Last updated: July 22, 2026 · Written by John C. Hubbard, Attorney
If a credit bureau or a lender is reporting false information about you and refusing to fix it, federal law gives you the right to sue them in Houston. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., requires Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to keep your file accurate, requires the companies that report your accounts to investigate your disputes, and makes them pay damages when they don’t. John C. Hubbard is a consumer protection attorney licensed in Texas, admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Texas, and has been handling consumer finance cases since 2008. Call 832-410-8121.
What counts as a credit report error under the FCRA?
A credit report error is any inaccurate or incomplete item on your file that a bureau or furnisher fails to correct after you dispute it. The most common ones we see in Houston cases:
- An account that isn’t yours, usually from a mixed file (your data blended with someone with a similar name or Social Security number) or from identity theft
- A repossessed car loan reporting a wrong balance, wrong status, or a deficiency you don’t owe
- A debt reported as unpaid after you settled or paid it
- A discharged bankruptcy debt still showing a balance
- Late payments you never made, or an account re-aged to look newer than it is
- Someone else’s bankruptcy, judgment, or collection on your file
One wrong tradeline can drop your score enough to cost you a mortgage rate, an apartment, a car loan, or a job that runs a background check. The law treats that as real damage, because it is.
How do I dispute a credit report error?
Send a written dispute to the credit bureau reporting the error, not just to the lender. This step matters more than most people realize. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, the bureau has 30 days to investigate. The bureau then forwards your dispute to the furnisher (the bank, auto lender, or debt collector reporting the account), which triggers the furnisher’s own duty to investigate under § 1681s-2(b). If you only complain to the lender directly, you may not be able to sue the lender at all. Disputing through the bureau is what opens the courthouse door.
Practical rules for the dispute:
- Get your reports from annualcreditreport.com, the only federally authorized free source
- Dispute in writing by mail, certified with return receipt, not through the online portal
- Identify each error specifically and attach proof (payment records, the ID theft report, the settlement letter)
- Keep a copy of everything you send and everything they send back
If the bureau or furnisher “verifies” the false information anyway, which happens constantly, that failed investigation is usually the violation your lawsuit is built on.
The threshold question: can you prove the report is wrong?
In Texas, this is settled law. In Reyes v. Equifax Information Services, L.L.C., No. 24-40415 (5th Cir. June 13, 2025), the Fifth Circuit, whose decisions bind the federal courts in Houston, held that inaccuracy is a threshold requirement for a § 1681i claim and that the claimed error must be objectively verifiable. Credit bureaus are not required to resolve legal disputes over whether you owe a debt; they investigate facts. A dispute the bureau brushed off is not a case by itself. Proof that the report is wrong is.
So before you call, gather whatever shows the error is an error: proof of payment for a balance reported as owing, a bankruptcy discharge order for a debt reported as due, an FTC identity theft report and police report for an account you never opened, court records showing a judgment was satisfied or is not yours, and every dispute letter you sent with everything the bureau sent back. If you have that kind of proof and the bureau verified the error anyway, that is exactly the case John C. Hubbard, LLC handles.
What can I recover in an FCRA lawsuit?
Actual damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees, depending on what the defendant did. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681o, a negligent violation gets you your actual damages: the credit denials, the higher interest rate, the lost job offer, and the stress and humiliation of being treated as a deadbeat over a debt you don’t owe. Under § 1681n, a willful violation adds statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per violation plus punitive damages, which is where verdicts get large.
The FCRA also has a fee-shifting provision: when you win, the court can order the defendant to pay your reasonable attorney’s fees in addition to your damages. That’s why John C. Hubbard, LLC handles FCRA cases on a contingency basis: no fee unless we recover for you. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fee. Whether you are responsible for court costs and case expenses is set out in your written fee agreement before the case begins.
Where are credit report error cases filed in Houston?
FCRA cases can be filed in federal court, and for Houston residents that means the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. John C. Hubbard is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Texas, so cases get filed where they belong, whether you’re in Harris County, Fort Bend, Montgomery, or anywhere else in the Houston metro.
Most viable FCRA cases settle before trial. The bureaus and furnishers are repeat players who know what a documented § 1681i violation costs in front of a jury. But settlements track trial risk, so it matters that your lawyer builds the case to try it.
How long do I have to sue?
Two years from the date you discover the violation, and never more than five years from the date the violation happened. That’s 15 U.S.C. § 1681p. The clock usually starts when you learn the bureau verified the false information, not when the error first appeared. Don’t sit on it. Evidence goes stale, and every month the false tradeline stays on your file is another month of damage you have to prove later instead of prevent now.
The repossession connection: deficiency balances reported wrong
Some of the credit report errors we litigate start with a car repossession. After a repo, the lender reports a deficiency balance, and those numbers are wrong with remarkable frequency: the sale proceeds weren’t credited, the balance includes fees the contract doesn’t allow, or the lender never sent the notices Texas law requires before it could claim a deficiency at all. If that inflated number is on your credit report and the lender verified it after your dispute, you may have both an FCRA case and a wrongful repossession case in Houston.
This is the intersection where the firm does much of its work. See Credit Report Errors After Repossession and Deficiency Balance Reported Wrong for how these cases fit together.
Why John C. Hubbard, LLC
John C. Hubbard has been practicing consumer protection law since 2008 and has been licensed in Texas since 2018, with cases in both Houston and Dallas. The firm’s experience includes jury-trial and federal-appellate work in Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, and results the firm has actually obtained include a six-figure wrongful repossession and FDCPA settlement in Dallas County, Texas, and five-figure wrongful repossession and FDCPA settlements in Dallas and Houston. Every case is different, and prior results don’t guarantee a similar outcome. What they show is that these cases get taken seriously and worked to conclusion.
Consultations are free, by phone, anywhere in Texas.
Call 832-410-8121 or use the contact form.
Before you write to us, find the item
The question that decides a credit report case is simple: what does the report say, and why is it inaccurate? The FCRA covers information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading in a way that hurts you. A paid loan reported with a balance. A repossession listed for the wrong amount. An account you never opened. Start there.
The dispute history matters, but it comes second. If the item is accurate, no amount of sloppy investigation by the bureau creates a case. If it is inaccurate, we will handle the investigation questions ourselves once we see the report.
The form below takes about three minutes. You do not need to write a summary, and you do not need to send everything you have. Two things help most: the page of the report that shows the item, and one document that shows why it is wrong.
Do I have a case if the bureau did a bad investigation?
Only if the information was wrong in the first place. The FCRA requires a reasonable investigation, but the law starts with accuracy. Courts in Alabama and Texas routinely dismiss cases where the consumer shows the bureau was careless but cannot show the item was actually inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. That is why we ask what is wrong and why before we ask anything about the dispute.
This website provides general information and is not legal advice. Viewing the website, submitting a contact form, or speaking with the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship is created only through a written engagement agreement signed by the client and the firm. Do not send confidential or time-sensitive information until the firm confirms that it represents you. Every matter is different. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Responsible attorney: John C. Hubbard. Principal office: Birmingham, Alabama. John C. Hubbard is licensed in Texas and Alabama.