Back in September, I reqested that CSC/Equifax update my JCPenney account, which has a perfect payment history. It had not updated for months and I was getting irritated. Good heavens did they ever update. My 15 years of perfect payments were translated to 13-60 days lates and some 30 and 90 day ones as well. I even had an old installment account with JCP which had been paid in full for years--zero balance, I1 account and probably woud have dropped off sometime this year. I immediately call JCP, who asked me to send copies of the prior credit report as well as the current one with all the cr$& on it. I did, and within a couple of weeks got a nice letter saying all derogatory info had been delated and all 3 CRA's notified. I then sent the letter to all 3 and TU and EXP quickly corrected the matter and show no lates or anything (actually, TU and EXP for some reason only had 1 payment; go figure, but they fixed those)else adverse. EXP even deleted the old installment account, which is fine since it was going to fall of sometime soon. Equifax will not take JcPenney's letter, since it is computer generated and not signed. I sent it on December 5, they disallowed it. I called and on 12/27 spoke with a supervisor who confirmed that someone didn't accept the letter because it had no signature. She then said she knew for a fact that no letter from JCP credit offices would have a signature and said she would gladly work the case so I faxed it to her with her name in all caps on the cover sheet as well as a letter. Wouldn't you know it...she never got the fax; the clerical folks just worked it and disallowed it again since the letter from JCP didn't have a signature. I just got the "corrected" credit report which still shows the lates, but now it is down to one batch of 13-30 day lates. Gee, what an improvement. They also have the paid in full installment account from years ago now showing I2 with a zero balance (that's an interesting trick) and I2 for the regular account too. I called and spoke with another supervisor who is leaving a message for the original supervsr,. that I talked with. She will also ask her to pull my fax that never reached her (she said they keep correspondence for a bit) so she can see what I sent. I am about to lose it--this is extremely annoying, especially since TU and EXP accepted and corrected this with just the letter as it was. I plan to hound CSC (Equifax) and I *will* eventually speak with the supervisor I originally spoke with!!! Any other advice? JCP has been very good about their end, and I believe that the problem more than likely lies with EQ, since the others CRA's wre relatively correct. JCP says they can't send a letter with a signature, as they don't have the technology (ok, not sure I believe that). My last-ditch idea was to call the local JCP store, and I got a manager who said she'd sign the letter for me if I'd show her where it was correct on the other CRA's. I can do that, but on principal I think EQ should correct it since the supervsr. said she would (but she never got it). I feel like I get told one thing by one entity only to have the other tell me the opposite. My credit is far ffrom perfect but this is getting ridiculous since we are talking about an account that WASN'T in bad shape. Any advice? I am getting ticked off enough to actually consider doing whatever I can to get this fixed. It's ridiculous!!!! Thanks for any ideas or tips.
Mirabelle, I had the same problem with Equifax not wanting to update an old Cap 1 account. You probably will have to put pressure on JCPenney to resend. I had to call Cap 1 and get them to send to EQ three times before it finally came off! It took about 4 months to complete the entire process. I just kept calling Cap 1 telling them that they were great, I knew they had done what I requested but EQ cannot get it together, etc. cariba
Tell JCP you need a new UDF sent to Equifax and to please send one to you as well, then you can send a copy of that to Equifax CRR and fax it as well. Then if they don't update the info you have their @$$.
See, I do actually have the letter that JCP sent saying all derogs have been deleted...is it possible to actually request a the "real" UDF from JCP, meaning some sort of computer transcript verifying it was sent? And even so the wonderful folks at EQ wouldn't accept it anyway, since it doesn't have a signature!! Another thought was to send it to the Atlanta Equifax out of feigned ingnorance; has anyone tried this? Since our area uses CSC out of Houston, all correspondence gooes there. But I am getting desperate. I seriously think JCP has done their part. But I think tomorrow I'll call them and talk sweet (not sexy...!) and lay on the Southern charm. The bad part is JCP CS is now out of India, so I have to right off say "I need to talk with someone in Tampa;" the out-of-country reps have no clue what I am referring to. I kid you not. I think I'll even escalate it a bit and demand an American manager, but according to the US CS reps, the actual department that does the CRA corrections doesn't even talk with people; they only send computer letters. Figures. This has been going on for MONTHS.
Some creditors WILL NOT send copies of UDF's. Cap 1 is refusing to do it for me after they promised to--said it is not their policy. I had MAJOR DRAMA when I called them on Wed.! cariba
I had the same problem with a CRA not wanting to accept a computer generated UDF. I sent my copy to the CRA they returned it, "we can not accept documents directly from consumers, it needs to come from the creditor." Another thing I would do is only communicate with the CRA via mail or record all conversations. This has the making of a great lawsuit in which you are guranteed to win! On the issue of sending items to the Atlanta office, they will only notify you that your file is being handled by a CSC in Houston. They may forward your dispute to them, if they choose! I have tried this many times. Another thing I do, is dispute via the equifax website and put in my old Atlanta zip code. This allows me to email my disputes to Equifax in Atlanta. This works to a certain extent, then they begin to add lots of PRM and AR inquiries. But this has the making of a great lawsuit. My finally option would be to send an "Intent to File Suit Letter". They willl correct this quickly. Good Luck
