she sued equifax and transunion in federal court.after a year-long battle, the credit reporting agencies settled for an undisclosed sum and promised to clean up her file. did you think it was going to take a federal lawsuit? >> thomas: heck, no. it just takes-- it just takes a human being going, "wow, this isn't judith kendall. let me fix this." that's all they had to do. >> kroft: but as we discovered, that almost never happens. if you challenge a credit report and mail your information to a post office box in the united states, the dispute will likely be investigated in india, or the philippines, or south america. we traveled 5,000 miles to the chilean capital of santiago, where we tracked down three former experian employees. carolina hererra, rodolfo carrasco and enzo valdivia were all dispute agents at experian's national consumer assistance center, although they say they weren't able to offer consumers much assistance. so, if somebody had a problem with their credit report, they would send the complaint, and it would end up wit

equifax, experion and transunion, one in five had errors and 5% could lead to the consumer paying more for mortgage or other loans. the fcc says its findings underline the importance of checking your credit reports consistently. >>> the week started lower on wall street. the dow is down 21 this hour. investors had little economic news to react to today. but the market has had a good run so far this year. the dow jones industrial average and s&p are both up nearly 7% and near their all- time highs. the nasdaq is up 6% to its best level in 12 years. >>> president obama's state of the union address is expected to focus on the economy. he is set to address job creation and age growth tomorrow night. the president says he will also discuss upcoming budget fights including the march 1 deadline for automatic defense and domestic cuts known as the sequester. and you can watch the state of

they studied reports from hree major -3&pageecies -- equifax, experian and ttans-union.... and found 22 million have ignificant mmsttkes.... some that could coot you money or kkep you from getting a mortgage or a car loan. 3 3&p33 an owl hitches a ride .. but - noo by choice.... how he ended - up stuck insideean suv. & hey! hey honey! hey alan. uh, hey.... i'm bob, we talked at the tax store. i did your taxes. i thought you were a tax expert? today, i'm a master plumber. major tax stores advertise for preparers with "no tax experience necessary." at turbotax, you only get answers from cpas, eas or tax attorneys - all real tax experts. ...than h&r block stores and all other major tax stores combined. 3& an owl as a clooe call after getttng hit by an s--uv on the florrda turnpike & ttrnpike 3 get this.... sonji williims found this guy hitching a ride --3 in her suv.sseehittthe owl witt her car on thursday night.... and ssumed the bird peccme road kill.. buttturns out he surviveddand slipped into the s-u-v grill.ittwasn't 3& happened. 3 & "there was a family that --3 puuled in

these big agencies and we are not talking small agencies, we are talking about equifax.does that mean for them? can i sue them if they botched my report? >> reporter: of corselet attorney general is saying something that i think everybody knows. and that is it's hard for consumers to get the attention of these agencies to fix their credit ratings, why would that be? because consumers aren't paying them. their customers are the credit card companies, the banks, people who prepare credit. so you have to get their attention. this law, the law that currently is on the books now, the fair credit law has got some real teeth to it in some areas. one area is you can walk into a lawyer's office and get a lawyer to take that case for you, even if you only have a small amount of damages, because he can collect his attorney's fees back and make thousands of dollars on $100 case. so there's a possibility of class action lawsuits as well. >> and i shouldn't single out just equifax, trance union is another major one noted. i have to cut it off. just sheer time. paul, there are so many

the study looked at reports for over 1,000 consumers by the three major agencies, equifax, espirion and transunion. >>> women who live in d.c. make more than their counterparts in other cities. they earn a median income of 57,000. san jose, bridgeport, san francisco and trenton of all places round out the top five. the list compared more than 500 cities. it also used data from the 2011 american community survey by the u.s. census. >>> one new jersey casino won't have to get out of bed to gamble. the hotel in atlantic city will be the first casino if the u.s. to let guests gamble over the tv in their hotel rooms. pick up the clicker. starting next week, the e- casino program will let players set up electronic accounts and risk up to $2500 a day. you don't even have to get out of bed. >> oh, man. >> can you afford the room rate after that if you blow it. >> is gambling that strenuous to begin with that you can't get out of bed and go downstairs? >> i don't want to say anymore. >> lips are sealed. >> lips are sealed. >> brutal. >>> 4:42. still ahead, maryland lawmakers are getting ready to

equifax, experion and transunion. ohio's attorney general tells "60 minutes" that credit agencies are not conducting required investigations. >> federal law says that if you believe that there is a mistake, they have an obligation to do a reasonable investigation. >> check your credit reports for any errors. only about 20% of americans are doing that. and there is one site where you can do that for free, annualcreditreport.com. >>> fewer americans are getting into trouble with their mortgages these days. the mortgage delinquency rate is at its lowest level in four years. credit reporting agency transunion says about 5% of mortgage holders are at least two months behind on their payments. that's down about 14% from a year ago. before the housing bust, the rate was below 2%. >>> some pit bull owners are scrambling this morning to find new homeowners insurance because farmers insurance will no longer cover the pet portion of their policy. that means if their dog bites someone at their home, they're out of luck. pit bull

these reports are prepared by the three big credit reporting companies equifax banks, and other firmsc reported that the number of consumers who allege mistakes of some kind in their reports was millions more. we believe consumers as a result need to ensure that they're looking at their credit reports, examining them to get rid of those errors. because errors in credit reports can lead to more expensive credit, denial of loans, denial of insurance. more expensive insurance. potentially even loss of a job. now under federal law, consumers are entitled to get a free copy of their credit report each year from each of the three companies and to do that just visit annual credit report.com. this is the government sanctioned web site, bill. those are the big three,. >> the industry isn't denying that there are mistakes. it says that once you drill down into the ftc study, the agency found that only about 2% of credit reports had a mistake that might cost the consumer more money. still, it says it is working to get the error rate even lower. >> we have new technology that will come online lat

the study looked at just over 1,000 reports issued by the three major agencies, equifax, experian and transunion. >>> facebook ceo mark zuckerberg and his wife made the known 2 spot on a list of top u.s. charitable givers. the zuckerbergs donated $499 million last year to the silicon valley community foundation. they're one of several young silicon valley couples who made the philanthropy top 50 list. google's co-founder donated around 222 million. warren buffett still tops the list giving away around $3 billion. >>> at 10:45 our chief meteorologist bill martin will be back with the complete forecast including which day we could see 70-degree temperatures this >>> caltrans says it's seeing an increase in theft of its copper wiring in the bay area. the problem was evident today on highway 242 in concord. someone had removed the copper wires there housed inside a meter box cutting power to a nearby metering light. caltrans has seen 59 similar incidents and is spending more than $2 million a year to repair damage by metal thieves in the bay area alone. >> that could be used to fill potho

the study looked at just over 1,000 reports issued by the three major agencies, equifax, experian andook ceo mark zuckerberg and his wife made the known 2 spot on a list of top u.s. charitable givers. the zuckerbergs donated $499 million last year to the silicon valley community foundation. they're one of several young silicon valley couples who made the philanthropy top 50 list. google's co-founder donated around 222 million. warren buffett still tops the list giving away around $3 billion. >>> at 10:45 our chief meteorologist bill martin will be back with the complete forecast including which day we could see 70-degree temperatures this week. >> up first traffic equipment targeted by thieves, a huge price tag to make repairs and what caltrans is doing to keep thieves from coming back. the ones who inspire us, the ones who make us laugh, the ones with the strong shoulder to lean on, the ones we're named after, and the ones named after us. it takes all kinds of good to make a family. at new york life, everything we do is to help you keep good going. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the p

pryor, he worked at equifax where he was instrumental in building the engineering operations and compliance teams. he helped build one of the largest and most important data loss solutions as well as the highly regarded programs. welcome. >> thank you. session four heading up this committee. welcome. i am honored to be geared to speed about something i am passionate about. it is nice to hear that a lot of these are similar. we asked to come in here and talk to you about what we do after. we were told that previous comments is spent time on threats. from this conference and happy to do that for you. and going to give you a framework for some good questions from those who are responsible for security within your organizations. i want to get a little bit of a framework. there has been a lot of breaches the last couple of months that are out there. i will spare repeating the names. more importantly we know there are more that do not know they're being attacked today. they have not decided to publicize for what ever reason. i want to focus on a few common things you hear. i have gone through all

the three main ones are experienced, equifax and,--- experion, equifax, and trans union.hese are wide ranging credit reports that so many creditors used to determine credit worthiness of consumers. host: is it generally a practice that if i am checking with all three, the numbers are consistent? guest: the credit scores can be different. different critter reporting agencies will take different factors into account when coming up with your score. there could be ranges between the different credit reporting agencies. host: a tweet, guest: the corrections should propagate it was reported to all three credit reporting agencies. if you disputed item, said that a bank is reporting to one of the crown reporting agencies and a credit reporting agency determines to corrected, the law requires the bank to report that correction out to all credit reporting agencies to whom they have provided that information. host: a colorado democrat line --- a caller on our democratic line. caller: one woman went to get a score credit card because she wanted to get a discount on some items. they d

prior, he worked at equifax where he was instrumental in building the engineering operations and compliance teams. he helped build one of the largest and most important data loss solutions as well as the highly regarded programs. welcome. >> thank you. session four heading up this committee. welcome. i am honored to be geared to speed about something i am passionate about. it is nice to hear that a lot of these are similar. we asked to come in here and talk to you about what we do after. we were told that previous comments is spent time on threats. from this conference and happy to do that for you. and going to give you a framework for some good questions from those who are responsible for security within your organizations. i want to get a little bit of a framework. there has been a lot of breaches the last couple of months that are out there. i will spare repeating the names. more importantly we know there are more that do not know they're being attacked today. they have not decided to publicize for what ever reason. i want to focus on a few common things you hear. i have gone through all

they studied reports from three major agencies -- equifax, experian pnd trans-union....uldd cost you money or keep you & from getting a mmrrgagg or &pcaa loan.if yoo find an errorr staat by onnacting the coosumer reporting company that compilld the reportt they're required too 3 and... accordinn to -s-n see these businesses in seven -3 years... because they're -3 they are viieo game store... gamestop.daily deal site.... groupon.commuter company ... 3& etailer...radio shack.and department tore....searss 3 support a good cause while &pphoppinn.the shops of ruxton station is donating a portion -3 of your proceeds o a good cause. cause. 3 emily gracey is streaaiig now for this mornings hometown hotspot.- tell us abouu the pvent?- why was i importtnt to host an event likeethis?- hat &pare somethings that re on sale? 3 3&pshhp in the name 3 of llve is february 13th 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. at the statton. tt learn more log ballimore dot om 3 440-buccs... could 3 400-bucks... could be yours.. & in about 10 minuues! minutes!another ame will be drawn out of our box for our freebbua

disputes about their credit report, which usually requires a visit to the experian, transunion, or equifaxhey're primarily designed to sell you premium products not resolve a dispute, which is what i was trying to do. there's a toll-free number you can call which is likely to connect you to someone on a faraway continent. >> thank you. how can i help you? >> where are you located? >> india. >> reporter: regard lgs of where they are they won't be much help. >> so really you can't do anything for me. i've been talking to you for 15 minutes. the only thing you can tell me is to fill it out online. >> yes, mr. kroft. >> reporter: thank you. you can send a personal letter supporting your documents and claim. in any case it's unlikely that anyone with authority to resolve your dispute will ever actually see it. >> and "60 minutes" tried unsuccessfully to get a statement from any of the three credit reporting agencies. it showed 95% of its customers were satisfied with the dispute process. >>> joining us now cbs news contributor and analyst mellody hobson. good morning. >> good morning. >> why ha

trade commission -- the commission report looked at the results of 1001 credit scores issued which equifaxceunion and experian. also mean getting denied for them. the fdc says the report under lines the importance. a much closer look at the issue and how to protect yourself coming up in the next hour. >> dc schools are seeing a high turn around. and it is bringing about concerns for funding for schools. a new study by the office of the state superintendent of education shows more than 6200 schools left public. those students did not reenroll in any other schools. nearly 5,000 students entered dc schools during the year. does raise concerns about how much funding schools receive. enrollment at the beginning of the year. >> still ahead, the future of the catholic church. >> one day after the pope's shocking resignation announcement. we'll take a look at who might succeed him. >> one last chance to party before lent. the fat tuesday celebrations down in the crescent city. >> be good to be in the big easy today. as we head to the break, a live look outside. we're going to get the latest weathe

prior to this he worked at equifax where he was instrumental in building the security engineering and operations and compliance teams. while at equifax, he helped build one of the largest and most efficient data loss prevention systems deployed as well as a highly regarded security risk-management program. mr. hannigan, welcome. >> thank you, governor especially for heading up this committee to push an agenda conference that's important for all parties represented here. welcome, governors and distinguished guests. i am honored to be here to speak about something i'm passionate about and i've been lucky to be working inside of this, and it's pretty nice to hear that a lot of the themes are similar from dan. we were asked to come in and talk about what to do after a breach. we were told previous conferences spent time on threats and that you wanted some key takeaways from this conference that you could act upon so i am happy to do that for you. .. and i want to use that to frame what i'm going to talk about. if you read through the news clips you will hear statements similar to this. we