Sue Experian?
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AlexandraJones
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2023 12:37 pm
Sue Experian?
What are the necessary steps and considerations I should be aware of if I decide to file a small claims court lawsuit against Experian for inaccuracies on my credit report, and how can I effectively prepare and present my case to seek resolution and potential compensation for the damages incurred? And another question is how to sue experian for phony charges?
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wtech_josh
- Site Admin
- Posts: 102
- Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2019 7:17 pm
Re: Sue Experian?
First, a disclaimer - this is a forum for people to get help with servicing loans using Moneylender Professional. So most of the discussion is intended for the lender's point of view. Also, nothing stated here is legal advice, nor likely to be accurate. I have only a glancing familiarity with credit reporting rules as a byproduct of implementing the credit reporting format and helping lenders get their data reported to bureaus successfully. That said, here's my advice to you about suing Experian...
You’re probably are going to have a really bad time trying to sue Experian.
There’s a ton of law that dictates how the credit bureaus must operate and how they must respond to disputes. If you ask them to remove something from your credit, they can’t legally just remove it at your request. They are required to perform a verification process with the business that has reported the item you're disputing. If the item is verified by the reporting business, Experian can’t legally take the item off your credit report.
Here's a scenario that shows why credit bureaus can't just remove disputed items temporarily. I'm not saying this is your situation, just that this is a situation that would make credit reports useless to lenders:
Let's say Johnny wants to borrow $1000 from you. And let's say you know I'm friends with Johnny. And let's say Johnny borrowed $1000 from Jamie and then never paid her back. So you're the lender, I'm the credit bureau, and Johnny is an unreliable borrower. You ask me if Johnny's trustworthy. I tell you he scammed Jamie for $1000 just two months ago, and you avoid losing $1000 to Johnny.
Now, let's say Johnny calls me and says "Yo Josh, I didn't borrow $1000 from Jamie! What Jamie told you is not true." So now I temporarily remove disputed items while I verified them. At the same time Johnny asks you to borrow $1000. You ask me if he's a good bet and I tell you that his record is squeaky clean, so you give him your $1000. Then, I talk to Jamie a few days and she says "Johnny totally took my $1000 and laughed at me when I asked him to pay it back." So you just gave Johnny $1000 because I omitted information based solely on Johnny disputing it. Credit bureau didn't do you much good, did it?
If the item is fraud, there’s a whole different set of steps that have to be performed by you and the credit bureaus and the business that reported the item that was created due to identity theft.
If there’s something on your credit that you believe to be mistaken, first you need to be very patient. All the individual steps can take one or two months. You might be waiting half a year for the process of making a correction to your credit report. Nothing is going to move quickly. Legally, the process can’t be rushed. Many businesses will respond promptly to disputed items, so it doesn't have to take that long, but legally the windows to respond have quite a bit of wiggle room.
Experian is not responsible for your money or lack of access to loans, so you can’t take them to small claims court and ask them to give you $200. If your credit is poor, whether because of an erroneous item on a report or not, Experian doesn’t have any liability. If you are an Experian customer, and want a refund for a monthly membership fee, that's a different story. If it's something on your credit report you don't like, it's very unlikely that Experian is financially liable.
The rules that govern how the credit bureaus must operate are written in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If Experian has failed to follow some directive in the law, you can contact an attorney. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/brows ... orting-act
You’re probably are going to have a really bad time trying to sue Experian.
There’s a ton of law that dictates how the credit bureaus must operate and how they must respond to disputes. If you ask them to remove something from your credit, they can’t legally just remove it at your request. They are required to perform a verification process with the business that has reported the item you're disputing. If the item is verified by the reporting business, Experian can’t legally take the item off your credit report.
Here's a scenario that shows why credit bureaus can't just remove disputed items temporarily. I'm not saying this is your situation, just that this is a situation that would make credit reports useless to lenders:
Let's say Johnny wants to borrow $1000 from you. And let's say you know I'm friends with Johnny. And let's say Johnny borrowed $1000 from Jamie and then never paid her back. So you're the lender, I'm the credit bureau, and Johnny is an unreliable borrower. You ask me if Johnny's trustworthy. I tell you he scammed Jamie for $1000 just two months ago, and you avoid losing $1000 to Johnny.
Now, let's say Johnny calls me and says "Yo Josh, I didn't borrow $1000 from Jamie! What Jamie told you is not true." So now I temporarily remove disputed items while I verified them. At the same time Johnny asks you to borrow $1000. You ask me if he's a good bet and I tell you that his record is squeaky clean, so you give him your $1000. Then, I talk to Jamie a few days and she says "Johnny totally took my $1000 and laughed at me when I asked him to pay it back." So you just gave Johnny $1000 because I omitted information based solely on Johnny disputing it. Credit bureau didn't do you much good, did it?
If the item is fraud, there’s a whole different set of steps that have to be performed by you and the credit bureaus and the business that reported the item that was created due to identity theft.
If there’s something on your credit that you believe to be mistaken, first you need to be very patient. All the individual steps can take one or two months. You might be waiting half a year for the process of making a correction to your credit report. Nothing is going to move quickly. Legally, the process can’t be rushed. Many businesses will respond promptly to disputed items, so it doesn't have to take that long, but legally the windows to respond have quite a bit of wiggle room.
Experian is not responsible for your money or lack of access to loans, so you can’t take them to small claims court and ask them to give you $200. If your credit is poor, whether because of an erroneous item on a report or not, Experian doesn’t have any liability. If you are an Experian customer, and want a refund for a monthly membership fee, that's a different story. If it's something on your credit report you don't like, it's very unlikely that Experian is financially liable.
The rules that govern how the credit bureaus must operate are written in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If Experian has failed to follow some directive in the law, you can contact an attorney. https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/brows ... orting-act