Types of Damages

Types of Damages

Credit reporting agencies have come to wield an extraordinary amount of power over virtually every aspect of our lives: Whether we can buy a home or car, the interest rate we receive when we do, even our ability to find a job is controlled, in some way, by the “Big Three” credit agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian).

So when a company a Big Three makes a mistake on a credit report, it can have extensive, harmful repercussions…even if we don’t find out about the mistake until years later. And if they won’t fix that mistake a lawsuit is in order.

What types and kinds of damages are available in such a lawsuit? Here are some examples.

  • Denial of credit: prove causation through witness and documents
  • Increased cost of credit: prove through witness and documents
  • Lost opportunity to obtain credit: failure to receive unsolicited offers
  • Damage to reputation
    • Derogatory info sent to insurers, creditors, banks and employers
    • Use list of recipients on credit report to show who got report
  • Reputation in profession or among peers.
  • Loss of financial independence: useful for women and young adults
  • Loss of self esteem
  • Invasion of privacy
    • wrongful disclosure, common in mixed file cases
    • contacts from creditors because location information was sold
  • Emotional distress, embarrassment, frustration
    • being denied credit
    • having to explain the errors on the credit report
    • having to dispute with the defendant
    • frustration due to the defendant not fixing it
    • knowing that false information is being reported