So when they do break the law, we help find those violations, and most importantly, make the wrongdoers pay.

So no, we don't "clean up" credit reports. But maybe, just maybe, we can help fill your bank account so your credit report doesn't matter as much.

When debt collectors, credit bureaus, and sometimes even original creditors fail to treat your financial reputation with the care it deserves—and the care required by law—they owe you money for the damage they cause.

Every communication a debt collector makes with you must be true and free of abuse and harassment. Every communication they make with third parties—including credit bureaus—must also be true.

And credit bureaus, in turn, have a legal duty to ensure maximum possible accuracy of the data they collect and report on you.

So what does this mean? Never confuse your credit score for anything other than its true purpose—a way for the credit industry to see how much money they can make off you.

And that leads us to the second reason: the credit bureaus have a financial interest in depressing your credit score, because they sell valuable marketing data about high-risk borrowers to subprime lenders.

The more high-risk files there are, the more money they make from subprime lenders. Low-risk borrowers just aren't as profitable.

That doesn't seem to make sense, though. Paying off your loan and having less debt should make you a better credit risk, not a worse one.

The official reason is that your credit score, in part, is based upon having a mix of different types of open credit—revolving, like credit cards; and installment, like auto and mortgage loans. If you close your last installment loan, this affects the "mix" in a way that drops your score.

In return, the FCRA does give you important rights—like the right to correct inaccurate, incomplete, or obsolete information, and even to sue a credit bureau when it refuses to investigate your disputes about that information.

But you can't sue them for defamation.

Instead, talk to a lawyer who handles FCRA cases when credit bureaus break the law.

But credit bureaus are a nationwide business, and Congress decided that a uniform nationwide set of rules was the best way to regulate the industry.

So they passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a federal law that sets the rules for the credit reporting industry. That law overrides any state law that might apply to credit bureaus, including claims like defamation.

From now on, you can get your free credit report from each of the bureaus, every week, for good.

Just go to https://annualcreditreport.com and follow the instructions to get your free weekly reports.

During the pandemic, the bureaus allowed everyone to get their free credit report once per week, temporarily, to help offset the financial troubles many people were having.

The bureaus extended that temporary program twice, and recently, they have made is permanent.