We care about your credit because you care about your credit. Your credit rating is important to you. It is arguably one of the most important pieces of information in your financial life. Your credit report directly affects the cost of credit to you. Your job may depend on your credit rating. Junk debt buyers can wreck havoc on your credit score and make it more expensive, if not impossible, for you to achieve the American Dream of owning your home. Your job may depend on your credit score.

We Correct Credit Report Errors

Congress recognized the importance of keeping your personal, sensitive financial information safe and the great potential for abusing that information. To protect ordinary consumer citizens, Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). The FCRA regulates consumer reporting agencies; users of information (those who review your credit report in connection with an application for credit or for employment, etc.); and furnishers of information to credit reporting agencies. The FCRA is a powerful tool, but it is a complicated piece of legislation. We can help you harness the full power of the FCRA to correct false and incorrect information on your credit report.

A Multitude of Errors

A recent study by the Federal Trade Center (“FTC”) found that 40 million Americans had errors on their credit reports and 20 million had serious errors on their reports. CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a story on the credit reporting industry that was released to coincide with the release of the FTC report. The 60 Minutes story focused on how difficult it is to correct credit report errors on your own. The 60 Minutes story focused on one woman’s six-year battle to remove patently false information on her credit report that concerned debts belonging to an entirely different person. In the end, she had to bring a federal lawsuit to clear up her credit report.

Many Different Types of Error

• Identity theft is a common source of credit report errors. According to the FTC, “11.7 million people, representing 5 percent of all people in the U.S. age 16 and older, were victims of identity theft between 2006 and 2008.”* The FTC has extensive resources and information on identity theft and what to do if you are a victim of identity theft. Like all credit reporting errors, sometimes the credit reporting agencies will do the right thing and remove the negative information on a credit report arising out of identity theft. When they don’t, we’re here for you.
• Mixed or mismerged files are the source of frequent credit reporting errors. “Mixed or mismerged files occur when credit information relating to one consumer is placed in the file of another, thus creating a false description of both consumers’ credit histories. Mismerging occurs most often when two or more consumers have similar names, Social Security Numbers (SSNs), or other identifiers (for example, when information relating to John J. Jones is put in John G. Jones’ file).”† Mixed files played a prominent role in the 60 Minutes story on the credit reporting industry. Mixed files also result in debt collection harassment and lawsuits against innocent consumers. We PLLC can help you un-mix your credit reports when the credit reporting agencies fail to take corrective action.
• Furnisher errors are a particularly irritating source of credit report errors. “Furnisher” refers to people and business that pay to provide the information that credit reporting agencies include on credit reports and which are used to calculate your credit score. Furnishers create errors by supplying incorrect or woefully inadequate information to credit reporting agencies. Furnishers can have independent liability under the FCRA. When furnisher is also a debt collector, the furnisher can be held liable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act violation as well. We can review your credit report at no-cost to you to see if you have a valid claims against a credit reporting agency or furnisher for violations of the law.
• Re-aging debt is a particular type of furnisher error. Re-aging of debt constitutes deliberate debt-collector abuse designed to give new life or extend the life of obsolete debts on a credit report. The FCRA establishes strict limits on which certain information can stay on a credit report. In particular, most consumer debts have to be removed from a credit report after seven years. Debt collectors re-age debt in order to coerce consumers to pay off ancient and time-barred debt in order for the consumer to clean up a credit report. We sue junk-debt debt collectors who violate the law by re-aging debts on your credit report.
• Any public record included on your credit report is negative information that significantly reduces your credit score. Credit Reporting Agencies obtain public record information from independent vendors and contractors. Public record errors can prove difficult to remove and correct.

Free Credit-Report Review and other No-Cost Resources

We offer a free credit-report review at no cost. We can look at your report and help you identify correctable errors and explain in detail how we can help you remove these errors. To do the review, we need your written permission and a copy of a recent credit report issued by one of the three big credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. A credit report by another entity such as Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, or one the many so-called “free” credit report sites won’t work. We have a resource page for those who aren’t ready to discuss legal representation in connection with credit report errors or for those who want to brave doing battle on their own. All we ask in exchange for this info is that you consider calling us should your efforts fail.