Archive for October, 2009

Finding a lawyer to help you fix your credit report

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Here are  a few things to keep in mind when searching for an attorney to help you fix your credit report.

First, attorneys run a business and need to earn a living like everyone else, so they cannot work on every case that is presented to them. The stronger your case, like blatant credit report errors, the more likely they will be willing to help you, for a fee of course.

Second, if your case is really strong, and the attorney is experienced in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), they may work for you for free or on a contingency basis and you will not have to pay any costs up front. The FCRA provides for attorney costs to be paid by the credit reporting agency if they are sued, and then lose their case.

When searching for an attorney, it is important to speak with several attorneys and ask them if they have experience helping fix credit report errors. The more experience an attorney of law firm has, the more they will understand the credit reporting laws  and the more likely they may consider working on a contingency basis for you.

Steps to repairing your credit report

Monday, October 19th, 2009
  1. Obtain your report for free
  2. Review your report for errors
  3. Notify the Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) of the errors on your report using their online forms or by mailing back the forms included with your free report.
  4. After 30 days, if the errors are still on your credit report, you should ask the CRA to double check the errors and provide them with evidence of the mistake. They will most like likely verify that the errors are correct even though you told them they were not.
  5. If the CRA verified the errors and you believe they are not correct you should sue them in small claims court in your state or if the errors are real bad and obviously errors, you will should find an attorney with FCRA experience. It is important that you find an attorney with experience.

Equifax profits while consumers lose

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Why don’t the credit reporting agencies including Equifax make it easier for you to fix your credit report?

My experience with Equifax is that they care more about the revenue from their business customers than they do about the accuracy of millions of consumer reports. It is more profitable (hundreds of millions of dollars) for Equifax to leave derogatory information on consumers’ credit reports than to correct it.

There are probably tens of thousands of Americans trying to fix their credit report on a daily basis, so Equifax has come up with an investigation system that is practically worthless. This is done deliberately. The reason their system is not thorough is because a more thorough system would cost money and take away from their handsome profits.

Equifax doesn’t care about accurate consumer credit reports, they care about profits. Until it becomes more expensive for Equifax to keep incorrect information on consumers’ credit reports, they will continue their anti-consumer practices. One way consumers can help fix the problem is by not backing down and standing up to Equifax. The Fair Credit Reporting Act law helps protect consumers, but you have to know how to use it to your advantage. More on how to stand up to the credit reporting agencies in a future post.