12 years ago I had a car loan with a bank. I was married. My wife had a CD at the same bank. We could not make the car payment. Worked out a deal with the bank to pay interest until we were able to pay full loan. That point was never attained. Bank repossessed the car, and kept (stole) my wife's CD. Never heard from the bank again. They sold the car and despite repeated attempts I could never find out what happened....I just never heard from them again. Hum, loan must be paid. We moved to another state several years after that and now twelve years later 2 CAs have sent letters wanting me to pay them for this loan that they bought. I obtained my credit report from all 3 agencies and all my addreses that we have lived at for the past twelve years were on there but yet this is the first time I've heard anything. I have checked the SOL in the state that the loan was originally and it has expired. I honestly do not believe I owe this debt. I am sending a letter of dispute to both CAs. They both represent the same Aquisition Company. One has asked for the entire amount while the other offered about $.50 on the dollar. Just sounds like a scam to me. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am obviously a newbie to all of this. Thanks in advance.
After doing some reading on some other posts I find that some say it was not legal for the CA to get my credit report without my authorization. Others say it is legal for them to get it. Anyone know for sure? I got a three Agency report from CreditExpert and only Experian shows that the CA inquired about my report. This damages my credit rating. I mean it is a twelve year old ALLEGED debt. Can they do this? Also it is very odd that I can not find an address to experian to send disputes.
Send them (the CAs) both validation letters. See what happens. At this point, you're looking for some violations that you can sue for. That way you get the tradelines removed and perhaps some $$$ to boot. It's past SOL, so they can't get a judgment and collect. The minute they try to sue you, you go to court and declare it to be out of SOL.
Thanks Hedwig for the good suggestion you gave astonished. He had a bad experience by a radical moderator at another board so I invited him to checks us out over here. Let's do our best not to disappoint him like rikers did.
I would definately send both CA's a validation letter, ASAP. Have ready a Time-Barred C&D to go out if by chance one, or both tries to 'validate' the account. With a 12 year-old account, there shouldn't be an actual trade line in play (neither actually put a real listing, just an inquiry; right?) Unfortunately, a collection purpose (so there is a PP to pull the credit report) exists, even if the debt is time-barred. This is why you want to have the Time-Barred C&D ready to go out if either, or both 'validate' the account. What may happen from time to time is CA #1 'OWNS' the account, and hires CA #2 to collect on their behalf, or CA #1 gave up, and sold the account to CA #2.
Hey Thanks for the responses! I am assuming a C&D is a Cease and Desist letter. I also assume the example on the site will suffice (?). I just sent out a dispute letter two both CAs today via Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested and sent the exact same letters via regular mail so they will get one of them. I additionally sent a letter to Experian stating I did not authorize the inquiry and to remove it. I put the same thing in both dispute letters. Sent the letter to Experian in the same manner as I did the CAs. I thought it to be a "good shot in the dark". The other two CRAs don't show anything. Only an inquiry is showing. I got the two letters from the two CAs within a couple of days of each other. I haven't looked over the C&D letter yet.
After re-reading the replies my question is this (remember I am rather green at this)....Is a validation letter the same as the dispute letter? The dispute letter I chose and personalized requested 6 specific items; what for,how calculated, provide proof of agreement, provide verification/copy of judgment, ID original creditor, prove licensed in my state. I requested several other proofs also. Am I on the right track?
Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! We answer questions instead of deleting threads here .LOL BTW looks like you're starting to get a handle on this credit repair thing.
Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! Chances are the inquiry won't go anywhere... There's always the chance, but not likely that it'll do any good to be disputed, the CRA will most likely just do a "Did you have a PP?" "Yes" "It Remains" if that...
Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! I will be posting updates to this thread as they become real simply because I value the advice I get here and will most definitely require more. I am most appreciative of the help thus far. Update: Have just now received two of my three Certified Letter Return Receipts...one from Experian and one from one of the CAs. Evidently these places get quite a few of these as both were signed using rubber stamps.
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! Thanks for the update. Been wondering how this has been going for you.
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! What a slow process! I just received, on Saturday, the last return receipt from my three certified letters. I suppose the next process will be receiving responses to my letters of dispute. Will update this thread as events occur. Thanks lbrown for the response!
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! June 14 - Received from Experian and TransUnion a copy of my credit report explaining that a fraud alert has been added to my report that will expire in 90 days. I didn't send to TransUnion though...? Then the next day I received from Experian a notice indicating that they are investigating the inquiry from the CA and the expected date of completion would be July 7. I had not realized that the letter I sent would trigger a fraud alert on my credit report nor did I realize that Experian would forward the alert to TransUnion. I wonder why Equifax was not notified or did not respond.
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! If you did not request that a Fraud Alert be put on your CR, I would send them a letter CMRRR stating that you did not request this, and that you want it removed!
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! What exactly did the dispute you sent to EX state as the reason you wanted the inquiry to be disputed because of. If your dispute in any way includes any claim of fraud, identity theft, or similar, they are required to place a fraud security alert on your file.
Re: Re: Re: 12 year old alleged debt! Is a fraud security alert necessarily a bad thing to have on your credit report? According to the letters I received it would only be in effect for 90 days. I do not plan on applying for any credit during that time. I did mention that I believed the CA fraudulently attained information from my credit report. Perhaps this was misconstrued as me sending out a fraud alert. Either way to my uneducated credit mind it doesn't seem as a bad thing. Any thoughts?
Update: Just today received notice from EXPERIAN that their investigation was complete and the CA inquiry was deleted from my record. FYI, I did state that I thought the inquiry was POSSIBLY a fraudulent attempt at accessing my records so they were correctly responsive in applying a security alert to my account. It stands for 90 days and I don't see how it could adversely affect my credit. Also a few weeks ago I received a notice from yet another CA (different name, different address) stating that they had received my "inquiry" (dispute) and they would be looking into it. I did not respond in any way, shape or form in fear of thinking that responding to them, since they were "different", would some how reset the clock and give them additional time to validate the dispute. Evidently this company goes under about 30 different names in different states but all represent the same parent company. Have not received any form of validation from anyone. Any comments are welcomed.
Sounds like you are doing better here than rikers was doing for you over there . Glad you had some success just keep up the good work and keep pluging away at it.
who are the agencys trying to collect? whitewing? camco? I specialize in these scams. Email me at picanteL4343@hotmail.com with the details.
