Saturday, August 12, 2006

Wow. I apologize for the delay in posting here. Outside of my regular job as a lender rep, I have been busy consulting with many people that my mortgage brokers (my clients) have been referring to me. These are potential borrowers typically with scores in the 420-510 range!

One of the most common questions that I hear from those that I explain this process to is: "I want to learn this technique of utilizing the court system you talk about, but I'm not so sure I want to get in front of a judge and attorneys because it can be intimidating." Or: "who am I to get up in a crowded courtroom to presnt a case in front of a judge?" Well, the beauty of this process is that if all steps are followed correctly, you never have to "go to trial" or spend alot of time arguing in front of the other side or in front of a judge. The bulk of the process is filing paperwork with the court clerk. Eventually, the only time you face the judge is in an informal hearing or, what's called "motion day" where you basically ask the judge to sign your motion for entry of default judgment. And the beauty of this is, all that the judge is doing at this point is making sure that all of the necessary documents are in the file and properly recorded by the court clerk. Most importantly, is the proof of service. I'm getting ahead of myself though

So let's assume your efforts at credit repair have been mediocre at best, but for the most part hit or miss with alot of frustrations, and alot of derogs that just won't disappear. You have determined that its time to step it up a notch. You're convinced many creditors are in violation of the FCRA http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf and/or the FDCPA. It's time to hold them accountible. The first step is to write up a complaint for slander of credit and defamation of character. Basically in your complaint you are stating that the defendants (creditors) have continued to report inaccurate information on your credit file that has prevented you from receiving financing and has financially damaged you with higher interest rates, insurance, etc. Your complaint however does not ask for financial damages (although it could, but thats another topic I'll discuss later), it simply asks for "specific action", namely that "the court deem all of the reported information as inaccurate, and for the defendants to immediately instruct all three credit reporting agencies to delete all of the derogatory reported information". This is essentially the complaint I filed in my local circuit court. Once the case was filed, I filled out a summons for each and every defendant (I had 12!), and had a freind (a process servor) personally serve the local defendants, and serve the out of state defendants via certified restricted mail to their respective resident agents. At this point it became a waiting game. While we're waiting the 28 days for the defendants to respond, I prepare the additional paperwork that will have to be filed eventually with the court. I will explain this and more in my next post. I promise it will be sooner than it took for me to post this 2nd posting. In the meantime, I will try to answer any questions provided they are posted HERE. I have been getting bombarded with emails at my through my private email addresses, so if you want to make a comment or ask a question, please do so here. Thanks!!

4 comments:

Katie Bourland said...

I'm curious, does this work as a first line of attack or do you have to go through the traditional method first?

Katie Bourland said...

I'm curious, does this work as a first line of attack or do you have to go through the traditional method first?

Credit Score Builder said...

Kyle, Yes they will claim what they have reported is accurate, but they violated the FCRA by not validating or verifying the information after I had requested validation. The law says that if they do not respond within 30 (sometimes 45 days) they must delete the information. The burden of proof does not rest with me, it rests with the creditor.

Credit Score Builder said...

Katie,

This should not your "first line of attack", rather this is after you have exhausted all initial attempts to repair your credit. You must first show that the creditors have not followed the FCRA, and you must document your attempts at credit repair first, then utilize this method to hold your creditors accountable.

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