A TransUnion lawsuit is a legal action brought by one or more of the following parties: An applicant for a loan, credit or employment; A lien holder on a property; A lender; or A debtor. This type of lawsuit occurs when one or more of the parties fail to provide sufficient evidence to prove the accuracy and validity of a person’s credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires nationwide reporting of consumer credit information. The FCRA further requires the three major credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – to provide the applicant with a copy of the credit report at least once every 12 months. This document is often referred to as an “accomplishment.”
TransUnion Lawsuit
When a complaint is filed under the FCRA, the parties involved can request an inspection of the complaint by the Office of Fair and Accurate Transactions (Oftentimes referred to as FACTA). If the party filing the complaint is not a lender, the Office of Fair and Accurate Transactions will request that the credit bureaus investigate the complaint and, if appropriate, make corrections to the inaccuracies noted in the credit report. If corrections are made, the credit bureaus to notify the complaining party that their credit report has been amended. Then, the parties may enter into negotiations to determine who shall pay the costs of investigation, correction and updating of the credit report. In some cases, the parties enter into arbitration instead of formal litigation before an administrative law judge. In either case, the results of the negotiations remain confidential.
There are two exceptions to the notification requirement described above.
The first is if the party filing the complaint establishes that the amended information is false or if there is a question as to whether the notice was properly given. The second exception is if the party filing the complaint fails to submit proof that they are the victim of discrimination in the state in which the case is filed. When either of these exceptions occurs, the court must take action to protect the rights of the party who has filed the complaint. These actions include granting preliminary relief and seeking an appropriate damages remedy.
A credit reporting agency is not allowed to discriminate in any way when it comes to an individual’s credit file.
However, the credit bureaus must investigate any claims of discrimination. In order for them to do this thoroughly and fairly, they must receive all relevant evidence. This evidence is kept in an abundance of online resources on credit bureau’s websites. TransUnion is no different; however, they do not provide a searchable database of all of the credit reports. Therefore, an individual who has a complaint needs to go online and use one of the many resources available to help them determine if they have a complaint or not.
After an individual has determined that they have a case, they should contact an attorney that they feel confident can handle the situation.
Once the attorney has determined which state the debtor lives in, they can begin the lawsuit process. The filing party is not necessarily the defendant; they may be a third party such as an insurance company. Depending on the laws in the state, the party filing the lawsuit may be entitled to compensation for time missed from work, while the judgment is being appealed and ultimately rendered against the debtor.
To learn more about filing a TransUnion lawsuit, you should consult a lawyer.
Many attorneys offer free consultations, so that individuals can assess their chances of winning the lawsuit. There is no cost to the parties for an initial consultation; thus, an individual does not necessarily have to spend any money up-front to initiate the process. The parties may also wish to hire a third-party attorney to help them with the case if the first two are unsuccessful. Because a TransUnion lawsuit can potentially have long-term and far-reaching consequences, an individual needs to seek legal counsel as soon as possible.
