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Fair credit reporting has been at the core of our law firm’s practice for over 20 years. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act or “FCRA” is one of the strongest consumer protection laws, and it requires accurate and fair credit reporting. It also protects consumer privacy. At no out-of-pocket cost to our clients, we have helped thousands of consumers with errors on their credit reports, and we regularly accept attorney referrals for FCRA individual cases and class actions.
The FCRA regulates the collection, dispersion, and storage of consumer information. Basically, it regulates the way credit and consumer reporting agencies are allowed use your information.
Credit reporting agencies (CRAs) collect and report credit-related information on consumers. The three largest and well known CRAs are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Companies contact credit reporting agencies when doing credit checks. Credit checks are performed for many reasons, but the most common will include employment screenings, loan and credit card approvals, apartment rental applications, and bank account approvals.
When the information in your credit report is incorrect, you have the right to dispute it and get it corrected.
- You have the right to dispute errors – Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to report any mistakes. To do this, you file a dispute with the consumer reporting agency that supplied the inaccurate information, and that agency is required to look into the mistake
- Inaccurate information must be removed . Once you have disputed an error on your credit report or background check, the reporting agency will have 30 days to verify that the information they have is correct. If it cannot be verified, they must remove the error.
- Outdated negative information cannot be reported – when you have had credit issues in the past, and they have been resolved, they can only show on your credit report for up to 7 years. The only exception is bankruptcy, which can only be shown for ten years.
- You have the right to sue for damages – the FCRA also gives consumers the right to sue credit reporting agencies that have violated the FCRA for damages. In some cases, you may also be able to sue the person/agency that used the incorrect credit report against you.
For more, view our Summary of Your Rights Under The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Once the credit report agency receives your dispute, they forward the dispute form to the furnisher. They then perform their investigation and report back with the revised/corrected information. This process should be done within 30 days of the dispute.
Both the credit reporting agency and the furnisher (a bank or creditor) are supposed to do independent investigations.
Unfortunately, most credit reporting agencies do not spend much time investigating which leads to non-removal of the error. This means that second or third attempts are sometimes needed but do not guarantee the error will be resolved.
In this video, firm partner, John Soumilas answers your questions about how long it takes to get credit report errors corrected after a lawsuit against a credit reporting agency or background check company.
If you have gotten nowhere with the credit reporting agency and they are not removing mistakes, and continue to damage your credit you need to contact Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. and their team of experienced consumer law attorneys. They are here to fight for you and get your credit report fixed as well as the compensation you deserve.
Don’t let credit report errors continue to ruin your credit score and your reputation. Fill out our online form, or call us now at 1-877-735-8600 for a free consultation.
