Good to see you on the board today! I just spent all day researching and getting forms to start filing lawsuits. Experian and Equifax have registered agents in Fulton county Ga... so that's where those will be filed. But TU uses a corporate registered agent that's located in an adjacent Gwinnett county. I've been assured by both counties that, while I live in Fulton, I should file in Gwinnett against TU since that's where their registered agent is... sound correct to you? By the way, I looked up every state filed lawsuit against the big 3 Stooges today (in both counties) and most are very basic. I was surprised.
Marie - when you were checking out the lawsuits that were filed in your state against the "3 Stooges", were you able to tell if any of them were actually litigated, or did they all settle short of trial and judgment? That would be interesting to know for us folks who are getting ready to join the others in battle.
Amazingly enough... that was my biggest point of looking these up You'd never believe how few lawsuits there were in these counties. More proof people just buckle under normally. If I remember correctly, 2 or so in Fulton (cases I could pull the files for), and a couple in Gwinnett. Keep in mind, for FCRA violations, the proper venue is US District. That's where you find the really good ones But, when you use torts to file... you can do it in lesser court. Ok, let's see. I made a few copies in Fulton county. Fulton case 00ms002875 Webb v Equifax was filed as a tort. Our limit is 15K so he used only the fill in the blanks form, nothing extra. The form has line 2: Defendant is indebted to Plaintiff in the sum of $15K principal, $0 interest, $1500 atty fees, and (court) costs (he shouldâ??ve put $53). Then, thereâ??s (State your claim here)â?¦ â??Violation of credit reporting act 611(5)© and 611 (6)(a). Thatâ??s it. No details whatsoever. Magistrate J Also in the file was a lawyerly Dismissal With Prejudice signed by the guy a month later. Looks like Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc. settled. Ok, another one (I didnâ??t copy it) did the same thing.. but put under claim something like â??disputed incorrect line xxx 3 times and it keeps being verified. Itâ??s not my account and itâ??s cost me credit denials.â? There was a court document stating that neither side appeared for court. Sounds settled to me. I was surprised at how simple these were. Ok, so all in Fulton that I saw settled out of court and either filed dismissals or the cases were dismissed b/c neither side showed. The Gwinnett cases were in Superior court, but they were basic cases (not on the fill in the blank forms, but nothing like US District cases)â?¦ I donâ??t remember seeing any actual court awards. My impression is that all cases were settled (at least the ones I saw the files for). I know, as the clock ticks down to filing Iâ??ve also had a few last minute reservationsâ?¦ but in small claims court they donâ??t need attys so theyâ??d likely just send a manager if it got to that. I did this last minute research hoping to find great cases to copy. Nope. Just a bit of reassurance that filing works J
Thanks for the info, Marie. That's kind of what I thought you might say. If the CRAs have 180 million files to maintain as has been quoted, I doubt they really have the time, effort, and money to pursue these piddly little actions where all the plaintiff really wants is a clean credit report. The only ones the CRAs need to pay real attention to are those cases where there's real big dollar damages alleged, they might set bad legal precedent for them, or they are class-action claims. Good luck in your efforts. And be sure to let us know how it turns out.
Marie: Thanks, Iâ??m here today taking a break from work and dealing with construction details of the ranchâ?¦ (Building can be such a hassle!) Anyway, Iâ??m back for a few days at least. [;-) Yes, your statement sounds accurate but consider thisâ?¦ Venue is in all prospects not going to ever become an issue, because your suit will (in all probable likelihood) be settled before court. Bear in mind that such litigation, especially if engaged in a small claims forum, is more based on nuisance than merit. Not to suggest your complaint is frivolous, mind you. Only that CRAs consider them an itch that is better scratched lightly than snuffed out all together. Most such litigation, whether meritorious or not, simply isnâ??t worth their time to contend. So the odds are heavily in your favor. Go for it, the CRAs have far more to lose in most cases.
Gotcha. I actually also talked to the clerk about venue (FCRA is really US District and I know it but I can try for tort in small claims... and add the FCRA in for good measure). I am going to tell TU when they call that I know it should really be in US District...and I should include 3 denials not the 2 in this lawsuit (the last one is for a mortgage so the amount would also make me switch courts)... and then I'd have to get an atty... and my atty wants to only do it on contingency (true) and then I can't settle I have to really push this... Pressure points. Funny thing is,TU handed me an early Christmas present Of the items requesting investigation... they ignored half. No "need more info" just ignored them. They did 4. One they input the wrong account (another account with the same company but closed) and came back w/ "not in file". Yeah. no kidding. I know it's already expunged. So TU can't even read account numbers. The other 3 came back with "new information added". But guess what? THere's not a bit of new information on any of the 3. None. nada. And one of the 3 was my BK listing. HA.! Talk about liars. At least they put their noncompliance in writing for me to easily prove. Even a moron could look at my reports and see nothing changed. There's part of me that truly believes this constitutes fraud. How can their system say "new info added" when none is there? And, the creditor says "no contact" as of yesterday on top of it all. NO TU letter. No TU phone call. Just me calling about the reporting. And I requested procedures from TU. None sent. I truly have a good TU case. We'll see what the others end up handing me... but I just want to say THANK YOU TRANS UNION for your noncompliance.
Oh, the last of this is that, when I pointed out the errors to TU... they said they'd happily start the disputes ALL OVER AGAIN. Isn't that special. I agree with your advice. I'd bet my first born that this will never see a courtroom... All I want is a few inq's off... a bk off... and some credit limits added. Big deal. Stuff they should've done already and that I'm entitled to now that they've botched the investigation.
Marie: Sounds like youâ??ve got it together, and have a pretty solid case. Still one can never (or should never) be too confident about court, as things (issues) can turn in a heartbeat. On balance, however, it stands to reason that the CRAs (all of them) would rather settle than fight. Their staffing leaves much to be desired as far as compliance issues go, and training is somewhat restricted by limited hours in the working day; too much work! Still, they are getting better at â??TRYINGâ? to comply with appropriate law, but often such is only a pinky in the dike. Too little resistance verses too much opposing pressure. But hay, a hammer is a hammer is a hammer; if one has grounds, they SHOULD exercise whatever rights the law provides after all other attempts fail.
I agree preparation is important. I guess I'm just happy about this case. I have more documented TU errors than with the other 2. Also, I do have copies of of the cases I cite. I have a highlighted copy of the FCRA. I have the calls and letters logged. I have a spreadsheet of all the errors on my report and their responses to them (there have been multiple disputes on most of the tradelines). And I do really have errors that they just aren't correcting I know my harms. I have the documents of the harms (declination letters). I have a "no contact" letter from Cap1 on its way... Well, if I do go down it'll be with a huge fight. I'm using the shotgun approach... so hopefully at least 1-2 things will stick and thus force full removal. Thanks for the info. Your input is always appreciated.
Marie: I had a few questions as to how you are going about filing and the venue. If I plan on filing in small claims next month, what would be involved? Who and what location would I use for the 3 CRA's if I am located in CA? I also have a HUGE papertrail of everything.. and I also have carbon copies of letters the creditors/CA's sent to the CRA to correct the errors and the errors were never corrected. Also like you, I also have ones where it states "new information provided" without ANYthing changed whatsoever. Please let me know when you get the chance.. since I know I will need the key information (people and places/addresses to list in the lawsuit). Thanks!
I've got several TU reports that say "New Info Below" and then nothing. Just the same as it was before.
I also received the "new info below" notation from TU. By the way, has anyone been able to pin TU down on dates of delinquency? They report as " in the last xx months from date of last update 30 days late." What's with that? I have an account that I was floored to find was reporting as late and I'm 99.9% certain it never was (only used the card once or twice - small retail card Kohl's). Has anyone addressed their way of reporting delinquencies and if so what was their answer?
