HELP! Collection purchased and

I have a very frustrating situation on my hands.

I had an account with First Bankcard. It was charged off in 1996. Cavalry Investments purchased this account. I recently settled with Cavalry Investments (wish I had known then to negotiate reporting!).

I received my Experian report and was horrified to find that Cavalry Investments was reporting the debt with a notation "scheduled to continue on record until March 2007"!!!!! I called them and the guy insisted that they report as of last activity..and the last activity was when I made the settlement March 2007.

Please tellme this cannot be correct!! From my understanding of the FCRA, the reporting period is not extended even if the original creditor sells or transfers the account to another.

What should I do? I'm in the process of cleaning up my report because we want to buy a house in the next year. I've had excellent credit for 3 years -- this new addition could set me back drastically!!!

Pleasehelp!

Jackie

 

Illegal re-sets of 7-year cloc

Jackie's quandry seems to be real, as I've personally experienced it, and I have seen a few others post about it over the last couple of months. It seems to be Experian and Equifax...at first I didn't believe it, until I saw it on my report.

I simply disputed an incorrect date of an account closure with Equifax. The account had been paid off and closed since 1996. After the dispute, the "date of last activity" was re-set to 3/00 (before dispute it was 4/96). This is WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

What does anyone know aboout this apparently new postition by CRA's of using even a contact to verify information as a date of last activity? This is a major big deal. This has to be stopped. Any info from the good minds who frequent this board will be appreciated.

 

RE: Illegal re-sets of 7-year

Below are the relevant parts of the FCRA that seem, to me, to absolutely indicate that these willy-nilly changes of the "date of last activity" are absolutely and clearly in direct contravention of the FCRA.

Full text of FCRA is at
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm
================

§ 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. § 1681c]

(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information:


(4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.(1)

(5) Any other adverse item of information, other than records of convictions of crimes which antedates the report by more than seven years.

(1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6) ** of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection (internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action.

(2) Effective date. Paragraph (1) shall apply only to items of information added to the file of a consumer on or after the date that is 455 days after the date of enactment of the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996.

 

RE: Its worse than beyond your

Real? Let me inform you just how 'real' this quandry is.

What the majority of consumers hell the majority on this site are not aware of is that collection agencies do this re-reporting and changing the last date of activity not for just a few case a day, not just a few dozen but many THOUSANDS a day.

The only reason that these collection agencies or any other subscriber for that matter can report ANYTHING they wish is because of the willful and moreso, enthusiastic assistance of the Credit Reporting Agencies.

What I cannot understand is why those like Cardreport.com and Kristy Feathers (to name a few) keep hemming and hawhing and refuse to call a spade a spade for reasons that are beyond me when it has been established and proven conclusively 1000000000000% that these collectors report illegal and fraudulent information on a daily basis. Instead of directly challenging them by naming names and warnings on their sites as well as assisting in needed lawsuits they just put the onus on the wronged individual with a feeble "Collection agencies often change the last date of activity or first charged off date in an attempt to extend the reporting time. Challenge this!"

Whoopee, the collection agency gets away with outright fraud and destroys a persons credit, the reporting agency benefits materially and could care less and the wronged individual has to do all the work and expense to stop the damage already done a attempt to correct it.

Of course Jackie and other victims can sue the collection agency she'll find as others such as MBA who sued NCO and won a conviction against them last month that these are virtual slam dunk cases with a win all but guaranteed. But you think NCO cares? They've already factored in that some tiny minority will sue and they'll be out some chump change, meanwhile they'll make hay out of enough of the tens of thousands of other fraudulent accounts mainly with illegal threats and you better believe neither they nor any other collection agency cares less about how many persons credit is ruined how many individuals get stuck with higher interest, declined loans or options or even lost jobs because of their willful fraud.

Mo, you speculate on the position of the CRA, putting forth the thought that this is perhaps a 'new position' on their part. NOTHING can be further from the truth.

The Credit Reporting Agencies will report ANYTHING that any collection agency reports to them regardless of its legality regardless if said collection has been sued and convicted of fraud every single day of the week, regardless if the company has a host of investigators up its butt regardless if every government agency known to man is doing a through audit and are on the verge of closing it down. The CRA's will keep reporting anything that is sent to them by this and any other scumball, lying, sleazy, crooked company till the day its closed down (and even then rather than purging all the records of the closed down company will retain them until the victim challenges it), as long as the $$ keeps coming in and all the regulations and rules in the world be damned!

Mo, those FCRA statues you are now, and especially Cardreport.com quotes daily are totally meaningless to the collection agencies and ESPECIALLY the CRA's who willfully ignore it countless times daily. Why should they they've have enough members of congress in the backs of their bribe pockets, those fines several months back where just for show and the amounts were a joke.

As for the CRA's verifying information. The most you can expect is the CRA's to send out a form to the creditor who will 99.999% of the time "verify it" regardless of the validity, and even this is not certain with Experian which is notorious for not even doing that little because of outright greed in a bid to save time and $$ the fact that they've been caught doing so numerous times in the case of non-existant debts and companies out of business that by no means were capable of verifying such means little to them as they just bluff and lie their way through and pay out some more bribes (cheaper in the long run).

Yes its that bad and nothing will change until the CRA's are beaten down and convicted by enough class action suits and you'll watch how fast Congress will bail on them then.

 

RE: Its worse than beyond your

Steven:
I posted my views here once about our Government and the CRA and was flocked with much aggression. It is for that reason, I decided to tell the consumer the legal ways they can fight this. Yes it happens daily, and yes it is totally against the FCRA which seems useless at times but what you do not see as I do, is the hundreds who get positive results simply with persistance and using the laws to argue the entries. Not everyone ends up with this forever. Many challenge it and it is quickly corrected. Others are ignored for what ever reason and to those I say challenge it and if no results, file a lawsuit just as Denise Richardson did and sue them all! CRA,Collection agency, creditor and anyone else who was involved. I really appreciate that you want to make a difference, so do we, that is what we are doing. Our staff supports and fights for many as does our affiliates. As annoying as it is, you must follow the channels to get results. As for the content on the sites not being aggressive and "naming names", we get over 9000 hits a month and only a small percentage are dealing with this. The rest have repaired or are starting to repair and we have to consider the general public and what they're looking for and trying to achieve. If you wan't a site that really hates the way the CRA do things and cannot stand the FICO mess, then Bayhouse IS a good source for cut-throat topic. I visit there often and really like the people she draws in who have been ignored and are fed up.

Steven Z wrote:
-------------------------------
Real? Let me inform you just how 'real' this quandry is.

What the majority of consumers hell the majority on this site are not aware of is that collection agencies do this re-reporting and changing the last date of activity not for just a few case a day, not just a few dozen but many THOUSANDS a day.

The only reason that these collection agencies or any other subscriber for that matter can report ANYTHING they wish is because of the willful and moreso, enthusiastic assistance of the Credit Reporting Agencies.

What I cannot understand is why those like Cardreport.com and Kristy Feathers (to name a few) keep hemming and hawhing and refuse to call a spade a spade for reasons that are beyond me when it has been established and proven conclusively 1000000000000% that these collectors report illegal and fraudulent information on a daily basis. Instead of directly challenging them by naming names and warnings on their sites as well as assisting in needed lawsuits they just put the ....

 

RE: Its worse than beyond your

I commend Steven for his post. He has stated what alot of us have been through over time fighting these a-hole collection agencies,
and the CRA's And Carreon is right that persistenced will pay off, but there are times when you get so fed up with the slow process that these a-holes take and the runaround you have to go thru. The CRA's
WILL REPORT WHATEVER THE AGENCIES TELL THEM TO REPORT, WHETHER IT IS CORRECT OR NOT.
This is fraud in most cases and the more people that sue them and report it to their Attorney Generals the better. Send a letter
to your congressman like I did and tell him if you find out he's covering for these crooks you'll spread the word on the net,
it helped me with one situation, she sent me
all the info I couldn't before hand. Anyone who has had to deal with these crooks know just how assinine they are. There needs to be new laws pertaining to how CRA's verify
info sent by other agencies, but that won't happen until something drastic is done in congress.

 

RE: Its worse than beyond your

"I posted my views here once about our Government and the CRA and was flocked with
much aggression."

Hmm, can you tell me if this wave of "aggressive" responses held mostly retorts such as "all the complainers are deadbeats who refuse to pay their bills" as I believe they were? If so, they were all "trolls" and the work of one individual (its always the same one) and did not constitute the belief of the vast majority of users.

I can't help but remark again how much nicer the board has become since i.p. logging has eliminated these jerks.

"Not everyone ends up with this forever. Many challenge it and it is quickly corrected."

Didn't say they do rather how many times does a individual go for a loan with the knowledge this his record is clean and get embarassed and humiliated when he is declined or offered some ridiculously high sub-prime rate based on this fraudulent entry. But then the crooked collectors and CRA's could care less about this nor the subsequent anguish felt by the victim.

As for Bayhouse, while I do share many of the same beliefs as Christine and do like some of the subject matter discussed on that board I find the members there high on whining and short on results while Christine's beliefs are noble she is quite frankly ineffectual, the same can be said of a previous longtime member Greg Fisher who while having no lack of determination to fight for the consumers right for FICO transparency showed a lack of perspective and flexibility seeing things in only one way is it any wonder he was continously bettered by Sean in their exchanges.

Now before anybody goes saying "Steven is all talk" here's the beef, here's just the start of what I would do to bring this house of corruption down.

Lets start with the collection agencies, we all agree their crooked, but so far nothing is being done to stop them.

"Going through the channels" i.e. complaining to some bureaucrat while perhaps making some feel better yields virtually no results, not when the bribes speak much MUCH louder.

Now as for the option of individual lawsuits while no doubt offering some measure of satisfaction to the individual is but the barest pinprick to the corrupt collection agency who are meanwhile screwing 10's of thousands of other who will not file.

But this can change. I propose that a lawyer or law firm hook up with a popular credit site and through VISIBLE banners and highlighted links get the message out say something like "BEWARE your credit may be in the act of being destroyed right now by unscrupulous collection agencies (names shown would be those like NCO) we here at XYZ Law Firm have a 95% conviction rate" etc. etc.

Current victorious cases would be placed prominently and as the word of mouth spreads many more individuals currently scared off by the fear and belief that court cases are too expensive and too complex would be more amneable to filing.

But thats only the start. The law firm would begin by bringing the collection agency to court and winning (typically by default) after a couple of these, particularly if its in front of the same court or judge would present a motion to the court stating "abc collection agency has been convicted X amount of times of fraudulently reporting false and outdated information (court records are presented) yet shows no sign nor remorse to stop this illegal action, furthermore the Credit Reporting Agencies when informed of this odious practise of said firm stated in very dubious terms and language they they would be 'looking into it' but at this time would keep filing their reports we are asking for an injuction first against abc company stopping them from dissemenating any more false and prejudical information to the CRA's and second against the CRA's for reporting anymore information from this convicted, corrupt company."

If that doesn't work, meyhaps it will after the 10th or the 20th conviction. At some point an honest judge will say enough and begin the proceedings. With such an accumulation of cases the Attorney Generals will not be able to hide forever. Then the fun begins.

I foresee a huge settlement/bribe offered to the law firm. I also see increased bribes having to be distributed to various Attorney General's, judges, state politicians until the collection agency is finally forced to say "no mas" thus forcing the authorities hands who must close it down.

Then we proceed to the CRA's who like it or not will be forced to purge all the offending companies records or face a massive class action which may very well happen as it is they will be investigated by various government agencies all with their hands out. This will cost the CRA's some 'serious' change.

Now no doubt some other sleazeball collection companies will purchase all these files but I feel will be somewhat gunshy about reporting these fraudulent accounts fearing the same fate. But greed shows no bounds and there certainly will be those that do and said law firm will no be joined by a host of ambulance chasers and other vultures seeing an easy gravy train and a chance to get in on some of the bribes.

Try as they might this story will break into a highly visible national scandal and then even the CRA's will not have enough money to stem the tide and Congress placed on the spot will be forced to pass laws which will change the face of CRA's as we know them.

Oh I have plenty of other ideas none of whom go through regular channels But the essence is to have a hope of defeating these crooked institutions you have to get down to the same level as them otherwise you'll just get old waiting.

 

RE: Its worse than beyond your

There is a website out there that I am sure you have seen and although I cannot for the life of me remember it now, this guy did what you are talking about. He got down to their levels. He went to the collection agency locations took pictures of their cars and LIC#'s and posted their personal info and home phone numbers and addresses on his site. He also has pictures of the CRA big wigs and posted their personal information. His site is very interesting and he is trying feverishly to spread the word. Even with our content being focused to consumers and not "Bashing" the CRA, we logged over 50 visits from TUC.com, EXP.com and EQF.com in the last month. They know we are out here and obviously they find it neccessary to see what we are revealing. TUC spent 47 minutes in our site! Someone thinks we must be making a difference somewhere. As for the law suits, it is happening as we have seen with Denise and MBA and numerous clients that I know of. I also know there is an attorney who visits this site and is trying to gather enough consumers for a class action. It takes time but it will happen. Remember Sears lawsuit? They were told repeatedly by one judge to stop doing illegal reaffirmations after a BK and they continued until the judge said enough is enough. They were fined such a large fee that they almost had to shut their doors. What are you involved in? I am assuming by your position that you are somehow trying to make a difference other then just posting here and other boards. I would find it interesting to see what avenues you are taking to stop this. We are all trying to do our part and although the battle is long, we have come far. I can remember how it was say 6-7 years ago dealing with the CRA & Debt collectors. It has gotten much better and continues to do so because of people like you who want permanant change. My background enabled me to see the worst of the credit industry. Remember, I worked as a collection officer and trained collectors how to intimidate, skip trace and collect no matter what the cost was. We used tactics that are so low and after years of doing this, I decided to turn the tables and tell consumers everything I knew about the industry and how to fight it. I still stay active in the collection community so that I know what is going on. Yes, I guess I am an insider )- but if I close my ties to the collection agencies then I lose data that I need to continue to be one step ahead of them. I stay part of a large collection community and while they reveal, I just keep on taking notes. It is most ammusing when I negotiate with them because you have not seen a collector stumble until you have had two go against each other. Every avenue they try, I am already ahead of them and know exactly what their next step is. I love to make them squirm just like they love to do to others. I have also turned many collectors in for violations of the FDCPA. I have seen these scums crawl under their desk just to cuss out a consumer and use intimidation tactics. They threaten to take peoples cars, harm their families and follow them home. They use tactics that are unbeleivable. NCO is nothing compared to some of the staff I have worked with. These collectors sit around at lunch time and compare stories on who is the biggest baddest debt collector, they thrive on it. So, to sum it up. I am doing all I can to assist people in battling these creatures and will continue to do so.

Steven Z wrote:
-------------------------------
"I posted my views here once about our Government and the CRA and was flocked with
much aggression."

Hmm, can you tell me if this wave of "aggressive" responses held mostly retorts such as "all the complainers are deadbeats who refuse to pay their bills" as I believe they were? If so, they were all "trolls" and the work of one individual (its always the same one) and did not constitute the belief of the vast majority of users.

I can't help but remark again how much nicer the board has become since i.p. logging has eliminated these jerks.

"Not everyone ends up with this forever. Many challenge it and it is quickly corrected."

Didn't say they do rather how many times does a individual go for a loan with the knowledge this his record is clean and get embarassed and humiliated when he is declined or offered some ridiculously high sub-prime rate based on this fraudulent entry. But then the crooked collectors and CRA's could care less about this nor the subsequent anguish felt....

 

RE: The Collection Agencies ar

Yes, I haven't been on it for a while but I was duly impressed at the time. I recalled I came across it from a link on the Victims of Credit Reporting site but in attempting to log on to billsheehan.com I was confronted with a request for name and password..what's going on? I cannot imagine a champion for civil liberties such as he is would attempt to keep people out...very strange.

As for lawsuits, particularly class action suits, while they certainly have their place the reality is they take long to set up and the case may take years to reach the court. Furthermore, as the Advanta case has shown much of the settlement ultimately winds up going into the lawyers' pockets.

As for the Sears case the word I have heard over the past 2 years (and this can all be conjecture) was that Sears screwed far more money out of individuals and that the fine rather than placing the company on the brink was instead considered "chump change" and given the same opportunity would do so again in an instant.

In fact I, and others have used Sears as the quintatypical example of a creditor that truly believes it can screw and ripoff enough customers in a constant increasing fashion with the knowledge that it will take many years before they get investigated, longer so to be taken to court, drag it out to the very end and then regardless of the size of the fine be very comfortable in the knowledge that they came out way ahead.

Looking at Sears currently we find a company flush with money and profits a recent alignment with giant Oracle who will be investing in them.

Since that time we have seen a host of other companies follow suit in this crooked path for the only thing they truly fear is being closed down and as of this point the government regulatory bodies have shown they will close only one type of company ...

Collection Agencies

This I feel is the weak link as the ultimate way to bring the CRA's to heel.

Let me first off state that I am no crusader or "credit expert" I have worked in many fields one of which was Advertising as a Copywriter and your preconceptions of the types of individuals that work in this field are close, nobody cares where you came from, degrees are meaningless only production counts, can't meet the deadline or screw up and your GONE! I met a number of individuals who had cracked under the strain and resorted to the usual crutches.

Another field was electronic wholeselling, now this was/is a big money business where I did business with some of the worst crooks, liars and thiefs you could imagine the size of the cheques (even certified!!) that would bounce was staggering, in this business one needs to be quick, creative and somewhat ruthless else you wind up an also-ran or worse broke.

I see on these boards so many victims, many who don't have a clue what happened or where to turn many believe if they just can speak or send this letter to the right bureaucrat/politician their problems will be solved.

IT JUST ISN'T SO!

Many of the agencies and politicos they do manage to reach are corrupt to the core, an individuals' voice means nothing less he brings a 'thick envelope' with him.

I don't need to have worked in the credit industry to see this (this is endemic in many other industries) and I don't have to measure up or have in my possession certain creditentials as the Ms. Ineffectuals ridiculously demand.

Everything in my background has tought me to cut through the crap and bullshit and get to the heart of the solution. Only results count and the quicker the better.

To get back to the collection agencies the reason they are the weak link is that they are universally despised (your descritions just emphasize the point). If a lawyer or law firm would keep hitting away with summary judgements against one agency judges would be more inclined to pass bigger fines and injunctions against them, the cost for bribes would be far higher to sway the Attorney Generals and state politicos, newspapers who typically shy away or are outright scared to publish exposes on certain credit card companies would relish to opportunity to hit their favorite 'whipping boy' than sooner rather than later the Attorney Generals' will decide they can make more political hay out of closing down this "horrible, nefarious, abominable company" than taking another bribe; besides the big collection bribe bucks are going directly to Senator Orrin Hatch not him and even he's finding out that too many of the other politicians cannot stomache nor accept the political fallout of passing pro-collection agency bills.

Then once the collection agency is down the lawyer can work on the culpability of the CRA's only now there will be much more media and goverment attention, attention that can only go away with huge sums of $$.

My premise is simple make it prohibitively expensive for the crooks to keep doing business this way because sure as hell the current laws aren't doing it many of which are changing for the worse.

 

RE: The Collection Agencies ar

My readings of the Sears case and in speaking with others in my field and also having worked for Sears, I can say they were enormously hurt by the suit. Whatever some may speculate, I believe they were fined over 430 million. This suit was going on when I was working for them in the legal department and everyone was scared ****** because of the ruling. Employees were terminated and management restructured. It was a very BIG deal from the inside. Nonetheless, look what it took to get them to "shape up". The judge who sanctioned them was purely disgusted with their obtuse attitude and they refused to change until... The Creditors who also afflict consumers with continued punishment are also a big problem. People who filed for BK but have reaffirmed are not having their loans reported to the CRA. The consumers are fed up with this as well. Imagine, filing BK and reaffirming only to have zero history reported to show your good faith thus punishing your further from re-establishing. Lots of change is needed. Hopefully, we can agree on this point for sure. I guess the rest is moot until something changes.

Steven Z wrote:
-------------------------------
Yes, I haven't been on it for a while but I was duly impressed at the time. I recalled I came across it from a link on the Victims of Credit Reporting site but in attempting to log on to billsheehan.com I was confronted with a request for name and password..what's going on? I cannot imagine a champion for civil liberties such as he is would attempt to keep people out...very strange.

As for lawsuits, particularly class action suits, while they certainly have their place the reality is they take long to set up and the case may take years to reach the court. Furthermore, as the Advanta case has shown much of the settlement ultimately winds up going into the lawyers' pockets.

As for the Sears case the word I have heard over the past 2 years (and this can all be conjecture) was that Sears screwed far more money out of individuals and that the fine rather than placing the company on the brink was instead considered "chump change" and given the same opportunity would do so again in....

 

OK, So NOW what do I do????

Okay guys, now that you've gotten your theoretical arguements over with...

Help me figure out what to do! I don't have $ to sue. This is a PAID debt. They've just redated it. This is 1 of 2 on my report that I need to fight. Please, if anyone can give me some concrete TO DO steps on what to do about this, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks!
Jackie

 

RE: OK, So NOW what do I do???

I am sure, Steven will disagree but it is what I have said all along. You must challenge the entry by doing the following.

Send the demand letters, and send them by certified mail from the very beginning. Send one to the creditor and one to the reporting agency, if you want, although the latter are a waste of time since the reporting agency will always just say it's information they got from the creditor. Go to the source. Give the creditor thirty days to correct it. Chances ae good they won't because they never read mail from anyone. At the end of the time sue them in JP court, small claims, or whatever the equivalent is in your jurisdiction so long as it has a damage potential. Service is easy; a lot of times the clerk of the court will do it. You'll hear from someone in about two weeks, offering to settle. Do not agree to dismiss as part of the settlement because these people will either lie to you, or just don't keep any kind of track of their agreements. Put the agreement in writing, which should include their correcting the report at all three major agencies, and confirming this in writing, AND their agreement that they will not report it that way again and providing some sort of automatic penalty if they do. Probably won't get the latter, but sometimes you do. It's all a game about who is more persistant. You need to be a thorn in their side. Also, it takes no time at all to file a quick complaint with the FTC online, print it out and send copies to all involved.




Jackie wrote:
-------------------------------
Okay guys, now that you've gotten your theoretical arguements over with...

Help me figure out what to do! I don't have $ to sue. This is a PAID debt. They've just redated it. This is 1 of 2 on my report that I need to fight. Please, if anyone can give me some concrete TO DO steps on what to do about this, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks!
Jackie

 

RE: OK, So NOW what do I do???

Jackie, listen to Kristi (carreon), do what she suggested and you will get some results,
the last thing they want is to be in court over an item that is as old as yours.
GOOD LUCK
bg

 

RE: OK, So NOW what do I do???

What to do?

1. You could file all the paperwork, send all the certified letters and be prepared for well nothing. Since you *PAID* the collection agency you have ZERO leverage with them and they will stonewall you till kingdom come.

Meanwhile you will be waiting months then years for some government agency to do something, but then who knows you might get lucky (some do) but I wouldn't count on it.

2. You could hire a credit repair service to do the work for you and perhaps they can convice the collection agency to correct this false reporting. Of course they don't do this for free so you will have to pay $$.

Either the steps you or a credit repair service takes would cover all your bases and place you in a good position to win a court case. But then as you state you do not have the $ to sue.

Unfortunately, this will be a case of "penny wise pound foolish" as you will lose far more than this in paying a much higher mortgage rate and much bigger initial deposit.

Your choice