Frequenty Asked Questions

Faq

Question:

Do you have to be a member of the credit bureau(s) to report your credit information and what are the requirements?

Answer:

Yes. Your office must have a data furnishers or service agreements with each credit bureau to which your office wishes to report credit account information. Each credit bureau has different requirements for minimum number of accounts for reporting. Please contact each credit reporting bureau you wish to report to in order to verify how many accounts they will accept.

The credit bureaus require a Data Furnisher's or Service Agreements for reporting accounts. This is a separate agreement from pulling credit reports. The credit bureaus also require a minimum number of accounts, even if you are reporting through Hutchins Systems as a third party processor or any other processor. We have provided phone numbers and account minimums requirements below for each credit repository for your convenience.

EquifaxEquifax
www.equifax.com
888-202-4025
Minimum 500 open accounts with a balance to report directly to Equifax.. Exceptions are made for Banks and Credit Unions which only requires 100 accounts. If you are a mortgage company or are financing homes backed by any government agency you may be exempt from 500 minimun account rule for reporting. Please call Equifax sales department to see what their reporting requirements are. You do not have meet the 500 accounts requirement each month only the first reporting month.

experianExperian
www.experian.com
800-831-5614 Ext.3
No Minimum Account Volume Requirements. Please contact Experian Sales at the above number for new membership kit. Please be sure to request a Vendor Identification Number for reporting data to them direct. Hutchins Systems' (Credit Time 2000) Metro 2 credit reporting software has been approved by Experian as a preferred vendor for small companies which only have small volume of accounts to report.

transunionTransunion
www.transunion.com
800-730-0126 Ext. 4
Minimum 100 accounts. Volume requirement of 100 accounts only have to be met the first reporting month.

innovisInnovis
www.innovis.com
281-504-2600
Less than 100 accounts must be reported through Hutchins Systems. Volume requirement of 100 accounts only have to be met the first reporting month to report directly.

Notice: The minimum number of accounts listed above may vary. Please contact each credit bureau you wish to report with and verify how many accounts they will accept for direct reporting or reporting through a 3rd party processor. Each credit bureau has their own policies for the minimum number of accounts to report and membership requirements. These policies may vary between regions and the type of business. Hutchins Systems does not determine credit bureaus policies.

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Question:

How do I transfer/import or convert my existing accounting files directly into Credit Time 2000 Metro 2 Format?

Answer:

Currently, we do not offer our client(s) an import option within Credit Time 2000. We simple do not believe mapping data fields by an inexperience users' who are not familiar with all of credit bureau different type of reporting formats by industry and requirement will only result in reporting incorrect information on consumers' credit files and will cause more work for the credit bureaus and your company in correcting errors and handling consumers' disputes. The Metro 2 format has required data fields for complying to the 1996 Fair Credit Reporting Act. The majority of most accounting software systems do not have all of these required Metro 2 format fields or assigned credit bureaus reporting codes. The Metro 2 Credit Format has special assigned credit bureau codes, including special comment field, bankruptcy codes field, and payment rating history codes field that are only used only by the credit industry for displaying correct information on consumers' credit file.

Credit bureau aging rules for aging account ratings are often different from most in-house accounts receivable packages. For consumers' reporting purposes, an account is not deemed to be delinquent until 30 days past the due date. An example would be importing from auto dealer's loan management software system, QuickBooks, or any loan finance software where an account is deemed delinquent one day past the due date. How are you going to automate the correct ratings of your account status when the correct credit bureaus status during your mapping of your data fields selection to the Metro 2 format when the account aging is so different? You should asking any Metro 2 credit reporting software vendor(s) that allows importing to Metro 2 option or that are doing data conversions to the Metro 2 format, how does your software system handle this problem or any of the standard missing required Metro 2 fields? How does your system handle missing required credit defined code not available on our files? Does your Metro 2 import function just use assigned defaults codes for the credit bureau codes for every record. The other problem is how are you going to know when you updates or changes are made to your credit reporting file for the consumer's name,address, social security number fields or a change to your account existing numbers that are being reported to the credit bureaus. It is very simple they can not perform an import without you providing formatted fields of the entire Metro 2 format in either an ASCII, or data base format that will match all of the required fields of the Metro 2 format before you begin importing. If you are required to do this, you might as well right the Metro 2 software and not buy their Metro 2 credit reporting software. We believe reporting consumers' accurate and complete information should be reported on consumers' credit history. We have built our 20 years of reputation and experience in the credit reporting industry into our Credit Time 2000 Metro 2 credit reporting software package to provide the best accurate and the most complete Metro 2 reporting software on the market.

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Question:

What status codes/ ratings codes can I report to the credit bureaus?

Answer:

You may select the status code that property identifies the current condition of the account as of this month or the month you will be reporting.

Valid codes are:

NOTE: Third Party Collections/Factoring Companies and Attorneys may only use codes 62, 93, and DA (rarely used)
05 - Account transferred to another office
11 - Current Account
13 - Paid or closed account/zero balance
61 - Account paid in full was a voluntary surrender
62 - Account paid in full was a collection account or insurance claim or government claim
63 - Account paid in full was repossession
64 - Account paid in full was a charge-off
65 - Account paid in full. A foreclosure was started
71 - Account 30 days past the due date
78 - Account 60 days past the due date
80 - Account 90 days past the due date
82 - Account 120 days past the due date
83 - Account 150 days past the due date
84 - Account 180/180+ days past the due date
88 - Claim filed with the government for insured portion of balance on a defaulted loan
89 - Deed received in lieu of foreclosure on a defaulted mortgage
93 - Account seriously past due and/or assigned to Internal or External collections/Attorney
94 - Foreclosure/credit grantor sold collateral to settle defaulted mortgage
95 - Voluntary surrender
96 - Merchandise was repossessed by credit grantor; there may be a balance due
97 - Unpaid balance reported as a loss by credit grantor (charge-off)
DA - Deletes entire account (actual error reported)

Paid Derogatory accounts, such as collections, should be reported as paid; they should not be deleted.

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Question:

My office only has a few accounts and I want to report both good paying customers and my bad credit customers to the credit bureaus. Will I be able to report my accounts to the credit bureaus?

Answer:

YES

This will depend on your first month's volume of accounts if it will meet the reporting requirements of the credit bureau. Some of the credit bureaus require you to have a minimum number of accounts and they must be open balance accounts not counting paids or closed accounts before you can become a reporting member. Remember you may enter accounts as far back as 6.5 years on all accounts you wish to report. You may also enter up to 24 months of prior month’s payment history on your consumer's accounts in Credit Time 2000. Currently, Experian Credit Bureau is the only major credit bureaus that will accept new members with no minimun volume requirements. Please contact us at us at 866-858-7186 or Experian New Member Sales Department at 800-831-5614 Ext.3 for more information on how to become a member.

Two special considerations must be met:

  1. Your office must have our Credit Time 2000 Metro 2 software or some other Metro 2 credit reporting format.
  2. Your software must be a Metro 2 format that we can process with others and still meet the national bureau minimum reporting requirement.

(Call us to see if your office meets these 2 considerations - 866-858-7186 (toll free)

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Question:

If my office meets the two special considerations, do I have to sign a service agreement with Hutchins Systems, Inc.?

Answer:

YES.

This signed agreement sets the expectations of your bureaus about reporting monthly to the credit bureaus to stay within Federal Reporting Compliance, the processing obligations and the agreement will set a monthly cost for reporting through our company.

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Question:

What is the Metro 2 Format?

Answer:

Credit Data Industry Association, the trade group representing the credit reporting industry adopted a standard electronic data reporting format called Metro 2 format. The Metro 2 format was created in order to comply with 1996 amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and is designed to allow reporting of the most accurate and complete information on consumers' credit history.

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Question:

Does Credit Time 2000 report all of the new special comments codes, all of required fields Metro 2 fields and codes of Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACT) requirements for collection agency reporting to the national credit bureaus?

Answer:

YES.

If a collection company has been created, Credit Time 2000 will report the Metro 2 Collection format and or the Metro 2 Trade format for trade companies with the required classification code for type for collections being reported along with the required Segments required for type of their industry. We were the first Metro 2 software vendor in to submitt our Metro 2 Trade/Collection format test run for the first time to credit bureaus without a single error! Our 20 years of credit experience and knowledge of the credit reporting industry is our best asset!

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Question:

If my office meets the minimum requirements for reporting to the credit bureau can I still use Hutchins Systems to process and send my account to the credit bureaus?

Answer:

YES.

Some of our users of Credit Time 2000 and other Metro 2 software systems prefer to send us their Metro 2 credit reporting file directly to us using our Secured FTP upload site for us to process, audit their data entry fields and monitor all submissions to their credit bureau(s). We also maintain 6 months backup of your files in case your computer system crashes when you do not have a good backup or someone accidently deletes your files. This is no problem for us to recreate your files and data bases if you are current in sending us your Metro 2 reporting file to us.

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Question:

Are there hidden charges after I lease your Credit Time 2000 Metro 2 software that I will be billed for?

Answer:

All software companies should clearly define all costs for their support and upgrades before you make a decision to lease or purchase their Metro 2 credit reporting software. If you do not understand or it is not clearly define in their service agreement or on displayed on their web site ask them, what are the charges for support calls, or assistance with credit reporting issues. Our Credit Time 2000 Metro 2 credit reporting software is leased licensed software with annual renewal license fee of $230. This license fee includes free unlimited support per year and continue use of Credit Time 2000. If you decide not to report, find a better Metro 2 software or if you sell your business, their is no problem just send us a 60 days cancel notice and return Credit Time 2000 software. Support fees charged by other software companies vary from one company to others, usually hourly rates or monthly, semi-annual or annual rates are charged for support issues. For example some Metro 2 software companies charge hourly support and you do not have to be under a support plan. Support calls from their clients can be as much $80.00 per hour. If you made 10 support calls over a year your comparable annual fee would be around $800.00 as opposed to our $230.00 annual software license fee including your support. We feel our annual renewal license fee rate for Credit Time 2000 is very competitive in today's software markets which requires software companies to continuously upgrade their software products to work with the latest computer hardware and changes to operating system software. In addition to these changes we have to update our Metro 2 software with new required fields or special codes if the credit bureaus or new Federal or State Laws are changed for consumers.

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