Hello- I love this forum, I have been spending so much time learning from it - it's amazing. I wanted to figure this out without having to post, but alas I am still not completely sure what to do. <major CA> has contacted me looking for immediate collection of a credit card debt that is years old and I don't remember ever having. I've asked them for documentation stating that it is my debt, whether it's a signature card or even some statements showing what charges were made to see if it seemed like something I would charge. Both requests were denied with '<major CA> is in the collection business, not research business - if we have to goto the trouble of researching it we will just as soon take you to court and get the full amount vs a 60% settlement" I was going to fax & cert mail a letter with validation request and limited cease & desist, but wanted to make sure with you that I was doing the right thing. Pulled TU CR, here's details of this debt: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= OC: <major CC company> Opened Sept 1997 Date Reported: 01/01/2003 Limit $500 Balance $1659 Status: Chargeoff as bad debt, profit and loss writeoff =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- CA: <major collection agency> Date opened 3/2004 Date reported: 04/2004 Original Balance: $1659 Balance: $3178 Would it be best to fax/certmail my contact the validation request and limited cease and desist? Anything else you would put in or do? Thanks- -WC-
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val But when was the last pmt made? Doesn't matter when it was charged off or whatever, what matters, in terms of time to sue and report to CR the last date pmt was made. Jane. P.S. Can I ask who the CA is?
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Is there a way to find out when the last payment was made on an account or when it went bad (ie the 180 day rule)... The CR I got from TU didn't mention that, only the day it went reported and opened. I will message you the CA if that function is available to me. Not sure if it's disadvantageous to mention the CA's by name here.... -WC-
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val We really need to class action the CRA's on that no dropoff date...
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val How did you request validation from them in the first place? (Did you call them -- they don't have to validate unless you ask for it in writing.) And how did they tell you that they refused to validate? How long ago did this CA first contact you?
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Other reports usually show this information (at least the payment history, when it is provided to them.) Experian as long as the account hasn't been disputed, yet shows a "This item will remain until XX/XXXX" date, subtract seven years, and that should be the date of the delinquency prior to CO.
Re: Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val I have never received anything from them in writing, which I thought was odd. To get their address to send a certmail, I had to pretend that I was considering settlement offers and asked them to fax their offer to me. They first contacted me in February via phone, my wife dealt with it for a while since I worked so much. I asked her to have them send proof, to which he said that they would try. He even said something to her that this debt was found in some storage bin after being misplaced for years. I should have been documenting this as I am now, but I only started doing that when they referred the debt to a much more aggressive, pissy, belligerent jerk. I assumed asking/waiting for verification verbally was good enough. I guess not, given that they put it on my CR. To reiterate: I asked verbally since all contact has been via phone to date, I was denied verbally. -WC-
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Crap, I just noticed that they did a hard inquiry as well last month. -WC-
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Unfortunately even when they do provide a validation rights notice, you must dispute in writing to protect your rights. Some CA's thought to try to use that in their favor, so they would send the validation rights notice, with no address which you could mail the dispute to, and only a phone number to call, which they would refuse to provide you with an address for mailing. Unfortunately the courts, and the FTC nipped that tactic in the bud... Basically, think of it this way, the phone is their weapon, they can try to get anyone to admit anything on the phone, when they have the call taped to use against them. It only takes one slip of the toungue, and most of them are masters of getting the customer so peaved that they will make the slip up. The paper-trail is our weapon against them, when they put something in writing, we have something that we can use against them.
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Experian as long as the account hasn't been disputed, yet shows a "This item will remain until XX/XXXX" date, 1*subtract seven years, and that should be the date of the delinquency prior to CO. jam237 | ================== 1**Unless it's been re aged some time back in the past.
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Lbrown, TU, which is the one I am working on right now and is the one this CA refers to. I suppose it would be best to get the other 2 CR's right away to clean them up at the same time. -WC-
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Here's the VL I will be sending CRRR tomorrow. Any suggestions or changes you think should be made? I am trying to take the stance of an ignorant debtor in the hopes that they create documentable violations to FCRA. -WC- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dear <jerk at CA>: I just wanted to state that I received your fax offer of settlement (attached). I have also got a copy of my Trans Union credit report. I have found both the First Bank Usa entry as well as the entry <CA> has placed on my account for this debt. I would like to formally request a few things from you and <CA> before I am able to consider comfortably taking advantage of your settlement offer. Note that this is not a refusal to pay, I just need a little convincing that this is my debt to pay in the first place. 1. I need written verification proof that I signed for the debt in question. Ideal would be an original contract signed by me. 2. Complete payment history from beginning to end. 3. The address that this credit card was registered to and bills being sent to. 4. Explanation as to why you are collecting a debt for Bank One, when the credit report shows that the debt was a First USA Bank one. 5. Explanation as to whether you own this debt or are acting as a collector for Bank One or First Bank USA. If you own this debt, I would like to know what company sold it to you. If you are acting as a collector, I want to know which company has hired you to do so. I have asked you for the above items to verify and validate that they are truly mine, to which you refused with the reply that you are in the collection business and not the verification business. I politely request that you reconsider that stance. I also am going to formally request that you cease and desist from calling my home (home#), work, cell, and not fax me anymore (fax#). I want any and all communications from your company to be written and sent to me via United States postal mail or any other delivery method you see fit that isnâ??t of the above mentioned methods. While we work on verifying this debt is mine, I would like for you remove from my credit report the following: 1. The <CA> collections account line 2. The inquiry you made on my credit report. Thank you- <ME> May 19, 2004
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Here is what I did... When I started out, for the first six months, I was only disputing on TU. I listed each of the accounts which I had gotten deleted from TU, and then I disputed them with the other two at the same time, after I was able to get a copy of those reports. When I disputed with EQ, I e-mailed the dispute to them listing all the accounts, before I had received my report, so the results listed the accounts which were on their report, and then had a statement that the other accounts disputed are not currently appearing on their report. So if you have the deletion reports, just list them one by one into a dispute letter, and keep updating it as more companies get deleted.
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val #1, if they already have your phone #, you don't need to include it in your letter. just make it clear that any communication medium other than writen postal communications are undesired. They probably won't voluntarily delete the trade line, however, you could try to interlock the dispute with all three credit reporting agencies. Track their receipt of the letter, and when you know that they received it, send the verification request to all three CRAs.
Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val mrjminer Technically if you read the VoD clause, CAs verify, IF THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT. However, you don't want them to verify. Verify is a diluted validation. For verify, they may be able to provide just a statement which verifies the information; for example, maybe the OC wrote a letter listing your contact information, that verifies it... Validation is more definative...
Re: Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val While we work on verifying this debt is mine, WildCard ================= Why are you assisting them in hanging you with the debt? Why is the goal proving that you owe them the money? ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <>
Re: Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val WildCard, Your letter says "walk all over me". Is the issue that you don't know who or what this account is (not mine), or that you want to determine the correct amount due? Is it even likely to be within the SOL? When was your first contact from them? Have they only contacted you by phone? Have they sent you a letter (within 5 days of the first contact) with the "mini-miranda" notice notifying you that you have the right to dispute the debt? It sounds like they have already threatened to sue if you dispute the debt. FCRA violations all over the place. They must also have notified the CRA of the date of original delinquency within 90 days of reporting the TL. What does the CRA say this date is? What CA is this? They are using a lot of bluster to avoid presenting any actual evidence confirming it is really your debt. Something smells fishy.
Re: Re: CA (a major one) refuses to val Just checked my Exp report pulled in Jan and it doesn't have the "this item will remain until..." Is this a brand new thing?
