I am new to this board and have been getting a lot of good information. Thank you for all the help and good work. I have recently taken this project to fix my credit. I sent 3 validation letters to Cap One (1) and RMA (2) about the accounts that they are demanding money for. I have NEVER had an account with Cap One, but they have purchased my Citibank account which is 6.5 years old. I got a letter from them saying that they cannot find my information and need an account number in reply to my validation letter. I don't have any number with them, and there is no number on their demand letter either. As far as RMA is concerned, they never replied back with anything except for more damands with the updated address (CAs had been unable to locate me till very recently...that's what's on the reports). Also, I got an additional letter from them telling me that they got a notification from Equifax that my account had a recent inquiry (mine). I just need to know if anybody is breaking any laws, and what should my next step be? Thanks in advance. Pathan
At this point, it looks like everyone you've sent validation letters to is UNABLE to back up their claims that you owe them money. The FCRA says that if you can't respond to a request for validation, you can't verify a request from a Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) to find out anything about the account. What this means is that you should dispute these accounts with any and all credit reporting agencies to which they are reported. Until the creditors/collection agencies/etc in question can validate, they CANNOT verify your debt with the CRAs. Thus any mentions of them on your credit reports will drop off once you dispute them. After validation has been sent, and prior to an effective response proving your indebtedness, there is the equivalent of a restraining order in place on the creditor or collection agency from taking ANY action to collect, except for validating. If they break this rule you have them on a $1000 validation of the FCRA.
Thank you TomJones! My question now is what should I do next? Should I tell these CAs to stop reporting or should I dialog with CRAs? Thanks for all the help
I understand that I need to dispute with the CRAs, but what about the CAs who have sent me more demands with my updated information that I sent them? My fear is that CRAs will not remove the listings because CAs will verify since they are already breaking the law by not validating and demanding money. Should I just ignore CAs at this time and deal with CRAs? Thanks
Pathan- Do not ignore the CA's, the more ammo you have when you go to court, the better off you are. Dispute these accounts with the CRA's when they come back verified, you will have the CA's in violation of the FDCPA & FCRA. To continue to report on your credit report without the CA's providing proper validation is continued collection activity (FDCPA violation). They aare responsible to furnish complete and correct info. (FCRA violation) I would simply write to the CA's saying you are reporting this information on my credit reports yet you are requesting information from me to help YOU validate this debt. I state again I have never had an account with (insert company here), therefore I demand you remove any and all listings by your company from all of the credit reporting agencies. Your failure to abide by the FDCPA & FCRA will not be tolerated any longer. You have xx days until I file my lawsuit in XXXX court.
You asked me what to do, and KHM's response to you sums up about what I was going to say. If you're interested in getting real money in a lawsuit, you might try NOT threatening to sue to quickly as KHM advised though. You *might* be able to rack up $3000-$4000 worth of violations instead of just $1000. Then when you did threaten to sue, you'd have even greater leverage.
Tom- You said what I meant to say. I typed it fast and rambled a lot, cause everytime I try to post something long I get bumped. I meant wait til you have disputed and got the results of the dispute with the CRA's. That would add to the violations. I think we need more of a timeline to what has and hasn' occured. When the validation was sent, when they sent the request for info, did you respond, etc. Then we can help more.
Thank you KHM and TomJones. Now, I have a better understanding of what the next step is. Again, Thanks to everyone. This is a great board. Keep up the good work!
I sent the validation letter on 6-05-02. I got my all greencards back by 6-17. I have disputed with TUC after I got the greencards (6-30), but I haven't heard back from them yet. I got more demand letters from Cap One and RMA during the week of 7-15. Now, I can send more validation letters to these CAs. Do I need to threaten to sue after their reply and the results from TUC? Thanks
First if you are not going to follow thru, don't threaten to sue. Second, just because a ca has violated the FDCPA 3 to 4 times, and each violation MAY result in an award to you of UP TO $1000 each, doesn't mean you will get $1000 for each violation. Read Kellys post, she got $128 for violations. Before you do anything else, I suggest you read the FDCPA and the FCRA and this boards FAQ's at the top. You need to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. How can you possibly jump into something you don't understand? Once you have read and understand what is going on, then you can make an educated decision on how you want to proceed.
Thanks for the reply. Where can I get FDCPA and FCRA. The dilemma that I have is that these accounts will fall off the record in 6 to 7 months. Should I even bother?
FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm FCRA - http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm With accts that were due to fall off within 6 months or so, I had success disputing them as "obsolete - please delete". If you do this wait til they have about 5 months to go and then try disputing. Or, you could read up as suggested, and then proceed with the validation - demand letters. It's up to you.
SOL That's funny. How can someone give a creditor an account number to dispute if there was never an account? Duh! I think that you know this, but I hope you are not planning to pay these CA demands. The SOL on these debts has probably expired. If so, the CA has no way to collect, except by threats and bluff. Also, before these pre-date the new 1997 FCRA rules, paying them could reset the 7 year reporting clock. You are right to fight the information that is being put on your report.
Pathan, your situation is similar to mine. I currently have a Wachovia acct that was charged off. However, on EQ its coming up as FirstUSA, whom I've never had an acct with. Since I'm still learning, what would be the first step in approaching my situation? Anyone? I'm thinking validation, but to whom first -- CO or CRA?
