If you have an inaccurate negative item on your credit report, there is legal recourse available. You can file a suit against the company that reported it to be removed from your credit report. These companies are required by law to investigate and remove false or unverifiable information because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
When filing a suit against a credit reporting company, you must be able to prove that you suffered damages as a result of their credit report. This damage can include payment of more interest on credit cards or loans because of the negative credit item. You can also plead your case if the credit item hurts your ability to get credit in general.
Once you have decided to hire an attorney, they will request a credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). The credit reporting company is then required to reinvestigate the credit item and put together a full credit report for your attorney. All of this must be done within thirty days of the initial complaint.
If your credit report is not in error, but they fail to perform a reinvestigation even after you have given them a chance to do so, then your attorney will need to file a complaint in federal court against that credit reporting company.
In general, credit reporting errors are made by credit bureaus that have mistaken your personal information with somebody else’s or credit items you paid off years ago that still report a balance owed. This is a case of credit repair and not credit reporting errors because the original credit report was correct.
You have rights as a consumer to credit reports, credit scores, and credit monitoring. You are free to take action against credit reporting companies that violate your rights under the FCRA by filing a lawsuit or complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Connect with one of our agents today.
We try to provide great articles. Help us share them.