I know we know they are one in the same. I am working on a co-worker's credit now. She has a charged-off Citibank account from 1995. On Equifax it is correctly reporting on dates as due to fall off in June 2002 with a $3548 balance, listed by Gulf State. On Trans Union it is listed by OSI with a balance of $7584 last date of 2000. So it would be like 2007 when it falls off. I sent validation letters to both and got the green cards back today...2 different companies, 2 different mailing addresses BUT signed by the same man, same date stamped in red. Very interesting huh? I wonder if we can use this to her advantage? I doubt they can validate these anyway and this is the ONLY negative on her credit reports. Experian doesn't even have it listed anywhere.
Christi, I read your post about helping your friend with the Citibank accounts. Find out what cities these two companies do business in, that are showing these accounts. Look at the Better Business Bureau sites in those cities and then search for the company. It will give you the information you are looking for as far as who is the contact, etc. Also, if they are in good standing and give you data on complaints filed against the company, etc. Most collection agencies are not in good standing and have numerous complaints filed against them. It will even tell you what these complaints were filed for. May give you some extra ammunition when or if you need it. Good Luck!
Now that you have proof they received the disputes, pull her affected credit reports again. see if they've been marked "in dispute". If not, that's strike one.
Re: interesting about OSI/Gulf Stat I just got a "validation" back from OSI/Gulf State (they typed on a piece of paper all the information contained in the tradeline - I don't think so!). I'm not sure which company sent it because it came in an envelope with Gulf State as the return addressee but the letter was on OSI letterhead.
