I have 2 chargeoffs from OCs on all three credit reports. After reading the FDCPA and FCRA, I realized that the only way to get these TLs dropped from my CR was to: - Dispute with the CRAs, wait for the debt to come back as validated - Dispute directly with the OC and wait 30 days for them to notify the CRAs that the account is in full dispute. - If the OC did not notify the CRA that the account was in dispute, then I had them on a violation of FCRA § 623 (a) (3). It looks like one of the OCs was a step ahead of me. Instead of notifying the CRAs that the item was in dispute, they changed the status from "chargeoff" to "120 days past due". My score dropped even more since they also "re-aged" the account. Argh! What can I do? Technically, they're still obligated to report this as disputed, right? After all, this is the first time that I've disputed the account with them directly. Any help from this gang of experts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Re: Re: OC dispute trap - they escaped it! Gosh, I didn't know that. Can you elaborate? This is what FCRA says: § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] (a) (3) 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." If they violate these conditions and I can't take action in court, who can on my behalf and how?
Re: Re: Re: OC dispute trap - they escaped it! Someone feel free to crrect me if I'm wrong.... But, I think you answered your own question as 623 states: responsibilities of FURNISHERS OF INFORMATION (which would be the OC or CA) to the CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY... Meaning it it not actionable by you because you are not the furnisher of the information, you are the CONSUMER.
Re: Re: Re: Re: OC dispute trap - they escaped it! Thanks for the response, NameIsJen. Actually, a Furnisher of Information is an entity that provides the CRA with information pertaining to the consumer. In my case this is the OC. As you pointed out, the FCRA §603(a)(3) states that it's their responsibility to provide notice of my dispute to the CRA. They were supposed to and didn't, which is why I'm looking to sue them in the first place After taking another careful look at the FCRA, I see why 603(a) is not actionable by consumers. 603(d) spells it out for us. Only the FTC can act on 603(a) violations: If we jump to § 621: So as jlynn pointed out, it doesn't really matter that I caught them in violation of §603(a)(3).
elusive... An (a) violation isn't an (a) violation when it is in response to the consumers dispute to the credit reporting agency. Under (b) they have all of the requirements of reporting under (a), and more. So failing to notate the account in dispute when they verified under 623(b) is a (b) violation which you can take action upon. The main reason is that (a) violations are intrinsically automatic. They are by design typically violations when the computer automatically sends what they have on their system to the credit reporting agency. (b) violations are the result of a searching inquiry by the data furnisher, therefore omissions in response to a consumers dispute are actionable by the consumer. The caveat is that under our best caselaw at the moment, Johnson v. MBNA; the dispute has to be directly involving the piece of information which is in the (b) violation. And most CRA's if you dispute simply on 'account in dispute - furnisher refuses to provide notice of dispute in accordance with Fair Credit Reporting Act' they'll probably place the dispute notation on quickly and return the results automatically (if they don't flag it as previously investigated). There are ways to sneak that into a longer dispute of other information, so that hopefully the CRA will focus their energy on typing a response code for the other disputed information, and omit that. Remember, if the CRA is completely complying with the FCRA, the data furnisher would receive the complete dispute as you sent it, so there is no legitimate defendable reason for them to not be able to provide the entire dispute to the data furnisher, except that they choose not to.
