The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires the companies that gather, review and report your personal information to do so accurately and carefully. If those companies do not meet this standard, your credit report could contain inaccurate negative information that makes it harder for you to qualify for loans, mortgages, jobs or even insurance. Working with a financial credit reporting law attorney can help you get these errors corrected and may also allow you to pursue compensation.
A financial credit reporting law attorney is a legal professional who practices consumer protection law focused on helping consumers handle and fix errors in their credit reports. A credit report is a record of your financial history that is used by creditors, landlords, lenders and others to determine your creditworthiness. If you have a bad mark on your credit report, the process by which you can challenge that mark is designed to trigger investigations by both the credit bureaus and the creditor who reported the bad mark. If they do not properly investigate your dispute, or they fail to remove the error from your report after you challenge it, the FCRA allows you to sue for money damages for harm and financial injury.
In addition, the fair credit reporting act attorney prohibits CRAs and creditors from reporting information that is outdated (except bankruptcy information that cannot be reported after 10 years). A credit report lawyer can work with you to request that a CRA or creditor delete out-of-date information from your credit file.
Another area in which a credit reporting attorney can be of great help is if you have been wrongfully labeled as deceased. This is an error that can make it difficult to get mortgages and loans, as creditors often assume you are trying to use a dead person’s identity to obtain credit. A good financial credit reporting law attorney can work with a CRA or creditor to have the deceased indicator removed from your report and may be able to help you win compensation for your losses and out-of-pocket costs.
Finally, if the CRA or creditor violated the FCRA by failing to follow its requirements for investigating your dispute, or if they have a pattern of violating the FCRA, an experienced attorney can help you sue them for damages. You can recover monetary damages for the harm caused by the inaccurate information, and you may also be entitled to non-economic damages such as emotional distress and anxiety.
If you have an issue with your credit report, you should contact a financial credit reporting law attorney right away for assistance. The Langel Firm has experience in FCRA violations and can provide you with expert legal representation. Our attorneys can also assist you with the Fair Credit Billing Act, which protects consumers from unfair billing and gives you rights when disputing inaccurate charges with your credit card company. We can also help you with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which limits how often debt collectors can contact you and grants several other rights that protect against deceptive practices.