FCRA Lawyer: Fair Credit Reporting Act Attorney

An FCRA lawyer represents you when a credit bureau, a background check company, a tenant screening company, or a lender or collector that reports to them puts something false in your file and leaves it there after you dispute it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to force the correction and to recover damages, and it makes the company that broke the law pay your attorney's fees. That is why we can review your report at no cost and take your case with no fee unless we win.

This page explains what we do, the kinds of cases we have filed, and how to tell whether what happened to you is one of them.

What we have filed

Since 2016 we have filed FCRA cases in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey, the Northern District of Georgia, the Northern District of Texas, the Northern District of California, the Southern District of Ohio, the District of Maryland and the District of Massachusetts. Of the 89 matters described on our case list as of October 2026, 73 named at least one of Equifax, Experian or TransUnion, and 14 were against background check, tenant screening or specialty reporting companies, including First Advantage, Checkr, TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions, RentGrow, TeleCheck and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The furnishers on the other side have ranged from Bank of America, Citibank, Discover, Wells Fargo and Capital One to mortgage servicers, auto lenders, student loan servicers and debt collectors.

Each case on that list is described as alleged in the complaint, without the client's name and without a result, because results depend on the facts and law of each case. The list is there so you can see whether your situation is one we have handled before.

The errors behind those cases

The same handful of errors comes up again and again. A debt that was paid, settled or discharged in bankruptcy is still reported with a balance. Payments made on time under a repayment plan are reported late. A stranger's accounts are blended into your file because you share a name or part of a Social Security number, which is a mixed credit file. Accounts opened by an identity thief stay on the report after you send the police report. A background check carries someone else's criminal record, or a conviction that was expunged, and costs you a job offer. A tenant screening report shows an eviction that was dismissed. A bureau marks you deceased.

What turns an error into a case is usually what happened next. You disputed, with documents, and the item came back "verified" in a few days with no sign that anyone looked at what you sent. Or the bureau deleted it and then put it back without telling you. Or two bureaus fixed it and the third refused. Those are the patterns the Act was written for.

What the law requires, and what you can recover

A consumer reporting agency must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information it reports about you (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)). When you dispute an item, it must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, generally within 30 days, forward your dispute and the documents you sent to the company that supplied the information, and delete or correct anything it cannot verify (§ 1681i(a)). The lender, servicer or collector that supplied the information must investigate the forwarded dispute and correct what it cannot verify (§ 1681s-2(b)).

For a negligent violation you can recover your actual damages, such as the loan you were denied, the higher rate you paid, the apartment or job you lost, and the time and distress the error cost you, together with costs and attorney's fees (§ 1681o). For a willful violation you can recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus punitive damages, plus costs and fees (§ 1681n). Fee shifting is the reason these cases are brought on contingency: the company that violated the Act pays your lawyer, not you. Our article on what makes an FCRA violation willful explains how courts draw the line between the two.

The deadline is firm. A claim must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and in no event more than five years after it happened (§ 1681p). Our guide to the FCRA statute of limitations explains how the two clocks are counted.

What an FCRA lawyer does that a dispute form does not

The dispute is the beginning, not the remedy. When you file one through a bureau's website, it is reduced to a two-digit code and sent to the furnisher, which usually matches a few data points against its own records and reports the item as verified. An FCRA lawyer builds the record the case will turn on: a written dispute that names each wrong item, attaches the proof and goes by certified mail to the bureau and the furnisher; the bureau's response and the dates; the denial letters and rate sheets that show what the error cost you. If the item is not corrected, we file in federal court. Many cases resolve before trial; some do not, and we prepare every case as though it will be tried.

We also tell people when they do not need us. If a dispute with the right documents fixes the problem, you are done, and our pages on credit reporting errors, disputing a background check and the rights the Act gives you explain how to do that. If the dispute fails, that failure is the claim.

Who can be sued

Often more than one company. The bureau that reported the error and the furnisher that supplied it have separate duties, and a single wrong entry can involve both. Where the problem is a background or tenant screening report, the defendant is the screening company, and sometimes the employer or landlord that used the report without giving you the notices the Act requires (§ 1681b(b)(3), § 1681m). Our pages on suing a credit bureau, suing a creditor for false reporting, suing a background check company and the FCRA lawsuit process go through each.

Company by company, our guides cover Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, the employment background check companies, the tenant screening companies, and the lenders, servicers and collectors whose tradelines most often go wrong.

Where we practice, and what to do if you are somewhere else

The Kim Law Firm is in Philadelphia and handles matters directly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal statute: it applies the same way in every state and is enforced in federal court, and we have appeared in federal courts in Georgia, Texas, California, Ohio, Maryland and Massachusetts with local counsel where the rules require it. If you are outside Pennsylvania and New Jersey, contact us anyway. Some matters can be handled from here; some are better sent to a consumer lawyer admitted where you are, and we will tell you which rather than let a deadline run.

Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.

What to send us

Three things let us tell you quickly whether you have a case: the page of the report that shows the error, the dispute you sent and anything the bureau or company sent back, and the letter or email that shows what the error cost you (a denial, a rate, a rejected application). If you have not disputed yet, send the report and we will tell you how to dispute so that the record is built correctly from the start. Do not put Social Security or account numbers in the contact form; we will ask for documents when we need them.

You pay nothing unless we win.

If you are in the Philadelphia area or in New Jersey, we also have pages on credit report problems in Philadelphia, background check problems in Philadelphia, and credit report problems in Newark.