If you are litigating FCRA cases involving the Big Three nationwide CRAs (Equifax/Experian/TransUnion) or furnishers to those CRAs, you need to understand the Metro 2 Reporting format.  This is standardized format that furnishers use to report data to the Big Three.  This webinar will provide an overview of the format for FCRA practitioners at the Intermediate level.

What You Will Learn

•    What are the basics of the Metro 2 format
•    What are the key fields in the format
•    What is the legal significance of this manual for FCRA cases

The credit reporting agencies (CRAs) are large, powerful, and loaded with money to pay lawyers to beat you. Summary Judgment is their most powerful tool. They seek not only to defeat your case, but to obtain favorable opinions that they can use for every case moving forward. Larry Smith and SmithMarco, P.C. have battled and defeated the CRAs for fifteen years. Learn how to prepare your cases for their inevitable attacks.

What You Will Learn

•    How to prepare your case from the beginning of representation for the inevitable summary judgment
•    How to obtain the evidence you will need to satisfy the damages requirement that is most often the reason that a case is dismissed
•    What evidence you will need to create questions of facts as to the negligent and/or willful conduct of the CRAs

Furnishers will almost always file summary judgment motions against you if your last demand asks for anything beyond walk-away money.  Smart lawyers prepare for the inevitable summary judgment motion weeks and months before the motion hits their desk.  Bob Brennan has defeated countless furnisher summary judgment motions in his twenty-odd years of doing FCRA work and hopes to share some pertinent tips in this webinar.

What You Will Learn

•    How to address the issues that furnishers will usually attack in summary judgment motions
•    How to prepare well in advance, as early or even earlier than the Rule 26 meeting, to address these motions
•    What evidence, both expert and non-expert, you will need to oppose these motions

Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) and furnishers rely on three main defenses in FCRA cases: accuracy, damages, and willfulness. Accuracy is the most dangerous defense. When CRAs or furnishers take the position that the reporting was accurate, there can be serious and costly consequences for a consumer’s claim and hopes of settlement.  

This webinar will explore accuracy through a case recently decided by the 9th Circuit Court of appeals: Shaw v. Experian. Among other things, we will take a deep dive into many of the documents produced in that case. This webinar is geared to any attorney who brings FCRA claims against CRAs or furnishers.

What You Will Learn

*  How accuracy is defined under the FCRA
*  How and why to avoid the accuracy defense whenever possible
*  What is likely to happen when an accuracy defense is raised
*  What documents to request for discovery on questions of accuracy

Over the past few years, Experian has started aggressively moving to force FCRA claims out of court and into arbitration. To many, this might seem surprising. After all, Experian doesn't enter into contracts with consumers, so how could it force consumers into arbitration--which is a right created by contract? The answer is that Experian relies on contracts between consumers and affiliated companies that provide credit monitoring services. It argues that broad language in those contracts allows it to compel unrelated FCRA claims into arbitration. That argument has found some purchase with federal courts around the country. But there are strategies--both legal and factual--that you can use to defeat Experian's attempts to force your client's claim out of court. This webinar will focus on those strategies and discuss in detail the arguments and approach you should consider when confronting an Experian motion to compel arbitration.  

What You Will Learn 

•    How to understand an Experian motion to compel arbitration
•    What legal arguments may be available to you when opposing such a motion
•    How to develop a factual record and lay the groundwork to successfully oppose a motion to compel

Like private companies, federal agencies furnish information about consumers to credit reporting agencies and use consumer reports prepared by credit bureaus. But although consumers can sue private companies for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), courts have been divided for years on whether sovereign immunity precluded FCRA actions against federal agencies. Earlier this year, in Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz, the Supreme Court resolved that split by holding that the FCRA waived federal immunity by authorizing consumer actions against federal agencies. This webinar is for consumer attorneys of all experience levels who want an overview of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kirtz, and of the significance of that decision for bringing FCRA actions against government agencies.

What You Will Learn
•    What the Supreme Court decided about suing federal agencies under FCRA.
•    What types of FCRA claims can be brought against federal agencies.
•    What the decision means for suing states and other non-federal agencies.

All attorneys working on mortgage related issues for post-bankruptcy clients need to know how the bankruptcy schedules, the statement of intent, and other matters in the bankruptcy process impact the rights of the Debtor post-discharge.  Furthermore, attorneys working on discharge cases need to understand the relationship between the bankruptcy filing and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).   This webinar is geared to an intermediate and advanced level audience, who already have a basic knowledge of bankruptcy and FCRA.

What You Will Learn
•    The pros/cons of reaffirming mortgages,
•    How to spot issues for clients with credit problems that have not affirmed mortgages,
•    Approaches to loan modifications under HAMP (GSE and Non-GSE loans) when mortgages have not been reaffirmed during bankruptcy, and
•    Credit reporting and bankruptcy.