Filing a Lawsuit against a Credit Company

You applied for a good credit card and got denied? What is the problem? You have bad, no or fair credit? No, you checked your credit report just before submitting an application. You are confident about your credit score. It is definitely above 660. You know that your credit file is stainless and the denial was just impossible.

What to do? Remember that you have rights and you are protected by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, just for a start. If you think that your credit history have been underappreciated or you believe to have been mistreated, or your credit card application, as you suppose, has not been given a proper consideration, feel free to file a complaint about your negative experience.

But before filing a complaint you can try to settle the problem by contacting the credit issuer. It might turn out to be a simple mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. So, first of all you should better talk to some of the bank's employees and try to clear up the situation. They might have mistaken and they will fix the situation within 5 minutes and you will get your low rate card with great terms. If this does not change the state of affairs, and you do not get an intelligible explanation on why you got rejected, you are to address higher authorities.

All consumer complaints concerning banking and financial services are reported to the Federal Reserve System. This institution will most likely take your side. You, just like any other US citizen, have a right to obtain credit. If you suspect any kind of discrimination, you can even file a lawsuit against the creditor and bring the case to federal district court, having checked with your state attorney general. In case you win, you can recover punitive damages, as well as get a full compensation for court's costs and attorney's fees.

Remember, you have a right to obtain the same credit card offers that were issued to people with similar credit score. For instance, if your friend with good credit got approved for a good credit offer, and you with the same credit rating did not, there is some food for thought. If you find credit consumers abused by the same creditor, join with them and file a class action suit. If you win, you can recover up to $500,000, or 1% of the lender's net worth, whichever is less.

If you ever face such problems as being billed for merchandise you never received or returned, being charged twice for the same item, any unauthorized charges, math errors and other billing errors, the Fair Credit Billing Act protects you. If you can prove that a credit company violated some of the Fair Credit Billing Act laws, you can also file a lawsuit.

In case you win, you can be awarded damages and twice the amount of any finance charge (between $100 and $1,000). The creditor can also reimburse you for attorney's fees and court's costs (by court's decision).

Anyway, when it comes to lawsuits, if you are inexperienced in legal procedures, you should better hire a lawyer to represent you in court. The Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Protection Act are on your side. Just make sure you are not blackening the credit issuer and you do not abuse law by filing a lawsuit against a lender.

No new credit card rules, just a reminder for you not to forget that you have rights and you can fight for them. When you know your rights you can get best credit cards for your type of credit.

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