Errors that the law takes seriously
Not every annoyance on a credit report is a lawsuit. The cases that hold up are usually errors you can prove with a document: a payoff letter, a settlement agreement, a bankruptcy discharge, a police report, or the simple fact that an account was never yours. Common examples:
- Accounts that aren't yours, often because the bureau blended your file with a relative or someone with a similar name or Social Security number. See mixed credit files.
- Accounts opened by an identity thief that keep reporting after you've disputed them. See identity theft accounts.
- Debts you paid, settled, or discharged in bankruptcy that still show a balance or a past-due status. See paid debt still reporting.
- Late payments you didn't make, or a single late payment repeated month after month.
- The same debt reported twice, by the original creditor and a collector, both showing a balance.
- Old negative items that should have aged off, or a collection whose delinquency date was changed to keep it on your report longer.
- A wrong eviction, judgment, or criminal record in a tenant screening or employment background report. See background check errors.
What a bad entry can cost you
A single wrong account can move a credit score enough to change what you pay for a car loan, a mortgage, or insurance, or whether you are approved at all. A wrong record in a screening report can cost you an apartment or a job offer. Under the FCRA, actual damages can include out-of-pocket losses like higher interest or a lost deposit, a denial of credit, and the stress and humiliation of dealing with it.
Keep every denial letter you receive. When a lender, landlord, or employer turns you down because of a report, it generally has to send an "adverse action" notice naming the reporting company. Those letters are often the most important evidence in the case.
What the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires
Credit bureaus
Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and the specialty companies that sell tenant and employment screening reports are "consumer reporting agencies." They must follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of what they report (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)). When you dispute an item, the bureau must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, generally within 30 days, notify the company that supplied the information within 5 business days, and delete or correct anything that is inaccurate, incomplete, or can't be verified (§ 1681i).
Banks, lenders, and collectors that report the data
The companies that send information to the bureaus are called "furnishers." Once a bureau forwards your dispute to a furnisher, the furnisher must investigate, review the information you provided, report the results, and correct or delete information that turns out to be wrong (§ 1681s-2(b)).
A furnisher's duty that you can enforce in court is triggered when a credit bureau forwards your dispute. A dispute sent only to the lender or collector does not trigger it. Send your dispute to each bureau that shows the error, even if you also contact the lender. My step-by-step dispute guide includes a sample letter.
What you can recover
| Type of violation | What the law allows | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Negligent | Actual damages, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs | 15 U.S.C. § 1681o |
| Willful | Actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus punitive damages, attorney's fees, and costs | 15 U.S.C. § 1681n |
A resolution can also include getting the entry corrected or deleted, which is often what clients care about most. Federal courts also require a concrete harm to bring a case, such as a report shared with a lender, landlord, or employer, so the facts of what happened to you matter.
What to do right now
- Get all three reports. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com, the official free source. The three bureaus currently offer free online reports there every week.
- Dispute in writing with every bureau that shows the error. Explain exactly what is wrong and include proof. Keep copies, certified mail receipts, or screenshots and confirmation numbers if you dispute online.
- Save every denial letter and note the dates you applied for credit, housing, or a job.
- Wait for the results and keep them. The bureau must send you written results within 5 business days after it finishes.
- If the error survives, talk to a lawyer. A "verified" result is where many strong cases begin, and the two-year clock may already be running.
How fees work
The FCRA lets a consumer who wins recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the company that violated the law (§§ 1681n, 1681o). That is what makes it possible to bring cases where the dollar loss is modest. You don't pay me unless you win. I take these cases on contingency: no attorney's fees and no case costs owed to me unless you recover money. If a case is lost, a court can sometimes order the losing side to pay the other side's court costs, and some Florida laws, including the security deposit and deceptive practices statutes, also let the winner recover attorney's fees from the loser. I explain that risk before anything is filed, and every term is in a written agreement before you sign.
The same statute allows fees against someone who files papers in bad faith, which is one more reason I review each case carefully before recommending a lawsuit.