Sixty Four year old Sandra Cortez walked into a car dealership to buy a new car. Imagine her humiliation when the dealership would not grant her a loan because she was listed as a known drug dealer by Trans Union. TU had obtained its information off the U.S. Treasury Department’s watch list of drug dealers and terrorists. Ms. Cortez sued Trans Union. See Cortez v Trans Union (3rd Cir 2009).
The court held that Trans Union was liable to Ms. Cortez for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Trans Union failed to prepare a report on Ms. Cortez using procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy as it is required to do under the FCRA. Whats wild about this case is even after the jury awarded Ms. Cortez $50,000 in damages plus $750,000 in punitive damages the jury wrote a note on the verdict form to Trans Union that said:<
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The Trans Union business process needs to be completely revamped with much more focus on customer service and the consumer.”
I have been telling you for years, since I first took the deposition of Experian, that the credit reporting agencies are designed to handle numbers and volumes of cases; not people’s disputes. Simply stated, if you have a consumer dispute with a credit reporting agency, there is an excellent chance that it will do little, if anything about it unless you file a lawsuit. Just ask Ms. Cortez.
If you have been harassed or bullied by a debt collector, or if your credit report is inaccurate and the credit reporting agency will not fix it, email Attorney Gary Nitzkin or call toll free (888) 293-2882. For more information about our firm, visit our website, Michigan Consumer Credit Lawyers. We have a lot of good information including short “how to” videos that you will find useful.
