I am a little confuse about this.... lets say you don't want to send any kinda ITS to OC. Now since OC never respond back after 60days, wouldn't that be enough evidence to show to CRA that the debt can not be veirfied and demand deletion. after all, CRAs did provide you with OC's addys after demand for PR. 1- what's the probability that CRA will delete acct#? 2- has anyone had any success going that route?
It depends on the type of account that it was... If it was an open account, you may have violations of the FCBA. They must contact you (I believe within 30 days of receipt) advising you that they received your dispute, and are investigating the dispute. They must also contact you within two billing cycles (not more than 90 days; if the correspondence comes the day after a billing cycle ends, they have the next two for a total of about 89 days or so total to investigate the account) with the details of the results of the investigation. You need to keep in mind though that in most cases, there is no law which says that they have to respond to you in any way, shape, or form (unless its through the FCBA). Even with a CA and the FDCPA, there is nothing prohibiting the CA from ceasing collection activities on an account, and never letting you know about it.
The problem with trying a "If they can't respond to me, then they couldn't have verified the information to you" dispute, is that you are trying to prove a NEGATIVE. You are trying to prove that you didn't receive something from them, they could just as easily whip up a back-dated letter and send it to the CRA to 'prove' the POSITIVE that they sent something. Unless you get all your mail logged by an unbiased third party, you can't prove that you didn't receive anything. *gasp* I know, no company would ever do something like that...
THERE ARE WAYS of doing it so that the correspondence comes through unbiased third parties, so you would have a way of documenting it... hint (AG's offices, BBB's) This is why you should consider these options as builders of your paper trail...
ORIGINAL CREDITORS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO RESPOND "Disputes" have to be sent to the credit reporting agency FIRST, in order to trigger the protetions under the FCRA 623 (b). Section (a) DOES NOT APPLY TO CONSUMERS. (see section (c) ) IF you would have sent the dispute to the credit reporting agency FIRST, and they failed to respond, then the account can be deleted.
I had already disputed about 2 times with CRA, and it all came back verified.... so I have no choice but to go after OC....
"go after the original creditor" -what do you mean? -What is your cause of action/authority? I ask because a lot of consumers read these boards and get the impression you can sue people at the drop of a hat for "violations" of the FDCPA / FCRA. It's not that easy ONLY if you have evidence the account is being listed incorrectly AND you provided this to the credit reporting agency, AND they fail to properly investigate it, can you THEN "go after" the original creditor. (state law excluded)
i'm not talking about suing anyone... the OC is Providian, back in 1998 I did have a CC 500cl.. the card got stolen and I reported to them... now the problem that is that they have 2 accounts listed on my file.. one is showing the correct Bal and status shown as "lost or stolen"... fine, and now there is another one with a Bal of $1601.00 status as charged-off. I never hav an account for 1601 CL with them...
so they are listing an account that is NOT yours? Probably fraud from the lost card? EASY- DISPUTE the account AGAIN with the CREDIT REPORTING AGENCY. Make it clear in the dispute, that you never had a Providian card with acct # (list the fraudulent account #) and it is possibly fraudulent in the light of losing another Providian card. -IF Providian re-verifies the info as being yours, which my guess is they will say it is your name and account BUT it is fraudulent, and the credit reporting agency lists the account again (or still), they are in violation of FCRA, and you have remedies available to you. -NO ONE wants to go to court, BUT in these cases, it is the ONLY way to get their attention. The consumer matters little to the credit reporting agencies, They sell subscriptions ABOUT you, NOT to you -There is a recent case with almost the EXACT set of circumstanaces as yours: United States District Court District of Minnesota Civil File No. 02-CV-3707 (MJD/JGL) DAVID C. GRAHAM, Plaintiff, v. CSC CREDIT SERVICES, INC., GATEWAY, INC., and CITIBANK d/b/a/ HURLEY STATE BANK, In this case, a fraudulent Gateway account was opened in Graham's name and listed on his credit report. He disputed the acoount over the phone. CSC (credit reporting agency) sent the dispute to Gateway as â??not his/hers, please provide complete ID" OF course Gateway was able to "verify" the account was Graham's, it was in his name SSN etc. Thats kinda the point of ID theft LOL. So it was sent back to Graham as "verified." HOWEVER, what CSC failed to ask was whether this was a fraudulent account or not. Gateway testified they concidered the account fraudulent, and did not hold Graham responsible for it, BUT was NEVER ASKED by CSC if it was fraudulent or not. If asked, they testified they would have provided that info. The court agreed that CSC FAILED to conduct a proper investigation, and DENIED their motion for summary judgment. Let me know if you need any additional help. You can email me anytime about cases. HIDING90@hotmail.com
here is the last letter I sent them: [name] [addy] 03/04/2004 RE: Dispute Letter Dear Sir or Madam: As I have not heard back from you in over 30 days regarding my notice of dispute dated 01/30/2004, and you have not supplied the demanded proof of the alleged debt, under the doctrine of estoppel by silence, Engelhardt v Gravens (Mo) 281 SW 715, 719, I may presume that no proof of the alleged debt, nor therefore any such debt, in fact exists. In a good faith effort to resolve this matter amicably, I restate my demand for proof of the debt, specifically the alleged contract or other instrument bearing my signature. Absent such proof, you must terminate this collection action and correct any erroneous reports of this debt as mine. For the record, I state again that as I have no account with you in the balance of $1601.00, nor have I entered into a contract with you, I must ask for the following information: 1. A copy of any legal instrument, bearing my signature, which supports your basis for the continued reporting of this alleged debt. 2. An itemized accounting of all debits and credits on the alleged account for the entire history of the account. 3. The assignment or purchase agreement for the alleged debt between your company and any other entity. 4. An itemized accounting of the alleged debt after it was supposedly written off including all debits and credits. 5. Complete documentation of the amount that was written off for federal tax purposes You have fifteen (15) days from receipt of this notice to respond. Your failure to respond, on point, in writing, hand signed, and in a timely manner, will work as a waiver to any and all of your claims in this matter, and will entitle me to presume that you sent your letter(s) in error, and that this matter is permanently closed. Your continued silence is unacceptable. Either provide the proof or correct the record to remove the invalid debt from my credit files with the three primary credit-reporting agencies. You are currently in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Act. Failure to respond within 15 days of receipt of this registered letter will construed as the debt is not valid. For the purposes of 15 USC 1692 et seq., this Notice has the same effect as a dispute to the validity of the alleged debt and a dispute to the validity of your claims. This Notice is an attempt to correct your records, and any information received from you will be collected as evidence should any further action be necessary. This is a request for information only, and is not a statement, election, or waiver of status. Sincerely,
hiding, The OC may not have to reply to you for a non-open account; in response to a FCRA dispute letter. BUT for an open account under the FCBA the OC IS REQUIRED to investigate, and to respond; and to respond within at most 90 days of the dispute.
