permissable purpose

[melrorer]

What is the name of your state?VA

If a creditor reviews your credit files and you did not authorize them to do this. This is a fine against the creditor. Right? And, if you want to file a claim against them, would one file the claim in small claims court? And, is there a time frame (6 months, 1 year, etc.) that one can pursue to file a claim?

Thanks so much,

[MrKee]

Originally Posted by melrorer

What is the name of your state?VA

If a creditor reviews your credit files and you did not authorize them to do this. This is a fine against the creditor. Right? And, if you want to file a claim against them, would one file the claim in small claims court? And, is there a time frame (6 months, 1 year, etc.) that one can pursue to file a claim?

Thanks so much,

What kind of creditor? Credit card? Auto Loan? Mortgage?

If you have a current account with this company, then they probably have a permissible purpose to review your creditworthiness. The exception could be such as a closed end loan where the terms are not subject to change, assuming you've kept the account current.

MrKee

[melrorer]

The inquiry was from a phone company who I did not authorize or request credit/service from them.

If a creditor reviews your credit files and you did not authorize them to do this. This is a fine against the creditor. Right? And, if you want to file a claim against them, would one file the claim in small claims court? And, is there a time frame (6 months, 1 year, etc.) that one can pursue to file a claim?

Thanks so much,

[MrKee]

Originally Posted by melrorer

The inquiry was from a phone company who I did not authorize or request credit/service from them.

If a creditor reviews your credit files and you did not authorize them to do this. This is a fine against the creditor. Right? And, if you want to file a claim against them, would one file the claim in small claims court? And, is there a time frame (6 months, 1 year, etc.) that one can pursue to file a claim?

Thanks so much,

Yes, you can file in small claims. I recently collected $1,000 from a department store chain who ran my credit without a permissible purpose. I filed in small claims.

MrKee

[MrKee]

Originally Posted by melrorer

The inquiry was from a phone company who I did not authorize or request credit/service from them.

If a creditor reviews your credit files and you did not authorize them to do this. This is a fine against the creditor. Right? And, if you want to file a claim against them, would one file the claim in small claims court? And, is there a time frame (6 months, 1 year, etc.) that one can pursue to file a claim?

Thanks so much,

The SoL for taking action on this non-permissible pull is two years.

[melrorer]

VA

Thanks so much for your advice....I will be doing my homework to see what paperwork I need to fill out. Btw, did you have to be presence in court when you filed your claim? I was reading that in some case you don't have to be.

Please advise :-)

[MrKee]

Originally Posted by melrorer

VA

Thanks so much for your advice....I will be doing my homework to see what paperwork I need to fill out. Btw, did you have to be presence in court when you filed your claim? I was reading that in some case you don't have to be.

Please advise :-)

Only long enough to drop off my Statement of Claims and pay the Small Claims filing fee. The other party settled before the first hearing, after receiving a good, long set of interrogatories.

Your local court will help you with the necessary papers. Here is a sample of my pleading...

IN THE COUNTY COURT FOR PARADISE COUNTY, FLORIDA

MrKee
Plaintiff,
vs.

XYZ, Co.
Defendant

P.O. Box 1000
Anywhere, Fl 12457
(407) 555-1212 Case No.: __________________

STATEMENT OF CLAIM

The plaintiff sues the defendant and claims the amount of $1,000.00 as being due from the defendant together with $87.50 for court costs which all total $1,087.50 and alleges;

That this is an action for damages that are within the jurisdiction of this court, and

That the defendant obtained the credit profile of MrKee on August 1, 2002 from the consumer reporting agency known as Equifax, and

That the defendant had no permissible purpose to obtain the credit profile of the plaintiff, MrKee, as defined by §604 [15 U.S.C. § 1681b] of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and

That the plaintiff is entitled to statutory damages in the amount of $1,000.00 and court costs, as provided by §616 [15 U.S.C. § 1681n](a)(1)(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

WHEREFORE, plaintiff demands judgment for damages against the defendant.
DATED this nineteenth day of March, 2004.

[melrorer]

VA

Thank you :-)

I contacted the clerk at the court house and she was telling me that I would need to speak to a lawyer, so that he can advise me what paperwork to fill out. This is what I am trying to avoid a lawyer. Too expensive. She also told me that I would need a registered agent. (?) Please help with this one.
Another thing too, is that the company that had inquired in my credit file is in CA and I live in VA. So, is there a different process? Oh, btw the way, they had inquired twice and open two different unauthorized accounts in my name.
Does this mean that I can file two claims? because on my credit report there are two different accounts in collections that I am disputing.

Thanks again for all your help.

[auntnana]

On the two different inquiries thing: I would file one suit for 2 violations of FCRA. Otherwise you'd have to pay the filing fee twice.

The registered agent thing: An example is my suit against Trans Union which started in small claims. I am in TN but they are in another state. But they have a registered agent in my state. I found their agent by going to my state's website ([url]www.state.tn.us[/url]) and did a business name search. That's where their registered agent's information was listed. I put Trans Union c/o (registered agent information) on the summons.

Also, I read in the 'rules' somewhere that if they don't have a registered agent, you can have the Secretary of State serve them but I don't know the process for that but I'm sure one of the more experienced posters will.

Hope I was able to contribute something worthwhile.

[Ladynred]

Wait a minute.. if this was for a collection, then they DO have permissable purpose, they don't need your permission.

If the '2 new accounts' you speak of are 2 tradelines on your credit report, and they are for an account that you truly did NOT open, then you need to first dispute those as 'not mine' with the credit bureaus before you go running off to small claims to file a lawsuit.

If you don't follow procedures by first disputing a fraudulent account (and its collection) with the credit bureaus, then you may not win your lawsuit at all. The CA will just say that collection IS permissable purpose.

Start with disputes with the bureaus FIRST, then follow procedures.

[melrorer]

VA
Yes, these accounts are truly not my debts. The inquiry (2002) that appeared on my account was from the creditor. One who granted credit in my name. Who I did not authorize. I called Pacific Bell (creditor) (2002) and checked with them to see if there were accounts opened up under my ssn.
Steve in final accounts, said yes, there are two accounts. I advised him that these are fraudulant accounts and are not mine. He said that he will close these accounts. Of course, I thought that would be the end of it. (I've learned from this). Then I received my credit file (april 2004) and discovered that these accounts are in collection. So they went from inquiry to collection. Anyways, I have disputed with the credit and collection agency. Equifax has removed this from my file. These did not appear on Experian. Trans Union, I am waiting for them to remove. Of course, the collection agency was trying to get me to pay this, regardless. This is not my debt, there should be no reason why I should pay. I will continue to fight and they do have enough evidence from me that will indicate that I was not living in CA at the time. So, what you are saying is that I need to wait until these are remove from my credit file (Trans Union) before following suit?

[Ladynred]

Before filing a lawsuit, you need to follow thru the dispute process with the credit bureaus. If the CRA verifies a fraudulent account, then you'll have to deal with the CA, making sure that you pound it into their thick skulls that the accounts are fraudulent. If they still insist on harrassing you and won't remove themselves from your reports, THEN I'd sue the hell out of them. If TU verifies and won't remove the fraudulent account, sue them too !!

Just make sure you have a nice paper trail of proof, letters and certified return receipts to make your case in court. Permissable purpose at that point would be only ONE of their FCRA violations. Then you can tack on damages - damaging your credit and defamation be reporting fraudulent and inaccurate information !