Our credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles help to dispute credit report errors when there’s a mistake on your credit bureau report or your background check report. Our credit report dispute attorneys in Los Angeles will file lawsuits against your credit reporting agency for not correcting credit report errors such as:
- Incorrect or incomplete personal information such as name, address, marital status, and employment information.
- Incorrect credit information such as late payments that you have paid on time, closed accounts that are listed as open, a delinquent account that is seven years or more old, accounts that incorrectly state you as a cosigner, etc.
- Incorrect public record information such as lawsuits that you were not involved in, bankruptcies that you did not file, bankruptcies you filed more than ten years ago, tax or judgment liens that you paid but are listed as unpaid.
- Incorrect inquiry information such as inquiries that you did not authorize.
- Incorrect criminal records on the background check report such as felony, sexual assault, misdemeanors and arrests
If you see a mistake or incorrect record on your credit bureau report, talk to our credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles today about a possible FCRA lawsuit. Call 818-254-8413 for a free case evaluation!
Credit Report Dispute Lawyers in Los Angeles Who Can Successfully Dispute Credit Report Errors
Our credit report dispute attorneys in Los Angeles are knowledgeable in the laws that protect consumers when they have false information on their credit report or have their identity stolen. When you have items on your credit report that you are unfamiliar with, it is a strong indication of identity theft. When your identity gets stolen, the thief usually makes purchases or opens new accounts under your name. This reflects poorly on your credit and can ruin your credit report.
When situations like credit identity theft occur, it is a good idea to reach out to our credit report dispute attorneys in Los Angeles who can assess the situation. They can help compose a dispute letter that you can send to the 3 credit bureaus regarding the inaccurate information on your credit report. If no action is taken by the credit bureaus in 30 days, our credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles can take legal action to get your credit report fixed. The legal action can also result in you receiving compensation for damages.
Understanding the Fair Credit Reporting Act [FCRA]
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that requires companies to properly collect and use and share consumer information. Federal law applies to any company that collects information from consumers and shares that information with credit bureaus, such as credit card companies, collection agencies, auto finance companies, or mortgage and lending institutions.
The 3 major consumer credit reporting agencies in the USA are Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. These are the 3 main agencies that have to comply with the FCRA by making sure that credit reports have accurate information.
What most people don’t know is that as many as 20-80% of all credit reports contain mistakes and errors. It’s very important to dispute credit report errors because it can lead to your credit score dropping, being turned down for a home loan, car loan, or a credit card, as well as being turned down for a job or apartment or having to pay more interest for a loan or credit card.
Steps to Dispute Credit Report Errors
There are very specific steps to dispute credit report errors. If you are turned down for a loan due to bad credit or your credit score drops for reasons that you are not aware of, you should check your credit report for errors and outdated information. If you find an error on your credit report, contact our credit report dispute attorneys in Los Angeles for legal instructions to correctly fix the credit report errors.
1. Get a copy of your credit report
The best way to request a copy of your free credit report is to send a written request in the mail. It is always better to send a written request for a free credit report by mail instead of getting a copy online because most online request forms have a clause that makes you agree to go to arbitration with any disputes. You can download a copy of the form by clicking here.
The best method to request a credit report is by sending a written request to any of the big three credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. You can also request a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com.
2. Write a Credit Dispute Letter to the Credit Report Agency
You will need to write a dispute letter to the credit report agency after you have a copy of your credit report and you see errors on your Experian credit report, Equifax credit report, or your Transunion credit report. You will need to send a very specific and detailed credit report dispute letter to the credit reporting agency. The letter should clearly point out the mistakes that appear on your credit report and ask the credit agency to fix them. The most important thing is to be very specific. If you need a sample letter for disputing errors on your credit report, visit here or talk to our credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles.
Sending a written credit report dispute is the first step necessary to fix errors on your credit report. After sending in your credit report disputing letter, the agency has 30 days to correct any mistakes on the credit report and respond to the letter.
3. File a Credit Report Lawsuit Against The Credit Agency
If the credit agency does not correct the disputed error on your credit report nor respond to the credit dispute letter after 30 days you may be able to file a credit report lawsuit based on damage to your credit score and other types of harm.
Types of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Damages That You Can Claim:
- Damages for economic loss include denial for a low-interest rate, being turned down for a job, losing an opportunity for housing, being terminated from employment, being denied insurance
- Non-economic damages loss include loss of sleep, anxiety, lowered reputation, lowered well-being, humiliation, and embarrassment, among other symptoms
- Business damages are recoverable where dreams are dashed and someone who had hoped to start a business is not able to obtain a loan or qualify for credit due to a mistake on a credit report
Damages for a credit report dispute do not require a denial of credit. We give weight to statements from friends and family who observed the behavior and the stress firsthand. In describing emotional distress we look at physical symptoms such as sleep loss anxiety and depression. Lowered reputation does not need proof; the same is true for lower creditworthiness.
Common occurrences are the initial shock and disappointment which occurs on day one when you are faced with having to dispute credit reports, time spent calling and disputing credit report mistakes and errors in the following days, and time spent going back and forth attempting to dispute and correct credit report errors with the agencies.
Credit Report Dispute Cases that Our Credit Report Lawyer Accept
As credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles, we are looking for cases where the agency has made a mistake and the consumer has sent a dispute letter, and the response from the agency is either a denial or refusal to do anything, which results in damage or harm to the consumer. The strongest cases are those where we can prove clear liability where the credit agency caused damages or did not fix the problem.
We also sue companies for FCRA violations when they pull a credit report without written or verbally recorded permission from a consumer. As a credit report dispute lawyer in Los Angeles, we need to prove that the company did not have permission to pull the credit report, and we request a certificate or consent letter from the company, as well as a subscriber agreement. We ask for the “Individual Pull Certificate” and we look for notice to the consumer, stating the nature of the credit pull. For example, we consider whether the pull was promotional, an account review, or a hard pull.
Once we take the case we start the discovery process to uncover the truth and ask about the decisions made by the credit agency. Our credit report lawyers look for the mistakes that were made and where those mistakes were made and what policies and procedures they have to protect their company from making mistakes. We find out which people within the agency made those mistakes as well as how they conduct their own investigations internally.
What to Do When You Have an FCRA Case
- Keep a diary, take notes, or write an email to yourself, whatever is easiest for you to keep track of dates and facts for each event. Keep a written list of any time you make contact or get a call or letter from a credit agency or the company that is sending the reports.
- Make sure that you get the name of anyone that you talk to on the phone, and ask for an ID number or the last name if they will give that to you.
- Call a credit report dispute attorney in Los Angeles and make sure to pay attention to the details that matter the most: be specific about what kind of mistake was made in your report, when and how you disputed the mistake if you took action, and what happened after you sent the dispute if anything.
Why You Should Not Dispute Credit Report Online
Disputing credit report online can sound like a convenient and great way to save time. However, disputing your credit report errors online can be less effective than mailing the dispute letter.
When you file your dispute online, the system can limit what you can write and send for a dispute. On top of that, the credit reporting agency can claim that they never received your dispute or make another excuse for not handling your dispute.
If you send the dispute letter by certified mail with a return receipt, you will have a record, so the agency cannot claim that they never received your letter. You spent time, money, and effort to send in the dispute, so why risk letting them go to waste?
Collecting Documents for a Credit Report Dispute Lawsuit
To file a credit dispute lawsuit, we will ask for the following items from you:
- Call log – description of the calls to the company and those from the company that you received
- Notes from calls – description of what you discussed and who you talked to, including first and last name, ID or badge number, phone number and extension, and any email address they may have provided.
- Disputing Letters that you sent to the Credit Report Agency (CRA) or any you received
- Any Emails regarding your credit report dispute with the Credit Report Agency sent or received
- All copies of past credit reports that you have obtained
- Any credit offers and/or denials received by mail or email
Getting Ready To File a Lawsuit
Before we file a lawsuit we have to research public records about the company involved, including any information on the FTC website or CFPB website. For emotional distress claims, we ask for statements from friends and family and doctors or anyone who knows about first-hand accounts of distress. When it’s applicable, we look at copies of any background checks that have been done to make sure that those records are accurate.
In the later stages of a lawsuit, there are times when the banks and the credit cards want to depose a consumer to ask questions about what kind of harm or distress they have. Consumers do not have any obligation to see a doctor or to document their emotional distress, but we encourage our clients to write down how they feel and to record any problems that they have had, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and other distressing symptoms.
We know that a doctor can’t fix your credit, and most of our clients spend their time getting more and more frustrated dealing with companies that have made mistakes on their credit reports and caused them harm. Credit agencies and banks can be reckless and careless by ignoring your requests to fix your credit report. We emphasize that willful acts are not acts such as banks throwing darts at your picture; a willful act is when the bank disregards your request to fix your credit report or refuses to take action when you send a dispute letter.
Call Now to Talk to a Credit Report Dispute Lawyer in Los Angeles for FREE!
Our credit report dispute lawyers in Los Angeles can help to fix your credit report and increase your credit score.
We dispute credit errors such as:
- Reports that have the wrong personal information,
- Reports that have the wrong account information,
- Reports with mistakes in payment history, and
- Reports that are the result of identity theft,
- Including charges that you did not make and accounts that you did not open.
We will get you compensated when your credit card company or credit bureau ignores your requests to fix your credit report. Talk to our credit report dispute attorneys Los Angeles today for free legal help. Call 818-254-8413 for immediate credit report dispute help!
