Hello Everyone, I use one of those credit monitoring services and after receiving an alert, I was shocked to find that my credit score dropped from 790 to 687. The culprit is a collection account, with the original creditor being sprint pcs. A brief History: I had an account with sprint pcs that I CLOSED in 2004, a couple of months after my contract with them expired. I subsequently received bills stating that I owed them $55 for service AFTER I closed the account. Well, long story short, we fought over that for months and then they turned it over to a collector. In writing via Certified Mail Return Receipt, I demanded that the creditor verify the debt. That was in November 2005. I never heard from them again until October 2006, when they sent me a letter including what the called 'verification' which was just one page showed a balance for a month far after the account should have been CLOSED. At any rate, I'm pretty sure that they only have 60 days to verify so I wasn't concerned as it was almost a year later when they sent that letter. The account did not appear on my credit report at that time, so I didn't do anything about it. Now, almost another year later, it appears that they sold the account to another collector. I received a settlement offer from this new collector but never the letter which they are supposed to send which notifies me that I have 30 days to dispute it and make them verify. So, the account is actually on my Credit report now and has brought my score way down. First of all, how can I prove that they never sent me the initial letter to give me a chance to reply and make them verify? Is it my word against theirs? I don't want to pay these guys a cent because I never owed sprint anything. in the first place. But what can I do now? If I dispute this with the CRAs, and they get this bogus verification again, how can I prove my case? I need to get this off of my report FAST. I would appreciate any advice. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's probably not going to come off "fast," but you can probably remove it sooner or later. 1) get over being pissed off. It's not productive (nevertheless, we can all sympathize with your situation). 2) things won't happen fast, so change your expectations. Your hurry works in their favor not yours. 3) now, decide your end-goal(s) and then your strategy. 3a) it sounds like you've decided to: a) not pay them one red cent and b) that you want this off your credit report. 3b) those are perfectly reasonable goals, but they will take some time and effort and probably more than $55 worth. On the other hand, if you add in the goal of taking them to court, you could get some money back, but, again, you may spend more in time and effort than you receive. 3c) But, if you are a man/woman of principle, then the cost is not as important as the principle. That's fine as long as you know what you're signing up for in advance. 4) read the FDCPA to understand the rules of the game you're about to play. At this point, what happened between you and the OC or the previous CA probably don't matter much. So stick to the immediate facts. The fact is the CA bought a debt from someone somehow and is now collecting on it. They have to comply with the FDCPA in that collection effort and it sounds like they are off to a bad start unless the settlement letter includes the required notices and language. So... - read the law, take notes, and prepare to take 'em to court. - send them a short DV letter (not the 2-page ones you see floating around, it's not your job to teach them the law they should already know). - chances are they'll ignore it so, if they do and they haven't taken their notice off the CR, then... OTOH, they might just pull it and move on to the next sucker, er, debtor. If they leave it up, then... - send them a summons to small claims court for violations of the FDCPA This could take up to 6 months so get comfortable.
I had a company write a friend on a Sprint account a few years ago. It was on autobilling and my credit card expired the month before she switched to a better carrier. She did not have a quarrel with the one month being claimed but never had a notice that the charge did not go through. A phone call to Sprint's corporate office in Kansas took care of everything. The company (somewhere in Illinois I think) went away at the same time. Still happy with the new carrier especially with all of the travelling.
Beginning with CCBob has so correctly outlined, you can then move on to establishing what is and isn't fact. Some questions: Do you have anything from Sprint that indicates when they closed the account? Do you have any final billing from Sprint that shows a balance of zero and the account closed? Was the DV with the first CA timely; i.e., within the first 30 days of receipt of their initial demands? One final point, a CA can claim anything they want, it is up to them to establish it as fact.
I would just file a FDCPA action against them on the premise that the first CA's "validation" was so deficient that it validated nothing, and since the OC was on notice that you disputed the matter when they had it, any knowledge of the OC's is imputed to any purchaser. Since they obviously reported the TL without the dispute notation, you have a FCRA violation. I would also take the position that since they are imputed to have known the account was disputed and failed to so report it to the CRA's as such, it constitutes a FDCPA violation of misrepresenting the status of the debt. I am sure they would much rather simply remove the debt and settle with you than fight you in Court.
Thanks CCBOB. I appreciate your prompt reply. Based on Principle, I would love to take this to court, however I'm looking forward to closing on a mortgage next month. This account just appeared on my credit report in the last few days, so I'm not sure how its going to affect the loan. Given that, do you have any strategies for settling this at an absolute minimum (I know we are only talking about a relatively small amount of money but its just kills me to pay them anything)? Or, is there a way I can keep this in limbo long enough that it wont be an issue for, in worst case, the next two months? Thanks!
Oracle, I have no documentation from sprint which shows when the account was closed. But as to your question about the DV with the first CA, Yes, it was timeley. I replied within the 30 day period and I have the Returned Receipt with a signature.
You can always try for a pay-for-deletion arrangement. Certainly no harm in trying as the $$ are minimal and time is important.
This and the copy of the letter are a key pieces of evidence that you can use as leverage to go for the PFD. You will need to get above the phone-drone level at the CA to achieve anything. You are aware, though, that your FICO score is quick to penalize and slow to reward, aren't you? You will get a bounce if you get the TL removed, but it may not be equivalent to what you have lost.
I would dispute the account tradeline of the new collection agency through the credit reporting agencies. Better chance of deletion this way and since they did initially communicate with you at some point prior, I will presume thirty days have elapsed. If not, then request validation from the collection entity. Otherwise, there is no real impetus in sending them a validation request since it affords you nothing other than having the account marked as being in dispute (which also is provided by a dispute through the cra's). At this point, you have no cause of action other than a very dubious foreshadowing claim and that would be you word against theirs. Focus on getting the tradeline removed.
