Reference no: EM131473679

Question: John Stevenson began receiving a number of phone calls from bill collectors about arrearages in accounts that were not his. He spoke with TRW, Inc., a credit-reporting firm, to try to correct the problem. In August, 1989, he wrote TRW and obtained a copy of his credit report. He discovered many errors, including some accounts that belonged to an individual of the same name living in a different location and some accounts that apparently belonged to his estranged son, John Stevenson Jr. In total, Stevenson disputed approximately 16 accounts, seven inquiries, and much of the identifying information. Stevenson wrote TRW on October 6, 1989, requesting that his credit report be corrected. On November 1, TRW began a reinvestigation by contacting subscribers that had reported the disputed accounts. As a result of this investigation, TRW removed several of the disputed accounts by November 30. TRW retained one account on the record because the subscriber insisted that the information was accurate, and investigations on several other accounts were still pending. TRW also added a warning statement to Stevenson's account in December, indicating that his son had apparently used his Social Security number without his consent to obtain credit. By February, 1990, TRW claimed that all disputed accounts with "negative" credit information had been removed. Inaccurate information continued to appear on Stevenson's report, however, and some of the disputed information was reentered after Stevenson had had it deleted. Stevenson filed suit, alleging that TRW had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Has TRW done so? Explain.