Ghost Account

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by EAGLE, Nov 16, 2001.

  1. EAGLE

    EAGLE Well-Known Member

    Hello, I hope someone can help me,

    after receiving an Equifax report last month, an

    unknown and very derogatory entry was listed from

    First USA, I never had an account with them, &

    immediately went on-line to dispute the entry with

    Equifax, as not mine.

    Today I receive the report back & it says Equifax has

    verified with the source etc. and it is now listed

    "as account included in bankruptcy", with a

    reported date of 11/01, and a last activity date as

    01/00?????

    I did have a Bankruptcy, but that was more than 10

    years a go, and had no First USA account.

    After looking at the opening date from 1985, I

    believe it could be an old Visa from a local bank,

    that was included in the Bk, but why and how

    could First Usa re-open this? Do they buy old

    Bankrupt accounts to ruin peoples credit?

    How should I proceed?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am

    very distressed by this.

    Thank you,
     
  2. breeze

    breeze Well-Known Member

    I think I would go see a lawyer. You've got a winner here. Keep your letters.
     
  3. bbauer

    bbauer Banned

    De acuerdo, Breeze, de acuerdo
     
  4. EAGLE

    EAGLE Well-Known Member

    I was hoping to find some strategies here, I don't

    really want to hire an attorney, unless I could get

    some type of huge settlement, I don't have any

    letters, just the credit reports, if I call Equifax, &

    tell them it was an old account that was included in

    BK more than ten years a go, are they not required

    to remove it, now that it's showing as "included in bk"

    I would just like some advice as what to say to

    Equifax on Monday, their on-line system is not

    very good.

    Thank You,
     
  5. bbauer

    bbauer Banned

    Would you hire a top rated consumer protection lawyer if you could hire one on a fee contingeny basis so you don't have to put out any up front money? If so, I'll recommend one to you that I am currently using. I just got his name on a post by somebody who listed some of them (I think it was Breeze) and called him up and decided I liked the way he talked so I "hired" him. So far, that's about all I can tell you about him.
     
  6. EAGLE

    EAGLE Well-Known Member

    Well, that sounds pretty good, especially

    since Experian is reporting the same account,

    BUT, under Wachovia, although it's not a "derog".

    Something is not right here, I am totally confused.

    Are First USA and Wachovia affiliated????

    Why would they report it differently to two diffeent

    bureaus, nothing on Transunion, YET.

    I am afraid before I can get rid of this it will

    be a red flag on an account review, and all my

    good terms will be ruined.

    Thanks again,
     
  7. bbauer

    bbauer Banned

    Wow, you got me cnfused too. All I did was ask yiou if you wanted to have a lawyer look at your problem. Then I get all this load of grief dumped on me and I what little bit of law I know wouldn't make a pimple on a lawyer's nose. Guess I might see if I can make a stab at coming up with some kind of answer, wise or otherwise. Of course, as you most likely know, I'm supposed to be one of them there Credit Repair Organizations, whatever that is, so even my dumb looks are $10 a pop. So get a firm grip on your wallet and let's see what I come up with.(LOL)
    Well, I really don't know. Here is my first dumb sounding answer. But first, let's take a look at your first statement again.
    First of all, I would never do what you did. I would never dispute anything with any credit bureau. It isn't all that likely they just sat around their offices and dreamed up the report for lack of better things to do. They usually print what they print because somebody told them to do it and paid them good money to get it done. So I would go after that dumbo, not the credit bureau. I'd ask him in a real nice unfriendly way why he did that.
    And it would not make any difference what his answer was, if it wasn't the right answer then I'd make him take it off and maybe pay me for his mistake because he did damage to my credit. If you ask the right question of the wrong judge, you will probably either get told to go see the right judge or get a dumb answer out of him that makes no sense to you at all. So the right way to get the right answer is to ask the person that made the statement in the first place. Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween. Get the facts right out of the horse's mouth. Ask FUSA and not Equifax.
    I don't mess with the credit bureaus much so I really don't know why they come up with all the whinneys, neighs and brays they do. All I do is get me a copy of their little tipsheet and then go get the answer right out of the horse's own mouth, not from some silly two-bit tip sheet. I want to pick winners, not losers, so I never play the trifectas. I'd suggest you do the same. Ask FUSA, NOT Equifax. Works for me every time and it'll work better for you too.
    That is entirely possible. Especially if you follow the ponies using some two-bit tip sheet.

    I told you I might be able to tell you where to hire a hopefully competent attorney. I didn't claim to be an attorney and I didn't claim to be a credit repair company. And I'm not complaining or trying to put you down for asking questions. You asked me what I thought you ought to do, and although I tried to put a bit of innocent humor into the situation, I also tried to answer your quesstion and help you as much as I could at the same time. My suggestion is simple. Write a validation letter to both FUSA and Watchovia and make them come up with the answers. Once you got them nailed down so they can't wiggle around then go to the credit bureaus and tell them how the cow ate the cabbage. If they give you a run around then get yourself a competent attorney and sue them.

    Doing it the way you went at it is about like trying to teach an army mule to play an army bugle.
     
  8. arobinson

    arobinson Well-Known Member

    Eagle, my fiancee works at First USA, she hates it !! They are scum! To answer your question, FUSA bought the Wachovia credit card accounts, and is servicing all of them. This happened when Wachovia and First Union merged. I also believe that MBNA bought the First Union CC accts (I am not completely sure though!)
     
  9. bbauer

    bbauer Banned

    Good information.
    So what he needs to do is make Fusa validate both listings. One demand for validation on each report.

    If you want to wake up a mule the best way to do it is to whack him right between the eyeballs with a 2 x 4. If that don't get his attention, nothing will

    In otherwords, play hardball with the clowns. That's what they are doing to him, so show them you know how to play hardball too.

    And if they were only being stupid and not really playing hardball, too bad. The least sophisticated consumer has to wake them up somehow.
     
  10. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Ah.The wonderful FICO at work! Ain't it great?!
     
  11. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Send a validation letter to 1St. USA and send Wachovia another one.
    Thre are some great letters for this on this board.
     
  12. tzank

    tzank Well-Known Member

    I have a similar problem with Associated Bank and Citibank USA. Is it legal for a bank to sell their discharged bankrupt accounts to another bank?

    Tim
     
  13. lbrown59

    lbrown59 Well-Known Member

    Don't know. Anyone else care to take swing at it?
     
  14. breeze

    breeze Well-Known Member

    No, it isn't. That debt no longer exists.
     
  15. DaveyBoy

    DaveyBoy Well-Known Member

    Again...I agree w/ Breeze...it's like me selling a Playboy that I only have the cover to to some horny person who thinks they can sell it as a whole magazine....no dice.

    DB :)
     
  16. EAGLE

    EAGLE Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all the great ideas,

    I just need to know what type of letter format to use,

    since it's not really a debt, per se, since it is

    showing a ZERO balance, if someone could post

    a link to a sample, it would be appreciated.

    I found one called "debt validation 02", but that

    seems to be directed towards the bureau and not

    the company.

    By the way, I don't understand why any one

    would think that they are offering legal advice,

    this is only a message board, offering opinions

    and that to me constitutes free speech, is that

    not what we stand for in the GOOD OLE USA ?

    Thank you for your replies,
     
  17. LKH

    LKH Well-Known Member

    Breeze is correct, but, didn't citibank purchase assoc.?
     
  18. tzank

    tzank Well-Known Member

    I had a First Financial FSB VISA card that was included in my bankruptcy that was filed in October, 1997 and discharged in February, 1998. First Financial became Assocaited Bank in 2000. At the same time Associated Bank sold their credit card operation to Citibank. From what I understand, Citibank actually paid money to aquire my old bankrupt Visa account from Associated Bank. This happened in June, 2000. I actually have written documentation that proves this.

    Tim
     
  19. breeze

    breeze Well-Known Member

    Yes, but if Associates was named in the bk, they are not supposed to be able to sell the account. This seems to be something new they are doing. Some people who have corresponded with me have mentioned that debts that were in bk's are being sold to collection agencies!!

    I imagine it is a matter of having the debt still in their system, they sell a block of data (bad debts) and download it, voila!! The bk'd debt is included, even though it is illegal to attempt to collect it.

    In the situation of Associates reporting it and then Citibank reporting it; seems to me, if it is within the 7 years, only one of them should be allowed to report it, and it should be noted as "discharged in bk." Wonder what the FTC would say? I would think it depends on whether they got the account before or after the bk.


     
  20. tzank

    tzank Well-Known Member

    Citibank has my account that was discharged in 1998 as listed as Charged Off as of 9/2001 with a past due balance of $4808. They did not start reporting it until 9/01. My disputes come back as verified from the CRAs.

    Tim
     

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