What you may not have known about Credit Checks and Credit Ratings. MUST KNOW AND SCREAM ABOUT

[slackmaster]

53. The courts have ruled that credit agencies and lenders CAN have private actions brought against them

...for damages, in addition to regulatory penalties that can be assessed by the courts at both the state and federal levels.

The PROBLEM in practice is that few of us can afford the up-front cost of litigating against a big bank, or one of the credit reporting agencies. Or to put it another way, you have to be able to prove some very substantial damages before it's worth pursuing.

In my case, I've only been able to definitively document about $10,000 - $20,000 in actual damages caused by Bank of America's ongoing false credit reporting. Specifically, I was denied premium terms on a refinance loan that I applied for in January. The difference in costs and interest that I would see over the life of the loan would be no more than $20 K, so it's not worth the risk for me to put up a $50 K retainer to hire a good law firm to go after BOA. I didn't bother with the loan BTW, because I may have my credit fully cleaned up within a year or two and wouldn't want to have refinanced only to have to do it again.

I've been screwed, and there isn't much I can do about it at this point besides keeping the pressure on BOA. I have escalated complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General over the last two weeks. That doesn't cost anything, but the probability of me getting what I want seems low.