Hi all, I disputed a student loan account paid in 6/99 that had a 60 day late listed on it. The college removed the late, but updated the status to "paid collection"! I called the college & in their system, the only thing the rep could pull up was that it existed, it was paid in full, and that it was on a "temporary payment plan" for awhile. She said that being on a temporary payment plan usually indicates that it was past due at some point, but she couldn't give me any details. I got her to write this letter which I sent to TU: "...has fulfilled his obligations to repay a loan. All records of that loan have been purged from tge system. Please update your records to indicate that the account is paid in full". I faxed it to TU, and called back awhile later when I saw the collection status wasn't removed from the report. TU is telling me that they need the letter to explictly say to "remove the collection notation". I argued that "all records have been purged" indicates that they have no record of it ever being a collection - or any other derogatory information and that by not they're in violation of fcra 611.5, but they won't do it! The said in addition to looking at the fax, the contacted the university & the computer records verified that it should be a collection account. I called the college back to see if I could get a more detailed letter, but now I'm getting the run around because "they're not supposed to remove any bad reporting" - she's escalated it to her supervisor & who knows how long that will take. Am I crazy here, or shouldn't "all records have been purged" be enough for TU to consider the notation unverifiable??? I just got cutoff b/c they close at 4:30 EST... but the reps I've been talking with are in CA. Is there anyway I can call another number to get through to the CA office in the next few hours?
Ok... this is crazy. She left me a message on my voicemail saying that her supervisor looked over my files: "There's nothing else we can do" (meaning they won't explicitly say that there should be no collection account notation in their letter). "...my supervisor looked though the system and everything has been purged. There's no way we can tell what collection agency the account was sent to, or even if it was sent to one at all. Give me a call back if you need anything else." WHAT? Doesn't the OC (original creditor) have to have SOME supporting data for entries they make on a CR? Basically, they tell me they have NOTHING that says it was a collection account, but they're unwilling to write that in a letter since it's already on the CR and they must have put it there at some point. Where do I go with this from here? I know that validation doesn't apply because they're the OC and not a CA, but this just doesn't seem right! Help!
What state are you in? Some states, such as California, require an OC to adhere to the same rules as a CA.
Is that law only for CA's collecting on California residents, or does it apply to accounts that were incurred in California even if you've moved from that state?
You should be dealing with TU on this one. The letter from the OC is proof that TU didn't verify and is lying when they say they did. Re-dispute the TL with TU. Get your papertrail in order. If they re-verify, sue their butts off.
I'm in PA... not sure if we have state laws or not. As for them not verifying - that's part of the problem. TU says that there request for verification came back saying that it should be listed as a collection. The system at the college which processes the disputes must have it listed as a collection for some reason, but when they manually look at their records in the system, they can't find any mention of it. TU says they queried the college and it was verified a few days ago. My point to them was that that's the reason the letter was necessary - b/c the computer they're talking to is wrong. Then they says it's not specific enough and needs to explictly say that the collection notation is incorrect.
Are you sure it's the actual college that is reporting as the OC or is it the company that issued the loan on your behalf to the college.
I'm pretty sure it's the college itself. It was a Perkins Loan / Promisorry note that I got in 95 while I was going to school there. The contact info on the CR is listed as the college & they college person I've been talking to didn't mention anything about a 3rd party being involved.
First thing is I would find out if the college was ever contacted by TransUnion. I don't think many colleges are interfaced with the UDF directly to the Credit Bureau, so there would have to have been a paper trail with the request. Second, Request a Procedural request from TransUnion as to how they validated, with who, and when. Then you will have a better idea as how to proceed. Just don't get discouraged to fast, these things can take a little time, and a little effort, but the feeling when you win is outstanding.
Thanks... a TU manager is supposed to call me back on Monday, so if it doesn't go well with her, I'll ask for the proc request. I'm also going to call the college again on Monday & basically tell them that they're in violation of the FCRA for reporting inaccuracte/unverifiable information to see if they'll write another letter. I have a fax from them saying they have no records, plus a phone message saying that she couldn't even tell if it was a collection account or not. Fingers crossed!
Let's try somethin E5. Use the same language in the previous letter they sent you and type it (as is) on a plain white paper. This time include the phrase, "we are unable to determine that this account has ever been a collection account". Track down the same girl you've been working with and ask her to transfer over to their letterhead, (using a copier), sign it again and send it back to YOU. If you can get her help on this you'll eventually get a deletion. BE SWEET!!!
Unfortunately, she's on the one that's reluctant to do that because "they're not supposed to remove any bad things from credit reports." I think I'm going to probably and up talking to her supervisor tomorrow to see if she'll authorize the additonal text about them not knowing if it was a collection account or not. Worst comes to worst, I'm planning on quoting the fcra to her: 623.A.1.a: Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors. A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or consciously avoids knowing that the information is inaccurate 623.A.2.b has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate, shall promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination and provide to the agency any corrections to that information, or any additional information, that is necessary to make the information provided by the person to the agency complete and accurate, and shall not thereafter furnish to the agency any of the information that remains not complete or accurate. I wish the "furnishers" section in 623 used the same "verifiable" verbage that the CRA are required to adhere to... but, I think it's still a stong argument since they're records are definately not "complete" and that word is used in 6.a.2.b at least...
Im still going on a hunch here, but i think that your still dealing with a third party reporting other than the college. It may be reporting under the college you attended, but the underlying may be the actual source of financial aid ( student loan ) that is reporting the collection and the lates. I would still get with Transunion to find out who they are verifying this information with, to your suprise it may not me the college. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm in PA too and i have seen these crazy things on a credit report, I had a Stafford that was listed via the College, Widener University, but they were only the reciepient of the funds and then therefore reported. The actual creditor with the final say was Stafford Loans, and it was a bitch to confer with the two, and there was actually nothing wrong, they had the wrong payment info, which took me almost a year to have them fix on my CR. I tried the college and they kept giving me the runaround. I don't even think that the workers in these admin positions know what the process is, and even if they have ever heard of the fcra. I would call Transunion and ask them for the creditor information, Name, Address, and Phone Number that they are verifying through. I had to finally ask for the legal department at TransUnion, to actually get some answers, they were sometimes vague and sometimes they didn't even know the process, but eventually I got it settled.
Sorry... I talked to the supervisor on Monday. She's planning on making it her #1 priority and is going to try and retrieve the paper files from long the off site archives. Said that if she can't get verification by Friday then she'll remove it from my report, but if she gets verification later, she'll re-insert it. As part of this call, she tells me she pulled my CR to "see how they had it listed"?!? Basically, the tact now is to wait and hear back. If it goes away, great. If it doesn't, I'm going to pursue things from the non-permissable credit pull angle. We've been talking about it here: http://consumers.creditnet.com/stra...php?s=&threadid=52600&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
Things are lookin up. It's a pain in the butt to dig old files outta "fireproof". Bet she waits till Friday and just deletes, cause she "didn't have time". LOL
Dunno... for some reason this woman is on a mission to prove that she's right & the account it reported correctly. Seemed to be taking it personally that I was questioning their reporting... I'll know soon!
