Identity Theft
Everybody is familiar with identity theft; it is nearly impossible to turn on the television or radio without hearing about some credit monitoring service that promises to protect consumers from this all-too-common menace. What you do not hear, however, is what you need to do after you have already been victimized by an identity thief.
Unfair Credit Reporting
The credit-reporting agencies describe the process of repairing a consumer credit-report in the simple terms of filing online disputes. While that process is sometimes simple and quick, many times it is not. Horror stories abound of credit reporting agencies and the furnishers that provide them with that information simply refusing to remove erroneous entries caused by identity theft. Such agencies and furnishers frequently disregard the consumer’s report of identity theft and choose instead to report that such consumer is attempting to avoid a legitimate debt.
An example of unfair credit reporting
An example of unfair credit reporting involves what is known as a “mixed-file” case. This occurs when two (or more) consumers share similar names or social security numbers. John J. Smith may have excellent credit, while his son John J. Smith, Jr. does not. Through clerical error and/or negligence, Jr.’s bad history gets reported on Sr.’s report. Then, when Sr. discovers this error, typically when he is applying for a loan of some kind, Sr. is required to pay higher interest than he might otherwise. On occasion, Sr. may lose a job opportunity, a living arrangement or his dream home, because the agency reporting the error fails to timely correct it.
We at MCL do not offer credit-monitoring services, rather, we litigate those cases where a furnisher and/or credit-reporting agency fails or refuses to correct the erroneous credit entry.