The Consumer Credit Bureaus are Unraveling American Self-Reliance and Compromising Our Greatest National Assets: The Individual and Small Business

Contact: Deborah Fineout-Launey, 212-737-4703, 518-929-3490 cell,  LHHF@earthlink.net

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Consumer Credit Reporting Bureaus, which purport to help lenders evaluate risk, control the flow of credit, and protect the economy from those who would abuse the system thus encourage fiscal responsibility, have instead played a significant role in destabilizing the economy.

"The Consumer Credit Bureaus have been ruthlessly chipping away at small business and are now derailing America's economic recovery. We created the website www.abolish-the-credit-bureaus.com and Petition as a vital tool for change; including examining recent comments by President Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke," says small business owner, Deborah Fineout-Launey, VP of marketing firm LHH&F.

When financial setbacks or economic downturns occur, many in the economy are affected - not because of credit 'abuse.'

For the small business owner, financial setbacks occur that are beyond the control of the business, including:

• General Economic Uncertainty;

• Slowdowns in Local Economies;

• Rising Taxes, Costs and Regulatory Demands;

• Effects of Weather;

• Serious Fallout from Terrorism as Happened on 9/11 and Went on to Impact Businesses and Industries Across the Country

Given the above and the fact the economy experiences recessionary conditions every ten years or so, the destabilizing formula of the Consumer Credit Report and Score now used extensively in small business lending, is a self-fulfilling prophecy for failure: those who use credit wisely and in the necessary course of business will be mathematically unable to maintain essential financial stability to overcome short-term financial setbacks.

• A debtor's prison quickly arises;

• Leading to usurious fees, expensive money, loss of essential banking relationships for those who can least afford it;

• Defaults increase;

• Putting all parties in escalating risk

"This is a serious issue that has grown increasingly destructive over the past twenty years: An unsustainable financial model involving extensive personal guarantees for corporate obligations rather than comprehensive corporate financing and relationship banking, the forced entanglement of personal and business obligations on the Consumer Credit Report and Score, thrust unreasonably onto the shoulders of small business, destabilizing viable small businesses and personal livelihoods," says Ms. Fineout-Launey.

At any given time, as many as 25% of Americans are considered unreasonably 'un-creditworthy,' struggling to provide for themselves and others. This is higher than unemployment and more difficult to overcome. America simply cannot afford to have this many of its citizens put in financial jeopardy by a predatory Credit Reporting System.

The result is the unmerited loss of critical business and tax revenues, rampant unemployment, loss of real estate leases, home foreclosures, loss of healthcare, businesses and personal livelihoods.

"It is time to abolish the Consumer Credit Report and Score from small business lending and, frankly, in general. It reduces the small business owner's significant investment, and the investment of his lenders, to a gamble of epic proportions. It is a matter of moral conscience and economic necessity," she adds.