TransUnion, she was even more stunned. Derogatory items appeared all over the place, with balance ranging from $16 to $1800. But these records had nothing to do with her.

这些记录似乎是属于六名以上不同的消费者，他们都姓王，名字与王女士相似但却不同。

These records seem to belong to over six different persons – who all have similar names as Wang.

Equifax声称自己拥有高效的消费者争议解决程序，誓言会令调查变得更加高效，并会缩短回应消费者的时间。

Equifax claims that it has streamlined the consumer dispute process and vows to make the investigation process more efficient and to improve response time to consumers.

但是，王女士提出的删除记录要求过了数周都未有答复。在《大中报》向Equifax的公共部门转达了王女士的信用记录问题后，Equifax迅速作出回应，并承诺会调查她的投诉。

But Wang’s request to remove the record has gone unanswered for weeks. After Chinese News forwarded her concerns to Equifax media relations, Equifax responded quickly, promising to look into her complaint.

与此同时，王女士也收到了Equifax发来的已经删除不良记录的信用报告。

Meanwhile, Wang received an amended file from Equifax with the bad record removed.

王女士称：“他们能这么快就回复你的电邮，可我等了几个星期都没有回音。”

“I’m very surprised that they responded to your email so quickly,” said Wang. “They had not got back to me until weeks later.”

但是王女士在TransUnion的信用报告看起来仍然很糟糕。看来，如果她想要从银行获得按揭贷款，她与另一家信用公司还有一场硬仗要打。

But Wang’s credit file with TransUnion still remains unresolved.  To get a mortgage loan from a bank, she faces another tough battle with a different credit rating agency.

如果王女士及时检查她的信用记录，也就不会出现今天这种局面了。

But had Wang checked her credit rating report regularly, she could have avoided the crisis she is in now.