Phoenix, Arizona (PRWEB) November 29, 2011

A recent case (2:10-cv-00548-MHB) filed in the United States District Court for The District Of Arizona, alleging incorrect credit reporting of a consumer’s debt and subsequent mishandling of a consumer’s request to verify and dispute that debt, was litigated successfully by Weisberg & Meyers, LLC, Attorneys for Consumers. According to court documents in Pinkerton v. National Credit Services (NCS) of Oklahoma and Capital Assistance Group, LLC, an alleged debt was reported to credit reporting agency Experian by debt collection agencies National Credit Services (NCS) of Oklahoma and Capital Assistance Group (CAS), LLC prior to the Plaintiff receiving notification of the alleged debt. The electronegative item rested on the Plaintiff’s credit report yet after a verification and dispute letter had been sent to the collection agency. The mishandling of the reporting of the debt to the credit reporting agencies was found to be a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a) as accounted in a judgment by Michelle H. Burns, U.S. Magistrate Judge.

According to court documents, Plaintiff Billy Pinkerton received a mailed letter with the information that his application for a TrueEarnings™ Costco American Express credit card had been denied. Since Mr. Pinkerton was current on his financial obligations and had a good credit history up until that point, he was confused by the credit denial and at that clocked obtained a copy of his credit report. The report allegedly showed an item reported by NCS of Oklahoma for a debt to Columbia House that Mr. Pinkerton disputed shortly after receiving notification of the reporting of this negative item on his credit report. Mr. Pinkerton had not received a written communication from National Credit Services until after he disputed the debt, though the item had been on his credit report for many months prior.

In another Weisberg & Meyer LLC, Attorneys for Consumers complaint, (Case No. 2:10-cv-01026-DGC) Eric Smith v. National Credit Systems Inc., filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Plaintiff Eric Smith was allegedly threatened by the defendant that a disputed debt would be placed on his credit report if he didn’t pay the debt within the 30 day dispute period. This is an alleged violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) 1692e5. According to the complaint, Smith admits to held co-signed on his daughter’s lease, which is what the alleged debt was for. According to court documents he allegedly does not acknowledge or concurring to owing the amount that defendants claim is due, which allegedly includes excessive fees and charged not authorized by the lease and applicable law.

Many consumers do not discover that a negative item has been added to their credit report until after a credit application for a consumer credit loan such as a home mortgage, car loan, or student lent has been submitted. According to consumer research studies, negative items earnestly damage not only efforts to get a loan from certain lenders but also will raise the interest rate which means higher payments over the life of the loan. By the time the item has been handled, the loan application handled may have ended and it may be difficult to get the original terms changed or there may be a need to reapply once the item has been disputed and removed.

To ensure information in a credit history and credit report are accurate, its judicious to obtain a free credit report at least once a year, or prior to applying for any long term loan or credit card to ensure that bad credit reporting doesn’t rear its ugly head. A free copy of your credit report from all 3 ascribed bureaus tinning be obtain by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.

About Weisberg & Meyers, LLC, Attorneys for Consumers

Weisberg and Meyers, LLC, Attorneys for Consumers, is a nationally recognized consumer law firm, has attorneys licensed to practice in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, and works with attorneys throughout the country to protect the rights of aggrieved consumers. The Firm’s diverse practice includes claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as well as violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Truth In Lending Act (TILA), the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Consumer Leasing Act, Credit Repair Organizations Act, (CROA) and State Unfair and Deceptive Practices Acts (UDAP’s). The Firm also offers Debt Settlement services, prosecutes Class Action Lawsuits, and handles Breach of Warranty, Lemon Law and Consumer Fraud Claims.

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Consumer Reports June 2012 Cover

Yonkers, NY (PRWEB) May 03, 2012

Nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users do not use, or are not aware of the site’s privacy controls, according to a new Consumer Reports investigation on Facebook and privacy, potentially exposing personal information beyond their network of Facebook friends. The report also revealed that a projected 4.8 million people have posted about where they planned to go on a certain day, a potential tip-off to burglars, while 4.7 million have “liked” a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments, details that insurers might use against them.

The full report can be found in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports and online at ConsumerReports.org

The Consumer Reports investigation focused on Facebook as it is the largest social network with just over 900 million users worldwide and more than 150 million users in the U.S. The service makes it easy for populate to keep up with friends, family and colleagues, discover great limit, and connect to causes. Consumer Reports notes that to deliver this service, Facebook and other social networks collect enormous amounts of often highly sensitive information and distribute it wide and quickly.

Consumer Reports points out that all of this data collection is not without risks. A projected seven million households using Facebook said they had disturbing last year, running from someone using their log-in without permission to being harassed or threatened – up 30 percent from the previous year, according to the Consumer Reports Annual State of the Net survey. And unless an individual has chosen their privacy settings meticulously, one of their friends who runs an app could grant it access to their information without their knowledge, including information that was set to “friends” only view. Only 37 percent of users say they have used the site’s privacy tools to customize how much information apps are allowed to see, according to the Consumer Reports survey.

“Facebook really is changing the way the world socially communicates and has become a successful service in part by leveraging copious amounts of personal data that can be spread far wider than its users might realize,” said Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Technology Editor. “Our investigation revealed some fascinating, and some disquieting trends – but ones always worth knowing for consumers who wish to keep their personal data under better control.”

What does Facebook know?
Americans feed all kinds of personal details into Facebook’s vast database by posting status updates on their “wall,” updating their profile, “liking a page,” or using other Facebook features. The numbers below show how many people engaged in each activity during the past 12 months, based on projections from the Consumer Reports State of the Net survey:

    39.3 million identified a family member in a profile     20.4 million included their birth date and year in their profile     7.7 million “liked” a Facebook page pertaining to a religious affiliation     4.6 million discussed their love life on their wall     2.6 million discussed their recreational use of alcohol on their wall     2.3 million “liked” a page regarding sexual orientation

While some privacy or security issues arise from poor choices Facebook users themselves make, other problems can stem from the ways the company collects data, how it manages and packages its privacy controls, and the fact that users’ data can wind up with people or companies with whom they did not intend to partaken. Some users might be surprised to know that Facebook gets a report every time they visit a site with a “Like” button, regardless of whether or not they click on that button, have a Facebook account, or are even logged in.

For its part, Facebook says it takes privacy and safety published seriously. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the company does privacy access checks tens of billions of times each day. The company has also announced that it would offer users greater access to records of their past Facebook activity. In addition, it says it watches vigilantly for apps that misbehave. According to a company spokesperson, “We have a dedicated team that reviews apps using a risk-based approach to ensure we address the biggest risks, rather than just doing a cursory review at the time an app is first launched.”

Better protections
Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, wants a national privacy law that holds all companies to the same privacy standards and lets consumers tell companies not to track them online. It also supports the Obama administration’s effort to bring industry and privacy groups together to set clear rules for how personal data is collected and used. Additionally, Consumers Union launched a petition urging Facebook to improve privacy controls and address concerns about sharing practices. The petition is highlighted in a CU policy ad appearing in Politico which can be found at hearusnow.org.

It addition to the privacy safeguards that Facebook already has in place, Consumer Reports notes that the company could also fix a security lapse that permits users to set up weak passwords including some six-letter dictionary words. And it could help users avoid inadvertently sharing status updates with the public, either by alerting them more prominently when they are about to do so or by changing the default audience for posts to the user’s preferred audience.

Nine ways to stay protected
Facebook offers many privacy controls that may not be easy for layfolk to understand. A new study by Siegel+Gale, New York-based consultants, finds that Facebook’s and Google’s privacy policies are tougher to comprehend than the typical bank credit card agreement. Below are nine tip from Consumer Reports that will help users understand and utilize privacy tools:

    Think before typing. Even if an user deletes his/her am (which takes Facebook about a month), some info can remain in Facebook’s computers for up to 90 days.     Regularly check Facebook exposure. Each month, users should check out how their page looks to others. Review individual privacy settings if necessary.     Protect basic information. Set the audience for profile items, such as town or employer. And users should remember: Sharing info with “friends of friends” could expose them to tens of thousands.     Know what can’t be protected. Each user’s name and profile picture are public. To protect one’s identity, they should not use a photo, or use one that doesn’t show their face.     “unPublic” the wall. Set the audience for all previous wall posts to only friends.     Turn away Tag Suggest. If users would rather not have Facebook automatically recognize their face in photos, they could disable that feature in their privacy settings. The information will be deleted.     Block apps and sites that snoop. Unless users intercede, friends can share personal information about them with apps. To block that, they should use controls to limit the info apps can see.     Keep wall posts from friends. Users don’t have to partake every wall post with every friend. They can also keep certain people from viewing specific items in their profile.     When all else fails, deactivate. When an user deactivates their been, Facebook retains their profile data but the account is made temporarily unaccessible. Deleting an account, on the other hand, makes it inaccessible forever.

Inside the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports
Additional findings from Consumer Reports latest State of the Net Report are featured in the June issue of Consumer Reports magazine available on newsstands on May 8th or online at ConsumerReports.org. In addition to the cover article on Facebook and user privacy, the issue also features a broader report on online security and what consumers can do to protect themselves.

Consumer Reports State of the Net Survey Methodology
Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted the annual State of the Net survey from January 16 – 31, 2012. A sample of 2,002 members of the TNS interactive consumer online panel over the age of 18 with a home Internet connection participated in the survey. The findings are nationally representative of Internet households. The margin of error for the full sample was ± 2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

About Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is the world’s largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.

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Article by Nancy Woodward

Your Personal Credit Report: Find and Correct the Errors

People that compile your personal credit reports are human like me and you. They can make mistakes while compiling your reports from various sources. Thus, requesting a copy of your report frequently is very important. It will allow you to know what they compile about you. You will be able to discover unfavorable information, and request corrections before they start spreading non-accurate information about you.

When you get a copy of your personal report, determine the status of your credit file. Study the information in it very well and attempt to remove all unfavorable information in it. You will need to contact the credit bureau and perhaps the original creditor. All your credit history may not be contained in one file from a firm. So if possible get from other firms too. Some information may be duplicated, or not included in the other file.

You need to note your full name, social security number, current and previous addresses, spouse’s name, and date of birth and make sure that they are correct because they are points used in identifying you. Also, make sure that merchants name, credit account number, date opened, date closed, high credit limit, highest amount of credit used, and repayment history are correct, current and accurate.

After studying the file carefully if you notice any error, write out exact error and the way you think it should be listed. You will find a space on the right-hand side of your report where you may protest any item in your report that you feel incorrect. You will have to attach photocopies along with pertinent information to proof your claim and send it to bureau by mail. When the bureau gets your message they will investigate and send you result of their investigation. You will have to exercise patience during this period because it may take bureau some time to complete their investigation.

About the Author

Nancy Woodward is an Accountant and Real Estate Professional affiliated with “The Dream Team”. She has a lifelong interest in business, finance and real estate. She is online at Real Estate

Tenant Credit Check

Article by Matthew Brown

It’s common that an inhabit credit check is an important issue to property managers. When you are searching for a qualifications screening manage, you want to be sure that the company you obtain a review from is reputable. A criminal history check can reveal quite a bit about a person. Property owners will be interest to know that a renter credit score assessment can uncover prospective occupy credit check, liens and late bills.

Tenant credit check for landlords is very necessary. They are indeed diversifying further, as most organizations interacting with UK properties look for additional service benefits such as inhabit credit check in say to protect themselves. The check for is personalized with its review for careful residence managers. This implies a residence management organization should be an one-stop destination for any/all residence needs; be it purchasing, selling, give on leasing or checking on the behavior and past review of the house owners.

Renter credit check is well-nigh important now for North American property managers. When one is prepare to make an offer on qualities that fit your goals and your budget. Once the residence is prepared, you tinning start searching for renters or owners. It is always best to conduct a credit score to look for informative sources on any prospective house owners.

If you are a property owner, your house owners are an important source of your earnings. Tenant credit check is important for assisting you in picking trusted house owners who pay their rent promptly, each and every time.

- What details will credit score reviews expose about your tenants?

A credit score will contain financial information on your prospective tenant. A tenant credit check will find out who he owes money to and whether he has been a reliable in paying his charges promptly. These charges include any car loans, houses loans, card charges and even reimbursements for shopping charges.

- How do you jog renter credit check on your tenants?

To get your hands on any prospective tenant’s credit score, you tin attempt to take legal action or approach a credit score organization in your area. If you live in the USA, there are 3 formal credit revealing agencies where you can obtain your tenant’s credit reports – Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

There is absolutely no uncertainty that the concern of tenant credit check and tenant screening are of tremendous essentiality when it comes to the proper screening of residents. It is very important for the property owner to make sure that he makes use of this to protect his residence. This has led to the development of several companies taking control of this type of screening, which are primarily done through managing on the internet.

It would engage you to know that when we discuss the renter’s criminal history and have a look at it we are not just mentioning the removing of a bad credit ranking score information of these renters. There are some individuals, however, who think that the credit ranking of their credit superior is not important and that the most important thing is that of the renter credit review. Indeed both the tenant credit check and criminal history screening are essential when it comes to renting the residence or not.

About the Author

Looking for more information on tenant’s credit check?
I know how not easy it can be sometimes to find background information on your renters as well as perform a proper credit inform check. But let me help you with that. I will show you one easy method how you can do it. And trust me, it works amazingly well for me, and it will work for you too!
This method is so simple to pick up and it doesn’t take much time from you. You can read how to do it in my free report here, simply by clicking the link: Tenant Credit Check

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Question by kenny9678: What is the best way to have a credit check?
I’ve owned 2 credit cards for approximately 5 years and now have student loans to pay off as well around 30k. What or where is the best place to get a credit check done? How easy is this and can it be done online? And once you have it done once is there a company that will provide anymore future checks for free?

Best answer:

Answer by OC1999
The best way is to do it yourself. You are allowed 1 free per year from each of the Credit Reporting Agencies. You can go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com to do this. This is the offical site and the only one that is totally free, others with similar names have catches that require you to sign up for other services.

Now, if you want your score that will cost you and you can go to http://www.myfico.com and get your score from there. This is the site that does the FICO Score which is the most widly used. The cost is $ 15.95 a report or $ 47.95 for all 3. When you pull your free credit report you will have an option to purchase your credit score at that time. It is cheaper than if you were to just get your credit score at a later time. However, since your score is based on the information that is in your report it is best to just get your report first to verify everything is correct before you pay for a score.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Answer by josh m
Rule of thumb….if you gave the bank your social security number when you applied for the card, any activity will appear on your credit report.

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Article by James Johnson

If the info in your credit report is inaccurate, who is responsible for cleaning it up? To dispute credit report mistake, follow these steps. The imputing reporting company and your creditors are supposed to work together to keep your info accurate. When you notice something wrong in your report, you should contact both the company that provided the info and the agency that reported it. Here’s what you want to do.

First, it is essential to dispute credit report errors in writing. Inform the consumer reporting company of the mistakes you have observed. They must review the entries you have questioned within 30 days, unless they claim your dispute is frivolous. In addition, they must forward your communication to the company that provided the potentially incorrect info.

When the data provider is contacted, they are required to investigate and report back. If their investigation confirms that the info is incorrect, they actually must contact all three of the consumer reporting agencies. So even if you only contact one reporting company, the mistakes will be cleared up throughout the system.

The ascribing reporting agency is required to send you written results of the investigation and a free copy of your credit report if they make any modifications. In this case, the free report does not count against the annual free accounted provided for by law.

Once mistakes have been rectified or taken from your file, the creditor can’t resubmit it without more verification. If creditors do resubmit the info you had taken out, the assigning reporting agency is required to contact you.

Don’t count on the imputing reporting agency to do all the work for you. You should also contact the creditor directly to dispute credit report errors. You tin locate their mailing address on your monthly statement. If you are disputing certain info, the creditor must include this fact whenever they send that info to the reporting agency. After the issue is decided, whatever faulty info may not be reported again.

Even if you don’t succeed in having faulty info taken out, you can have info about your gainsaid added the future reports. You can also ask that a statement about the dispute be sent to anyone who has recently received your credit report. There may be a fee for this. Future credit reports must inform recipients that you dispute credit report facts you consider to be in error.

Are you just hoping things will work impart? Take charge of your credit ratting using the info you find at DIY credit repair tips.

About the Author

James Johnson writes regularly about finance related topics. I hope you enjoy this article.

Answer by Sgt Big Red
Simply give him the copy but redact (block out) all but your last four digits of your social security number.All they need to see is anything that is derogatory such as collections, charged off debts and any judgments. If you have none on your report, then you should have no problem.It is their way of making sure they will not get stiffed for any rent. But fifty-fifty those with stellar reports have been known to fall slow and skip out, so why they really need one is for their own peace of mind.

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This will be a series of videos to help you repair your own credit. Our credit was improved by more than 100 points in less than 2 months. Disclaimer: I am not a licensed professional. I am not a financial advisor. I am not insured or bonded. I recommend that you use well thought out techniques and seek the advise of an attorney. I cannot guarantee that your results will be as successful as mine. Check out the information listed for yourself. At the time of this production all of this information was current, but times change so please verify this at the time that you use it. Use this at your own risk; we are not responsible for any results of this information be it good or bad.
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Answer by tusk4sho
Credit check is like an integrity check, if you can explain why your crdit is the way it is sometiumes you will be ok

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