I'm an occasional poster, but my regular CreditNet name is too close to my email address and I want to make sure TU can't get any ammo from this. OK, I'm paranoid, I know. We had two small ($75 & $200) 1999 paid collection accounts from the same CA with the same OC. (We paid them directly to the CA about 2 years ago prior to discovering CreditNet.) At that time, they appeared ONLY on EQ. We sent nutcase letter to the CA in January and within a week they were both GONE! We thought that was the end of them. Sometime in March 2002 they turned up only on TU and from the very beginning were marked <Account information disputed by consumer> Hard to believe, I know. We disputed them online with TU on May 4 after sending second nutcase letter to the CA on April 29. A week or so later I contacted TU to get an incorrect address removed and was told I couldn't do it until June 3 because of the current pending investigation. Today I contacted TU by phone to get the address correction done. Very helpful rep took care of it and some other issues on another report. Since she seemed to know what she was doing, I asked about the pending investigation on the two CA entries and mentioned I had been told it would be completed by June 3, but the entries were still there. She told me the CA had verified the name and SS# therefore the accounts would remain. I explained that we had requested proof from the CA in January and again in April and still had not heard a word from them. I told her they were not ours and they had provided us with no proof that they are, and played dumb, asking what we should do now that the CA has verified them with TU but won't provide us with any proof that they are ours. She suggested contacting the state Attorney General's office to find out what our rights are. Now, here's the REALLY interesting part. I pulled and printed a TU report immediately before the call. I pulled another immediately after the call. The address changes she had just made were there. Both CA entries are still there, but the "Updated" line of 03/2002 has been replaced with a "Verified" date of 05/2002. On top of this, the "most owed" and "past due" lines which used to show $75 and $200 now show $0. In other words, these are now verified collection accounts with 0 balance, 0 most owed, 0 past due and based on the timing, the rep I spoke with had to be the one who made the changes. (Maybe trying to cover TU's butt because the 30 days had passed?) Needless to say I still just want to get rid of them but I want to be very careful about it and not do something that could make them stay longer. Based on the changes the rep did today, what would you guys recommend? Did she give us anything we can use for a quick deletion? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
Sounds to me like she was covering TUs butt. It's a good thing you pulled a report before and after. I really don't know what I would do in this situation. I know that there are others on the board who probably have far better ideas, but I would bring this to TUs attention. You might be able to get a deletion out of it. In retrospect, you should have asked the rep whoand when they contacted at the CAs to verify your name and social. If she actually gives you a name, then they could have perhaps verified within the 30 days, but just not posted in on the report. However, this does not excuse the fact that they had ONLY 30 days. If every CRA finished their investigation in 30 days, but didn't up date due to backlog or something else, that would defeat the purpose of the 30 day time limit. Did you get the reps name? I wouldn't call back. I would write a letter with copies of your reports, point out the flagrant violation and state your case. Anyone else know what he/she could do in this case?
Does anyone else have any input/advice on what might be our most effective course of action? We really don't want to mess this up.
Sometime in March 2002 they turned up only on TU DemPooches | ======================== HOW LONG after the fact can info be reported ? ? ? ? ? LB59 **********************************************************************************
You may want to go after the CA on this one. If you still have your cancelled checks/receipts or whatever from paying them 2 years ago, you definately have the CA in FCRA error(s). It is their job to provide only accurate data, and the fact that you paid them 2 years ago and up until one month ago it was still reported with a balance is not "accurate". So seeing as there are 2 accounts, *I* would beleieve it is 2 violations. I would send an intent to sue letter for violations of the FCRA, give them 10 days to respond, tell them to delete or you sue. This may be all you have to do and they may delete. If they don't respond file in small claims.
