Ok, Here's the deal. Cox Communications assigned an account to Credit Protection Association (CPA) in 12-01. My credit report has been updated to show that the account was opened on 12-03 - yet have collection activity that is 2 years prior to this. CPA says that Cox has submitted and deleted the account THREE times, only to call back the next day to have the account re-placed with CPA. At this rate, they could do this forever!!! What now?
CPA says that Cox has submitted and deleted the account THREE times, 1*only to call back the next day to have the account re-placed with CPA. 2* At this rate, they could do this forever!!! chipper ////////////////////////////////////// ******************************************* 1*Sue CPA They are at fault here for accepting the account from COX over and over again when they know they can't validate it. 2*Or until you Sue whichever comes first. ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <>
I would dispute the acct with the CRA first then send CPA a dispute letter and request validation of the debt and their legal authority to collect the debt. they can not report it if they don't have the acct currently. you mentioned that cox keeps assigning the acct to CPA and then retract it sounds kinda funny did this info come from CPA ? I would pull the reliabilty report with the BBB where CPA is located just to see if they have been known to do this to other consumers. this may be the beginning of the violations, but dispute the acct with the CRA it may get deleted . CPA can not legally verify the acct if they dont have it.
Did CPA post the new accounts to your credit file? If so, this is an unique case of the false and misleading representation that the transfer or assigning the account to another company will subject the consumer to activities prohibited by the FDCPA. In the subsequent CA strategy, it is presumed that although CA #2 should have knowledge that the account is in dispute, the consumer is advising them of that fact, because they probably were not advised of that fact by CA #1. In this case, CA #2 is CA #1, so CA #2 DEFINATELY KNOWS OR SHOULD KNOW that the account is disputed, and thus frozen by the consumers previous validation requests. Also, COX knows or should know that the account is disputed, because they personally DELETED and RESUBMITTED the account repeatedly, opening themselves up to major liability under the FDCPA, and Unfair and Deceptive Acts & Practices Acts. Now, the question from a re-aging standpoint is what CPA is reporting as the DOLA, which the 7 year period is based on. The open date technically only affects the FICO calculation of the age of the account. Read the FDCPA commentary, it specifically sets up a situation where the account is transferred back to the OC, as one of the situations where the consumers FDCPA rights *ARE* protected from unfair and deceptive claims otherwise.
How were the previous accounts deleted from your credit file? Were they deleted based on a dispute through the CRA, or did CPA delete them voluntarily when COX recalled the account? The answer makes a major difference. If the account was deleted based on a dispute, I would dispute with the CRA that the account was an illegal re-insertation of the account which was previously unable to be verified in accordance with the FCRA, without a 5 day notice from them to advise you of the accounts re-insertation. Did CPA put the information about COX repeatedly deleting & resubmitting the account in writing? If so, you can prove a pattern of willfull and knowing violation of the FCRA in re-reporting the account, knowing that the information which they are reporting can not be conclusively verified.
I have disputed the account 2x and it remains verified. CPA will not put anything in writing but here is what Cox called to say today: "Why do you care what date it shows on your report, it's still a collection account?" "The reason we recalled it 3 times is because we wanted to deal with you directly and then felt we couldn't." "The account is no longer with CPA as we felt another agency would be more appropriate for this matter." "If you pay us in full, we will have it reported as paid from CPA. We called them, but they say they don't have the power to have the account deleted from your reports, just updated as paid." Are these people for real? This is collection hell at its finest.
FYI if CPA (CA) doesnt have the acct they can NOT legally collect or report their TL on your CR. Contact the CRA again and tell them that CPA no longer has the acct so how can they verify it. this should cause the CRA to -re investigate the acct and hopefully get a deletion. as far as Cox goes what was your SOL again? If you are out of the woods you have at least 2 options. 1) if you get CPA deleted I would leave it alone and wait and see if Cox sends it to another CA. and if they do send a request for validation. 2) if it doesn't get deleted send CPA a letter CMRRR and put that tracking # on your letter to ensure that is what they in fact recieved and state that you are requesting Validation of the debt including their legal authority to collect it, request c a copy of the signed contract for services and ask for all documentation that proves the date and $amount in question. play dumb with this letter, if they ignore you after 15 days send a second letter . an ITS letter telling them they have violated the FCRA by furnishing inaccurate, unverifiable data to a CRA and they have continued to pursue you for collection when they had full knowledge the debt was in dispute and failed to validate the debt ( violation under the FDCPA) also file a complaint with the local BBB where the CA office is located. this should hopefully produce some results for you if not post back and well help ya out, if it works let us know good luck
If they assign any other company other than CPA, CPA *MUST* DELETE their trade line. No ifs, ands, or buts; since CPA does not have the account. I would start going through the BBB and file a complaint against COX. This should get a response from someone in COX who actually is in a position to do something. (And more than likely they would respond to the BBB in writing, and you would get a copy of that for your paper-trail -- you have a lot better chance of scoring a paper-trail victory if they are a BBB member, who could lose their membership if they DON'T respond.) Their claims that they recalled it, not once, not twice, but three times 'to work with you', only to decide the next day 'we can't work with them' is so implausible that I can't see anyone actually buying it. That may work with one recall, possibly a second... but any more than that and it becomes apparent that if they would looked and saw, well we recalled it once to work with them, and sent it back because we changed our mind, anyone with more than one braincell would believe that the same thing would happen again. What's the amount in dispute? Has the SOL expired (or is close to expiring)?
The amount in dispute is $637. It originally went to collections in 12-01, so I think SOL is still on. This is what I get for moving out without calling the cable company, and trusting my 'friends' to pay the bill. Oh well, mea culpa. Anyway Cox called today in response to my filing with the FTC and said they would do me a 'favor'. They said they would have CPA (don't know why they are still involved) show the account as paid if I paid up, and change the open date to 12-01. I said no way. Just change the date back, I'm not dealing with you guys anymore, I am hiring an attorney. 10 minutes later they called back and said "Chip, we have requested that CPA delete the account from all 3 bureaus, as an act of 'good faith'. You may pay the account in full today, or wait 8 weeks, until your report shows the account deleted, and then pay. If you do not pay at that time, we will re-report, yada yada." Anyway the have CC'd a letter to me that is to go to CPA, insisting on deletion. I guess I will wait a month and pull my reports. If clean, time to pay the piper. I hope this goes well. I mean what could go wrong with 3 CRAs, 42 CAs and 1 OC, right Geez, I'm getting bitter. I'll keep you posted and I thank everyone for all the help. This place is truly what the Internet should be; free exchange and open information and ideas. Thanks.
what a snowball. the CA has to delete the TL off your report becuas ethey do not have the acct, I would send a letter CMRRR and put that tracking # on your actual letter to COX and request VERIFICATION not validation of the acct see what they actually have they may be trying to pull a fast one. make them include a signed copy of your contract along with billing statements showing charges and credits for the entire time period in question. if they dont have it, don't pay it, if they ignore you file a complaint with the BBB and write a letter to COX ceo or president directly. this may get them to go away. if they know your acct is disputed they can not pursue any collection activity until they verify the debt including sending it off to another CA.
CPA can not legally verify the acct if they dont have it. fun4u2 | ============== What I am saying is CPA is in the wrong for accepting the account over and over and over again from the creditor. ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <>
