I hope that I havenâ??t messed up too bad with 2 collection accounts I had. I will give you details about one since they are both basically in the same situation at this point. I sent them a notice of dispute w/ accord and satisfaction. I am attaching copies of my correspondence w/ the Beallâ??s account. Basically, they accepted the payment with the restrictive endorsement and cashed it. They did not notify me that they disagreed or wrote language or crossed out the restrictive endorsement on the check. Their last letter said they couldnâ??t delete due to FCRA regs. I have not sent them a response yet, but have sent you the draft. Any ideas or opinions? Thanks. June 14, 2002 - DRAFT LindaYaz Austin, Texas Bealls Att: Customer Service Manager â?? Cassie Corley PO Box 64 Jacksonville, TX 75766 RE: Bealls Account # 00000 Dear Cassie Corley, I am in receipt of your recent correspondence by e-mail. You indicate that the Fair Credit Reporting Act mandates that all creditors report a true account of a customer's pay history. The payments must be reported in the manner in which they are received, and you are unable to change the payment history on your account or delete the tradeline from my credit profile. My attorney has advised me that a creditor is not mandated to report a tradeline. If a tradeline is reported, then it must be accurate. You agreed to delete the tradeline, not change the payment history. This is not illegal, nor is it against FCRA regulations. This is not a valid excuse for not complying with the accord and satisfaction agreement. I am making a final attempt to resolve this issue before taking legal action. You may wish to consult with a competent legal advisor before your next communication with me. Let me again state my case so that you and your attorney can understand it clearly: 1. March 29, 2002 my original dispute was sent to your headquarters via Planetfeedback. This gave you notice of my dispute, my payment, my offer of accord and satisfaction, and restrictive check endorsement. I received no communication from your company to indicate that you were in disagreement. 2. My payment was sent to the Billing Disputes office that your Customer Service Department provided me specifically for sending disputes and accord and satisfaction with the terms written very conspicuously on the check and in the letter that it was stapled to. Check #2041 for $175.00 cleared on April 13, 2002. Again, at no time did you contact me to communicate that these terms were not acceptable. You also did not write or mark on the check to show that you were in disagreement. 3. Texas Business and Commerce Code enforces the use of accord and satisfaction agreements with negotiable instruments as I submitted it to you â??written clearly and conspicuously. By accepting my payment you agreed to the terms. My attorney has advised me that this is a legally binding contract. Please fulfill your part of the agreement and delete this account from my credit reports. Please have your legal department review the position of your company. If you believe there is legal statute to uphold your current position, please reference the exact appropriate legal statutes so that I can consult with my attorney. Sincerely, LindaYaz cc: Stage Stores, Inc. 10201 Main St. Houston, Texas 77025 1-800-324-3244 COPY OF PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE June 6, 2002 LindaYaz Texas Bealls Att: Customer Service Manager â?? Cassie Corley PO Box 64 Jacksonville, TX 75766 RE: Bealls Account # 0000 Dear Cassie Corley, I am in receipt of your letter postmarked May 29, 2002. I have attached copies of my previous correspondence that up until your letter, I had not received a response from a specific person at your company. My original dispute was sent to your headquarters via Planetfeedback on March 29, 2002. I have submitted my payment to the Billing Disputes office that your Customer Service Department provided me specifically for sending disputes and accord and satisfaction. This is also under the terms on your website under Disputed Amounts: All written communications concerning disputed amounts, including any checks or other payment instrument sent to us in an amount less than the full amount due that is marked "paid in full", that is tendered with other conditions or limitations, or that is otherwise tendered as full satisfaction of a disputed amount, must be sent to us at the address for billing inquiries shown on the statement. My payment was sent to you with the terms written very conspicuously on the check and in the letter that it was stapled to. At no time did you contact me to communicate that these terms were not acceptable, nor did you write or mark on the check to show that you were in disagreement. I made you an offer of accord and satisfaction to satisfy this debt to send you a check for the full balance of $175.00 with a restrictive endorsement to take precedence over any previous terms. This would pay the balance in full and in return you will agree to remove the account from my credit files within 15 days of my payment. Texas Business and Commerce Code enforces the use of accord and satisfaction agreements with negotiable instruments and by accepting my payment you agreed to the terms. Please fulfill your part of the agreement and delete this account from my credit reports. Sincerely, LindaYaz COPY OF PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE May 14, 2002 LindaYaz Texas Bealls Att: Customer Service Manager 1020 Willowcreek Jacksonville, TX 75766 RE: Bealls Account # 0000 Dear Customer Service Manager, This letter is in reference to Bealls Account #000. My bank shows that check #2041 for $175.00 cleared on April 13, 2002. However, I checked my credit reports and the account is still showing. Please contact the credit bureaus that you report to and delete the entire tradeline as per the accord and satisfaction agreement on the letter and on the check. I have also attached copies of my previous correspondence for your reference. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, LindaYaz COPY OF PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE LindaYaz Texas Bealls Att: Customer Service Manager 1020 Willowcreek Jacksonville, TX 75766 RE: Bealls Account # 000 Dear Customer Service Manager, I am in receipt of your memo postmarked April 12, 2002. You have returned the check I submitted to you due to a missing signature. I apologize for this oversight. Enclosed is a check for $175.00 to pay the full balance of account # 72697431, which is under dispute. I have also attached a copy of my previous correspondence for your records. By accepting these funds, your company agrees to permanently DELETE the entire tradeline on my credit reports. You will do so within 15 days of receipt of payment . I am pleased that you have accepted this agreement and will be cashing my check. Sincerely, LindaYaz Texas COPY OF PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE April 4, 2002 LindaYaz Texas Bealls Att: Customer Service Manager 1020 Willowcreek Jacksonville, TX 75766 RE: Bealls Account # 000 Dear Customer Service Manager, Enclosed is a check for $175.00 to pay the full balance of account # 000, which is under dispute. This check is tendered in accordance with my letter of March 29th, a copy of which is attached. By accepting these funds, your company agrees to permanently DELETE the entire tradeline on my credit reports. You will do so within 15 days of receipt of payment by faxing UDF to each credit bureau that you submit account information to. Sincerely, LindaYaz COPY OF PREVIOUS CORRESPONDENCE March 29, 2002 TO: To Whom It May Concern Stage Stores, Inc. 10201 Main Street Houston, TX 77025 FROM: LindaLindaYaz Texas RE: PLANETFEEDBACK REFERENCE NUMBER 1312650 Dear Sir or Madam, I realized that my previous letter did not contain my account number. Here is a revised copy. RE: PLANETFEEDBACK REFERENCE NUMBER 1312187 Dear Sir or Madam, RE: Bealls Account # 000 I am writing to request assistance with Beall's account #000 shown on my credit report. The outstanding account # 000 has a balance of $175.00. Be advised, I have not agreed yet that this debt is mine and I have the option to seek further proof from you of this debt. I am sure you are aware of my right to dispute this debt and request full proof of the obligation. Paying this unverified debt to you means little to me if we cannot mutually agree that you will report the debt as mentioned below. I am requesting, in return for payment in full, your company notify the Credit Bureaus to delete this account from my files when payment in full is received. The Credit Bureaus have informed me that information can be removed from the credit report through the suppliers of information. To satisfy this debt, I will send you a check for the full balance of $175.00 with a restrictive endorsement that will constitute an accord and satisfaction and will take precedence over any previous terms. This will pay the balance in full and in return you will agree to remove the account from my credit files within 15 days of my payment. The amount of $175.00 will be sent to you within 5 business. I hope this is acceptable as it will fulfill the financial obligation. Please notify within this time if there is a specific address I should send this. Please feel free to communicate with me further in writing through mail or e-mail. Sincerely, LY
linda99, I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question, but am interested in the subject of accord and satisfaction as well, so here's a friendly <bump> for you so maybe someone who can help will jump in with an assist. All the best! DemPooches
I'm interested in hearing the outcome of this, Linda. Bealls did a number on me, too. I made a verbal agreement with them (I know, I know, bad choice) to pay 3 double payments monthly and they agreed to remove the lates from my CRs. Of course, they did not live up to the agreement. I see "breach of contract," too, in your story, and I only wish that I had made my agreement with them in writing as well. Good luck.
A & S Successful Deletion!!! Yeah! OK, so I sent the letter to the CEO of Bealls and I just got a response today that they are deleting the tradeline and w/ a copy of the UDF! I am still waiting to hear back from Lerners - keeping my fingers crossed!
Re: A & S Successful Deletion!!! Yeah! Wow! Valuable stuff for those of us in Texas! Thank you and congrats! Linda, do both parties have to be in Texas for this to be upheld?
Re: A & S Successful Deletion!!! Yeah! I found this to be of a help. It's the work of Bearcub at http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=332192&CategoryID=31535&startcat=1&ThreadID=197192 Accord & Satisfaction in a Nutshell Accord & Satisfaction is a common-law concept that had been codified in almost every state. It basically involves creAccord & Satisfaction in a Nutshell Accord & Satisfaction is a common-law concept that had been codified in almost every state. It basically involves creating a new agreement (with new terms) to replace an old one. Generally it involves a debtor attempting to make a partial payment which he wants the creditor to consider 'payment in full'. This is a valid way to settle a debt, but it mist be done carefully. If you attempt an A&S then there MUST be either (a) a bona-fide dispute as to what is due, or (b) you need to send them MORE (say, $1) than they claim is due. In any case, don't EVER rely on an A&S where you have paid them excactly what is due, especially where you can't document a dispute - it won't hold up. The reason for this is simple: All contracts (your A&S included) require 'consideration' to be valid. Consideration, simply put, is 'giving something up'. Both sides have to give up something. Example of a 'normal' A&S: They say $100 is due. You say $50 is due. You tender a check for $55 and attach some conditions on it. They have 'given up' $45. You have given up $5. The contract is valid. Another example: They say $100 is due. You agree - there is no dispute. You just want it off your credit report. So you tender a check for $101. You have given up $1 and they have given up their right to report it to the CRAs. The contract is valid. An example of an invalid A&S: They say $100 is due. You agree - there is no dispute. You tender a check for $100 and demand that they remove the CRA listings. You have not given anything up - you simply paid what you knew to be due anyway. There is no contract & your A&S won't hold up. If you can document a bona-fide dispute, you might get away with paying them exactly what they claim is due. In this case, you'd be giving up the disputed amount & they would be giving up their right to report to the CRAs. I'm not comfortable with this but it would probably hold up. I think it is generally best to laser print the agreement on the face of the check or on the back above where they endorse it. You can simply put it in an accompanying letter, but if they fight you it will be difficult to prove the letter was sent with the check. Here is the language I use - remember, I am NOT an attorney - this is for educational purposes only: IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PAYEE This instrument is conditionally offered in full accord and satisfaction of a disputed debt as described by Texas Business & Commerce Code Section 3.311 and other laws. You identify the debt as account #xxxxxxx. By presenting this instrument for payment, you acknowledge your agreement with the terms of the accord, which include (1) full discharge of the debt, and (2) the removal of any reference whatsoever to the debt from the files of any credit reporting agency to which it has been reported. In addition, you agree that this agreement shall be construed under the laws of the State of Texas and that in the event legal action is necessary to enforce the terms of this agreement, jurisdiction is proper in the courts of xxxxxxx County, Texas. If you do not agree to the terms of this agreement, you should simply return this instrument to the payor postage collect. ating a new agreement (with new terms) to replace an old one. Generally it involves a debtor attempting to make a partial payment which he wants the creditor to consider 'payment in full'. This is a valid way to settle a debt, but it mist be done carefully. If you attempt an A&S then there MUST be either (a) a bona-fide dispute as to what is due, or (b) you need to send them MORE (say, $1) than they claim is due. In any case, don't EVER rely on an A&S where you have paid them excactly what is due, especially where you can't document a dispute - it won't hold up. The reason for this is simple: All contracts (your A&S included) require 'consideration' to be valid. Consideration, simply put, is 'giving something up'. Both sides have to give up something. Example of a 'normal' A&S: They say $100 is due. You say $50 is due. You tender a check for $55 and attach some conditions on it. They have 'given up' $45. You have given up $5. The contract is valid. Another example: They say $100 is due. You agree - there is no dispute. You just want it off your credit report. So you tender a check for $101. You have given up $1 and they have given up their right to report it to the CRAs. The contract is valid. An example of an invalid A&S: They say $100 is due. You agree - there is no dispute. You tender a check for $100 and demand that they remove the CRA listings. You have not given anything up - you simply paid what you knew to be due anyway. There is no contract & your A&S won't hold up. If you can document a bona-fide dispute, you might get away with paying them exactly what they claim is due. In this case, you'd be giving up the disputed amount & they would be giving up their right to report to the CRAs. I'm not comfortable with this but it would probably hold up. I think it is generally best to laser print the agreement on the face of the check or on the back above where they endorse it. You can simply put it in an accompanying letter, but if they fight you it will be difficult to prove the letter was sent with the check. Here is the language I use - remember, I am NOT an attorney - this is for educational purposes only: IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PAYEE This instrument is conditionally offered in full accord and satisfaction of a disputed debt as described by Texas Business & Commerce Code Section 3.311 and other laws. You identify the debt as account #xxxxxxx. By presenting this instrument for payment, you acknowledge your agreement with the terms of the accord, which include (1) full discharge of the debt, and (2) the removal of any reference whatsoever to the debt from the files of any credit reporting agency to which it has been reported. In addition, you agree that this agreement shall be construed under the laws of the State of Texas and that in the event legal action is necessary to enforce the terms of this agreement, jurisdiction is proper in the courts of xxxxxxx County, Texas. If you do not agree to the terms of this agreement, you should simply return this instrument to the payor postage collect.
