Written by: Mike Senecal
Edited by: Lillian Guevara-Castro
Reviewed by: Adam West
In a Nutshell: Many victims of identity theft, unauthorized credit card charges, and credit report errors feel overwhelmed at the prospect of fighting against powerful financial firms to recover their lost reputation and funds. Nationwide, Schlanger Law Group has the experience to handle the complexities. A free consultation with Schlanger Law Group can help you begin to recover your accounts, rebuild your damaged credit score, and ultimately restore your peace of mind.
No matter who you are or where you come from, you probably already have the idea that the financial system is too complex. And you’d be right, says a researcher at the London School of Economics.
He argues that finance grows in complexity almost naturally. We could go in many directions with this, but let’s confine ourselves to credit reports and scores. Many consumers don’t realize how precisely credit card issuers and other lenders understand their financial behavior and how it connects to what they pay for credit.
In fact, many people have had no formal contact with the credit reporting system nor do they have the experience to navigate it. A 2015 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows 26 million Americans living entirely outside the financial system as credit invisibles.
If you’re in the system but blissfully unaware of your status, you may get a rude awakening when something goes wrong. Perhaps the mortgage company turns you down when you expect to qualify easily. Or your credit card company raises your interest or declines to raise your limit.
Somehow, you learn that some combination of identity theft and credit reporting errors has dinged your credit score significantly enough for you to notice. You may regret the level of your neglect and vow to reform your ways, but that won’t get you out of the mess you’re in.
For that, you need legal expertise. The professionals at Schlanger Law Group understand in depth the legislative and regulatory landscape pertaining to identity theft, unauthorized credit card charges, and credit report errors. They bring that expertise to bear to correct your problem and get you the compensation you deserve.
Managing Partner Daniel Schlanger said Schlanger Law is ready to find a legal avenue that leads to a successful resolution of your case.
“We represent victims of significant, inaccurate credit reporting and identity theft,” Schlanger said. “Your rights are not primarily based on your contract with your bank but on a set of federal protections that are better than that contract.”
Expertise to Recognize the Potential of Your Case
That experience is essential. I don’t want this to happen to you, but let’s say you injure yourself while walking through a department store and decide to contact an attorney. A lawyer who doesn’t practice personal injury law will immediately recognize your case for what it is and refer you to a colleague more well versed in that work.
The problem with the law around identity theft, unauthorized charges, and credit reporting errors is that not enough legal practitioners have experience in this area. Though common sense may tell you and me that understanding consumer financial protection law is just as important as any other legal area, experts tend not to think about it.
Without exposure to the practice area, they don’t know what they don’t know, so questions with perfectly obvious answers never get asked. Schlanger said it’s not that the legal environment around these issues is unusually complex. It’s more that a shift in cultural perspective needs to occur.
“Many don’t know their rights until they talk to a lawyer who does this work,” Schlanger said. “They may have claims allowing them to get their money back, fix their credit, receive compensation, and get the other side to pay for their lawyers — and they don’t even know it.”
That means many clients come to Schlanger Law with surprisingly straightforward cases. Perhaps someone stole their debit card, and their bank is refusing to reimburse them. Or, a fraudster opened a credit card account in their name, which destroyed their credit and started the card company chasing them down for the money.
Meanwhile, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the primary law governing the credit reporting industry, provides that the financial institution or credit reporting agency must pay the prevailing consumer’s attorney fees and costs. It’s one of many ways the system stacks the odds in the consumer’s favor.
With the current explosion in electronic payment platforms like PayPal and Apple Pay and the number of people facing fraud and credit reporting inaccuracies, Schlanger Law understands how to make things right, taking a fee only when it wins.
“Our focus has allowed us to sharpen our skill set and become really very well-versed in the law in this particular area,” Schlanger said.
Educating Consumers to Know Their Legal Rights
Schlanger calls it an area of “plain-Jane, middle-of-the-road identity-theft cases.” Yours might be one. In addition to the FCRA, legislation governing the space includes the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and specific provisions of the Truth in Lending Act.
Schlanger said many clients come to his team after experiencing turndowns at other firms. Many lawyers will reject cases where relatively small amounts of cash are at stake, thinking they’re not financially viable.
They’re not taking into account the FCRA’s fee-shifting provisions. Clients don’t understand the law either. Seeing victims of identity theft turn to the wrong solution in bankruptcy court particularly vexes Schlanger.
You don’t need a bankruptcy lawyer when the debt isn’t yours, he argues. When your back’s against the financial wall through no fault of your own, navigating the complexities of bankruptcy law and compromising your credit further is the wrong way to go.
“If what you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” Schlanger said. “You have rights under the FCRA and other laws that could return your money, correct your credit, and pay your attorney fees, so there’s just no need for it.”
Think of the ways Schlanger’s perspective — and the law — are applicable in real-world financial cases. For example, many credit card consumers experience account takeovers in which they lose control of their username and password, and a bad actor goes on a spending spree.
Particularly in tourist-focused areas, restaurant servers have a habit of writing down your credit card number and using it to make a quick purchase. On the other end of the spectrum, pure identity theft involves a criminal using your credentials to create new accounts.
“They apply for a card in your name and just go around using it,” Schlanger said. “You may not even know until you check your credit report and you’re like, wait — I don’t have an Amex.”
Navigate Your Legal Journey With Confidence
Does that sound like you? Do you know your credit score, or are you okay with just knowing you have one? The key takeaway here is knowing you have a secure option when financial events spiral out of your ability to control them.
Schlanger Law pledges to meet you where you are on your journey. According to the firm’s homepage, Schlanger Law will “stand by your side, offering not only top-notch legal representation but also guidance every step of the way to a positive outcome.”
The firm works with local counsel who bring individual and class-action cases to courts nationwide. One pending class-action case is reviewing how banks treat victims of unauthorized charges.
Schlanger Law has also been instrumental in bringing crypto exchange platforms such as Coinbase under the auspices of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and is working with the National Association of Consumer Advocates on a pending case against the Gemini crypto exchange for noncompliance with that legislation.
Schlanger said the firm’s specific focus makes it more effective in the courts, with Schlanger attorneys seeing many of the same defendants and attorneys over and over on the other side.
“It’s useful to be a known actor because you start with a set of expectations for what kind of cases you bring and what sorts of resolutions you’re looking for,” Schlanger said. “You don’t have to start from scratch in terms of building up your relationship and reputation.”
That means consumers who turn to Schlanger Law for a free consultation can rest assured that the firm has the knowledge, experience, and skills to align with their interests. If Schlanger could recommend only one strategy to every potential identity theft or credit reporting victim, it would be to start early with your written complaint. Schlanger Law can help.
“It’s not top-secret information — any reputable consumer protection lawyer will give you the deadlines you need for the written dispute process that applies to you,” Schlanger said. “If you get caught up arguing with your bank or credit card company for years and then come to us, it can be too late.”
