I have disputed and requested proof of having an account with several creditors/collection agencies for the past 5 months. All were sent Certified, Return receipt. As of mid-April, I did not receive any proof back, and only ONE creditor reported to the bureaus that my account was disputed. So I filed small claims suits for $1,000 against each for violation of the FDCPA, with settlement offers to drop the case if the item was removed from my credit reports. The cases are now less than 2 weeks away, and although several small debts were completely removed from all 3 reports, AMEX, MBNA and Discover have not contacted me whatsoever. Amex has also suddenly reported (today) my debt as disputed on my credit reports. My question is should it have really taken them 5 months to report these as disputed? The law doesn't say how many days they have to report as disputed, but I assumed it was 30 days. Do I still have a case? I'm very suprised that these three have not agreed to settle, as I am not asking for money and the debts are all around $1,000. Any advice? Lizardking, others? Maybe they are holding out until the day before court? I can't believe they are going to come to the courthouse out here instead of just settling out of court. If I go and they don't show up, don't I automatically win? Thanks, Kelly
Kelly, yes there is a violation there, and they should have noted the account to the CRA as "in dispute" within 5 days of receipt of your validation letters. Then it should remain noted until validated or deleted. They ignored your validation letters completely, so you have proof of the notation being put on 5 months after you sent the validation request. Basically you have them for more violations than small claims court will allow...sue for the MAX and get 'em. -Peace, Dave
Actually I may have read your post wrong...did you send validation letters to the creditors/CA's? or just dispute the items with the CRA? -Peace, Dave
Dave, I sent the disputes straight to the creditors. Is there a specific section in the FDCPA that says a disputed account must be reported as disputed within 5 days? Thanks, Kelly
I may have been wrong about the time. I read the post I was referring to wrong and mistook your question...however: The collection agency is supposed to tell the cras that the trade line is in dispute... if they don't have your accounts marked as in dispute it's a FCRA violation. That is different than the dispute notation when you dispute with the CRA's. I will look for and post the FCRA portion that allows for the making of the account as "in dispute".
It is section 623(a)(3) of the FCRA: Duty to provide notice of dispute. If the completeness or accuracy of any information furnished by any person to any consumer reporting agency is disputed to such person by a consumer, the person may not furnish the information to any consumer reporting agency without notice that such information is disputed by the consumer. So the date I would guess is defined as "once the consumer has given notice" if the CA reports any data to the CRA's at all WITHOUT a notice that the account is in dispute, they violate this section. Here is an FTC staff opinion letters: Harvey: Section 623(a)(3) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") concerns the reporting of information to consumer reporting agencies once the consumer has notified the furnisher that information is disputed. That section states that when a consumer disputes the completeness or accuracy of any information furnished to a consumer reporting agency, the information in question may not then be furnished without notice that it is disputed by the consumer. That provision addresses the furnisher's obligation only when the furnisher continues to report disputed information. The statute is silent on the matter of the furnisher ceasing to report information while it is investigating the dispute. It is thus the opinion of the Commission staff that a furnisher that temporarily ceases to report disputed information while it investigates the matter, and then either (1) corrects the information if its investigation results in agreement with the consumer or (2) reports the item as disputed by the consumer where that is the result of the investigation, would comply with Section 623(a). -Peace, Dave
Thanks Dave. Looks like I've got'em. Was just starting to get a little nervous as the court date approaches and they seem not to care. Kelly
