First of all it never made it to court, we after the total embarassment dropped them like a hot potato. The law firm was out of Jacksonville Florida in 1999, we had the attorney file a letter with Coverall of North Florida because they charged us 17k for a franchise that was supposed to be transferrable anywhere in the United States, it turned out that the representative not only lied to us but many others too, and the facts were that the office in which we dealt with was a private owned territory and I had to keep my business within that territory only, this was brought to my attention after I moved to Georgia.
I owned the franchise yet the attorney for prepaid legal contacted them on my husband's behalf stating he was the owner of the franchise, that was laughing stock #1, we still paid for that letter to be drawn up and sent by that attorney, after that and several attempts to get the attorney engaged in making things right we gave up on prepaid legal, only to get cussed out by a representative via email when we asked for cancellation of services. To date I am still out 17K and now have no franchise either as enough time has passed without the business being run that they took the franchise back, keeping my money.
Can you possibly see where I am a bit angry with prepaid legal's handling of this situation?
I never said all that prepaid legal does is a scam, if it sounded like it ,I am sorry. I do not agree with charging people for protection against ID Theft and having them sign a contract full of loopholes. If you are truly wanting to help victims of this crime, research it, learn how it is taking people to financial graves daily and in increasing numbers and once you have done that , begin helping the victims with a compasisonate hand.
Prepaid legal being as big as it is and comprised of as many attorneys as it is, would do better to start a massive campaign on behalf of citizens in the US to make the lawmakers look at this problem and tighten up on laws. They would do better by banding victims together who have suffered due to data breeches and theft and going after the companies who are responsible for the loose security that led to personal information being compromised.
THAT would be worthy of respect and backing from people like me.
I am not here to fight with you or as you say DEFAME you, but please pay attention to the services in which you promote, know the facts of the contracts in which you have people sign, it is the responsible thing to do, it is YOUR due dilligence.
There is no scientific secret to dealing with credit bureaus, there are laws in place that they know will back a victim it is a matter of pushing them hard enough to get items removed.
Victims must realize that a police report is tool #1 in dealing with credit bureaus. They cannot by law refuse to remove an item that is proven part of Identity Theft and the FTC will back a victim in a complaint if refusal is made by the bureau to remove the item involved. They also know that they can be sued and it will cost them a huge chunk of change when they lose and they will lose in court. Faced with threat of suit they will avoid it like the plague and eventually suddenly become attentive, they do not want to lose millions, as past history has proven to them it is not only possible but probable.
The only trick to the bureaus is Persistance and demanding proof of a debt being yours. That means demanding signature proof on the account in question which they must comply with attempting to obtain.
I have personally done work on my own reports, and found the bureaus to be very helpful. Much to my surprise items I thought for sure they would fight me tooth and nail on have been removed without any argument at all. They are not heartless like many make them out to be, its how you approach them and how you term your disputes that helps.
For more information please see reference to the fair credit reporting act
http://www.americanloansearch.com/info-creditrepair-fair.htm