The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently reached a significant decision in a case under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In the case of Deandrade v. Trans Union LLC, 2008 WL 1722237 (1st Cir. 2008) the Court held that the plaintiff had not sustained his burden of proving inaccuracy of [...]

With limited exceptions, after an account becomes delinquent, information about the delinquency can only appear on a credit report for seven years plus 180 days. According to the FTC Commentary, this time period is not extended if the debt is sold or if full or partial a payment is made on the debt. [...]

Some debt collectors abuse the very limited right to contact an employer to acquire location information. As it relates to employment, location information is limited to knowledge of a debtor’s “place of employment.” 15 U.S.C. 1692a(7).
A debt collector may “confirm” this location information. 15 U.S.C. 1692b(1). However, according to the Federal Trade Commission, [...]

There are only four circumstances in which a debt collector can contact, or threaten to contact, a third-party in connection with the collection of a consumer debt: (1) to acquire location information about you; (2) with the your prior consent given directly to the debt collector; (3) as reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial [...]

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) was enacted in 1977 “to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692. [...]