Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a Federal law that requires creditor reporting agencies and furnishers of credit reporting data to perform certain tasks and prohibits other tasks.

If your credit report is inaccurate, we can help you dispute the inaccurate portions. The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not give you the right to sue a credit reporting agency or a furnisher of credit reporting data until you have done a dispute with the credit reporting agency. We can help you draft an effective dispute letter and let you know how to best get your credit report corrected. We do this at no charge to you. If you credit report is corrected, you will owe us nothing.

However, many people find that even disputing with the credit reporting agency does not solve their problems. This is usually the case when someone has stolen your identity or when you have a similar name or social security number as another person. When this occurs, we help file suit against all those who have violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Common violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act include: listing a debt on a credit report that is not yours, listing an amount owed when the debt has been discharged in bankruptcy, and merging another person's credit data with yours. This includes reporting that you have filed bankruptcy when you have not but your cosigner has.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to file suit, under some circumstances, against both the credit reporting agency and against the furnisher of the credit reporting data. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to collect compensatory damages, attorney fees and costs, and sometimes punitive damages. If you believe that you have a claim for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act please call our office.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act also prohibits impermissible use of your credit report. If someone has obtained your credit report without your consent you may have the right to sue them without disputing anything with the credit reporting agency.

You may obtain one free copy of your credit report each year from every credit reporting agency. The common credit reporting agencies include: Trans Union, Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and Chex Systems. To obtain a free copy of your credit report see our consumer links section.

However, it is important that you do not use the credit reporting agencies' websites and that you do not use the credit reporting agencies' fraud monitoring service. By using these you give up your right to have your case before a jury. This substantially changes your rights and your ability to collect for Fair Credit Reporting Act violations.

For a free consultation please contact us.