Equifax and experian failed to prove the debt, now what?

"So... all they did was ask Capital One if it was valid and took their word!"

In fact, that IS all they do when you dispute thru a CRA.

Since CapOne "verified" an account that is not yours, you may have to get an attorney and sue them. You might first pull paper copies of all your report, document your FICO scores, and try getting new credit to see if you can prove it is damaging you financially.

They have both erroneously verified information on your reports, and re-aged the account as well. You are looking for an attorney in your state with experience in FCRA and FDCPA litigation. You might try www.naca.net

 

Letters don't make people follow the law. Only courts do.

The law (FCRA) was written to allow individual consumers to sue when it was violated, so that private attorneys could supplement the actions of the regulatory agencies in enforcing it. This was the intent of Congress, and to assist in that goal, both FCRA and FDCPA allow for courts to award reasonable attorney's fees.

The damage that erroneous negative information has on your finances thru the effects it has on credit terms from other companies you do business with is cumulative, and litigation may not fully compensate you for that damage, so patience and delay only cost you further.

Note: I am NOT an attorney. I just look at the paths thru the law, and once you have exhausted the "letter writing" options, court is the next option. You actually have better choices than if, say, you had been mugged.

 

CRA's don't have to provide proof...

CRA's essentially say "Hey, we got a complaint about account x; is the (disputed information) correct."

The DF types the big flashing Y key, and that's all there is to it...

CA's have a validation requirement; CRA's just parrot the information told to them (unless you can provide proof that the data furnisher is unreliable).

 

You sue whoever is reporting erroneously. If CapOne is reporting directly, you can sue them. If a CA is reporting, you can sue them. As long as the Data Furnisher is "verifying" the CRA may be off the hook, but you might be able to go after them if they have mixed your file up with the actual debtor, and they fail to correct it, if the DF has reaged the account and the CRA knows it is reaged and should not legally be reported, or if the DF says they have directed the CRA to remove, and the CRA fails to do so.

You can also sue either party that is harassing you to collect a debt you don't owe, and in particular, if a CA is attempting to collect, you dispute, request validation, and sue over violations of FDCPA if they break it in their collection activities.

If they don't quickly determine they have the wrong party, correct their reporting, and go away, get a good attorney who knows what to do. The longer it goes on, the more it is worth his time.

However, be aware that both FCRA and FDCPA have short SOLs, so even if you win you may only be able to collect damages back a year or two.

You might also try contacting your state AG.

Since this is not your account, is there any other information showing on your reports to indicate that it has information from some other debtor? Addresses you never lived at, wrong SSN, DOB?

 

It is not the date it was opened, but the reported date of first delinquency, when the first due payment date was missed. The CRAs should show that date, or should indicate a "drop off date" based on 7.5 years after that date. The DF is required to provide the CRA with that date within 90 days of posting any negative TL to a credit report. That date could be substantially after the open date, so waiting for it to fall off might not be a good idea. In addition, if you are applying for loans or insurance over $150K, or jobs over $75K, companies can pull your reports and see even information older than 7.5 years, so if it is NOT your account, get it removed.

Since CapOne is playing musical chairs with this debt, as you have seen, you could spend the rest of your life chasing validation on a debt that is not even yours, with each CA just bouncing it back to be sent to another one. If it is still within SOL, or they are playing games with the last payment date, you could even be sued, or get stuck dealing with it when your next mortgage is held up at closing.

If CapOne still owns it (and they are reported to hang onto some of their old accounts more than some others), give them a call and see if they have ANY account in your name under your SSN. That will tell you whether you are dealing with a misidentification, which will lead you to put pressure on the CRA and CapOne, or an id theft, with which you will file a police report and send copies of that plus fraud affidavit to the CRAs, which will force them to remove and block permanently, or you get to go after them under FACTA.