Hello Everybody, I really liked this website so far and just wanted to get some opinion on my situation here. I am not a US resident and this is my second visit here on a short term work assignment. Last time, I was here 2 years ago on a 2 year long work assignment. During that time, I got 3 credit cards from different banks with limits ranging between 700-2000. I made the payments while I was here and wasn't able to continue making payments after I moved back to my home country. Reason being, their system didn't accept any foreign payment methods. That caused those accounts to go negative and to Collection agencies. I wasn't able to check my credit report while in my home country as that website doesn't work on non-US IP addresses. Just moved here last week, again on a short work assignment. I checked my credit report yesterday and found the following: 1. One account with status as 'Charge-Off'. 2. Second, with status as Sold and there was a collection agency name. 3. Third, with status as Sold and there was a collection agency name. This collection agency has also opened a new account recently under my name and in notes mentioned that as Collection account. I tried contacting the bank for the first account(<$700) hoping that account is still with them. However, they transferred me to some third party company which I assume is the collection agency assigned. Nothing positive came out from that call anyway. So, after looking at this website I have decided to now prepare the Debt Validation letters and send it to all of these CA. However, just had the following questions: 1. The person I talked to today told me that they had some address on file, where I had never stayed. Not sure from where they got that. Are there any chances that these CA's could have sent some letters on those wrong addresses and held me accountable for not replying? 2. On one of the collection accounts on my credit report, it says 'Consumer has disputed this account'. However, I just saw my credit report yesterday, after a 2 years gap, and never knew that those collections even existed. So, did somebody reply to them on my behalf or are they playing some game? 3. I am here for a short term and will be moving back to my home country and god knows when is the next time I'll back here on a work assignment. Could be months or could be years. While negotiating, can I tell this clearly to these CA's that I have limited time and limited budget? I don't do any credit here, for that I have my foreign bank accounts and neither I need any credit here. However, I am the kind of person who doesn't like any bad thing associated with my name and thats the only reason why I want to deal with these CA's. Sorry for this long post. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thanks, Kevin
Welcome to Creditnet Kevin17! Here are my thoughts in response to your questions: 1.) It doesn't necessarily matter if they had the wrong address on file. You were still responsible for the account, and they would have sent you to collections no matter what after payment wasn't received. 2.) There are often mistakes on credit reports, and this could very well be one of them if you've never disputed the account before. 3.) I wouldn't go into too much detail with the CAs. Just be direct, tell them that you live outside of the U.S., are only here for a short period of time, and then make a specific offer to settle. Be prepared for some back and forth until your reach a mutual agreement. If you do, make sure you get it in writing before making payment.
Thanks Joshua, I am preparing the DV letters to send to the CA's. Few quick questions, if you could help: 1. On my credit report, I see accounts opened under my name by these CA's. Are they legally allowed to do so? While sending the DV letter, shall I refer to those accounts or the original credit card no? 2. I want to send a certified letter, with return receipts, as a proof. Most of the addresses are PO boxes. Is it ok to send letters at these addresses? 3. On my credit report, I saw two inquires made in Sept, 2011. I was not even in the country then and looks like somebody tried to get an auto-loan under my name. I reported this as fraud to Equifax and they send me the following info: The results are: Inquiries are a factual record of file access. If you believe this was unauthorized, please contact the creditor. Ask them to explain their fraud investigation process, what steps should be taken and how long the process normally takes. Additionally request that they send you a letter or documentation stating the results of the investigation. Upon receipt, forward a copy of that letter to us. So, I'll be now contacting these two companies who made the inquires. Does any body have any such experience and could guide me how to go forward with contacting these companies who tried to give auto-loan to somebody who pretended to me? Thanks in advance. Kevin
1.) Yes, the CA will open up a new collection account for you and report it to the CRAs. When negotiating with the CA, refer to the account number they have on file for you. 2.) Mailing CMRRR to a PO Box is fine. If you can find the address for their physical location, that's even better. 3.) We're these soft inquiries? If so, I wouldn't waste your time worrying about them. If they were hard inquiries, contact the 2 companies and specifically ask what permissible purpose they had to pull your credit on those specific dates. Explain that this was clearly fraud as you were out of the country and not shopping for an auto loan. Get the results of their investigation in writing, and then you can start fighting with the CRAs again to get it fixed.
Hi Joshua, Thanks for the help so far. I just finished sending the first series of DV Letters to the CAs. I read somewhere that DV letters should be send within 30 days of receiving the debt related notice from CA. In my case, since I was not in the country from last 2 years and after returning back, I had to check the credit report and find out who the CA is. 1. Are they still required, under the law, to provide me with a validation and that too within 30 days of receipt of the DV letter? 2. The last charge-off was on Dec 2011 and I am unable to find out that CA because the CA name and the phone no bank gave to me do not match. So, shall I write that to bank asking for detailed info on CA or just wait for CA to open up a collection account so that I can get their details? Thanks, Kevin
1. CA's often use other sources of information to update addresses, when mail is returned as undeliverable, skip tracers and directory assistance searches may be just a handful of those sources. 2. There is one CA that I know of who from day 1 reports a notice of dispute. Don't think that there is case law showing whether reporting a notice of dispute, when the account hasn't yet been disputed is reporting false credit information, but the statute directly says that not reporting that the account has been disputed, when it has, is reporting false credit information. My thinking is that they would prefer to err on the side or reporting dispute, instead of being potentially sued because the dispute notation isn't on the file before the next reporting cycle. 3. Rule #1 when dealing with CA's. Any information obtained will be used against you. There is a reason that the requisite notice on a dunning letter is called the Mini-Miranda.
Given that you would have been unreachable (you more than likely have proof that you were out of the country for the past two years), if they would refuse to provide validation, and continue collection activities, you could sue proving in court that your DV was within 30 days of your RECEIVING the first communications from them. There is no requirement that they provide validation within 30 days of the DV letter, they could decide to slink off into the sunset, what they can't do is continue collecting until after they provide the validation of the debt. The caveat that collectors and OCs don't want people to realize, is that this includes passing the buck to other CAs and even back to the OC. (15 USC 1692e(6) The false representation or implication that a sale, referral, or other transfer of any interest in a debt shall cause the consumer to—(A) lose any claim or defense to payment of the debt; or (B) become subject to any practice prohibited by this title.) I would personally send a letter to the bank, in writing requesting the contact information for the CA.
As Jam said, they're not required to provide you with anything. They just need to cease collection activities if they can't properly validate the debt. I too would contact the bank requesting information on who the CA is. They should definitely be able to provide you with that.
Thanks a lot Jam, Joshua. I called up bank and was able to look up that company. Got their address from their website and sent them a DV Letter as well. I know that now these CA's need to cease collection activities until they properly validate the debt. If no reply from them then, I'll wait for at least 30 days before sending them DV letter 2. Apart from this, is there anything else I could do or is advisable that would help me to fight properly with these CA's? Especially, this last CA has very bad reviews on internet and lot of people have reported rip-offs from them
No, I haven't disputed through CRAs. I'll look up that online as to how to do that or it would be great if you could provide me some info on that. Also, are the DV letters of no use if I haven't yet disputed with the CRAs? Thanks
A traditional strategy is to use a 1-2 punch. Debt Validation (to force the CA to cease collection activity) CRA Dispute (verifying the trade line to the CRA would be collection activity) Then if the CA verifies the trade line to the CRA, without providing the validation, you could sue for continued collection activity. Some discussion of this idea is in the Why Time Barred C&D = Delete thread in my signature.
Jam is spot on. Also, there's a good example of a basic dispute letter in our Sample Letters section: Credit Bureau Dispute Letter. Keep it simple, and keep your communication in writing instead of taking the online dispute route.
Thanks again. I pulled up my report today and only two CAs were showing up there and I have initiated a dispute through CRA for them. For the other one that has not yet opened up collection account, I'll just wait for it to show up on my credit report and then initiate a dispute with them as well. Quick question though: While I have requested DV from the CAs, can this last CA open up collection account? Is that considered as a collection activity?
Any CA is free to report a new collection to the CRAs. What they can't do is continue collection efforts after you've requested validation from them, unless they've already responded to your debt validation request.
Thanks. I did dispute the two CA accounts with CRA and both the CA's replied back to CRA within a week stating that it's a collection account. They also updated the latest amount due as of Feb 2012. On my credit report, both the accounts show up as 'Updated" now. Does that mean these CA's have done any kind of violation? Also, one of these CA's have sent me a letter. The letter is dated a day after the CRA notified me that the dispute results were ready. In the letter they have mentioned: ---The account has been purchased by 'Name Of CA'. The previous creditor indicated that the account was associated with a consumer with the name 'My Name', and a Social Security Number of 'Last 4 Digits'. --- Also, they have asked me to contact their office if I still believe this information is incorrect. They have also mentioned Original creditor account #, their internal account #, current balance. Does that mean this CA has also provided me an answer to the DVL which I sent to them in Jan 2012, although they sent me this letter a day after the CRA notified me that the dispute results were ready.? In my DVL, I did ask them for competent documentation, from the original creditor, that I have any legal obligation to pay them for any debt, including any interest, late fees or other charges that they are claiming. They haven't provided any of that. What should be my next best step against this CA? Thanks again.
So you're saying one of the CAs hasn't responded to your DV letter at all, right? If the CA hasn't properly responded to your DV that was sent within the 30-day timeframe, yet they have responded to the CRA dispute and continue to show up on your credit reports, then it sounds like you have a violation on your hands. Also, while it's a gray area, what the one CA provided you in response to your DV may very well be sufficient. People have differing opinions on what constitutes proper validation, many of which you've probably read already. My guess is that what they provided is probably good enough and would hold up in court. That said, I'm not a lawyer .
They 'claim' that that is validation under the Chaudhry v. Gallerizo, US Ct. App., 4th Dist. 1998 case ruling. The only problem is that the Chaudhry case, and you can find a lot of discussions on the case here, does not apply 99% of the time. The two pieces that Chaudhry was asking to be validated was (a) information which was protected under privilege (a detailed accounting of legal fees - because he believed that the lawyer was billing him for legal fees not pertaining to the case which was filed against him); and (b) information about charges which had not yet incurred, but were specified in the agreement. So, the best, after referencing the text of the Chaudhry case would be to state what they had sent doesn't qualify as validation in your mind. Since you said in the original letter that you wanted documentation, from the original creditor, then you have have already done this, you just need to affirm that what they provided did not rise to that standard. The FTC's Wollman opinion FDCPA Staff Opinion: LeFevre-Wollman provides the legal basis for them to ACQUIRE documentation from the original creditor. Despite their misapplication of Chaudhry en masse. Further, if they printed the letter to you 'validating' the day AFTER they verified then you could argue continued collection activity since they verified the day before they obtained and MAILED the validation (even though it was an insufficient validation).
From Chaudhry v. Gallerizo, US Ct. App., 4th Dist. 1998 The bolded section is important, they could consider that because their attorney told the CA Attorney that the only thing they didn't believe was validated, yet, was the legal fees, they could say that everything else was sufficient. They can believe that it is sufficient, until you tell them otherwise. Where Chaudhry's attorney messed up was forgetting to also mention the inspection fees, at that time. Had Chaudhry's attorney mentioned the missing documentation of the inspection fees, that leg of Chaudhry's case would have stayed up.
Thanks a lot for the reply. 1) CA which has not replied to my DVL and yet they responded to CRA: When I'll be sending them DVL-2, can I mention to them, in that letter, that they have done a violation? Would it benefit me anyway, while negotiating with them for a PFD or Paid in full. 2) CA which sent me an 'insufficient' reply to DVL, and that too, a day after verifying with CRA: Would it be better to send them DVL-2 and requesting the documentation I originally asked for. I mean, if they say they've purchased the debt then there should be some legal document which I can see to make sure that they have really done it. That way I can be sure that if I pay them then it's resolved. Also, how can I make them realize that they've done a violation by sending me validation after verifying with CRA. There's a chance that they might have not cared about my DVL and sent me a generic template letter based on my dispute and after verifying with CRA. Let me know your thoughts on this...
