Two $35 PAID collections showed up on my report 2 weeks ago. They were from over a year ago! The CA originally deleted in exchange for payment but I never got it in writing. Anyway, after seeing them show up 2 weeks ago, I fired off an angry nutcase letter via fax. I followed up with a nasty voicemail. I pulled EFX today and they were gone!
Date Name of Old Fully-Paid Acquaintance Address City, STATE ZIP To Whom It May Concern: I am formally requesting that you validate all tradeline notations you have submitted to the three major credit reporting agencies by â??NAME OF COLLECTION AGENCYâ? or â??NAME OF ORIGINAL CREDITORâ? for me, YOUR NAME, for account number XXXXXXXXX. Due to possible inaccuracies in these CRA reports, I must demand that the validation I hereby lawfully request be in the form of a notarized statement by a person with original knowledge of the debt as it was constituted and who can testify that the debt was incurred legally, was not subsequently disputed as a result of returned, faulty, or recalled consumer products, was not utilized as a profit-loss tax deduction during the period it may have been payable, and was not claimed as a loss with any insuring entity during the period it may have been payable. Please be advised that I am not requesting a verification that you have my mailing address; rather, I am requesting validation, i.e., competent evidence that I had some contractual obligation sans consumer protection encumbrance which incurred the original claims associated with this tradeline. I have enclosed two documents which will verify my address: a photocopy of a [YOUR STATE] Driverâ??s License and a photocopy of a recent [NAME OF UTILITY OR TELEPHONE COMPANY] statement. Please know that you have 30 days from the tracked and confirmed delivery of this lawful notice to either answer these demands or to remove the associated negative tradeline notations from the CRA reports. Any other action may constitute evidence of your intent to abridge one or more civil or other constitutional rights. Please be further advised that continued unsubstantiated reporting of possible inaccuracies to third parties may provide a basis for criminal complaints being filed in accordance with FDCPA, FCRA, and other federal statutes. I look forward to a timely and amicable resolution to this matter. Sincerely yours, Your Name Address City, STATE ZIP http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?pgnum=1&postid=124861#post124861
Keep in mind, my version was altered a bit since it was being sent to a paid CA but this is the original I worked from.
Way to go, tmitchell! Doc P.S. Tinaboo & Touchdown: The nutcase letter is designed for fully-paid accounts with very bad late-pay tradelines (which are deemed too extreme for a goodwill request). Here's a link to the original letter and rationale. betacredit extended the letter to a full series. Here's the link to the full series (original, followup "Son of Nutcase", etc.).
