If I dispute an account through a CRA as "not mine", does the OC have any duty other than to verify name, SSN, etc? I want the OC to verify inaccurate info, and thereby get a violation. But I'm worried if I dispute the specific info with the CRA the OC just might fix it. On the other hand, I don't want to dispute with CRA as "not mine" and have the OC say they didn't have a duty to investigate specifics on the account. Any thoughts? Scrivener
Dispute it as "This item is not being reported correctly. Please fix the errors or delete the item." Or some such wording. There is no requirement that you tell them what is incorrect. It is their duty to insure ALL info is accurate. I have had several items removed with that dispute, including a forclosure. On the other hand, I have had items verified, incorrectly I might add, from the same dispute. You win some, you lose some. I am requesting procedures on those though, so we'll see what happens...
If you send this kind of dispute to Experian, they will probably NOT investigate. Thay will send you a form letter stating that they "cannot investigate because you did not inform them why this account is inaccurate." I know that this happened to at least one other person recently. I sent a dispute where I was very specific as to what was incorrect, and I still did not get an investigation. I'm sure that this is illegal, so someone who plans on taking them to court could certainly just try sending a vague dispute letter and wait for them to break the law. I sent another letter stating that their request for "why" the account was innaccurate was idiotic, which was ignored. I'm sure that if I could prove damages, I would win a court case, but I'm in a wait-and-see mode for now. You can dispute online with all CRA's with relatively vague reasons. They usually have a selection box with standard options like "this account was never late" or "this account is not mine".
Sure, they will feed you all manner of BS lines, but I don't recall anything in the FCRA that requires me to tell them what is inaccurate or incomplete. "If the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly of such dispute, the agency shall reinvestigate free of charge and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete the item from the file in accordance with paragraph (5), before the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which the agency receives the notice of the dispute from the consumer." Verbatim from 611(a)(1)(A), it's not rocket science, and it's not your job to tell them what they got wrong. You could instead tell them which items are wrong (recent balance, status, etc.) but not tell them what the values should be. Again, it's their job to have this info correct, not yours. Granted, they will whine and try to stall you, or tell you they need more information, and so on. Depending on how persistent you are they may just get tired of dealing with it and delete. They may actually send a verification form to the creditor and get it updated or deleted based on following the FCRA. Then again, they may tell you to bugger off, in which case I would think the next step is to file a lawsuit. Prices may vary in Alaska and Puerto Rico.
