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Submitted by DakotaLegal on
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Submitted by DakotaLegal on
Yes, you might well have a case. Keep in mind, this is both a difficult and fairly new area of law, having to do with your valuable interest in financial privacy. But you will also be using some of the oldest ideas of law, involving “torts.” There will be issues about proving who might have been negligent in creating or spreading this false loan report…ranging from questions about possible identity theft to the bank’s own policies of how this information was or was not adequately verified. One way to test if you have a case is to get a referral for a free legal consultation, and see if a lawyer is willing to take your case purely on contingency. You’d then only pay legal fees, if they take the case and win. Here’s the Missouri Bar’s referral system: http://www.mobar.org/lrs/attorneys.htm.
If no lawyer will work on contingency, I’d suggest you get some legal advice that addresses some of the questions we’ll cover here. There’s the legal aid system for low-income citizens (http://www.lsmo.org/) or the State Bar’s Pro Bono service…http:// www.mobar.org/probono.htm.
Among the things you might consider in a lawsuit are fraud and negligence. Here’s a case involving a family’s home “loan” that somehow got lost in the shuffling of papers, between the lender and a business. What’s interesting is that you can take some of the facts in that case of an actual loan, showing that there is a certain level of liability for failing to properly process loan information, and to communicate with the real borrower. http://caselaw.findlaw. com/mo-court-of-appeals/1383792.html.
Gather Your Evidence
It’s frustrating, but you need to find out more about the supposed loan. The first reason is that you may have to prove you didn’t take it out. To do that, you certainly have the right to be told the essential details by First National. You should ask to get copies of the loan documents, and the qualifying details. This will also help prepare your next steps, if it turns out to be a case of identity theft.
There’s another reason to get more information about the “loan,” and it has to do with your rights to complain. Depending on the amount and type of loan, it might involve: a third party lender (from an auto finance company to a mortgage company). You might find out you have a complaint against that third party lender, too. And depending on the type of loan, you may have another option…to bring a complaint through an administrative agency of Missouri government or the local police department (if there’s been ID theft). Specifically, there’s the Missouri banking authority (http://finance. mo.gov/banks/). If it involves real estate, you might need to also go here… http://pr.mo. gov/realestate.asp.
Remember, you’ll be in a much better situation to take action once you actually see the “loan” documents. The Bank will also be much more willing to help you take action, stop credit collection, and find what happened….if they know you’ve (1) gotten the facts and (2) are in a position to make a legal complaint against them.
Figuring Damages: Checking Your Credit
One of the ways you might have been harmed is if this information went into your credit report. You do have an obligation to ‘police’ your own credit reports, to try and minimize or dispute false items. There’s other evidence of harm than a damaged credit report, too. Starting from now, do your best to keep a log of when you are called, who called, and what the message was.
Is There “Harassment” By A Collection Agency?
Consumers have only recently begun to get laws with real teeth, preventing abusive credit collection. Your case is even more unique, since the calls are unwanted and without any legal basis: http://ago.mo.gov/publications/knowyourrights.pdf and http://finance. mo.gov/consumers/debt_collection.php. If there’s been ID theft, however, the credit collector can claim to have been an innocent third party too.
Is This A Wider Problem?
Some banking or lenders may actually be aggressively, carelessly, pursuing the wrong people. There are lawyers who specialize in chasing these facts down, and sometimes, this even leads to a class-action lawsuit. http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/ 2009/01/_class_action_defense_caseswoo.html. Before getting to that stage, you can tell the Bank they have every reason to help solve the problem informally, or you (preferably acting through a lawyer) “will pursue more formal options.” If you choose not to work with a lawyer, you can contact the Missouri State Attorney General to see if this is a wider problem than only in your case: https://www.consumer.ago.mo.gov/.
Yes, you might well have a case. Keep in mind, this is both a difficult and fairly new area of law, having to do with your valuable interest in financial privacy. But you will also be using some of the oldest ideas of law, involving “torts.” There will be issues about proving who might have been negligent in creating or spreading this false loan report…ranging from questions about possible identity theft to the bank’s own policies of how this information was or was not adequately verified. One way to test if you have a case is to get a referral for a free legal consultation, and see if a lawyer is willing to take your case purely on contingency. You’d then only pay legal fees, if they take the case and win. Here’s the Missouri Bar’s referral system: http://www.mobar.org/lrs/attorneys.htm.
If no lawyer will work on contingency, I’d suggest you get some legal advice that addresses some of the questions we’ll cover here. There’s the legal aid system for low-income citizens (http://www.lsmo.org/) or the State Bar’s Pro Bono service…http:// www.mobar.org/probono.htm.
Among the things you might consider in a lawsuit are fraud and negligence. Here’s a case involving a family’s home “loan” that somehow got lost in the shuffling of papers, between the lender and a business. What’s interesting is that you can take some of the facts in that case of an actual loan, showing that there is a certain level of liability for failing to properly process loan information, and to communicate with the real borrower. http://caselaw.findlaw. com/mo-court-of-appeals/1383792.html.
Gather Your Evidence
It’s frustrating, but you need to find out more about the supposed loan. The first reason is that you may have to prove you didn’t take it out. To do that, you certainly have the right to be told the essential details by First National. You should ask to get copies of the loan documents, and the qualifying details. This will also help prepare your next steps, if it turns out to be a case of identity theft.
There’s another reason to get more information about the “loan,” and it has to do with your rights to complain. Depending on the amount and type of loan, it might involve: a third party lender (from an auto finance company to a mortgage company). You might find out you have a complaint against that third party lender, too. And depending on the type of loan, you may have another option…to bring a complaint through an administrative agency of Missouri government or the local police department (if there’s been ID theft). Specifically, there’s the Missouri banking authority (http://finance. mo.gov/banks/). If it involves real estate, you might need to also go here… http://pr.mo. gov/realestate.asp.
Remember, you’ll be in a much better situation to take action once you actually see the “loan” documents. The Bank will also be much more willing to help you take action, stop credit collection, and find what happened….if they know you’ve (1) gotten the facts and (2) are in a position to make a legal complaint against them.
Figuring Damages: Checking Your Credit
One of the ways you might have been harmed is if this information went into your credit report. You do have an obligation to ‘police’ your own credit reports, to try and minimize or dispute false items. There’s other evidence of harm than a damaged credit report, too. Starting from now, do your best to keep a log of when you are called, who called, and what the message was.
Is There “Harassment” By A Collection Agency?
Consumers have only recently begun to get laws with real teeth, preventing abusive credit collection. Your case is even more unique, since the calls are unwanted and without any legal basis: http://ago.mo.gov/publications/knowyourrights.pdf and http://finance. mo.gov/consumers/debt_collection.php. If there’s been ID theft, however, the credit collector can claim to have been an innocent third party too.
Is This A Wider Problem?
Some banking or lenders may actually be aggressively, carelessly, pursuing the wrong people. There are lawyers who specialize in chasing these facts down, and sometimes, this even leads to a class-action lawsuit. http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/ 2009/01/_class_action_defense_caseswoo.html. Before getting to that stage, you can tell the Bank they have every reason to help solve the problem informally, or you (preferably acting through a lawyer) “will pursue more formal options.” If you choose not to work with a lawyer, you can contact the Missouri State Attorney General to see if this is a wider problem than only in your case: https://www.consumer.ago.mo.gov/.