I disputed several accounts in July with TU in two seperate letters sent about a week apart. I received results of one (the first) letter, but nothing from the second dispute letter was ever changed or investigated. The second letter was recieved by TU July 9, the first Jul 2. I then sent another letter on Aug 15th informing them that 30 days had been up, no investigation had been conducted, and they had violated the FCRA.... So, I call today (had no response from TU) and am told that an investigation was begun on Aug 21 for the accounts in the 2nd letter. When I protest (more than 30 days has already passed from my initial dispute), I am told that they were not required to open a new investigation on July 9, because 15 days had not passed from the date of the other dispute letter. They claim (I talked to a supervisor as well as the idiot peon who first answered) that the FCRA gives them 15 days from receipt of a dispute before they are required to accept any additional disputes. I could not find anything about this in the FCRA, but the supervisor seemed very convinced that she was correct. The letter I sent July 9 had nothing to do with the letter I sent July 2. Completely different accounts, definately WRONG (easy to prove) and no investation was begun until I sent a second letter. So, what should I do? Is the TU supervisor correct? Do I wait the 30 days for an investigation result, or push for immediate deletion?
No she is not correct. They get an additional 15 days if and only if, they receive ADDITIONAL info concerning a dispute already in progress. Your answer to them is, OK if we go along with your incorrect assumption of what the law says, and you don't need to start an investigation until 15 days after July 9th, that puts you at July 24th, and it still has been more than 30 days. Delete them now.
They told me that they could safely ignore the dispute entirely until I sent a letter which was dated 15 days after the 1st dispute letter. The next letter I sent (rec'd by TU on Aug 20th) they considered a new dispute, which they claim to be investigating. But they say that the investigation may not be concluded until Sep 21. The supervisor was so certain that she was correct, she suggested I contact the FTC. She said that their response would be the same as hers. I suggested a lawsuit might be a better course for me to take, and she was not fazed. I was pretty sure that these reps were wrong, and I did argue it for some time (45 min). But they would not back down. Now I have to decide how to proceed. Another phone call? An intent to sue letter/fax? Since they have now started an investigation, they should finish by the 21st. The accounts may be deleted (at least one will almost certainly be deleted) and/or "updated" before I recieve a court date. I'm not sure how this affects my chances in a lawsuit. I cannot prove damages (haven't applied for any credit in some time), and I've never filed a lawsuit before. I'm certainly considering it now...
