Discovering errors on your credit report can be a frustrating experience, but it is important not to panic. Inaccuracies on your credit report can significantly impact your financial well-being, so taking action is crucial.
Just because something is on your credit report does not mean it is automatically correct. Mistakes can and do happen, and you are the one who pays the price. Unless you spend considerable money on a service that may overcharge you, nobody will help you stay on top of your credit. Therefore, you must be the person who monitors your credit and makes sure to understand every entry that is on your report. If there is anything that you disagree with, you can either dispute the information yourself or hire a consumer protection lawyer to act on your behalf.
You can also file a lawsuit when a credit bureau or creditor breaks the law. Each of these parties owes you certain obligations to either place only correct information on your credit report or to investigate when you dispute information already there. You may even get paid damages when someone has broken the law. A consumer protector lawyer can help you assess your legal options and take action on your behalf. They can guide you through the process, handle all correspondence with the credit bureaus, and help you with any potential legal action. It does not cost you anything to speak with a FCRA attorney, and you may not even have to pay them if you win your lawsuit.
Your Credit Report Controls Whether and How You Borrow Money
For better or worse, you are what your credit report says you are. Creditors do not care about your own unique and individualized circumstances. The only thing that they are interested in is whether you are a worthy credit risk and if they can lose money by lending to you. If creditors believe you are a higher risk, they may charge you more in the form of a higher interest rate to cover themselves for the risk you may not pay them back.
Therefore, your credit report is critical to your present and future financial situation. If your credit report is not in order, you may struggle to buy a car or find a place to live. You may not qualify for a mortgage or even have difficulty finding a job (because your credit report is often part of your background check).
Credit Reports May Contain Errors
However, creditors and debt collectors may be careless about the information they place on your credit report. There may be minimal review of your situation, and reporting to a credit bureau can even be done through an automated script, with only a little human interaction. The creditors want money and do not care about how the information they report can affect your financial future. Yet, you are the one who pays the price when creditors place any adverse information on your report because your credit score will take a hit, and your ability to borrow will suffer.
For example, creditors may simply be working with old information. You may have already paid off the debt, but they do not have it in their records. Sometimes, the debt collector may have purchased debt from a creditor, and they may have forwarded derogatory information to the credit bureau. However, debt collectors may have purchased a debt that was never valid in the first place. Nonetheless, they will still place information on your credit report because they believe you have not paid them back.
Request Credit Reports and Review Them from Time to Time
You should always keep track of your credit situation by reviewing your report occasionally, and there are several ways that you can do this. First, you are allowed by law to obtain one free report yearly from each of the three major credit bureaus. Try to space out your requests so you can get one credit report every three months. If you request all three reports at once, they may be only helpful for a snapshot of that period in time.
Also, consider subscribing to a credit monitoring service that will alert you every time there is a change to your credit report. You may even have access to a credit monitoring service because you were a victim of a data breach at some point, and the responsible party agreed to provide you with credit monitoring for a certain amount of time. However, a credit monitoring service only lets you know about entries as they get added and will not let you see your existing credit report.
It is up to you to take action if you review your credit report and find errors. The mistakes will not correct themselves, and credit bureaus cannot know they have incorrect information unless you tell them. Thus, vigilance is always a must when monitoring your credit.
Beware of Credit Repair Services
Some companies market themselves to you as a one-stop shop for monitoring and fixing your credit. These credit repair services promise that they will work to help correct errors on your credit report. However, there is little that these credit repair services offer that you cannot do on your own. They often bundle other unnecessary services into one high price, and they try to make it difficult for you to cancel these services (even though the law requires that you are allowed to cancel at any time).
If you are going to pay anyone to act on your behalf as far as your credit is concerned, you should consider hiring a consumer protection attorney. A lawyer can dispute incorrect information on your credit report, and they can also negotiate debt settlements for you. When you choose to deal with a third-party service, you never quite know what you are getting.
You Can File a Dispute with the Credit Bureau
Credit bureaus do not have unlimited licenses to include any information they want on your report, even if your creditors simply informed them of any delinquent debt. Your credit report is too critical to your financial future without checks and balances. The law gives you powerful tools to take action if credit bureaus do not uphold their duties under the law. You may even sue them directly to obtain damages.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to file a dispute of any information you disagree with on your credit report. You can file a dispute with any of the three major credit bureaus. Whichever one receives the dispute is the one who will perform the investigation. All you need to do is submit the dispute in writing, either through a form that you send electronically or by letter.
Credit bureaus have a legal obligation to investigate your dispute unless they believe it is a frivolous objection. They are usually on the safe side when they investigate your dispute. Still, they need to do more than the bare minimum to satisfy themselves that the information on your credit report is accurate.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes an obligation on the credit bureau to perform their investigation. They must look into the actual validity of the debt beyond simply accepting the furnisher’s word for it. Otherwise, they can open themselves up to potential liability to you.
Credit bureaus have thirty days to respond to your dispute, and they must provide their decision and an explanation for it. Sometimes, the credit bureau will have up to 45 days to respond to you. If you disagree with the credit bureau’s decision, you can file your own statement on your credit report, giving your side of the story. The hope is that a potential creditor will see what you have to say, and they can still lend you money or discount the negative information on your credit report. However, this statement is limited to 100 words, and creditors do not always look at it. They may take the negative information about you as a given and refuse to lend you money.
You Can File a Lawsuit Against the Credit Bureau Under the FCRA
The fact that the credit bureau did not side with you in a dispute is not grounds for a lawsuit. All the credit bureaus need to do is perform an investigation. However, they can get sued if they fail to investigate or do not use diligence in conducting the investigation. You may also sue the credit bureaus if they refuse to remove information from your report (or fail to do so) when it is wrong.
When you hire a consumer protection lawyer, you can file a lawsuit against an information furnisher or the credit bureau under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Anyone who provides incorrect information to the credit bureau, whether a debt collector or a creditor, can potentially be liable to you for damages.
You may have the legal right to damages if you prove that someone broke the law and may even get paid if you can prove that you suffered directly from their wrongful actions. Of course, you may have the right to even more damages if you can prove actual losses.
Your Damages in an FCRA Lawsuit
If you win your FCRA lawsuit, you may have the legal right to the following in damages:
- Up to $1,000 in statutory damages when you can prove that someone violated the FCRA (even if you did not suffer actual losses)
- Your actual losses when creditors deny you credit because of incorrect information on your report
- Non-economic losses when you have suffered stress and anxiety from the wrong information on your credit report
- Attorney’s fees if you win your case (your consumer protection lawyer will get paid by the defendant, as opposed to their money coming out of the proceeds of your settlement or jury award)
- Punitive damages (the FCRA is different from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in that it provides for potential punitive damages in light of a willful breach of the law, although there is a high bar for you to qualify for punitive damages)
You may file your lawsuit as a class action case if the conduct similarly impacts numerous people. For example, if a systemic failure at the credit bureau left it unable to investigate large numbers of dispute requests, the class of plaintiffs may join together to file one lawsuit. However, credit bureaus will do everything they can to defeat class certification.
You do not have to pay a consumer protection lawyer upfront for their help in filing an FCRA lawsuit. There is never any retainer or out-of-pocket fees that you will need to pay. If you do not win your FCRA lawsuit, you will not get hit with a bill for your consumer protection attorney’s time and services. You do not even have to pay their fee if you win your case - that money will likely come from the defendant.
Hire a Consumer Protection Attorney Today to Clear Your Credit Report Errors
It is better to err on the side of caution and hire a consumer protection attorney. A consumer protection attorney will give you a free initial consultation, and they will review the facts of your case. They may even file one or more lawsuits on your behalf. Not only is it in your best interest to ensure that your credit report is error-free, but you can also receive money when someone else violates the law and their actions have caused you damages.
Hiring a consumer protection lawyer saves you time and effort and increases your chances of success. These attorneys understand the intricacies of credit reporting laws and know how to build a persuasive case. They have the resources and knowledge to negotiate with credit reporting agencies and creditors and will work to protect your rights.
Remember, your credit report is an important document that impacts various aspects of your life. Do not leave it to chance - consult with a protection consumer attorney if you believe there are errors on your credit report. They will guide you through the process, fight for your rights, and help you achieve the fair and accurate credit report you deserve.