Hi All Need you help/input please.. I moved out of my apt last year in Feb 2013. ConED sent the last bills but i had already moved out. They eventually closed account and sent the account to collections. I thought i had already called ConED to cancel the account after i moved out, but i dont have any proof that I did and i dont remember to be honest even if i did/did not. Yesterday i got a notice email from credit karma that one account has gone to collections. The amount to pay is 500 and change. Now i know that it's my fault for not being responsible to have proof and make sure the account was cancelled. However the CA did not even call me once and i did not get any mail from them obviously since i moved out. I called them today and the woman was very rude. i told her im not confirming or acknowledging the validity of the debt. i dont even know who it's from and this is the first time we are talking. she said ConEd did not give them a phone number and she acknowledged the fact that i have not received their mail (prob certified). i got nothing from them and never heard of these people before until i saw on creditKarma. I called ConED and explained to them the problem. they will change the amount due on the bill if i can provide a letter from the landlord of when i officially moved out. I still have my lease and everything, but they want it from the landlord. which i can probably get and have it faxed. Question now is...how do i deal with the CA? how do i get this nasty thing of my credit report? Do i get ConEd to amend the amount and pay conEd what i truly owe? then ask the CA to validate the debt? what steps should i take? thanks for your help
They didn't send the mail certified, but the mail would most likely be returned to sender as being sent to a wrong address. Here's where you have them. If you called them today, they have 5 days to send you the validation notice. If they don't, they're violating the FDCPA. If you fax them a validation letter now, they can't do any additional collection activity before obtaining and mailing the validation that they obtain from the original creditor. This is what I would do. Find the name, address, and fax number of the CA. (Don't call them - they'll use any information obtained over the phone against you.) I would then send them a validation letter, stating that Hopefully ConEd will amend the debt, and recall the account, and if they do, the CA would hopefully delete. As soon as I know that they've received the facsimile of the validation letter, I would fax to the CRAs a demand that they verify any account that this company is reporting on my credit file. We know they're reporting on TransUnion, but I would send the same letter to the other two, just in case. Now, the CA can't send (if they didn't send from the time that they got off of the phone with you, until they've gotten the fax) the letter that disclaims that they are a debt collector, that you have a right to demand validation of the debt, and that they intend to report adverse information on your credit file. Because, once they've received the letter demanding validation, that would be continued collection activity; and they have to send that letter within 5 days of the initial communication. And they also can not verify the debt with the CRAs when they ask about the debt, before they've obtained the verification from ConED, and if ConED flagged it that they're going to need to make amendments to the account, they probably won't be able to respond to the CA until after they've done that.
Thank you so much for replying jam237! i wish i have seen this earlier, but here is what happened today. I read up more on what to do from various sources. I called the CA again to get the "Account number" they have on file and the person who i spoke to. I told them i did not get their mails and they said they dont have my phone number on file again. I told them that's not the address i am at now. they didnt ask for a new address and they said we sent the mail to that address "so someone must be getting your mail". so i said i did not receive anything from you by mail or phone. Yesterday was the first time i spoke to you. I sent a certified mail letter to validate the debt I also spoke with another rep from ConEd today. He said he just needs the copy of the expired lease to amend. he informed me that even if they change the amount due, they will put everyone on the same page (CA included) about the amount i truly owed. then even if i pay ConEd directly. the CA will just update the amount to the new amount and send an update to the CRAs to update the amount and to label as "paid in full"...this however isnt good at all. it doesnt come off the credit report. I want it off. is the ConEd rep correct? Another thing... the OC and the CA have my first name wrong. It does not match my drivers license! this must have been done at account setup with ConEd. can i also use that? I want to pay ConEd back, but if this is around the whole thing that's becoming increasingly hard to entertain, why not?
As soon as you know they've received the CMRRR validation, you can continue with the CRA disputes. Faxing only speeds things up. (and CAs seem to forget that faxes have confirmation reports to prove successful receipt.)
To answer a not mine dispute they need 2 of 4, name, address, DOB, SSN. Most likely they could verify at least two of those. But sending the CRA dispute right after they've received the validation letter makes it so they can't respond until after things are received from ConED.
Great! should i do anything with ConED such as faxing them my lease agreement to amend the amount? should i settle anything with ConED in the amended amount if they end up amending? i'm just worried if the CA reaches out to ConED and ConED provides the CA with the new amount, then the debt is just updated with the CRAs to reflect the correct amount and paid in full, but doesn't go away from my credit.
That is why you have the leverage of them not complying with the FDCPA, which carries up to $1,000 in statutory damages. You want to provide them the updated information so that they can make the adjustments to the account.
ok i called ConED today again to get one final confirmation if they still have the debt or sold it. they said sold to CA. If they did, why are they showing a Balance? Also collections account in credit karma shows status as "Open". i havent had an account with COnED in over a year! what does this mean? did they report it incorrect? they said they will change it after i fax the docs and will accept payment from me. HOWEVER...this is what i'm afraid of now.. they said they will update the CA with the new amount and also PAY the money to the CA. the CA can then turn around and modify the amount with the CRAs and update as PAID IN FULL. they may just get new docs from ConED for their validation process as well. Lots of uncertainty here should if just not fax the docs to ConEd and use this as leverage to dispute with the CRAs? If not i will fax the docs tomorrow to ConED.
OK, if they sold the debt. Then I would give ConED the docs, but not the money until you receive documentation that they bought back the account. (Which they would probably need to do to refund the CA for selling an account at a higher price than the account value should have been.) If the account was sold, there should be a zero balance. There are two 'open' statuses, the account is an open-endes account type, as opposed to a close-ended account type. The second is account STATUS, so you can have a closed open-ended account. (An open-ended account which is no-longer receiving new charges.)
Thanks again. I'm getting mixed info from ConED. today while on the phone with them before i fax the lease, the rep was not able to confirm that the debt has been sold(i couldnt help but ask again). they still show a balance for me and i can pay a 3rd party (not the CA) on what i owe. Then she said that there is a possibility they can recant the account after it has been amended and paid in full, BUT they cant provide that in writing. what im afraid of is faxing them the lease and they update the info and send the correct amount on the bill to the CA to update on their record, then the CA updates the CRAs. I would then be screwed to dispute anything because it will be valid. this is why i havent sent the lease yet.
A 3rd party would be the CA. What I would do, with the mixed info is called memorialization. Write a letter which memorializes everything that they've said, including the contradictory statements. And request that since you've been getting mixed answers, you need in writing an unwavering definitive answer. Tell them once they've allayed your fears, you have no problem providing them with the documents. Did the CA receive the validation letter, yet? If so, at least you can start on the CA disputes.
the CA letter is scheduled to deliver today. Should i just add my lease information to the CRA dispute? What should i tell the CRAs? From what ConED said, they will update the amount and send the updated debt to the CA. this can put me in the mud, because the amount they will update to will be valid. should i dispute online?
i sent the CRA dispute letter and include my id, lease, and a note from coned saying when the account was closed and told them to investigate it and delete. i told them they failed to close the account and bill after my lease expired
I am glad to read that your struggle with them is finally coming to an end (or at least hopeful end). I would try to dispute online if you can, but make sure that you have screenshots and emails from everything that you get. I have had people lose appeals because they assumed that ‘the lender would take care of that’
Jam237 I got some good news so far. TU removed the dispute upon recving the letter today. im still waiting on the other bureau to do something. they both got the CMRRRs today. was impressed by the turnaround on TU to remove. I still have not faxed in the info to the OC to amend the amount. should i do it now? or should i keep that as leverage if the CA validates. I'm assuming that this isnt reason to celebrate yet as this may come back if the CA verifies with the CRAs. or should i finally fax the info to the OC, get the OC to amend and pay the OC directly. there is a chance they will inform the CA of the amended debt amount and the CA may use that as leverage to validate that the amount is valid now...even though the amounts are different now. can they CA still validate that?
I would send it to the OC. Reason, if the OC gets it after the CA provides validation, you would lose any arguments that the CA misrepresented the amount, character or legal status of the debt.
The OC updated the balance on my account to reflect the accurate amount now and has sent me new statements. I wonder what the CA would do now. obviously whatever they sent to the CRAs is different and will not be an accurate representation of the debt amount. would they still be able to validate now that what they have reported is different from what i owe?
It depends on what your dispute WAS. If your dispute was a not mine, they only need to verify whether or not they believe that it is yours (that the 2 of 4 identifiers match what the CRA has). If the dispute was to verify the amount, then they would need to verify the amount. What is being reported can be changed at any time, whether by the OC updating the original balances, or interest. A CA could set their computers to automatically send data to the CRAs virtually on a daily basis, if they wanted to (and they felt that the data to be reported substantially changed often enough to make that worth the effort to configure their system that way.)
Hi Jam237 here is the update..Good news and not so good news... got two letters in the mail this past week Letter i got back from the CRAs TU Letter: PAGE 1: Based on the info provided to transunion, our records show that the information you disputed does not currently appear on your transunion credit report. THEN, PAGE 2: Says "One or more of the documlents provided qas not a qualifying document. please refer to the list..." EQ Letter: PAGE1: "we have reviewed your concerns and our conclusions are: the disputed account xxxx is currently not reporting on the equifax credit file" It looks like the CA has removed the negative mark before the CRAs had a chance to validate or delete. However, im still in debt to the OC for a partial of the debt that i would like to pay off. The OC are being stubborn and want to keep the CA involved even though i can still pay online using the ConED bill pay. i see they have adjusted the balance to reflect to the correct amount. How do i handle this now? I'm afraid if i pay the OC, the OC will pay the CA and the CA may report the neg new amount as "paid in full". Is it worth it to wait it out to see what happens? Can the CA update the negative amount automatically without informing me?...im wondering how i should go about this.
