O.K. all, here is the situation. About 6 or 7 months ago I applied to refinance our home. I was denied. The mortgage company was so kind as to give me a copy of my credit report. One certain bureau had my report merged with someone else's. This mortgage company had the problem fixed temporarily. They weeded out the accounts that did not belong to me. The accounts were 'hidden'. I went to mortgage company #2 I was approved. I was told by mortgage company #1 that it was only temporary and that I would have to go the traditional route and dispute this things. Which I did and most came off almost instant. A couple of them I had to dispute many times until they finaly came off. The whole time I explained to this bureau that someone else's report was merged with mine, as a matter of fact I knew who's report it was. My brother in law who has the same name but spelled differently, but yet this bureau was not reporting my married name, they were reporting my maiden name. (so in all reality only are first names were the same) Anyway, I thought the problem was handled until last week I recieved a report (I had disputed an item irrevelant to this) to show of all things my married name, ss#, and address and guess who's report? My brother in laws. When updating my personal information, they updated his. So I called the bureau and explained to them what happened. They said well we will fix it by adding your middle name. Supposedly fixed it while I was on the phone. Well this morning I pull my report and low and behold, again, my information on my brother in laws report. Well needless to say his is all derogatory stuff, so this is a major problem. I have already been turned down for 1 mortgage and I think I would like to buy a new car. I would like some advice and there is not an attorney int this area that handles consumer cases so I do not know where to turn. Any input? BTW I had never once thought about suing until someone at Bayhouse suggested it and when I pulled that report this morning, that just threw me over the edge. I was a lot more understanding before, but now I fear I will forever have these problems.
I have checked in 4 surrounding states. I cannot find a consumer attorney in any of those states. How do you go about finding an attorney for something like this?
Diva, I believe that is the site I went to and showed the closest state to have a consumer attorney, 3 states away. I spoke to a local attorney and he said 'well yo u can't sue for money, you can only sue them to fix it.' I told him another woman recently won 5.3 million from TU for the same scenario. He then told me 'I don't think it is possible but you need to contact someone that handles consumer law and I know there is none in this state.'
I take that back Diva after looking that is not the site I looked at, that info was much more helpful, I did find several attorneys in my state. Thank you
Good luck to you! I hope you find someone who will not back down because it is just ridiculous what they have put you through, regardless of what their reason is. Why should your reputation be at the mercy of their system, or their equipment, or the stupid people they have working there who don't care enough to realize that they are messing with people's lives? Its a corrupt system and you have every right to speak out till they hear you. It's a shame that it has to come down to waving a lawsuit at them before they'll even consider fixing their own mistake. Please keep us posted.
Thank you Igo. I contacted an attorney today. He happens to be an attorney that worked on another big case against a bureau and won a very VERY large settlement. As a matter of fact, he said he worked with the attorneys that won that 5 million against TU. But the money is not what I am after, of course it is nice though. He said he has worked on alot of similar cases and he is very familiar with this bureaus tactics and how they handle there reporting. He said he will take my case on contingency upon recieving my documentation. I am getting all of this together now. I am not expecting to win a large settlement, after all that's just not my luck. I just want to make sure next time I apply for a mortgage or anything, I won't be blindsided and embarrased. BTW he said normally a case like this is tried under FCRA but b/c of the state we are in which is pro-businesses, anti-consumer, that he thought defamation of charater would get us further.
Good. I was going to recommend that attorney in Oregon that sued and won $5m against TU for an Oregon woman with a similar case. It is criminal what the CRA get away. I think if the American public really knew what these guys were doing, and how vulnerable the average citizen is to these companies, they would drag the CEO out of his office and tar-n-feather him.
This guy told me he did work with those attorneys once. He also was the attorney for another big case against TU I believe it was Terry Peoples or something like that he won 4 mil. but it was overturned in the New Orleans 5th district. That is why he now tries the cases as defamation of character.
