I checked my credit report the other day and I seen that I had an account in collection submitted by the department of veterans affairs for $136. Iâ??m not saying that the debt isnâ??t mine but I never knew of the debt to begin with. Iâ??ve never had a bad thing on my credit report EVER and this dropped my score by 60+ points. Is there any way I can get this thrown out being that I knew nothing of it and I never received anything via mail, email or phone?
You go through the process the same as any other tradeline. If it's being reported by anyone other than the OC "Department of Veteran's Affairs", then you would send a validation letter to the CA. When you know that the CA received the validation letter, then you would have to dispute the debt with any of the CRAs that it's being reported to. Here's the big thing... IF it's being reported directly by the DVA, the rules are substantially changed, and you may have few options but to sue them in Federal Court to try to get them to correct even a GLARING error. If that's the case, you need to do a lot more work than with any other creditor that you'd be suing under the FCRA. The Federal Government claims sovereign immunity as an affirmative defense to actions under the FCRA. For more information, check out this thread: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...so-you-want-sue-federal-government-72434.html
Yes. It is. The government is the largest credit card processor, and data furnisher and it claims an exemption from its own laws regulating both of those practices. We need to put pressure on the government to specifically add in to both the FDCPA and FCRA an exemption from sovereign immunity. (FDCPA in cases where the government would be acting under another name, or any other act which an OC would be found to be liable despite the OC exemption.)
