The short answer first.

What is the difference between the FCRA and the FDCPA?

The FCRA governs consumer reports. The FDCPA governs how covered debt collectors collect consumer debts.

Credit bureaus, furnishers, and many background checks sit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Covered collectors sit under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. One account can raise both. See the practice page.

When is a credit report error a legal problem?

When a bureau or furnisher misses a duty the statute actually imposes, not merely because an item is unpleasant.

The firm looks at accuracy, disputes that never got a real investigation, mixed files, identity theft, employment and background reports, and a notation that you are deceased. Accurate negative information can still be reported.

What debt collector conduct does the FDCPA cover?

Harassment, false statements, missing validation, and unfair practices by a covered debt collector.

A company collecting its own current account is often outside the FDCPA. The papers, not the letterhead alone, answer that.

Can I recover money?

If a claim is proved, these statutes can allow actual damages and, in defined cases, statutory damages, plus attorney’s fees when the consumer prevails.

That is not a number this website will quote, and it is not a promise.

What should I bring?

Reports, letters, a call log, and any denial. Not a Social Security number.

Use the intake. The offices are 254 W. 31st Street, 6th Floor, New York, and 27 N. Broad Street, Ridgewood.

Who reviews the file?

The firm does.

We do. A wrong file comes in. We read it, we organize it, and we help you fight back. The team page introduces the people doing that work. A form or a chat is not an engagement.