60 Minutes Report Reveals The Broken Credit Report System In America
60 Minutes had an excellent expose of the credit reporting industry and how Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are not concerned with fixing credit report errors.
The journalist on the story was Steve Kroft who really captured the frustration felt by so many consumers who cannot get the attention of the credit bureaus to fix a credit report with errors.
40 million Americans have errors — there are about 200… (Read more)
Summary
If you were sued by a debt collector (debt buyer) and your case was dismissed with prejudice, then this is the same as winning your case. (I’m not talking about a settlement but where the court does this outside of a settlement). And we are only talking about Alabama law — other states may be different.
As a dismissal with prejudice is the same as winning your case, this has important implications.
You do not owe the debt to… (Read more)
You have questions — make sure before hiring a lawyer that you get all of your questions answered
The primary reason you consider hiring a lawyer is because you have questions about the law or how the legal process works. Especially when you are considering being in court — it is natural that you would have questions.
So here are some suggestions as you go through the process of finding and hiring a consumer protection lawyer.
Make a written list… (Read more)
Why are punitive damages sometimes allowed under the FCRA when you have false credit reporting?
It is because the whole point of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) is to make sure you have accurate credit reports and can get errors fixed. If the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union, etc) or the furnishers (whoever furnishes or supplies the information) won’t fix your reports, then they should be sued.
If what they did was reckless or intentional, then they… (Read more)
“Should I use the FDCPA or FCRA when a debt collector has false credit reporting on me?”
This is a good question.
You can actually use either of them, or in some cases you can use both.
Under the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) you can sue a debt collector without disputing with the credit reporting agencies.
However, you may want to try disputing through the credit reporting agencies so that you can use the FCRA also.
The FDCPA… (Read more)
“Can I fix credit report errors on my own?”
This is a common question that we run across, but a great one nonetheless.
Absolutely, you can fix credit report errors on your own.
Most of the time, it’s pretty easy to fix them.
The key is to properly dispute with the credit reporting agency (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax, etc.)
Some people don’t go about it the right way, which can be a mess.
Write them a letter.
Explain why your credit… (Read more)