Consumer Claims in Texas

The law in action

According to a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission, consumer fraud affects 25 million Americans—approximately 11.2 percent of adults—every year.  When you have been a victim of consumer fraud, you need a lawyer to help you enforce your legal rights.  The following laws may work in your favor:  

• The Truth in Lending Act requires creditors or mortgage lenders to tell you about all costs and interest rates involved in your loan upfront.  The Act also regulates the resolution of credit card billing disputes and gives you the right to cancel certain credit transactions that involve a lien on your home.  If you believe that you have been a victim of lending fraud, an attorney can help you assert and enforce your rights in court.

• The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) protects homebuyers and other real estate purchasers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive real estate sale practices.  Your realtor, construction company, lender, and title insurer cannot take kickbacks and collude to charge you more for their services.  You need to be fully informed of the terms of your mortgage before you sign the mortgage, but even after you have signed the mortgage, this Act protects your interests.  If you believe there is an error in your mortgage, you have the right to make a written request to the loan servicer and explain why you think your account is in error.  To be legally valid, this request should be written on a separate sheet of paper from the payment coupon and must include the mortgage owner's name, their account number, and the words "qualified written request" to be considered legally valid.  The servicer must acknowledge receipt of the request within 20 days and has 60 days from the request to explain why the mortgage is correct or else, correct the error.  For each violation you can prove, you may be entitled to actual damages, costs, attorney's fees, and up to $1000 for each additional violation if there is a pattern of non-compliance.

• The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) protects you from false, misleading, or deceptive business practices which influence your decisions.  A company cannot misrepresent themselves based on their qualifications and capabilities and cannot engage in "unconscionable" conduct, including raising prices after a natural disaster, falsely accusing competitors of misconduct, passing off old parts as new parts, and otherwise exaggerating or misrepresenting their products benefits.  When you discover that you have been a victim of consumer fraud, the law requires that you give the other party a reasonable opportunity to make good on a promise or defend their actions.  When you do not get an appropriate response, you need to consult a lawyer as soon as possible.  The law limits the time you have to file your claim to two years from the time you discover that you have been defrauded.

• The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act protects you from unfair, deceptive, or abusive debt collections practices.  Violations of your rights may include using profane language during collections calls, making harassing phone calls to your workplace or your employer, seeking unjustified amounts of compensation, or reporting false information to a credit-reporting agency.  If you win your case, you may be entitled to statutory damages of $1000 plus any attorney's fees that you have incurred for each violation.

• The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees that you have the right to review and make changes to your credit report.  The Act also requires that credit-reporting agencies - like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion - notify you of negative information being posted to your credit report at least 30 days before or after the information is available to creditors, employers, mortgage lenders, insurance carriers, and other authorized parties.  You have the right to dispute the claim.  If the information is removed based on your dispute, it may not be reinserted without 5 days notice that it is going to be posted.  The Act also ensures that you are able obtain one free credit report a year at AnnualCreditReport.com.  There are other provisions to this Act, which an attorney can inform you of during a consultation.  When you prove that a credit reporting agency has violated this act, you may be entitled to recovery of actual damages plus attorney's fees

Abraham Moss can help you obtain justice in your consumer fraud case.  Call his office today to find out how he can help you with your case: (361) 992-8999.

Proudly serving Corpus Christi and the surrounding South Texas communities, including:
Nueces, Bee, San Patricio, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Duval, and Brooks Counties