I just checked my Experian report online and found a collection inquiry made by "Northland Group INC" on 9/20. This also happened to me back in June on my TU with a company called National Financial Systems and also with First Select (a Providian collector) over a year ago on all 3 of my reports. The funny thing is I'm not responsible for any of the accounts represented by these collectors. The worst thing about collector inquires is that you don't even know about them until the collector notifies you after they made the inquiry and that's if they even decide to let you know. Now I don't know who Northland Group Inc is representing but I do know that I don't have any outstanding debts just old accounts that I have already disputed and can not be verified. Now, can someone please explain this to me. Why would a creditor or collector who has received my dispute and knows they can not prove that I owe them would then transfer my disputed account to another company to try to collect it. Do they actually think this company has a better chance of collecting. FAT CHANCE!!!!!!! I'm sure this scenario is similar to anyone who has ever been a victim of identity theft. You found out your identity has been fraudulently used to open an account. You dispute directly with the creditor that you are the victim of identity theft and that the account is not yours. They note this and most likely conclude that they can not properly prove that you owe them. Now, the account might be with a collector or then referred to a collector. You make the same dispute with the collector and they most likely draw the same conclusion. Now you think you're free and clear but know and behold another collector notifies you several months later trying to collect on the same fraudulent account. You dispute and it transfers and you dispute and it transfers and so on and so on. This may go on indefinitely even if the SOL expires. This leads me to believe that there is no company out there that cares that YOU are the victim. They feel that they are the victim for fraudulently extending credit to someone else in your name and that they will try to collect at any cost even if they have to use some second rate sleaze-bag collector to do it. Now, I don't know who Northland Group Inc is or who they represent but I'll be ready for them with the same old song and dance if they even decide to contact me. I can most likely successfully dispute these inquiries with EX and TU. God willing, I hope they haven't made a hard inquiry with EQ - those bastards!
Yeah, that's what they think. They ding your report and it's blackmail. And when it involves a whole industry it is racketeering.
What you do to put a stop to that kind of nonsense is to make them pay the bill they claim you owe them and maybe then some to boot and they don't make that same mistake with you again. It's a simple process and not at all difficult to do. All you have to do is to make them prove you owe the account and when they can't do that, you demand that they pay you for their errors. You just have to be able to document what has happened and make them pay the bill plus some extra for punitive damages. Once that happens to them, they don't want any more to do with you. I do it all the time.
A collection agency inquiry should be treated as though it were a full-flegded listing of an actual debt by a collection agency every time. They should never be treated lightly. First of all one should dispute the inquiry with the credit bureau as being an impermissible inquiry and then as soon as one can find out who they are, one should call them up on the phone and introduce one's self to them. Let them know who you are and demand to know what the he** they are doing dinking around in your credit files. Tell them that if they ever do it again you are going to sue them for it. I don't imagine for even a moment that one could actually find legal grounds to actually do that. I've never heard of it being done and I don't happen to know of any legal cases in which it has ever been done, so it's pure bluff. That's not important. What is important is that if they actually do have a collection on you they will probably tell you about it. That's when you act like you would like to settle the matter at the earliest possible time and would they be so kind as to send you a bill for whatever it is they claim you owe them. Give them your mailing address and then just hang up the phone. Don't listen to any of their spiel. Just slam down the phone and wait to see what you get in the mail. If they call you back, act dumb. (sort of) Ask them if they are the same people you just talked to on the phone. They will say "yes" and you tell them "send me a bill" and slam down the phone again. Whatever it takes to let them know they are going to have to send you a bill if they ever want to collect anything. But the first thing to do is to dispute the inquiry with the credit bureau as impermissable.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I have already disputed the inquiry with EX (online though). They are tough at first but will eventually give in if one is persistent. I'm going to wait a couple of days to see if I get something in the mail before I contact this "Northland Group Inc." I will NEVER pay them a dime especially for something I don't feel I owe. I rather enjoy toying around with collectors. It is a hassle with the hard inquiry but it is fun to see what kind of BS they try to feed you. It amazes me how different reps from the same collector always say different things and give different amounts (which explains why they might be afraid to put something on paper that might contradict itself with something else). With my experience, a debt verification letter always shuts them up real quick. About 80% of the debt verification letters I have sent result in no response. The collector gives up with letters, phone calls, and any collection accounts usually placed on my file disappears. Sometimes, I don't even get the RR back in the mail. Back in early August around 8/7, I sent out a debt verification letter to NCO Financial. I just got the RR back this week dated 9/17. The most response I got from a collector was when First Select sent me nothing but billing statements. Oddly enough, they never contacted me again. What amazes me is that most collectors seem afraid to spend money on paper, printing, and postage yet they rather run up their phone bill. I would think the latter is more expensive. I'm ready for this "Northland Group Inc." It's been a while since I have had some real fun with a collector. They are in for a rude awakening. Most collectors usually run scared when they meet a consumer who has actual knowledge of the existence of a little thing called the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! They have sophisticated automated call centers and flat rate WATTS lines. Number of calls does not affect the amount they pay.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I can wholeheartedly agree with everything you say here, but I take it a lot further than you apparently do judging from your post. The fact of their failure to respond is not even important. I proceed with a whole series of letters right on down to the court house door which I never actually enter. They start screaming long before I ever actually get to the courthouse door. I've even had them tell me that they were stopping all collection efforts and returning the debt to the original creditor for whatever further action the creditor might deem necessary. That's when they find out that I'm like Tar Baby. They are stuck and can't get loose. Now that's when the fun really starts.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I just called "Northland Group INC" this morning. They say they are collecting for "your Chase card with a $8500 balance." This is the same account I mentioned in my very first post: the one that was opened with my SSN when I was only 16 years old. They said they mailed out a letter today. They also said they would settle for 25% of the balance (like I'm going to pay). It's also funny how most collectors advertise payment through Western Union Quick Collect and checking accounts. WORD OF CAUTION: NEVER EVER EVER EVER give your checking account number to a collector. This is the fourth collector thus far on this account. I guess the last collector got really scared when I sent them a debt verification letter less than a month ago. I remember the guy I talked to from the last collector told me that I needed to consult an attorney. I guess he ended up consulting HIS attorney because they apparently dumped the account. I'll wait and see what the new collector sends me in the mail. I wonder if this new collector is even willing to put up a fight. This should get interesting.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! In the box "Inquiries NOT reported to businesses" in the document titled "How to Read Your Credit File" I got after requesting my file from Equifax, it says that AM and AR inquiries do not appear on credit files businesses receive. Are collectors' inquiries allowed to be shown to "businesses" (potential creditors)? Where in the laws or regulation is that mentioned?
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! Just send Northland Group a validation letter and they'll return it BACK to Chase. They were trying to collect a debt from me one time. I fired off that letter and never heard from them again. I had to call to see what was going on. They were like, when a person requests validation...we don't mess with it. We send it back.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! Most collection inquiries are shown to businesses. With TU and EX, all the collection inquiries I have seen appear in the section "inquiries shown to other creditors." With EQ, all the collection inquiries I've seen are viewed by other businesses because they never have AR or AM in front of them. I already sent a validation letter to Northland Group, certified/return receipt of course. In the letter they sent me, it says they are collecting on the Chase account for Great Lakes Collection Bureau. Great Lakes use to be known as North American Capital and did try to collect on it for a long time before the last collector did. I don't know if they own the account or are representing Chase. I've never heard anything from Chase most likely because they can't verify anything on the account which is why it continues to be pawned off from collector to collector.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I'm looking at a credit file from Experian. Under "Requests initiated by you" is the record of an inquiry for "Collection purpose." In the other section titled "Other requests," they say a permissible purpose is for "your current creditors to monitor your accounts." Fair, Isaac discusses it on the page http://www.myfico.com/MyFICO/CreditCentral/ScoreConsiders/Tips/NewCredit.htm . Does Experian actually consider a collector's inquiry as initiated by the consumer? What stops collectors from making as many inquiries (and potentially decreasing the score) as they wish?
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I don't let that business about "we sent it back to the creditor" stop me in the least. They sent me a demand letter and that stuck them to it no matter what. If they sell it to somebody else, that don't stop anything either. They are still stuck to it. They send me a letter saying they sent it back to the creditor or some other collector, they get the estoppel anyway. And then I send them a demand that they either pay for their violations of law or I sue. They start screaming they sent it back or sold it and are not trying to collect, it still don't make any difference. They broke the law, they violated civil rights so make them pay the piper for their little dance, and that's all that is now of any importance. Let's look at it logically. I go out and I rob a bank. Can I get the cops off my back because I give all the money to charity? Or go back to the bank and drop all their money in their nite box or shove it all under their door in the middle of the night? Fat chance! I broke the law so I'm likely going to have to do time no matter what. Same with the bill collector. If he broke the law and he violated your rights, make him pay no matter what he does with the debt. The reason I advocate that is real simple and easy to understand. You make those birds pay a big bundle of bucks a few times and the buying and selling of old delinquent debts isn't going to look so rosy to them anymore. A few of them buy some old debt and end up having to pay the debtor a few thousand plus pay their lawyers to defend, they won't think buying somebody's old debt is such a good idea after all. Put an end to the damned nonsense. If it happens a few times, it should stop happening after while. Teach them a hard lesson and get paid for doing it.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! Greg, It's pretty obvious that any Experian subscriber can place as many inquiries as they want, on any files they want to. There are no controls in place. The CA doesn't even have to have the right person, they can be looking for someone. Have you ever read articles by David Szwak? He has successfully sued the CRA's in ID theft cases.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! Breeze: Tell us about this guy and where we can find his website or articles or whatever. I've never heard of him. Thanks.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! He is an attorney in Shreveport, LA. Someone who was emailing me about a credit problem found him. Apparently he has hit the big time successfully suing the CRA's for their negligence in identity fraud cases - no small feat considering the consumer-unfriendly laws. I searched on Google and got these links, there may be others on other search engines: http://www.bjslaw.com/szwak.htm http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/banking/credit/1342s1.asp http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,7546,pg,3,00.asp http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/idtheft/transcripts/001023.htm http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/equifax_pr.html http://www.eco-shred.com/case_hist4.html http://www.efc.ca/pages/media/macleans.23jun97.html http://www.abiworld.org/nbrcab/consuggest.html - scroll down and read his comments http://www.consumerlaw.org/events/crc_2001.pdf http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ban16.htm http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ban09.htm http://mailer.fsu.edu/~btf1553/ccrr/articles.htm
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! I spoke to him early this year after he sent an email to me. http://www.bjslaw.com/szwak.htm I'm looking for legal theory within the existing law, legal precedent, or regulatory action. Regarding permissible purposes of consumer reports, the FCRA states that one is the intent to "use the information in connection with a credit transaction involving the consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumer... " I don't believe Congress envisioned anybody picking this apart with regard to the proximity of the words "review or collection," but those terms' adjacency, and inclusion and exclusivity within commas, may affect a decision in this issue. An oddity is a subscriber to a consumer report service that has access a credit file to review their own account to determine if the consumer continues to meet the terms of the account. It is as if they aren't the person who is reporting it to the CRA in the first place, and would not know what is being reported. Yet, that is allowed, apparently, under the law. If they are that incompetent, they don't deserve unlimited access to credit files when that access may affect the credit score or how potential creditors may view the consumer. On a file I'm reviewing, there is an inquiry by a collector that is the type that appears, but it doesn't say that it is by a collector. The potential lender might assume that the inquiry was the result of a request by the consumer for additional credit, when it was not. This is going to get interesting. The big question is: Will they get away with simply removing the hard inquiries upon receiving a dispute, or will they correct everybody's files-- whether they get a dispute, or not? Thanks for responding, breeze. I know that if it doesn't make sense to you, it may not make sense, at all.
Re: Collection inquiries SUCK!!!!!! Here is another interesting link too. Bad judges and disciplined or incarcerated attorney's lists for all states http://www.clr.org/ostates.html
