Fix credit report errors. Stop collector abuse.
The Fair Credit Reporting Foundation is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit that teaches consumers how to use the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. We also provide credit repair organizations with technical help on FCRA and FDCPA cases that may have violations that fall outside a standard dispute workflow.
Consumer protection built around credit reporting law
The mission of the Fair Credit Reporting Foundation is to educate and empower consumers. We teach people how to:
- Resolve errors on their credit reports
- Deal with collection accounts and debt collector harassment
- Respond to identity theft on their credit reports
- Confirm their Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is reported correctly
A wrong line on a credit report can cost a loan, a job, or an apartment.
Credit scores rise and fall on payment history, collections, public records, and account status. When Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion repeat a furnisher’s mistake, the consumer pays the price. Education is the first remedy: get the file, mark every error, and use the FCRA dispute process with a clean paper trail.
If the problem is a collector — not just a score — the FDCPA adds a second set of rights: validation, no harassment, no false threats of arrest or wage garnishment, and limits on third-party disclosure.
Most debt lawsuits are lost without a fight
Being sued over a debt is stressful, and many people respond by doing nothing. National research shows that silence is the single most common way these cases end, and it almost always ends badly for the consumer.
How debt collection lawsuits end
Courts with available data, 2010–2019
What the research found
In 2020, The Pew Charitable Trusts studied debt collection cases in state civil courts. It found that debt lawsuits had grown from about 1 in 9 civil cases in 1993 to about 1 in 4 by 2013. In the courts that published usable data for 2010 to 2019, more than 70% of these lawsuits ended in a default judgment for the company that sued.
A default judgment is not a decision that the consumer owed the money. It is an automatic ruling that a court enters when the person being sued does not respond or appear. No one tests whether the debt is real, whether the company owns it, or whether the amount is correct.
Pew also found that fewer than 1 in 10 consumers had a lawyer, while the companies suing them almost always did.
Why a default judgment matters
Once a judgment is entered, the collector can use court tools to collect. Depending on state law, that can include garnishing wages, freezing bank accounts, and placing liens on property. Undoing a default judgment later is possible in some cases, but it is harder and slower than responding on time.
What you can do if you are sued
Do not ignore the papers
Read the summons for your deadline. The deadline to respond from the date you were served is not the same in every state.
File a response
Filing a written response with the court by your deadline (in most courts, this is called an answer) keeps the case from ending in an automatic default.
Ask for proof
The company that sues must be able to show that it owns the debt and that the amount is correct.
Get help
A consumer protection attorney can review your case, and many take qualifying cases at no upfront cost.
Showing up changes the outcome. When consumers respond, the company has to prove its case. Many cases that would have ended in default are dismissed, settled, or won. It is important to show up and avoid the risk of automatic default.
Sources: The Pew Charitable Trusts, How Debt Collectors Are Transforming the Business of State Courts (May 2020); Effects of Debt Lawsuits on Civil Courts—and Consumers—Obscured by Lack of Data (June 2020).
This section is for educational purposes and is not legal advice. The Fair Credit Reporting Foundation is not a law firm. Court deadlines and procedures vary; check the papers you received or consult an attorney.
Special Services for CROs
Not every credit repair organization is built to handle complicated reporting issues. Some CROs rely 100% on software that challenges Metro 2 compliance. Special Services might be able to assist with those negative tradelines that the Metro 2 software did not clean up.
How to get started
Contact us
Call (844) 357-3273 or email help@tfcrf.org. Consumers describe the problem. CROs send the stuck file.
Get the reports
From a computer, download your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion reports from AnnualCreditReport.com. You can only access the complete reports from a desktop or laptop. Do not use a cell phone. Email the reports to help@tfcrf.org.
Expert review
Schedule a free consultation to discuss any problem areas in the report.
Take action
Dispute errors, answer collectors and seek legal counsel when the facts support it.
Contact the Foundation
Call or email the Foundation to get started.
Consumers and credit repair organizations use the same inbox. CROs: put “Special Services” in the subject line.