Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Chip in or let the credit bureaus and collectors win!
I’m sure you noticed the new LARGE Chip In donation graphic in the right column.
Today I added up my recurring expenses for the websites, DSL, legal research and related expenses and I’m looking at $500/month right there.
That’s before filing fees, 500 mile round trips to Phoenix and motel for court hearings, postage, paper, ink, hardware, software and all that STUFF I constantly have to order.
The other day I changed my billing info at Endicia and noticed that I’ve spent over $1,500 on postage—99% is for courtesy filings to the judge and lawsuit related mailings.
The Experian depositions in 2006 cost me over $3,500.
Then Experian filed my unredacted credit reports for download by the public and after judge Broomfield denied my 3rd motion to get those reports removed, I had no choice but to offer dismissal with prejudice in exchange for sealing my credit reports.
The 9th circuit court of appeals filings.
I think it was in 2001 when I discovered that Capital One’s failure to report the credit limits could devastate FICO scores.
I filed complaints with the FTC and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and they ignored complaints. In 2003, I finally sued them all, including James McAffee, the FRB Richmond VP and senior legal counsel. Of course they were dismissed, I didn’t have the SLIGHTEST clue. Back then, the court filings weren’t on PACER and I had no legal resources at all.
In 2004, I sued Equifax and Cap One again.
Judge Wake, a mean SOB who had just been appointed by President Bush, admitted that the missing credit limits lowered my FICO scores. He dismissed ALL my claims anyway, stating that the FCRA didn’t specifically require that the credit limits be reported. That moron doesn’t know the meaning of “complete and accurate.”
The 9th circuit court of appeals filings.
I just noticed that I hadn’t uploaded my reply brief yet and my closing paragraph sums it up perfectly:
…
Seeking justice in the courts has been the most frustrating and stressful experience one can imagine. Regardless of this Court’s rulings, Baker lost years of her life. It is time to proceed to the final stage, documenting the legislators’ actions and writing the book to tie it all together: the corruption of the corporations, their executives, their lawyers, their employees, the legal system, the judges, the legislators and the presidential candidates.Respectfully submitted this 21st day of June, 2007.
I wonder if the appeals court is REQUIRED to rule within a certain time period. I keep checking PACER to see if the ruling got misdelivered, but just checked again and still nothing. I raised a number of issues regarding evidence (admissibility of credit report) and of course the many lawyer lies, but it’s not THAT complicated!
And if nothing else, I thought for sure I’d prevail on the issue of the credit limit. After all, Capital One has been reporting the credit limits since last summer, after FINALLY class actions were filed against the CRAs. In those cases, the consumers didn’t even dispute, the claim was based on the maximum accuracy requirement.
In my case, I had actually sent copies of my account statements to the CRAs with my disputes and I had disputed numerous times. I don’t just lose in court because I’m not a lawyer, I get railroaded by crooks in robes.
But it still was MY research, my calls to Barry Paperno at Fair Isaac and my litigation that ultimately got the lawyers to file the class actions.
FYI, no consumer lawyer has ever given me as much as one penny.
I’ve long lost count of how many lawyers I’ve talked with on the phone about Capital One and FICO scores. I even get Christmas cards from law firms.
I’m on mailing lists from lawyers who give credit advice as part of their marketing. One time I responded that I’d be happy to review their mailings for a few dollars. I didn’t get a reply and the next mailing was just as horrible.
There are SO MANY systemic problems, from incomplete reports (addressed in my active suit against TU), student loan reporting, TU’s missing date closed, FICO scores ignoring the collection dispute notices entirely and creating fictious late payments, etc. etc.
As regular readers know, I’ve been advocating credit card defaults by judgment-proof consumers with large unsecured debts.
I’ve learned a lot about banking and how money is created and I hope you will watch The Money Masters and read Web of Debt at the new RESISTANCE forum.
I’ll be 50 this summer. I was going to write a book last winter and didn’t even get started. My house is still unfinished. I’ve stopped paying several of my credit cards and posted my open letters to the banks at http://mylitigation.net/.
I’m so busy with the ongoing litigation against the CRAs and NCO and TU is bombarding me with filing after filing.
I just posted my motion regarding TU’s objection to my amended complaint with claims of tortuous interference with contractual relations and unjust enrichment.
Since TU blatantly refused to correct my client’s reporting last fall, I’ve had no choice but to tell potential clients that it is likely that the CRAs will NOT correct even after multiple disputes. I’m not very enthusiastic about my credit work. Last year, I constantly had to tell people that I was too busy. This year, I’ve had exactly ONE client order the credit analysis. Of course I have plenty of things to do and I’m not sitting around bored, but Joshua trees don’t grow money.
It’s up to you to decide where this should go. I’m out of money.
While the CRAs never corrected everything, they all became a lot more difficult over the last year and it seems that they do know how to really bring the FICO scores down with just one incorrect piece of data.
I also noticed that they have become more confident than ever in court, TU submitted the dismissal of a suit by a Phoenix lawyer with its motion for judgment.
I just recently told NCO what I thought about settling.
Maybe I should have tried to settle.
While on that subject, my only CRA settlement offer was $250 back in 2001 when I first sued TU in small claims and Experian might have offered a few bucks too, but I declined. I settled with the AZ affiliate after they no longer were involved in credit reporting, but the big 3 never made an offer since I filed in federal court in 2003.
Capital One spent $100,000 to get their dismissal from the 2004 suit. They never submitted a settlement offer. I suppose they know that I’m not in it for the money. And they probably did NOT expect that I would appeal and continue to file lawsuits.
But now I’m exactly where they want me to be.
Worn out, tired, broke.
Over 2000 people access this blog every day and you bet the CRA, creditor and collection lawyers are some of my most loyal readers.
The link to the donation page got me about $330 in over a year. About half of that was from 2 readers who donated repeatedly.
I can’t litigate against the world’s most powerful corporations on $25/month.
If YOU don’t care about these suits, why would I?
It’s up to you to vote with your money,
Christine
