Originally Posted by ASaltyDog

That pompous get-back-at-em attitude is likely to cause you a lot of near term trouble.

Who's to say they really owe you the money? You? Perhaps you gave them an inferior service or product, and you still feel they owe you. Before an impartial court hears and decides, for now you have this little edge of credit bureau reporting. You pay the credit agencies a hefty fee, and in return you get retribution before anything can be done about it.

Yes, lawsuits are popping up at 20x the rate of just last year, fought heavily by the credit agencies (Experian etc) who are making billions on their little scams. A yacht here, a beach house there to the right politician and it's no wonder laws favor this criminal wave of intimidation and extortion.

Cell companies, long distance voip, credit card companies have been on the crest of this wave for a good while. "Pay us our fees, surcharges, late penalties, over-fees, under-fees, bogus charges, inferior services and any other charges we make up -- or we'll report you to the credit bureaus". They know from very their expensive market studies that in the past only about 5% of people actually file a suit, whom they almost always settle out of court. But not any more. Damages are now being awarded in droves to consumers who have been victims of this little scam - to every cry baby who thinks you owe them $25.00 and have tried to ruin your life through early, unsupported credit bashing.

Try $5k in damages, and all of a sudden things change. That last mortgage you got nailed an additional 2% on interest? Adds up to about $3,000.00/yr – all because of unfounded credit reporting outside of the court system. Little pip-sqeaks that have used this tool in the past are now finding themselves liable for losses and damages caused by their little get-even fits. Get even is right - they rarely profit from this activity. It's all about the gloating and bragging. They actually pay a large sum to credit agencies to be allowed to do throw whomever into the bashing list, for whatever reason.

Enjoy your little stick-beatings while you can