SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A Schools Financial CU member pleaded guilty last week to mail fraud for using provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to erase outstanding credit and qualify him for several loans for boats and vehicles he would not have qualified for otherwise.
Ricky Flemings, 28, engaged in a complex and long-running scheme to deceive Experian and the other credit reporting agencies by exploiting provisions in the FCRA, a statute intended to provide consumer protections to individuals, authorities said. Beginning around October 1, 2005, and continuing through November 12, 2009, Flemings contacted credit bureau Experian numerous times, falsely reporting that he was the victim of identity theft. Flemings then demanded that entries be removed from his credit report. In fact, as he well knew, many of these entries were proper and were the result of his having purchased items on credit.
As a result of Flemings’ false statements, Experian blocked a total of 162 inquiries and 40 trade lines from his credit report. Once these trade lines and inquiries were blocked, Flemings then sought further extensions of credit, relying on the fact that creditors would be unable to access the fraudulently blocked entries. As a result, Flemings appeared to be a better credit risk than he actually was.
As a result, Flemings received financing from Schools Financial CU for the purchase of a 2005 Lincoln Navigator and a 2006 Monterey boat. The loans to purchase these two items were approved after the credit union examined a credit report for Flemings that did not include fraudulently blocked entries. Otherwise, the credit union would not have approved the loans.
Even after receiving the Schools Financial loans for the Lincoln and boat, Flemings contacted Experian and reported that the entry on his credit report related to these two items was fraudulent and should be removed. On September 14, 2009, he contacted Experian and reported that the SFCU entry related to the 2005 Lincoln Navigator was the result of fraud and should be blocked. On October 8, 2009, he contacted Experian and reported that the entry on his credit report related to the boat was the result of fraud and should be blocked.
Flemings is scheduled to be sentenced on July 6.
