A Mississippi jury has awarded both compensatory and punitive damages to a man who was denied credit because of an erroneous credit report. Terry Cousin had repeatedly informed the credit bureau of the false data, but the same information continued to appear on his credit report.

Cousin's ordeal began in 1993, when he learned an impostor had used his good name and credit to purchase a car. Cousin obtained a copy of his credit report from Trans Union Corporation -- one of the nation's three largest credit bureaus -- and found an address and delinquent car loan that were not his. He completed an investigation request, but "the same information kept reappearing over and over again. Every time I applied for credit it was denied," Cousin said. "The company just never cleared it up."

In an effort to restore his good credit, Cousin sued Trans Union under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA requires credit bureaus to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of information in credit reports. The parties settled the claim, but within 30 days of the settlement, Trans Union reposted the incorrect address on Cousin's report, along with a delinquent cellular phone account that was not his.

Once again, Cousin completed an investigation request and sent it to Trans Union. After an investigation, the company agreed to suppress the delinquent account and erroneous address. In November 1996, however, a car dealership denied Cousin's credit application, citing a bad credit report. Cousin discovered his report still contained the erroneous information. After an investigation, Trans Union deleted the delinquent account and incorrect address. Nevertheless, it again posted the delinquent car loan.

Cousin sued Trans Union again, claiming it had both willfully and negligently violated the FCRA. "Even as late as 60 days after the lawsuit was filed, Trans Union still was issuing false credit reports, libeling him in the midst of a federal lawsuit," Cousin's lawyer said. Trans Union reportedly blamed programming problems for the deleted information reappearing and argued the car dealership did not deny plaintiff credit because of the erroneous credit report.

The jury awarded Cousin both compensatory and punitive damages. "This verdict sends a clear message to credit bureaus that they should not sacrifice accuracy for speed and volume," said Cousin's lawyer.

After the verdict, Cousin said that he hopes what happened to him does not happen to anyone else. However, Cousin's lawyer said a recent study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group shows Cousin is not alone. That study of 133 consumer credit bureau reports found nearly one-third of them contained serious errors that could result in unfair denial of a car loan, a mortgage, or even a job. Seventy percent of the reports studied had errors of some kind.

This case is a good example of how the civil justice system can help protect consumers' interests and motivate large credit bureaus to correct erroneous reports.