National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE)

What NCTUE Actually Is

NCTUE is a consumer reporting agency, like EQUIFAX, EXPERIAN, and TRANSUNION. It operates in a narrower area, focusing on information from telecommunications, utility, and related service providers.

Founded in 1997 by telecommunications carriers, NCTUE now includes information from telephone, wireless, pay TV, home security, internet, and utility providers. Membership is limited to companies that contribute customer data. EQUIFAX has managed the database since its creation. More than 100 providers participate, contributing roughly half a billion records.

Many people do not know that NCTUE exists or that it may have a file about them. But information in an NCTUE report can affect whether you receive service and how much you must pay before service begins.

What Is In Your NCTUE File

An NCTUE report generally contains information about your relationships with participating companies, including:

• Requests to connect new service
• Account and payment history, including accounts paid as agreed
• Past-due balances, delinquencies, and charge-offs
• Unpaid closed accounts
• Identifying information, including addresses associated with your file

Since 2009, NCTUE has also included detailed information about individual accounts through a feature called NCTUE Plus. Before then, NCTUE primarily reported negative information, such as unpaid bills and late payments. NCTUE Plus added positive information, including accounts paid on time.

How Your NCTUE File Is Used

NCTUE information can affect decisions about your utility and telecommunications services.

EQUIFAX uses NCTUE data to create scoring products that it sells to NCTUE member companies. One of those products is Advanced Energy Plus, a utility-specific score that combines NCTUE information with public records, such as property ownership and address history.

Utility companies may use these scores to decide whether to open your account and how much of a deposit to require.

So when a utility company tells you that “the computer” said no, NCTUE may be part of the reason.

How Inaccurate Information Gets Into Your File

Errors in NCTUE files often follow familiar patterns. In many cases, the consumer did nothing to cause the problem.

Mixed files. Your information may be combined with the file of someone who has the same or a similar name. A Social Security number that differs by only one digit can also lead to a mixed file. If that person has an unpaid cable, telephone, or utility bill, the account may appear in your report.

Utility and telecommunications identity theft. Opening a utility or telecommunications account may require less information than opening a credit card. Someone with your name, address, and date of birth may be able to open an account, run up a balance, and leave the unpaid charge in your NCTUE file.

Final-bill mistakes. A provider may misread a meter, apply your final payment incorrectly, bill you after your service ended, or send a closing bill to the wrong address. Months later, the account may be reported as a delinquency or charge-off.

Household and landlord confusion. An account belonging to a roommate, former partner, ex-spouse, or landlord may be attributed to you simply because you lived at the same address.

Furnisher errors. The company reporting the information may provide the wrong balance, account status, or dates. It may also fail to update the account after you paid it or after the company agreed that the balance was not yours.

How The Law Protects You

NCTUE is not an unregulated database. It is a consumer reporting agency governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA imposes obligations on NCTUE and on the companies that provide it with information.

NCTUE must follow reasonable procedures to ensure that the information it reports about you is as accurate as possible. It must also provide you with a copy of your file when you request it.

Disputing NCTUE Reports

When you dispute information, NCTUE must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation. It must provide the substance of your dispute to the company that furnished the information. If the information is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, NCTUE must delete or correct it.

The company that furnished the information has its own responsibilities. After receiving notice of your dispute from NCTUE, it must investigate the disputed information and correct anything it is reporting inaccurately.

Adverse Action Notice Due to NCTUE Report

The company that denied your application may also have obligations. If it takes adverse action against you based even partly on a consumer report, it must notify you. Denying your application for service or requiring a larger deposit may qualify as adverse action.

The company must also identify the reporting agency it relied on and tell you that you have the right to obtain a free copy of the report and dispute inaccurate information.

What Happens When NCTUE Does Not Correct the Problem

A dispute should lead to a meaningful investigation. If the information cannot be verified, it should be corrected or deleted. But if NCTUE says the information is accurate, that does not necessarily mean it is correct or that you have no further options.

You may have a legal claim if:

• NCTUE says an account was verified even though the balance, account status, dates, or ownership information is wrong.
• An item that was deleted later appears again.
• The company that reported the information continues reporting a charge-off after admitting that the account resulted from a billing error.
• You do not receive a response to your dispute within the required time (generally 30 days).

These problems may violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If inaccurate or unverifiable NCTUE information caused you to lose access to service, pay a deposit, spend time trying to fix the problem, or suffer other harm, you may be entitled to compensation.

If the violation was willful, you may also be entitled to statutory or punitive damages. The FCRA may require the company responsible for the violation to pay your attorney’s fees and litigation costs. That means you may not need to pay a lawyer out of pocket to pursue a valid claim.

Our Consumer Protection Attorneys Can Help

If inaccurate NCTUE information affected your ability to obtain utility, telephone, internet, pay TV, or related services, you may have legal rights.

Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. represents consumers in cases involving inaccurate consumer reports and violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Our attorneys can review your NCTUE report, adverse-action notice, dispute correspondence, and responses from NCTUE or the company that furnished the information.

Consultations are free, and you pay no attorney’s fees unless there is a recovery.