Get Hold of Reputable Lawyer for Effective Credit Repair

If you are suffering because of a poor credit score, and if you have already received collection notices or even court subpoenas associated with debt, it is advisable that you should contact an experienced attorney who can allow you review your debt situation and possibly help you improve credit score. Experienced attorneys may give you proper advice on legal rights associated with debt and credit; especially help you to remove erroneous entries on your credit report.  An experienced debt collection defense attorney should certainly be able to represent you if a judgment creditor tries to garnish your bank account or place lien on your real estate or other property. Here are a few important tips that you should follow in order to find a reputable lawyer for credit repair.

The first step that you should follow is to identify the lawyers who are licensed and have long years of experience in the relevant legal field. To find out if an attorney is licensed, you can contact that state’s bar association.   Attorneys licensed in the State of Texas are listed through the Texas State Bar found online at http://www.TexasBar.com.  Once you look up an attorney by name or area of practice, you will be able to determine whether the attorney is actively practicing law, as well as the best contact information for that lawyer.

One of the best indicators when choosing an attorney is requesting information on the number of years the lawyer has been in practice and an overview of the sort of cases handled. Attorneys with years of experience handling credit repair in Texas and debt collection defense will generally have a good understanding of the options available to litigate or negotiate with debt collection agencies or banks.

Your next step is to set up an initial consultation with the attorney as quickly as possible. In some instances such as bank account freeze or a writ of execution, the consumer’s rights are time sensitive.  Before you pay an attorney or you sign up retainer contract, it is advisable that you should meet the person in order to discuss about charges, policies as well as the experience the attorney has accumulated to help the previous clients in debt and credit repair issues.

Ask your prospective attorney what particular role the person can play to repair your credit. Although an attorney will be able to give you advice about your consumer rights, and help you wade through the credit repair process, ultimately if the credit bureaus or banks do not accurately report information, then your attorney may recommend credit repair through litigation. In other words, any credit repair company promising to fix your credit without the ability to sue on your behalf may not be worth the expense.  Before you hire someone for your credit repair, it is vital that you should know the kind of service you expect to get from him or her.

As with other consumer rights issues, credit reporting act cases that are filed under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act will allow the consumer to collect his or her damages, as well as their attorney fees and court costs if they prevail.   That is the reason why many consumer rights attorneys do not charge their clients up-front retainer fees, and instead will be agreeable to handling the case on a contingency.   It is important that the client and the attorney have a clear understanding of the terms of representation.

In order to allow an attorney to give you solid legal advice, it is imperative that you bring copies of your documents associated with credit. You should offer copies of correspondence you get from the creditors, one copy of the credit report, and relevant declination letters from lenders. This ensures that your prospective attorney will get an effective picture of the financial scenario and will be able to offer strategy options.

Are you looking for trustworthy credit repair attorney? Do you want to hire debt collection defense attorney? Contact Karni Law firm, P.C. Its experienced attorney Dana Karni is devoted to offering multiple legal services that are associated with abusive debt collection, credit card debt defense as well as other deceptive trade practices.

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Ways to Remove Information of the Closed Account from Credit Report

Your lenders may check out your credit report in order to get an idea of the ways you use your credit and manage your debt. They might want to find out how you presently use your credit and how you have used it in the past.  Consumer credit reports are required to show a history that goes back at least seven years for that purpose: so that existing and prospective lenders can review your credit worthiness.  That is also the reason why this type of report might even show information of your accounts that have been closed for several years.  The one rule of thumb is that credit reports must report accurate information only.  Generally, you cannot remove your closed accounts from credit report if they are less than seven years old.

Know How Long the Details of an Account Will Show on your Credit Report

The amount of time that the details of your closed account are kept on the credit report depends on whether your account was closed down in good standing. Good standing means that balance has been paid off completely. In fact, all the accounts that have been closed down in good standing normally remain on credit report for ten years. However,unpaid accounts will be reported on the credit report for at least seven years. Even the late payments on a particular account will remain on the credit report for at least seven years. An experienced consumer attorney offers valuable suggestions and legal assistance to his clients in this matter.

Find out the reason why they remain on the account

Your closed accounts remain on the credit report since they contain the valuable information on payment history so that your potential lenders can review it. All the old accounts along with negative details can damage your credit scores while all your accounts that are often paid within scheduled period of time and closed properly may help you to build your credit scores.

Check out what exactly you can remove and what you cannot

According to Federal Trade Commission, no one has the right to remove “timely” as well as “accurate” information from credit report. If a closed account is being listed in the error or if it is an old account that could be dropped, you have grounds to dispute with the particular credit bureaus that actually generated the report. As an alternative option, you can contact the creditor that often reported your account and even ask if it would take step to remove this piece of information.

Know how to dispute negative account information

The three major credit reporting bureaus,TransUnion, Equifax,and Experian recommend that consumers initiate their disputes on the internet in order to get fast response. You may be asked to identify your account and you need to explain the reason why you want to get it removed. You may have to provide the necessary documents in order to support the case. Necessary documents include statement of your account or a relevant letter from creditor stating that it should not be reported as your own account. In case the credit report shows incorrect information from one or two bureaus, then you should file dispute for each one of them.

Often times when a consumer turns to an attorney for assistance with a trade line that will not get removed, the lawyer will recommend that the disputes be made again, this time by certified mail with a return receipt.  The reason for the added step is that a copy of the mailing, as well as the return receipt, will provide stronger evidence that the dispute was actually made and received by the credit reporting agency.

Want to hire an attorney for credit repair in Texas?  Get in touch with Ms. Dana Karni of Karni Law Firm, P.C.  She is dedicated to offering a wide array of legal services such as fair credit reporting, auto scams, lawsuits against abusive debt collectors and other issues related to consumer rights.

This information is provided for educational purposes only. There is no attorney-client relationship with Karni Law Firm until a contract is signed by the attorney and the client.

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File Your Complaint against Your Deceptive Debt Collector under FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or FDCPA is effective in regulating the activities of abusive debt collectors in the United States. In fact, it prevents these collectors from getting involved in debt recovery strategies that the US government considers to be highly abusive. Abusive debt recovery methods include using offensive language, threatening to cause physical injuries to the debtors, calling the debtors in spite of their repeated requests tostop calling at their workplace, and so on. If such thing happens, you can file your complaint to Federal Trade Commission or FTC. If this commission gets numerous client complaints about debt collectors for FDCPA violations, it can carry on thorough investigation and charge penalties to the company or even revoke its business license by all possible means. Here are a few steps that you should follow to issue complaint against debt collector under FDCPA.

The first step is to visit Bureau of Consumer Complaints section of the official website of the Federal Trade Commission. You should then choose option to get the form for complaint assistant. You can easily find out this option on right side of your computer screen. Plus, you should answer all the relevant questions on this type of form when it is displayed on the screen. The questions that are given in the form are related to your complain or anything related to FDCPA violation that the particular debt collector has committed. For suggestions, you should seek the help of FDCPA attorney without any kind of delay.

The second step is to enter the details of the company such as its name, telephone number, email address and other relevant information. Once you complete this step, your next step is to enter the name, email address, phone number, and website correctly. You need to provide the details so that the Federal Trade Commission gets the chance to verify the complaint or even ask you additional questions, if required. Make sure that you also do not forget to offer additional information related to FDCPA violations that you have suffered.

You should also review the complaint form completely. When you are sure that the information that you have offered is correct then you should submit the complaint. Your complaint will be reviewed by FTC and it will be entered into computer database effectively.   The very same process of filing an online complaint should be used to update information with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, your state’s Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau.

It is vital to remember that FDCPA applies to third party creditors such as attorneys as well as debt collection agencies. Due to this reason, you are unable to submit complaint by Federal Trade Commission by the original creditors.

These agencies that compile data about abusive debt collectors may respond to your complaint with an informational packet.   Ultimately, if you are looking to file your own lawsuit against a bill collector for harassment or abuse, you will want to contact a consumer rights attorney in your state.  Under the FDCPA, you are entitled to collect a statutory award of up to $1,000.00, as well as other damages, and attorney fees.   Many experienced FDCPA lawyers will not charge an up-front fee since they can obtain their fees from the defendants.

Want to seek assistance from debt collection lawyer ? Need assistance regarding issues related to consumer rights? Contact Karni Law Firm, P.C and its attorney Dana Karni, dedicated to providing a wide array of legal services related to credit and debit issues. Ms. Karni handles lawsuits that are associated with abusive debt collection, unfair credit reporting, and auto fraud.

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The Statute of Limitations: The Important Law that Helps You to Win Your Debt Defense Case

Are you worried about an old debt that seems to move from one creditor to the other for a prolonged period of time?  While debt can be bought and sold forever, there is limit to how long a debt buyer has to sue you.   The reason is that the creditor or debt buyer only has a restricted number of years within which it needs to sue for unpaid debt. This particular time period is determined by the state law and it is popularly known as statute of limitations. So, before you decide to pay your old debt, make sure that the statute of the limitations is yet to expire. If the statute of limitations has already expired and you make a payment on an old debt, you are very likely starting the clock all over again.

How Do You Use Statute of Limitations to Your Own Advantage?

There are conflicting arguments as to when, exactly, time begins to run against the statute of limitations.   Generally speaking, the statute of limitations begins to run when the account goes into default.   Consumers often assert that the clock starts to run within 30 days after the date of last payment.   In other words, approximately 30 days after the last payment was made, another payment would have been due.  When a payment is due and it is not made, arguably the debt goes into default at that moment, and the statute of limitations begins to run.

On the other hand, creditors or debt buyers like to argue that the statute of limitations does not start until the date of charge-off.   In fact, the term “date of charge-off” is often misunderstood by consumers.   Quite often consumers feel threatened when they are told that an account will be “charged off.”   The date of charge-off is usually 180 days after the date of last payment or date of default.  In terms of debt collection, the date of charge off has very little, if any significance to the consumer.   Most often, the date of charge-off is used as an accounting tool for the creditor or debt buyer.   Under some regulations, the date of charge off merely allows creditors to adjust their own books and list bad debt as a loss in their book-keeping.   In other words, the date of charge-off may not have any impact on the statute of limitations, despite arguments by the debt collection industry.  For effective consultation, you should also seek help from one of the reliable consumer debt collection lawyers of your locality.

Theoretically, a debt might be in collections forever.  In the debt is within the statute of limitations, and then it is legally collectable through the court system.   Whether a debt buyer or creditor is aware that the statute of limitations has expired or not, a lawsuit on time-barred debt is defensible.  Not only can the statute of limitations be used defensively to dismiss a lawsuit, but it can also be used offensively.  In other words, a lawsuit against a consumer on time-barred debt may be a violation of state statutes as well as the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In the State of Texas, the statute of limitations for credit card debt is 4 years.   If a consumer is sued on debt that is clearly well over 4 years old, then s/he may have grounds to file a counterclaim or a separate lawsuit under the FDCPA or under the Texas Finance Code for debt collection violations.

Make sure that you are quite certain about the expiration of statute of the limitations. If such thing happens, then you can easily use this particular fact as your own justification to avoid payment of debt.

You have to be alert so that this type of limitations does not get restarted. Whenever you do any kind of activity on your account, then statute of limitations gets restarted. Other instances such as making payment or even making promise for payment, entering payment contract may effectively restart statute of limitations. If you wish to handle this type of crisis it is advisable that you should consult an expert debt defense attorney.

Keep in mind that statutes of limitations vary from one state to the next.  This type of limitations varies between three to six years but the statute of limitations can be fifteen years in a particular state. You should remember that few debts such as federal educational loans, child support, as well as income tax may not have statute of limitations. You might not be able use this type of statute as your defense against a legal suit related to these debts.

Facing difficulty to find a reliable debt defense attorney? Get in touch with Karni Law Firm, P.C. and lawyer Dana Karni dedicated in offering multiple legal services that are associated with debt as well as credit. Ms. Karni has experience in handling lawsuits against abusive debt collectors, credit reporting agencies and other financial institutions

These materials have been prepared by Karni Law Firm, P.C. for educational and informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. This communication does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dana Karni or of Karni Law Firm, P.C. or any of its attorneys, employees, or clients, and are not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up-to-date. This site is not intended to create, and access to or receipt of information included in this site does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. No one should act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.

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How Does Texas Finance Code 392 Offer Protection Against Abusive Collector?

Texas consumers get exclusive consumer protection against abusive collector during debt collection process. One such exclusive protection is the obligation that the third party collection firms in Texas region should maintain active insurance through security bond.  In fact this particular law was formulated because the Texas government wished to give protection to the consumers from dishonest techniques of debt collection as well as avoid all sort of inaccurate information to appear on reports of appropriate credit bureaus. Under this type of law, the debtor who resides in Texas has the privilege to pursue civil remedies in financial terms against security bond of third party collector.

In a nutshell, Texas Finance Code goes beyond other relevant laws by offering a list of guidelines for credit reporting bureaus or agencies that are related to debt collection in Texas. For Texas consumers, this type of finance code list is effective in maintaining rights of the consumers.

Both FDCPA as well Texas Finance Code 392 prevent the abusive debt collectors to engage in abusive behavior with the debtors. FDCA is a type of federal law and it is restricted to debt collection only. But this Texas Finance Code offers a broad definition of debt collector. Under this Texas statute, debt collector even includes creditor who is responsible of collection of financial debt. However the protective rights that are enumerated under federal as well as state acts seem to be more or less similar in nature. For example, under FDCPA, a long as well as comprehensive list of forbidden practices of debt collection is provided that include but not restricted to certain conditions such as  threat or even use of violent action, profanity, threat of unlawful actions as well as abusive telephone calls done with the intention to harass as well as irritate. Plus, FDCPA puts restriction on the kind of information that needs to be communicated to the third parties at times of collection debt. Even other sorts of violation such as failure to offer appropriate notice to debtors while collecting debt can entitle any victimized debtor to get statutory damage of nearly $1000 on every violation activity. Under Texas Finance Code, it is stated that adoption of unfair means are considered to be deceptive business practice under the Texas Law, thereby entitling the debtor to recover almost three times of actual damage.

Do you want to know more about consumer rights against cunning debt collectors? Are you looking for an experienced attorney for credit repair in Houston? Hire Karni Law Firm, P.C and talk to experienced attorney Dana Karni who is specialized in offering multiple legal services related to lawsuits against abusive debt collectors, fair credit reporting and few more. The best part is that you can avail legal service at your affordable price rates.

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