My patience has run out with Arrow Finanical Services. After stating my CR would be updated upon receipt of the final payment, they still have not updated it. The update should have happened at at the beginning of April. A call to them in May to voice a complaint resulted in a letter stating the account would be sent to the CRA's for update. I was told via the telephone to "allow 30 days or so" for updating. I pulled my TU report today to check on this and low and behold the last date of activity is February 2002. Therefore: 1)They have been reporting inaccurate information on my for nearly 3 months. 2)I have proven they have given me "misleading information" by them not updating the listing when the letter said they would. 3)Have a copy of the check to prove it was cashed. Should I call them again and ream them out? Or write a letter stating that if this is not resolved in 10 days I will file complaints (and if necessary threaten legal action). Also, another question. If the person who is handling the account has their name at the bottom of the page, they must make themselves available to clients correct? Here is the letter I will send. Any thoughts? Dear Mr. Kay, I recently pulled my consumer credit report and I am dismayed to find that the Arrow Financial Services collection listing has not been updated since February 2002. For almost 3 months your company has been reporting inaccurate information on my credit reports. As I am sure you are aware, you have been violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which ensures my credit information is 100% correct. Clearly this has not been the case. My previous correspondence generated a response which indicated that the update was sent on May 17, 2002. As of June 26, 2002 this listing is still listed as unpaid. Therefore I am making one final request for the listing to be removed entirely from my credit reports. I feel this is a fair request in light of your company's actions to date. I have held up my agreement that was proposed to me by your company, yet Arrow Financial Services has not held up its own end. My credit is being harmed by you and your company's lack of action. I am giving you and your company 10 business days to respond to this letter with a deletion or I will be forced to find alternative solutions, which include, but are not limited to: 1)Filing a complaint with the governing body of collection agencies (FTC) 2)File a complaint with the Illinois Better Business Buraue. 3)Seek legal action for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Arrow Financial Services has lied and made false claims of which I have documented. I have patiently awaited the update to my credit reports, but it has not been forthcoming. Please give this serious matter the attention it deserves. I await your response.
Do you have their settlement in writing stating they would delete?? Otherwise it is just heresay and he said she said. The would ultimately deny this in court because quite frankly they are scum. If your state allows tape recording call them back and get it on tape. If you do have this in writing and the proof to back up your claim, I don't understand what your waiting for.....SUE!! Good Luck! Tac
Thdy did NOT say they would delete. However I have a letter stating my credit report would be updated upon clearence of the check, which it has not been. I'm pretty sure I have them in a corner here, I'm sending that letter out today and going to see what reponse I get from them.
Um why are you sending a letter about something they were supposed to do MONTHS ago? Go to the court house file a suit for supplying false and erroneous information to CRA. Ask for $1000 dollars plus, Why even give them a chance just to add a paid/chargeoff instead of a deletion? PLUS you want your court costs refunded.
A CA will tell you ANYTHING to get your money. Once they get your money, they couldn't care less about you. I'd use Arrow's violations in this matter to demand DELETION of the account. In fact, I'd take the position in my correspondence with them that this is what is always expected them to do. It's to know the a PAID COLLECTION on your profile is every bit as bad as an unpaid collection. Respond to their letter using CRRR demanding DELETION. If they don't do it in 10 days (which they won't), SUE and offer settlement for DELETION. I've dealt with Arrow (and won); they are definitely scum. Greg
I have dealt with them and worn. Is this the one in Illinois? If so, they have a board over collection agencies and require licenses!!!
As to places to file a complaint.... 1. FTC only deals with large blocks of complaints sufficient to form an egregious pattern of violations. Therefore, it is effectively worthless for individual complaints that need a timely resolution. 2. BBB tends to just forward your complaint to the CA and then forward their response back to you. In their view, this is a satisfactory resolution; obviously it is not. 3. State Attorney General complaints have worked best for me. I carefully document everything and send it all to the AG Consumer Affairs office in the same format as if I were filing a court case. I add a statement to the effect that "this is a FINAL attempt to resolve this matter in good faith prior to litigation." It wakes up the CAs pretty fast. I got an old GULF STATE removed this way. 4. If there is a collection agency board, that is also a good route. If you're lucky and your state requires licenses or bonds, check to see if these are up-to-date. If they aren't, you just WON and possibly made yourself some money for your trouble. If your state doesn't have a board, you can usually check these requirements through the Secy of State, Corporations Division. Hope this is helpful and good luck. Greg
Steve, When you say "Updated upon clearance of the check" do you mean to say updated as in "Paid collection??" If that is the case it really does your credit scores no good having a paid collection vs an unpaid collection. The only solace you have in knowing it is paid is that they will not collect any further and it will show as being paid on your credit report. In the end it is still a negative. But....If you have the letter saying they would update the account and have not done so yet, you could sue them on an FCRA/FDCPA violation. Have you tried redisputing this account with the CRA?? When they contact the CA hopefully the CA will update the account with the new information. However the CRA's get lazy and want to fake their way into telling you they verified when they didn't and just leave the account as it was, when you know full well if they did a real verification the information would have to be updated as you have the letter right in front of you. I had a similar thing happen with CRA Equifax and Capital One. Capital One sent me a letter saying they would delete from all CRA's. I check Equifax again and again and no deletion. The others have deleted no problem. So I now dispute this with Equifax and show them proof. What they now did was verify the account and leave it at that. I contacted Capital One only to state they did delete and did not verify with any of the CRA's. Now who's lying here?? I request procedures from Equifax to which they give me an address of the furnsiher which I already have and nothing else. Being fed up I am in the process right now at suing Capital One and Equifax. They can both come to court and give their excuses to me and the judge. I might add I will settle now for nothing less then a $1000.00 from both and FULL DELETION! Go ahead with your suit. They will buckle and fold quicker then Mike Tyson getting hit by Lenox Lewis, LOL!!! Good Luck! Tac
I have the letter that says exactly that. They would update the listing upon clearence of the check. At the time I did not use my money as a bargainging tool. Thankfully they screwed up and have given me the upper hand in gaining a total deletion off of my credit reports. The AG thing is a good idea and I will most likely use that as well. I was very tempted to call them, but instead will edit the letter and send that off tomorrow. Hopefully this works as well as I want it to.
Nana... How'd you get rid of them? They are on my TU and EQ. As a matter of fact...that's the only bad thing on my EQ. I'd like to get rid of them...really!
Be advised I have also tried the AG route. I was advsied in a letter for a complaint I sent them about a CA that they cannot investigate my claim if I am filing suit or in the process of legal action. Which I was. I called and an attorney at the AG said it was pretty much a conflict of intrest??? Whatever thats supposed to mean. He said they will fully investigate as long as I haven't filed suit and only after their investigation was completed. Which in my opinion is too long to wait. If they will do it in your state give it a try. I have already in the process of filing most of my lawsuits also filed complaints with Better Business Bureaus, Licensing commissions and in one case a reality licensing board and Medial Licensing board in my state. The latter two complaints are taken very seriosuly by those people they contacted my right away to get my statement recorded for their investigation. My advice is to put as much pressure on them as possible and you can do this by contacting the people or organizations they are governed by or mandated under. Good Luck! Tac
TAC: Thank you, maybe that means I need to wait on my other lawsuit until I hear from the Co AG... Sassy, pulling up my old papers now to check: Ok, now mind you, I was really new when I started this but I'll write exactly what I did in the order I did it, some make make sense, some may not: 1) First, I sent letter to OC requesting validation (sigh, I was so new), then I emailed them (the OC) the same thing. 2) One month later, I sent second request when I didn't receive anything from OC. (cc: FTC) 3) Two months later, I received an Arrow statement (generic you owe this letter) 4) I immediately sent dipute to Arrow (I must have wised up) send certified, return receipt. I asked for no communication other than validation. 5) I have notations froma phone conversation 2 weeks later that state taht they say there is "no way they will send me proof for a $50 bill). I show in my notes that they called me twice after my request to stop. 6) Three days later, I filed a complaint with the AG of Illinois online. 7) 3 weeks after that, I sent a "you have not provided proof in 30 days letter." Quite well written, a marked difference from my earlier letters. Sent certified, return receipt. I noted in this letter the fact that they had violated the law by contacting me giving dates, times, and names. 8) Five days after they signed for it, I received a universal data form filled out by them requesting removal and having been sent to the CRAs. 9) 3 months later, Despite the letter, TU & Experian did not delete. I supplied the CRAs the copy from Arrow. 10) On the same day, I sent a green card with letter to arrow demanding immediate removal of the information as promised. I told them I had careful records of the violations and will take immediate action if necessary. 11) I received a second Universal data form requesting removal, signed, sealed, delivered. I can only conclude that: contacting the AG of IL was the difference along with my careful notations of who I spoke to, quotes, dates, and times. Hope that helps!
Nana, Yes, I have found previously that contacting the AG for complaint against someone has gotten results, at the very least a response from the complaintant who before didn't have time or need to reply to my correspondence. They must be much more careful and "Polite" with the AG then me. They must also have their act together. For a while I was going round and round with a CA and the AG acting as the mediator or middle man looking out for my best intrests. First I would send the complaint to the AG outling the complaint and the CA's violations. In a couple of weeks I would then get back a letter from the AG, all the letters the AG sent to the CA and the CA's letter to the AG. I would then have to read over the CA's letter and send out another letter to the AG objecting to what the CA has said. In one letter the AG pointed out to the CA that they had indeed broken the law and that legal action could be taken against them if they did not cease or correct such. I was going to use all of those AG letters for my court case with this CA but they agreed to settle without the need for legal action. I had in fact "Nailed them"!! Again the AG can be a helpful and very useful tool but I have found that if you are in need of a quick resolution such as clearing up a debt to purchase a home quickly, then the AG is not the way to go, file the suit yourself if you have a solid case and you will in the end get the results you wanted to begin with. I wish you luck! Tac
TAC, absolutely true! I have long said that desperation is a key to this and the AG is not the step in that instance. Luckily, I'm in a good place and can wait for the assitance of the AG to end this bull. So, if you have the time, it's a nice approach!
When it comes to dealing with CA's, patience is something I have learned to have. I do not have any immediate plans for any large purchases requiring the use of my credit information. Thank you everyone for the replies, they are helping a lot in dealing with these people.
