When does ongoing violation of FDCPA and FCRA by both a CA and the CRAs change from civil FDCPA/FCRA violations to criminal conspiracy to commit fraud and/or extortion? I was reading another thread that quoted AZ's statute for what constitutes extortion, and it's exactly what's happening to me. The CRAs ignore what I tell them and prefer to use their "automated verification system" as an authority, ultimately siding with whatever lies their subscribers tell them. Has anybody heard of any cases where this has been tried successfully?
Why? Have you ever filed a report with the FTC? They send you 8 pages summarizing your rights under the law, and suggest that if you think any of your rights are being violated then you should consider contacting an attorney. They keep track of the report to the extent that it represents a statistic. And a report I filed with the AG's office for something else several years ago got filed along with "small stuff we don't have time to address". Anyway, I'm just curious if anybody has heard of any cases that have been won using this tact. If so, it might provide some leverage to quote such case(s) with obstinate CAs and CRAs. I doubt either the FTC nor the AG's office is likely to address the question I posed.
AG's are a little better. The FTC is worthless. You cannot bring a case for criminal allegations. That is authorized only for District and Prosecuting Attorney's. You can put a count for Extortion in a civil Complaint though.
So, suppose that someone tries to bring a case for criminal allegations in a civil case an the judge dismisses it as would have to be done for the exact reasons you cited above what could the defendant come back with? Seems to me that about the only thing the defendant could come back with would be malicious prosecution. I don't see how false or frivolous lawsuit definition would fit. Or can you think of something better for the defendant in such a case to come back with or can he actually come back with anything? So what remedy do you think would best fit that kind of situation?
You could probably ALLEGE extortion, enumerating how it fits. The court might then AGREE that the charges fit, but dismiss that part of the complaint and recommend it to the AG or another for prosecution. It wouldn't get you a prosecution, but it might get you a bit of leverage if the court at least found reasonable cause to proceed in the correct court. (just thinking out loud here.)
The problem with trying to escalate this into a Criminal action is that now you have to convince your local Attorney General that your private fight is worth the County's money and time to wage. I can tell you that what the CRA's laughingly call "Investigation" meets the minimal requirements of FCRA and no more. FCRA does not require a "thorough investigation", only an "investigation" and what they do meets that minimal requirement. Just like sending documentation to the CRA - FCRA requires them to "consider" it, but they are not required to give it any credence, so they don't.
