Alabama Consumer Lawyers
Your credit report is financial biography. It is one of the first references checked by many employers, your insurance company, landlords, and credit lenders. It contains personal information as well as a listing of your debts, payment history on accounts ranging from your cell phone plan to your mortgages, as well as if you have ever been late on your payments or had a debt sent to a collection agency. You are constantly judged by that report and have the right to a fair and accurate credit report.
Companies use your credit report to decide if they will give you loans, decide how high your interest rate will be, decide if they will raise your insurance premiums, decide if they want to do business with you, or even decide if they will lease an apartment to you. A bad credit report could eliminate you from consideration about a job or a promotion. A credit report’s impact is difficult to underestimate and that is why it is so important that yours is accurate. Alabama consumer lawyers will help you go after any company that put false or unfair information on your report.
Sometimes bad information on credit reports can be a sign of identity theft or a mistaken identity. Identity theft is where someone opens an account under your name or uses your credit without your permission or knowledge. Anything on your report will be blamed on you and left on your credit report for years unless you fight and challenge it. Identity theft lets someone get the goods and leave you with the bill! We will help fight to make sure whatever an identity thief did with your credit is erased from your credit report. Mistaken identity, or a “mis-merge” happens when another person’s credit account or history is being reported under your name. That can happen if there is a similarity in names, social security numbers, or other identifying information.
Your credit report is so important that 40 years ago the federal government decided to protect YOU under federal law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that credit reporting be FAIR and as ACCURATE as possible. It also limits how long information can stay on your credit report and makes sure that you have free access to your report every year. Companies that violate the FCRA could be required pay you for the problems and/or embarrassment caused by the unfair or inaccurate credit reporting. Credit agencies have been ordered to pay millions of dollars over the years because of bad information on their reports. Call 205-322-1201 to speak to an Alabama consumer attorney or complete the attached contact form for a free consultation about your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
