John Oliver possesses the uncanny ability to read his audience’s perspective on nearly every relevant issue. He then zeroes in to dismantle opponents with precision and resulting cheers. Nothing is ever too serious or too trivial for Last Week Tonight to target, and Oliver has delivered epic rants on everything from the cowardice of the Paris attackers to the pointlessness of fantasy sports, the terrifying state of abortion laws, and (of course) the bizarre tactics of Donald Trump. Now, Oliver greets tax week with a related subject that brings equal apprehension — credit reports.
Oliver takes great issue with the high error rate of these reports, which control nearly every aspect of one’s life. Unless someone lives completely off the grid, a poor credit score affects someone’s ability to rent an apartment, purchase a car, and even stay gainfully employed. Anyone who’s ever dealt with a legitimately bad report understands the long, hard road to cleaning up the mess. And those who attempt to erase credit report errors will fight an equally frustrating battle. Oliver believes any margin of error for this subject is inexcusable. Even if reporting agencies can claim a 95% success rate, another 5% of people are outta luck unless they have the time and energy to fight an enduring battle. As Oliver points out, these errors may affect up to 10 million people — practically the population of Sweden — and cripple lives.
As Oliver sees it, the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experia, and TransUnion) aren’t getting the job done. So, he creates Equifacks.com, Experianne.com and TramsOnion.com. The results are predictably delightful.
