Has there ever been any discussion on this board about bringing a class action lawsuit against the CRA's? We are all having the same problems with the CRA's and it would seem to be a reasonable approach to getting some changes. I know some have/are suing them but it doesn't seem to get their attention. They are almost 2000 members on this board, many of us have the same problem with the CRA'a not verifying or ignoring us. If a good class action firm takes such a case, they could show that not only people on this board have suffered as a result of CRA inaction, but also tens of thousands of other consumers are affected but not smart enough regarding the law to know they suffered damages. The amount of money we as individuals would recieve would be miniscule, but we could possibly see major changes in the way the CRA's conduct themselves and I think that is what most of us are fighting for anyways, right? I may be all wet on this but I think that maybe instead of discussing individual lawsuits or problems, we could really make a bigger impact going at the CRA's as a group. There is enough knowledge and documentation within this group that I think we would have a chance at class action status. Think about thousands of pages of documentation showing violation after violation, proof of deliverys, I think the hurt we would put on the CRA's would forever change the way they do business.
I think you are right, but most people here are primarily interested in getting their own reports corrected. If a few people who had good cases refused to settle it would have a similar effect, because the bad PR would hurt them. Unfortunately, when the CRA's agree to delete, most folks are happy, even if they have to pay their own court costs.
I think, too, that the current system allows people to dispute derogatory accounts that actually do belong to them and are correct and often end up with a deletion because the original creditor either does not keep good records for any length of time or just doesn't bother to verify. If there were to be a successful class action suit, I'm afraid that it might change the entire way creditors and credit agencies do things record keeping wise and make it even more difficult than it currently is to rehabilitate ones credit. As frustrating as this is, there is the knowledge that your chances are good in getting something either removed or upgraded if you are persistent...simply because CRA's and CA's (not to mention original creditors) simply don't have their acts together. I personally brought a lot of this on myself. Yes, there are definately errors in my report, but if only the errors were corrected, I would still have some derogatory on my CR. I don't seem to see an awful lot of people here going through this who have never been late on their payments or overextended or made poor choices creditwise for whatever reason. I wish it were easier and I really wish the CRAs would do what they are supposed to do (but only when its to the benefit of my credit report...lol), but I would personally opt out of any class for fear that it would backfire for anyone who needs to start over. L
Most of us here including me have made bad choices regarding their credit, but that doesn't automatically exclude us from the right to dispute incorrect information on our CR's. That's one of the main issues I have not only with the CRA's, but also the CA's. These companies are deliberately ignoring our rights under federal law, they are not just doing this to one or two, but to thousands. A lawsuit here and there will never affect the CRA's they are just too big. But I think one large class action, with horrendous damages could wake them up and create a more "consumer friendly enviroment". I think that a class action would benefit the dispute process not hinder it. I have several accounts where I recieved letters from the original creditor saying the account is wrong and the CA's and the CRA's refuse to delete. I am filing on one of the CA's but I just think that as a group, we have so much overwhelming documentation that we could show a deliberate policy of ignoring our rights. The only thing these companies listen too is their profit and loss statements. They ignored the laws requiring them to have 1-800 numbers for consumers to call, until the FTC hit them with a million dollar fine each. I just feel that we would be able to affect more change in this industry as a group rather than attacking individually. I don't want to sound like I am knocking the people who have sued, that takes guts and more character than most of us can muster, and the information they have to offer is priceless. But there are lots of us who tend too doubt our ability to do the same and be successful. I catch myself doubting my ability to follow through and file daily. If we file as a group, we would all stand as one. A "mob mentality" isn't always a bad thing.
This site is an organized group working actively on the issue of the CRA's http://members.aol.com/victcrdrpt/index.html
I have said over and over that we the consumer should cease doing business with the creditors in order to put a stop to the scoring racket. Breeze you're right folks won't put on a united front and stick together to fight this shell game. This has caused me to rethink about the solution. Perhaps it would be better to let the con game proceed to its natural conclusion of self destruction.Once they have succeeded in destroying enough peoples credit no one will be able to borrow money to support them.If this is where it is headed it can't happen too soon.
