Estoppel for Pd Chargeoff?

Hello! First time poster, long time reader working through my own personal credit hell.
I used a letter from the vgCredit website as a template for mine (in bold below). Has anyone ever used this type of letter successfully to convince a creditor to remove a paid chargeoff? Has anyone ever sued successfully under Estoppel or is this just a scare tactic? I'd appreciate any feedback anyone can offer on how well this letter works in real life. I have a very stubborn paid chargeoff to WFS. They "lost" my final car payment which they deducted directly from my checking acct, threatened repo, and I was dumb enough to pay them after they agreed to report paid as agreed. I even have it in writing, but of course, the CRA's won't accept that evidence!



Dear Sirs:

It has come to my attention that you have placed a derogatory remark on my credit bureau files pursuant to my having paid you what you claimed that I owed you.

When I paid you, I relied upon your statements that you would do the honorable thing and remove your derogatory comments from my credit bureau files which you not only failed to do, but actually changed my listing to "Paid, was charge-off" which is a far worse rating in the eyes of any potential future creditors.

In doing so, you obviously failed to realize that the Doctrine of Estoppel directly applies to this type of situation and is more than sufficient grounds to file a lawsuit against you for punitive damages in whatever amount a jury might deem appropriate.

In order for the doctrine of estoppel to apply, the party of the first part (you, the creditor) must make some statement or engage in some conduct upon which the party of the second part (me, the debtor) relied and acted, which later proved to be to his or her detriment or prejudice. In your communications with me you told me that you would update my credit reports as soon as I paid the debt to you. Your letter dated 12/17/00 and signed by one [name] stated that you would mark the account as "paid as agreed". I assumed that would be the only notation made as to the disposition of the account.

I am quite confident that both you and a court of law will agree that such is a perfectly reasonable assumption for an average debtor to make. On that assumption, I agreed to pay the debt, and in fact did so on [12/17/00], whereupon you actually worsened my credit bureau scores by marking the account "Paid, was charge-off". Your reporting was most definitely to my detriment and prejudice and has provided me with grounds to sue you for the full amount I paid you, plus attorney fees, court costs and whatever additional punitive damages a jury might award.

Unless you move to cure your error and remove your derogatory remarks from my public records within 15 days of your receipt of this letter, and provide proof of your remedy by mailing me a copy of a UDF you have transmitted to the credit bureaus demanding removal of the derogatory information, I shall immediately file suit against you.

I am well aware that you claim a contractual agreement with the credit bureaus prevents your compliance with my demands, but a contract which violates the law is null and void, and therefore cannot be enforced either by you or upon you. Your so-called contract with the credit bureaus will not waiver your responsibility for your willful violation of my rights, which are protected by the Doctrine of Estoppel.

Your failure provide me with proof of remedy within 15 days after your signed receipt of this letter by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested will be considered sufficient reason to refer this matter to the courts for resolution.

Please find attached a copy of your letter to me on 12/17/00 agreeing to report the account "Paid in Full", and a copy of my filing papers, completed and ready to be delivered to the courthouse should you fail to respond.

 

I did tighten the letter up a bit, but I wanted some feedback on it before I did too much work in case it was crap! lol...I did not like the assumption stuff either, I will take it out.
I know the usual philosophy around here is to "make them figure it out", but I left the explanation of estoppel in for two reasons:
1) I have read discussions about creditors claiming "estoppel is b.s."
2) I do not actually want to sue, I just want to scare the bejesus out of them so they will delete. I feel that if I don't explain estoppel, their attitude may be "go right ahead and try it", but if they see I actually have some legal standing, they may aquiesce without me having to file.
Thanks for your feedback! I will go back over the letter and see what else I can do to make it more assertive, then post my revisions. Any further suggestions are welcome.

~Dana

 

2nd draft of Estoppel

Dear Sirs:

You placed a derogatory remark on my credit bureau files pursuant to my having paid you what you claimed that I owed you. The final payment on my loan with you was in dispute. I stated that I had paid you by telecheck, but you claimed you had no record of such a payment. In order to put the matter to rest, and avoid the expenditure of time and money that (since there was no physical cancelled check) would have been required to obtain the appropriate documentation of such a payment, I agreed to pay you again in exchange for the account being reported "Paid as Agreed" to the credit bureaus. When I paid you, I relied upon your statements that you would remove your derogatory comments from my credit bureau files, which you not only failed to do, but instead changed my listing to "Paid, was charge-off", a far worse rating in the eyes of any potential creditor grantor.

In doing so, you obviously failed to realize that the legal doctrine of Estoppel enjoins you from reversing your position as to my account status and that your continued verification of this account with the credit bureaus is sufficient grounds for me to file a lawsuit against you. In your communications with me you told me that you would update my credit reports as soon as I paid the debt to you. Your letter, dated 12/17/00 and signed by one [name], stated that you would report the account "paid as agreed". I remitted payment on 12/17/00, whereupon you actually worsened my credit bureau scores by marking the account "Paid, was charge-off". Your reporting was most definitely to my detriment and prejudice and has provided me with a cause of action to sue you for the full amount I paid you, plus actual damages, attorney fees, court costs and whatever additional punitive damages a jury might award.

Unless you move to cure your error and remove your derogatory remarks from my public records within 15 days of your receipt of this letter by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested, and provide proof of your remedy by mailing me a copy of a Universal Deletion Form you have transmitted to the credit bureaus demanding removal of the derogatory information, I shall immediately file suit against you.

I am well aware that you claim a contractual agreement with the credit bureaus prevents your compliance with my demands, but a contract which violates the law is null and void, and therefore cannot be enforced either by you or upon you. Your unlawful contract with the credit bureaus will not waiver your responsibility for this willful violation of my rights under the doctrine of Estoppel.

I have attached a copy of your letter to me on 12/17/00 agreeing to report the account "Paid in Full", and a copy of my filing papers, completed and ready to be delivered to the courthouse should you fail to respond. I urge you to act immediately in order to avoid a costly legal battle.

Sincerely,

My Name



I do have an additional concern...this all occurred in 2000 - although they have incorrectly verified the account with the CRAs several times since then. What is the SOL here for me to bring suit? Am I treading on thin ice?

Also - if anyone has any recommendations for making the letter sound stronger, please let me know.

I would still like to hear from anyone who has successfully used this tactic, whether you actually got to the courtroom or not.

~Dana

 

Re: Re: 2nd draft of Estoppel

Thank you all for your help!! I am going to send the letter out first thing tomorrow and just see what happens. Hopefully, they'll cave and the SOL will be a non-issue.