Re: Turn letter over to police?? ok... I'm going to go over this to make certain I understand their offenses... 1. You have no relationship with them at all yet they're in your report still... 2. They still show you have a balance with them as a trade line when in fact you don't... although... if you withdrew within a semester it could be argued that you did owe them but they cancelled it... so then it should be only updated to 0 balance (and no derog info on it) at all... But instead, they show Devry... owed 750 etc etc. A. If that's what is on your report... also add into you letter a validation letter of the trade line and again enclose their letters... remention that you've already previously disputed this item and they've verified it violating the fdcpa and fcra... but my guess is you've never disputed via writing... right? means you have less paper trail put it in this letter so you have something in writing.. then go make notes of dates/ people you've spoken to trying to get this corrected (papertrail you'll take with you to court)... B. then wait your 30 days again and sue. oh... actual damages.. have some or get some right now! a good prime local bank will work nicely.
Re: Turn letter over to police?? By the way, when you sue both DeVry and Experian you WILL get cash... Experian tends to pay more and easier than the other cras... don't know why... but you will get cash from this.
Re: Turn letter over to police?? Oh... add in your demand letter a full removal of not only the trade line but also of every inquiry they've made since they shouldn't be in your report... You do not want that trade line on your report... I bet it has a collection coding and will hurt you so get it removed in full. As an aside, I am sure you've learned that for important items like withdrawing from school or any other item of such importance.. always send a followup letter to the company restating what was said on the phone... You always want something in writing backing you up... because it helps if there's ever a misunderstanding later... and if it's a credit issue it never hurts to send it certified rr to show you not only sent it but they received it. As for the fraud issue... I would call and ask if the police will look into an incident where an employee is pulling your credit for no reason and you're concerned about identity fraud... if they even call the DeVry you know DeVry will know you're serious. I truly think this pulling of credit without a permissible purpose is fraud and you might be able to push this... but this is just my thoughts and it's not backed up by any specific event or anything... I just think if it's fraudulent certification then it's fraud.. and fraud is a crime... and id fraud is certainly a crime... so when you string them together it's worth a call to the local detective to ask them how they punish folks for getting into your credit without a reason...
Re: Turn letter over to police?? Can anyone please post a demand letter to CRA for unauthorized inquiry. Appreciate
Re: Turn letter over to police?? Sorry Marie. I did not meant to ignore you, I had to leave and just got home! Here are the answers to your questions. Thank you so much for your help. I will answer within your answers (which I hate to read!) because I don't know how to do it the correct way!
Re: Turn letter over to police?? If you have them handy.. post exactly how their inquiries read (codes and all)... I'm curious if their inquiries are coded collection or not..
Re: Turn letter over to police?? I totally agree. How many people are being affected by this? What if it is an employee gathering info for purposes of id fraud (the #1 growing crime in America)... honestly, it could be a real fraud issue that should be looked into by DeVry higher ups and by the police.... other than that... local consumer reporters are all for things like this call them all
Revised Letter to DeVry How is this revised letter? Terri This letter has been sent by certified mail, return receipt number_______________________________________ xxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx NOTICE OF DEMAND OF $3000 FOR VIOLATIONS DeVry University, Inc. One Tower Lane Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois 60181-4647 July 30, 2002 RE: Unauthorized Credit Report Inquiries 5/6/02,6/10/02,7/5/02 Dear Sir/Madam: After spending several months establishing that I do not now, nor did I ever, owe your school any money, I find that you are pulling my Experian credit report every month. (5/6/02, 6/10/02, 7/5/02) Please see the â??DeVry Inquiryâ? page from my Experian Credit Report. I have no balance and no account with your institution, nor am I registered at this time. I have not applied for employment with DeVry. Please see the enclosed letter, from DeVry, showing a balance of â??0â? as of February 25, 2002. I disputed the DeVry listing on my Experian report twice. You â??verifiedâ? the account to them both times. How is this possible since I have no account with you? Again, see the enclosed letter from DeVry stating I have had a â??0â? balance with DeVry since February of 2002. I have also enclosed a letter from University Accounting Services stating that my balance is â??0.â? The automated system at UAS also shows my balance as â??0.â? In April 2002, I spoke with the UAS rep for my area who informed me that the account had been cancelled, the change was in the process of being reported to the credit bureau. Please see the enclosed letter from UAS showing that I have a â??0â? balance. I spoke with Connie in your financial Aid Department April 4, 2002. She told me my account had been zeroed out on the DeVry system and with the department of Education Direct Loan Service Center. I was hassled by your employee Janice Harrison for several months about my â??bill,â? even though I informed her during our first conversation that this was a mistake and I did not owe DeVry any money. The account was finally cancelled through the office of Galen Graham , President of DeVry Columbus, in February 2002. A business must have permissible purpose to legally obtain a credit report. PIt is my ubderstanding that pulling a credit report without permissible purpose is punishable with a $5000 fine and jail time. From the 1998 FTC opinion letter Greenblatt at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/greenblt.htm: Section 604(a)(3)(F) allows a consumer reporting agency to provide a consumer report to anyone who "has a legitimate business need for the information -- (i) in connection with a business transaction that is initiated by the consumer; or (ii) to review an account to determine whether the consumer continues to meet the terms of the account." Therefore, the brokerage firm may request a consumer credit report prior to establishing a relationship with an individual who applies to open an account, or thereafter to determine whether to discontinue doing business with an established client. Also, Section 621 governs enforcement actions brought by the Commission, other agencies, and the states, and provides for various monetary and injunctive penalties. The potential monetary penalties include, for those who knowingly violate the FCRA, up to $2500 per violation in a civil action brought by the Commission in district court." I will restate the situation for you: I have no relationship of any type with DeVry. The relationship your collector tried to force upon me was negated February 2002. The first time DeVry accessed my credit report was three months later. As proof of the above, I have enclosed letters from DeVry and UAS stating to me that I have no account with you. I demand the name of the person/persons who accessed my credit report. I am sending a copy of this letter to Experian, along with a letter explaining to them their involvement â?? allowing my report to be accessed by DeVry without certification. It appears that DeVry has committed a crime against me, with assistance from Experian. Credit reports are confidential. Your viewing of my credit report is illegal, not to mention scary. Neither you nor UAS have records showing that I owe you money. Why is someone at DeVry reading my confidential credit report? How is this person using my personal information? With whom is my personal information being shared? Why doesnâ??t DeVry have security measures in place to prevent their employees from accessing personal information without a valid reason? (such as the existence of an account) To settle this matter, I demand the following: Immediately remove all inquiries from my Experian credit report. Forward to me at the above address a check for $3000 for the three violations outlined above. Receipt of the above check no later than August 12 will save you several thousand dollars by sparing you the cost of legal proceedings. . I will be forced to file a lawsuit for violation of the FCRA if I do not receive said check. I will also be sending this letter and relevant documents to the authorities for further investigation. Sincerely, Terri Cc: BBB, State Attorney General, Illinois Attorney General, FTC
Re: Revised Letter to DeVry DeVry University, Inc. One Tower Lane Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois 60181-4647 July 30, 2002 RE: Unauthorized Credit Report Inquiries 5/6/02,6/10/02,7/5/02 Certified Mail # 1234 5678 3345 4521 8475 (2 pages) Dear Sir/Madam: It's important to put the Cert Mail # inside the letter, and tell them how many pages therer are. This prevents the recipiant from declaring: "yea she sent cert. mail but it wasn't THIS letter". It also prevents them from saying she only sent one page. We do this with the IRS all the time. Good luck. Keep us posted.
Re: Revised Letter to DeVry What is to PREVENT them from saying all you had in the envelope was "HOW TO BBQ HOT DOGS SO THEY DON'T BURN"???
Re: Revised Letter to DeVry I think (but don't quote me because my memory is faulty at time) Christine was already involved in a lawsuit with them over another matter (which was the reason they pulled her credit report). At that point, I don't think they wanted to tick her off any further...hence the check in response to her letter...lol. I know all of the details are either there or on her other website at creditcourt.com. L
As long as she has a legitimate report from a CRA that shows the illegal inquiries she has them for $1,000 minimum per incident. The FCRA is pretty clear on that: Their only way out is to convince a judge that they had no idea they were breaking the law. Ingorance is usually a bad defence.
I sent letter with certified mail to two CA for illegal inquiries on my credit file demanding $1000 damages more than a month ago but I did not receive any response from the CA. what should I do next? Thanks for your wise advice.
Update Sent the above letter to both DeVry and the AG. Received a letter from the AG informing me that DeVry needed me to sign the enclosed form "to waive my rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act AND authorize DeVry Inc to disclose various information regarding me to" Today I received a letter from DeVry themselves asking for the same thing. Here is what I sent to the AG Saturday: Dear AG: I have decided not to sign the form to release my personal records to you as DeVry requested. There is nothing in my records that would have any bearing on this situation. I enclosed with my demand letter a statement FROM DeVry TO ME stating that I have had no account with them since Feb. 02. What DeVry does not need to do is share my personal information with someone else. This is the behavior I am trying to stop! DeVry pulled my credit report for the first time May 5, 2002. I explained all this in my demand letter. The records that need to be viewed in order to correct this problem are DeVryâ??s records, not mine. DeVry clearly owes me an explanation - What was their permissible purpose for accessing my credit report? I have no relationship with them. I demand the name of the person(s) who viewed my credit. I need to know how that information was used. I am very concerned that I have become a victim of identity theft. DeVry has invaded my privacy. I do not know how my personal information has been used, why, or by whom. Once again, I demand a check for $3000.00, for accessing my credit report illegally on three occasions. I demanded this check by August 20. It is now Sept. 9. I will be filing a lawsuit.. Obviously they have no intention of compensating me for the damage that has been done. I would like to think that a reputable business would be shocked to find that their employee(s) are illegally gathering personal data. It seems to me that a reputable business would immediately launch an internal investigation to find out how and why this happened, and put a stop to it. A reputable business would be concerned about the person(s) whose privacy had been invaded because they would realize the implications of this behavior. A reputable business would be trying their best to find out how many times this had happened, and to whom. A reputable business would apologize. A reputable business would pay me the $3000 in damages allowed by law. In short, it is not my records that need to be investigated. My records will not tell you who invaded my privacy. Investigating my records will not put an end to this practice â?? which appears to be fraudulent activity. My records will not show you who did this. My records will not show how many people have been harmed. I will be monitoring my credit reports for any sign of fraudulent activity. This is scary. This should NEVER happen to anyone. DeVry needs to refocus and take responsibility for the actions of their employees. DeVry needs to make whatever changes are necessary to prevent this from happening again. I am disgusted by the cavalier attitude of DeVry in this situation. They need to investigate their own records, which I have provided for them twice now (see attached). Then need to pay the damages they owe me immediately. Sincerely, Cc: DeVry Institute of Technology, Chicago Experian
Letter To Experian Mhoss: Here is the letter I sent to Experian. I don't know if it is any good, or if it will be effective. For Settlement Purposes Only CRRR# _____________________- Experian P.O. Box 9595 Allen, Texas 75013 September 6, 2002 Re: Unauthorized Inquiries by DeVry Dear Sir/Madame: According to my Experian credit report, you allowed DeVry to pull my credit report three times. These inquiries need to be investigated. I respectfully request the following information for each date: May 6, 2002 June 10, 2002 July 5, 2002 1. Proof that these inquiries were in fact authorized with an instrument bearing my signature, and for legitimate business purposes. 2. A copy of DeVryâ??s certification to pull my credit report, including the name of the DeVry employee who requested my report. I believe a DeVry employee may have committed a crime against me by illegally accessing my credit report. Experian may have assisted in this crime by allowing my report to be pulled by them. I am very concerned that I may soon be the victim of identity theft. The listed inquiries were without authorization, and for no legitimate business purposes. I have contacted DeVry concerning this situation. This information has also been sent to the office of the Attorney General. An investigation is underway at this time. I demand this information be sent to me 10 (ten) days after receipt of this letter.
Re: Update I am a bit disgusted in the cavalier attitude of the AG. WTF. Who do they protect, the citizens or the corporations? I would consult an attorney and consider suing the individuals personally (including the AG) for negligence/dereliction of duty and violations of my civil rights. JMO -Peace, Dave
Re: Update I was thinking when I went to bed last night that I would just file a lawsuit and send them the paperwork in the postage paid envelope they sent me! I'm not usre how to find an attorney. I sent the original letter to the attorney who represented me last year against a ca. He felt it was "inadverent." I disagree totally! What kind of attorney would I look for, or should I just file myself? If so, in what court and for the $3000??? I am getting pretty angry about this. It should have been handled by now.
