I recently filed a complaint with the FTC, PA State Attorney General, and the BBB. Gulf State Credit purchased a sprint bill from 1996. They purchased this bill in November of 2000, and sold it the same month. I have 2 tradelines on my credit report, one from gulf State, and another from Berks Credit and Collections. I sent both collection companies copies of my complaints. They claim I owe for a Sprint bill. I have never had them as a long distance provider, I have AT&T as I work for them and receive my long distance free. My goal is to create a paper trail. I have requested validation for this debt two times from each company. Neither comany responded. If I don't hear something in in 30-45 days I will retain an attorney and go after everyone, including experian for claiming they verified the debt. This is the last step. If I don't hear anything from either of them I will file suit in small claims court. I will cite violations of the FDCPA and the FCRA. Any and all suggestions helpful.
Contact Sprint and ask to speak with someone in collections. They may ask for your SSN (that is, the collection department at Sprint). If it isn't your debt, Sprint will not have a record. If this is the case, have Sprint make a 3rd party call to Gulf State (aka OSI Portfolio Services) to have the account released from collection. Make sure you record the names and extensions of everyone you speak with. I had the same problem and Gulf State sent a removal letter to me and had the account removed from all 3 credit reports. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your response Carkid, I contacted Sprint. Sprint told me I had to dispute the account with Gulf State Credit. They weren't aware that Gulf State purchased and sold the account to Berks Credit & Collection within the same month. I did get the reps name. I asked the rep for the address to dispute the account with Sprint. She informed me she was in Ill, and told me I had to dispute the account with their collection agent. No one seems to respond to my request.
I was amazed to read this thread. I, too, have an entry on my credit reports from these weasels for an alleged Sprint account in 1996. I am attempting to have it removed.
Terry, If Gulf State sold the account to another collection agency, then they have to remove their listings on your reports. Only the original creditor and a collection agency currently holding the debt can "technically" report the delinquent account. But it sounds like they made a big boo-boo with you. I just wanted to add in a little reminder... Good luck to you; I think you may have a gem here.
Terry, your situation is exactly like mine! I took all the steps you mentioned, except I think I ran into a brick wall, because the Atty Gen'l in my state referred me to the Atty Gen'l in Georgia, and they told me they were referring the matter to the FTC, as it was under their jurisdiction. Anyway, this only appeared on my Experian report (yup, for Sprint, with my first name and someone else's last name,) and I got it deleted after I sent copies of my complaints to OSI Portfolios and Gulf State. (I got correspondence from them using both those letterheads.) I disputed again, and it was deleted, however it then appeared on Equifax and Trans Union. I fired off a "last notice before lawsuit" letter, about two weeks ago. No response yet. To add insult to injury, the phone number on my reports is out of service, so I cant even call the boneheads to complain. I'll post any results I get.
Terry: sounds like a good plan.. I would follow through and follow suit. It may be difficult to sue the CA's, but I think your pursuit against the CRAs will prove to be fruitful.. BTW, I am doing a similar process, but with all the negatives on my report.
