Mixed Credit Files can cause Disaster
Marketwatch has a lengthy story on credit reporting errors with a focus on marking a consumer as “deceased” when he/she is actually alive. As the story shows, it happens more than it should and there are several different ways it can happen. Some of the most reoccurring ways is when a deceased person’s credit file...Read More
CFPB Reports Complaints of Credit Monitoring Services
Credit Reporting Agencies like TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax have recently started offering consumers credit monitoring services where consumers can pay a fee to presumably keep a closer eye on their credit data. As a story in the American Banker explains, the CFPB complaint database has shown a surge in complaints regarding these services: The charges,...Read More
Medical Debt Collectors Use Court’s Power To Have Debtors Arrested
A troubling story out of Kansas regarding medical debt collectors having debtors arrested for not showing up for court so that they can be questioned for assets: If a debtor missed an exam, the judge typically issued a citation of contempt, a charge for disobeying an order of the court, which in this case was...Read More
CRAs Sue to Stop Maine Medical Debt Law
The Consumer Data Industry Association has sued the state of Maine to prevent new consumer laws from going into effect. As reported by WGME 13, the new laws are: One of the laws prevents reporting agencies from reporting medical debt on a consumer report until the debt is 180 days old and instructs agencies to...Read More
FTC Warns of Social Security Scam
The Federal Trade Commission has issued a new warning regarding a new scam that tricks people into thinking their social security benefits are in danger. The FTC has posted a sample of the call on their webpage that can be accessed here. The FTC states: The Social Security Administration scam is the number one scam...Read More
Do FCRA Punitive Damages Survive the Plaintiff’s Death?
One of the best parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) is a consumer’s opportunity to recover punitive damages against a defendant that willfully violates the Act. Regretfully, sometimes litigation can take several years and a plaintiff can pass away while the case is pending. When then is happens, the personal representative of the...Read More
$101,000 Verdict in Portland Credit Reporting Trial
A federal jury awarded a consumer in Portland, Oregon $101,000 for damages related to a Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) claim. The background: Despite repeated attempts by Sponer and his lawyer to get his bank to delete the $29,000 debt that his credit report showed he owed for the car loan, Wells Fargo didn’t do...Read More
Bloomberg on FCRA Standing Issues
Bloomberg recently ran a story on a South Carolina Fair Credit Reporting Act claim (“FCRA”) and how the Court allowed the claim to continue over a standing challenge: Latisha Burns brought an FCRA action against Warehouse after her credit report allegedly listed an erroneous outstanding debt. Burns filed her suit in 2018 after credit reporting...Read More
Recent Repos Gone Wrong
There have been a few reports of repossessions gone wrong recently. A local story out of Gadsden, AL involving a repo agent on the hood of the car: The 34-year-old man told police he was in the 300 block of George Wallace Drive, and was attempting to repossess a gray 2013 Ford Mustang at about...Read More
Eleventh Circuit on Implied Warranty of Merchantability
The Eleventh Circuit released an opinion recently regarding the implied warranty of merchantability and products that are “unfit” and “defective” as those terms are defined by Alabama law. In Easterling v. Ford Motor Co., No. 18-12914, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23286 (11th Cir. Aug. 5, 2019) the Court stated: On the other hand, defectiveness and...Read More