History: 1991, Bought car for wife-(now Ex). I was primary on the account. We divorce, she gets car and all responsibilities for it in Divorce Decree. Three and a half years later, (March 1995) my wife of one month gets a call from the credit union. It seems the Ex has stopped paying and the car has been repo'd. They ask for Mr. or Mrs. "Smith". My wife says "this is Mrs. Smith". Credit Union says: "Oh, hello Jennifer..." (My wife's name is NOT Jennifer) Things went downhill from there............ Anyway, I was in Korea, 10,000 miles away and 13 hours time difference, the whole drill. I contact Ex's mother, she calls Ex, it gets paid off in two days. Then it shows up as a paid repo on my Credit Report. I send documents to Credit Union, showing that by court order, it ain't my problem. They say the law allows them to put it on my CR and it's gonna stay. Fast forward through seven years of suffering with this feces on my CR. In March 2002 the tradeline shows as a positive "Paid" with no derogatory entries. Yesterday, (7 years and 1 month after DLA) it shows back up as a single 90-day late on equifax. My score drops. I applied for a mortgage today. Right after I applied, I called this Credit Union and they gave me the song and dance about "Sir, you'll have to dispute it throught the CRA and we'll verify accordingly". I cut her off cold and detailed at least three violations of the FRCA. (Reinsert after 7 years, failure to maintain accurate reporting, no 5-day letter) I then told her I would be filing in Texas court for summary judgement (due to the fact that I had it all in black and white), unless she fixed it NOW! I also told her that, if the mortgage company came back with a rate above prime, I would sue for the difference in payments over 30 years! Your choice lady, fax off one UDF or face at least 2 lawsuits! She asked me to be reasonable and work with her. I responded "I asked you to be reasonable and work with me 7 years ago. I've suffered with higher rates due to you reporting my Ex's account as mine because "the law allowed you to". Well the law allows me to sue you for three thousand dollars and I will unless you fix this by tomorrow." I'm not interested in reasonable, I'm interested in my rights! She was stunned by the fact that someone would use the FRCA information AGAINST them! She was sputtering and looking for a way to keep this sue-happy maniac out of the courtroom. She assured me that she'd have it fixed by tomorrow! Yea Creditnet! I warned her not to pull my credit or we'd be looking at violation #4 and told her I'd fax the documents in the morning. I want to send the pertinent FRCA segments in my cover letter. Can anyone tell me the chapter and verse of the appropriate paragraphs? Thanks for your help. Dancer
Reinsertion: Section 611(a) (5) (B) Requirements relating to reinsertion of previously deleted material. (i) Certification of accuracy of information. If any information is deleted from a consumerâ??s file pursuant to subparagraph (A), the information may not be reinserted in the file by the consumer reporting agency unless the person who furnishes the information certifies that the information is complete and accurate. (ii) Notice to consumer. If any information that has been deleted from a consumerâ??s file pursuant to subparagraph (A) is reinserted in the file, the consumer reporting agency shall notify the consumer of the reinsertion in writing not later than 5 business days after the reinsertion or, if authorized by the consumer for that purpose, by any other means available to the agency.
Cool! Thank you. Would anyone know which one covers the seven year reporting limit? Thanks again, Dancer
§ 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. § 1681c] (a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information: (1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may be, antedate the report by more than 10 years. (2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period. (3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than seven years. (4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years.(1) (5) Any other adverse item of information, other than records of convictions of crimes which antedates the report by more than seven years.1 (b) Exempted cases. The provisions of subsection (a) of this section are not applicable in the case of any consumer credit report to be used in connection with (1) a credit transaction involving, or which may reasonably be expected to involve, a principal amount of $150,000 or more; (2) the underwriting of life insurance involving, or which may reasonably be expected to involve, a face amount of $150,000 or more; or (3) the employment of any individual at an annual salary which equals, or which may reasonably be expected to equal $75,000, or more. (c) Running of reporting period. (1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6) ** of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection (internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action.
If the debt was first "late" before Dec.1997 then the OFFICIAL 7 years is from the date it was charged off. After Dec.1997 creditors are required to report FIRST delinquency.Legally the CRA's have 7 & 1/2 years from THAT date, HOWEVER if you can PROVE your first delinquency the CRA's must remove if it is 7 &1/2 years even if it started before Dec.1997.Actually, in practice, they are removing at 7 years in those cases.
It was 90 days late 1 time in March of 1995, then they repo'd it and it was paid off in two days. How long can it stay on there? Dancer
That's good to hear 'cause I just faxed them a letter with the general theme of: "Fix this in 72 hours or I will come to your house, shoot your dog, and make you watch." (all worded very professionally of course..) Dancer
Update: They called Friday begging for more time, I gave them till today. They called me at 1930 (their time) and said that Equifax had hemmed and hawed but they (the bank managers) weren't in the mood to play around with a no-possible-gain lawsuit, so they just told Equifax to delete the entire account. Damn! That felt good! Thanks for your help everyone! Dancer
Now thats the kind of story I like to hear! (the victory part, not the hard time they gave you for no reason). Congratulations on setting these losers straight!
