FCRA vs Credit Repair

I AM NOT CREDIT REPAIR
FCRA versus Credit Repair, a comparison/contrast

I get a fair number of calls from people asking me to “fix their credit.” I proceed to ask them what is wrong with it and they reply with something about unpaid bills. I cannot help with that. While I cannot speak to what all credit repair people do one model is they submit dispute letters en masse. When a dispute is received by the bureau they have so many days to complete their investigation or they are supposed to take it off. In reality you can do this yourself and technically dispute letters are supposed to be sent in good faith. I’ve also learned over the years that sometimes a dispute letter may prod the creditor to go ahead and sue you. Credit Repair Service Organizations are heavily regulated under both Texas and Federal Law. Before you enter into a relationship with such an entity please take a look at Texas Finance Code Chapter 393 so that you know what your rights are and know what to look for. They are supposed to tell you up front who the registered agent for service of process is. This is huge in the event that something goes wrong and you need to sue them. The last time this came up for a client of mine the Credit Service Organization (CSO) had themselves put an inaccurate derogatory trade line on her credit report, the very thing she was paying them to fix. They had also gone to great lengths to conceal their identity and had we ultimately decided to bring a lawsuit they were going to be difficult to find.   

Sending dispute letters en masse on debts that you legitimately owe is not something I do. Further more credit repair professionals are charging you a sizeable fee compared to when I bring a lawsuit for an inaccurate trade line or item on a credit report I’m not asking for much up front and I’m taking my expenses and winnings on contingency, meaning you don’t pay me unless we win and I take my share out of the winnings.

There are some individuals out there who have built up relationships with the various creditors who for a fee will broker a “pay for delete” deal between you and the reporting agency or creditor, also known as a furnisher. While this can be a valuable service be sure to get any agreement in writing. Again this is not something that I do, and in some cases you may be able to negotiate this yourself. Always get any deals or agreements in writing before sending away money.

What I do for people is to help dispute legitimately inaccurate credit reports and if necessary bring lawsuit against as many people as needed in Federal Court under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This can be anything from the creditor failing to update or remove a tradeline after litigation is complete or the case has been settled and paid to inaccurate data by virtue of the fact that the debt is stale or time barred, meaning it has been 7 ½ years since the date of first delinquency. In other cases the creditor is changing dates, also known as reaging a debt to make it look like it is more current than it in fact is. In other case the client is a victim of identity theft or a merged file (link). For whatever reason the trade line or entry on the credit report is inaccurate. This is where I come in.

Call me at 817 738 1633 for a free consultation.