Many of us have written essays, published books, lectured and made careers out of simply talking about all this information. We speculate about it, we connect it and we harvest it like wheat. We’re busy being busy with information.
We don’t often ask if the information we’re working with is actually accurate. It’s there; it must be true.
Well, it ain’t. Not always. I wonder how often it is not accurate.
Two bucks is two bucks
I’ve spent the last two days getting information about my credit. (This is what our information age has become. We now have information about information. Soon, we’ll have information about that too. We’re so crazy for it, I’ve used the word five times in this paragraph.)
I’ll try to be short. This all began with the discovery that my credit report had a “derogatory” on it. (Derogatory means negative information on a credit report.) This isn’t a good thing so I tried to track down what it was that had produced frowns over my credit report.
It turns out it had to do with a couple of things. Or not, depending on who I spoke to. The first had to do with a very late payment from about four years ago, an outstanding bill I had been unaware of. I had paid off the entire balance of an account. To me, the account was closed.
It turns out that when I had paid the balance some additional interest had accrued. I wasn’t aware of it so it was never paid. When, several months later, I did become aware of it I paid it off (about two or more years ago). This is one of the derogatories on my credit report. The amount of that bill? Roughly $2.00, give or take a few quarters.
It appears those $2.00 still haunt me even though they were paid ages ago. They are on my credit report saying I am someone not to be trusted. It gets better.
Who is Mr. Wan?
When speaking to the credit reporting company I discovered I am an Asian gentleman with a name the Internet tells me is the 86th most popular surname in China. I am the mysterious William Wan.
In order to have them correct their mistake, I have to mail a signed letter with several pieces of photocopied identification. Until such time, I am William Wan.
It could be worse. On Facebook, a friend tells me her husband found out through his credit report that he had been dead for the last several years. At least Mr. Wan is alive.
One of those other derogatories on my report may or may not exist. When speaking to one person, I was told a derogatory regarding a certain company was on it. I called back to clarify the company name and it turns out there was no such derogatory on my account. Like Mr. Wan, it is mysterious.
Time, information and value
It takes my time and work to get this information and try to correct it, time and work as a result of data entry errors and indifference to updating information. I’m considering invoicing the credit report company for these billable hours.
The real and worrying upshot to all of this, however, is the awareness of just how dubious all our ubiquitous information is. We have access to just about everything. But what happens when everything is bullshit?
Just what do we have access to?
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