The FCRA is a federal law that regulates the use of consumer credit information. The purpose of the law is to protect consumers against inaccurate information on their credit reports. While the statute is very lengthy, there are several items that are of interest to everyone concerned about having an accurate credit report.
The FCRA requires you to monitor your own credit. When you notice that anything is incorrect on your credit report, you must send a dispute letter to the credit-reporting agency before taking any legal action against your creditor or the credit-reporting bureau. We send this notice on our clients behalf.
Creditors are required to conduct a reasonable investigation to your dispute. If they do not, you have the right to sue them.
The credit reporting agency must:
Conduct a reasonable investigation into your dispute
Prepare a credit report that is as accurate as possible, after following all policies and procedures.
Our Services Are FREE to you, As the Consumer
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act law, the defendants have to pay our fees and costs. This litigation will not cost you anything. Our representation is absolutely FREE to you.
Your Rights Under FCRA Law
The first step is a letter to the credit-reporting agency (CRA) to notify them of their error. This is called a Dispute Letter. Once the CRA receives your Dispute Letter, it has 5 days to notify the lender that you are disputing a particular item called the “trade line” and that you do not agree with that lender’s reporting of your debt. Then, both the CRA and the lender have 30 days to investigate your dispute. The CRA can only keep the trade line on your report if both the lender and the credit reporting agency are certain that the trade line is accurate following their investigation.
Their inability or unwillingness to make the correction during this investigation is usually where they drop the ball. Typically, neither one does a very good job of investigating your dispute. Even after we have provided the needed information to them, they rarely come to the correct conclusion. When the trade line isn’t corrected as required, CRA’s and lender’s continue to recklessly hurt people’s credit reports.
What We Need To Get Going
If you believe that items are incorrect on your credit report, give us a call and let’s talk. If you aren’t sure if your credit report is correct, many websites allow you to pull your credit report at no charge. If you need help reading this report to understand what it means, we can help.