I posted before & still can't figure out exactly how to handle this. Can someone explain [ in easy terms] what I should do. When I originally posted I thought it was first reported 4 1/2yrs after the last activity. I have checked it again & now realize it looks like they have been just been reporting all along. [proof that folks should be checking their reports... we hadn't looked at our own in years] HERE's what the problem is: Verizon Wireless/Southeast [ we never had an acct. w/ them, last time I posted you guys helped me figure out that the cell phone acct. we had was probably bought out] Date Opened 01/1996 Last Activity 06/1997 Type of Account Open Account Status CHARGE-OFF It shows a HIGH CREDIT LIMIT Balance $0 Past Due Date Reported 02/2002 Description PAID CHARGE OFF UTILITY ............ We had a problem w/ cell phone & was told we had to pay the rest of the contract.. 6/97 We paid the amount owed. We thought it was done & over with. Never thought any more about it until I started looking into our credit [ & trying to build it] recently. We were shocked to see this as a Charge-Off . Why would it show as an open acct. ? Is this normal for it to keep being reported every month ? From what I understand, if we do nothing, it will stay on the report like this until either 6/2004 or 12/2004. Will they keep reporting every month ? Please ,what would you guys do ? Cathy
do a search for the "nutcase" letter. it is designed for paid charge offs. send it certified, return receipt requested and have it notarized if possible. i would also dispute it with cra's. it may not be verified since it is paid.
Should I send letter to Verizon or credit bureau ? CRA ... is that credit reporting agency?... This is being reported by Verizon. When you dispute , do you give a reason for the dispute or just say I want it investigated ? If I state in my letter the reason , do I use the "never had acct w/ Verizon" or straight to the point " account was paid in full / Not a charge off" ? Obviously Verizon has something from the account since they are reporting every month. Sorry for so many questions. I just don't want to mess up. Thanks Cathy
personally, i would start by disputing this isn't mine...I mean you never signed a contract with verizon, so this is true in a sense. is this on any of your other credit reports? Just curious because it looks like they are reporting the last activity date as the date it was paid off when it should be the charge-off date reported here (for accounts charged-off before 1998)- depending on how much time lapsed between the charge-off and your payment, this could mean it should be due to expire much earlier than they are reporting. Just a thought.
Cathy, I've had the same experience with Verizon Wireless. Account went late, I wanted out of the contract, paid it off, and they recorded it as a paid charge off. I found out when I first pulled my credit reports. I started by disputing it with all the CRAs as "not mine". It came off of TransUnion, but was verified on the other 2. I probably disputed it 3 or 4 times more on EQ and EX, but it was verified every time. I tried a modified validation letter to the Verizon address listed on the credit report. They sent me a "fraud" package and a nasty woman kept contacting me. I basically got nowhere with this woman. She did however re-age the account on Experian and pull a hard inquiry on Equifax. This was enough for me to build a case against them. The two threads below summarize my contact with them. If they are reporting the account incorrectly (still open and possibly the wrong charge off date) you have something to start working with. Because they re-aged the account and pulled a hard inquiry on me, I threatened suit for FCRA violations. If it had gone to court the only thing I would have gotten was some money. The other thing they could have done was fix the date and remove the inquiry. But I tried to point out to them that fixing their mistakes would not clear them of the violations which I had proof of. I never once had to show them my proof. They folded and accepted my settlement, full deletion of all negatives from all 3. First and Second email to Verizon Final email to Verizon I used a free service (www.confimax.com) that showed me when and at what IP address my emails were read. I started by emailing the office of the President at execoffice.oh@verizonwireless.com. They put me in contact with a Lead Coordinator at the Financial Services division in Ohio. I don't think they would have given me the Financial guy if they knew that I was planning on filing suit. But it appears that he had contacted legal a couple of times during our correspondence. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. My email is turned on.
Thank you for the help. I just found this is on Experian ,also. I'm waiting for the other bureau to send the report. I'm guessing it will be on it too. I was able to request investigation on the Experian , on-line. I can't do it like that for Equif. They say I have to contact CSC locally. I read the "nutcase" letter [think that's what it's called. It didn't seem right for this situation. Any other letter recommendations to send to the credit burueas [ones I can't handle on-line or come back w/ won't remove] or to send to Verizon ? This just burns me! I mean , we didn't even have the acct. w/ Verizon! And it wasn't a charge off. sigh.... Cathy
Mine was with Airtouch Cellular, who Verizon bought. There is a dispute letter in the Letters Forum to send to the CRA. http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&pgnum=1&postid=85491#post85491 On the part that says: Name of Creditor/Agency, Account #_________ put "NOT MINE - REMOVE" after the account number. ex. Verizon, Acct# 123455 - NOT MINE - REMOVE
