Once a consumer disputes information in a credit report with Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion (or any other consumer reporting agency), the consumer reporting agency must notify the furnisher of the information of the dispute. And once the furnisher is notified, it then has an obligation to investigate. Section 1681s-2(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides that when a furnisher receives notice of a consumer’s dispute from a credit reporting agency, it must:
- conduct an investigation with respect to the disputed information;
- review all relevant information provided by the CRA;
- report the results of the reinvestigation to the CRA;
- if the investigation finds that the information is incomplete or inaccurate, report those results to all other CRAs to which the furnisher sent the information;
- if an item of information disputed by a consumer is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or cannot be verified after any reinvestigation, the furnisher must modify, delete, or permanently block the information as appropriate.
Several courts have held that a furnisher must conduct a “reasonable” investigation of a consumer’s dispute. Whether an investigation is reasonable oftentimes requires a furnisher to make a “detailed inquiry,” “systematic examination” or “searching inquiry” into a consumer’s dispute. If the furnisher lacks enough information in its possession to confirm the accuracy or truth of the disputed information, then courts have ruled that it must seek out and obtain such evidence before reporting the information as verified. And if the disputed information is either inaccurate or cannot be verified, the furnisher must modify or delete it.
If you’ve disputed information in your credit report from Yamaha, WebBank, Fidem Finance, Intuit, Health Credit Services, DIGNIFI, or CreditStacks, and it does not appear that it has investigated as it is required to under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, there may be legal claims to pursue. Feel free to reach out to the FCRA attorneys at Weiner & Sand LLC to discuss the situation.