Fidelity Bank charged off an account in late 1998. They transferred the balance and created another account with the same balance, both are reported. The first one is reported as closed by credit grantor, the second as charged off. I have disputed to no avail, the verify both. they gave it to Sherman Acq. who gave it to ALegis( a sister company? same address) who gave it to LLC who contacted me after I requested validation from Sherman. Sherman and Alegis both show on my credit report, with the same balance. LLC faxed over a couple of statements beginning with the original account, and showing a balance transfer to a new account number. They would not (or could not) provide me with anything with a signature on it. I have sent validation and estoppels to both Sherman and Alegis, and also a validation (I figured I would give it a shot) to Fidelity. I have all of them on several violations including talking to a 3rd party about the account, continuing collection efforts and threatening legal action if I did not pay immediately. Now what? Small claims? How do I get Fidelity to delete the entry?
Let me make sure I an following this: (OC) Fidelity acct #1-->on CR report/reported as closed by credit grantor (OC) Fidelity acct #2-->on CR report/ reported as a charge off (CA) Sherman Acq--> on CR report/validation and estoppel sent (CA) ALegis--> on CR report/validation and estoppel sent (CA) LLC--> they sent statements showing balance transfer
Has the debt been paid, to whom? Is LLC reporting? Did you authorize the balance transfers that were done with Fidelity? You want ALL the CA accounts deleted as well as Fidelity? Which ones are reporting a balance?
Sherman and allegis are the same, they BUY "distressed" debt. Could be the third company is the same as well, you didn't list their name. Sassy
NO. It seems that they're already violating the fcra by duplicating (willfully) the debt ok. It's my understanding (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) that the debt can be listed both by the original creditor and then once by the collection agency... so you could have Fidelity xxx chargeoff Ca 1 xxx debt the real problem here is the huge duplications. they're hoping they'll ruin your credit so badly that you'll pay. I would also contend (and this is just my humble opinion) that it would be inaccurate if Fidelity lists a balance due and so does the collection agency. That would effectively double the debt reported. I think that listing the account multiple times under different names in and of itself would be a fcra violation right now (if it's really the SAME parent company)... jerks. You can't sell a debt to 3 at once... somebody owns it... and it can only be 1 somebody at a time. If the buyer sold it... then one ca entry should be removed and replaced for another... I think they're really trying to blackmail you into paying somebody under their umbrella. I'd say you're doing exactly the correct thing by sending validation letters to any/every collection agency trying to report. If/when they don't validate, the continued reporting of the debt is considered continued collection activity... Also, once they receive validation requests (as you know) they're supposed to either mark the debts as "in dispute" directly with any reporting agency or remove it until validation.. so, if they've gotten your letters (and you have the green cert rr cards back) then repull your reports... are the accounts noted "in dispute"? if not, that's starting the chain of violations... make sure to hit all collection agencies. If what you're finding out is that basically the same big company is reporting it under different b.s. names... then once you've sent the 2 validation letters, you may wish to contact your state's atty general and file a complaint.. that doesn't sound kosher they're killing your file over 1 account. Once you get them on violations you can either make the cra remove the accounts or settle Fidelity with full deletions of all accounts (plus some money to you for the violations)... depending on how much the account is, you could make a bit of money off each collection agency ... you could sue EACH ca for the violations... it could actually work to your advantage. This seems pretty slimy on their part, by the way... after all, if you did pay one, what would the other companies do? leave it on your report? likely.
This debt has not been paid, I have each of them on several violations already, I am especially mad about the duplicate reporting and the creation of a new account. I am going to complain to the attorney general and see what happens. At the same time I am going to try faxing all of them copies of a small claims court and give them each 3 days to delete and pay me 1000 per each violation. Does anyone think this will work for Fidelity (the OC)? Can anyone tell me which section of the FCRA or FCBA they violated by creating another account? The idiot at the last CA (ATTENTION LLC) actually TOLD me that they always do that when an account charges off. If I can find out why this is illegal maybe the words "class action" would get their attention.
Marie...That is incorrect. If 10 CAs have owned the debt at one time or another, they can ALL report the debt as long as the CURRENT CA is the only one reporting a balance. All of those prior to the current CA must update their entries to show "TRANSFERRED/SOLD - $0 balance". Also, the DOLA cannot be changed either.
doesn't it say (can't remember where and I can't find it now) that if you request validation from a CA and they in return give it to another CA, that the second CA can not attempt to collect the debt without first providing the validation? I feel for you over LLC!! They are completely ignorant. Give them time and you'll have them on so many violations you'll loose count. They are the ones that I won the judgment against. Now their lawyer is trying to settle with me )
That is true but I think you must ask for validation though. I don't think it is automatically required to validate just because the prior CA couldn't.
That's interesting about the multiple reporting. It sounds like each is showing the account as currently owed... and I wonder about the ethics (Legality) of the same parent company "selling" it... I wonder if they really sold it or what... sounds fishy. Regardless, if they fail to validate then continuing to list the account on your report is considered continued collection activity and would then be both a fdcpa and fcra violation... so validation is the way to get them removed. As to getting money, frankly, if I were you and they're doing this much for 1 account, I'd really get an atty and sue and I really would file state and federal complaints about them. Slimy slimy slimy Fidelity can be held liable for the actions of its collection agency. You should file 3 different ca lawsuits and then if you still aren't getting what you want file a 4th one against Fidelity This reminds me of Citibank collection agency tactics By the way, after you've gotten the violations compiled per collection agency you can dispute directly with the affected bureaus and send your docs in. They'll ignore the info and likely verify the accounts.. then you can sue the bureaus and get the items suppressed and get another 1k or so per bureau.
I like the idea of getting an attorney, I am going to ty to get all of the CA's on more violations, the problem is, I can never get a straight answer from them concerning the debt. The last person from LLC faxed over statements after telling me the account # she was trying to collect, the statements clearly show a "balance transfer" from one account to another, with the original balance being transferred to another account #. Someone please give me an idea of how an attorney would charge for this, would one of them take it on a contingency? Tell me more about your judgement against LLC, how did you get it? How much? I need encouragement!
