Hello, Long time member, have successfully used many of the methods here to get into pretty good shape. For the first time in years, I have a charge-off from a medical equipment company. The funny thing is that I am still a customer of this company and have a good relationship with them. So I called them and they can't find any record of the problem. But they did tell me (over email too) that they changed their whole billing system and there were some problems this year. Apparently I am one of them. A CA has the account, still shows owed (<$100). My question here is where to start? Do I go with DV and try to nab CA on a collection violation? Or do I dispute with CRA first. Also, if I dispute with with CRA, do I include the email from OC saying that this is probably a mistake? What is unfortunate here is that I can't get OC to fix the problem in the first place because they were bought by a larger company and don't seem to have the control over these issues necessary to get to the bottom of this. Thanks! Jim
Welcome back! How is it showing up on your credit reports at the moment? As a collection with the CA you referenced or just a charge-off from the OC? Or both? Since it's clearly a mistake and not yours, I would dispute it first through the CRAs as such. Provide any information you have to support your case, and wait to see what happens. If that doesn't work, you can try formally disputing it through the OC as well, but that won't necessarily do anything for collection. For that, I would start out with the DV route and go from there after disputing it through the CRAs. Good luck!
Thanks JH. The other option I was considering was doing DV first and using those results to dispute with CRA. I'm hoping/guessing that I get very little or nothing back from CA regarding this, since the OC seems to have no record of it. BUT, I supposed I could dispute with CRA first, see what happens, then go DV route, then dispute with CRA again if need be. But you are correct, no need to dispute officially with OC, they are not collecting or dinging my report; they are just disorganized. If it comes to suit, I would name them, but that's about it.
No problem...I still thinks it a good idea to dispute through the CRAs first. Please come back and let us know how things play out.
RunAwayJim, Hey Jim, Come back here!!!!! There is always one rule when getting involved with credit repair. You HAVE TO dispute with the CRA's first. No Matter What. Plus, if they changed their billing system, the CRA's probably wont be able to verify it anyway. Save yourself some time and Dispute with the CRA's first. Just write in there " I do not remember opening this account or buying anything from this company, please verify and delete. " Just write something like that in there. From what you said in your first letter at the top of this page, if this is the case, you will have a very high chance of deletion.
Thanks everyone, I will proceed with CRA (certified mail) and let you know how it goes. Newbie79, my guess is that CA already has whatever document they are going to provide as "validation", they collect that stuff when they purchase the original debt. The error that has led to this is most likely with whatever document they have that shows I ever had a past due balance. Where they will be vulnerable is when I dispute their documentation and they need to seek additional information from OC. Per your suggestion, it is at that point that they'd be unable to further verify due to company/billing system changes. But, I'd much prefer to avoid all that back-and-forth so will proceed with CRA and see if that clears everything up. Jim
TU deleted. yay. EQ no answer yet. EX: this frustration: ------------------------------- We were unable to honor your recent request because you did not provide sufficient identification information...blah blah blah... The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act states "A consumer credit reporting company shall require as a condition of disclosure that the consumer furnish proper identification;" therefore, if you write to us, we must require all of the following information in order to process your request: full name, including middle name and generation, current mailing address; social security number (required to obtain your report); date of birth; and complete addresses for the past two years (including apartment numbers and ZIP codes). In addition, enclose one copy of a government issued identification card, such as a driver's license, state or military ID card, etc. and one copy of a utility bill, bank or insurance statement etc. -------------------------------- Why do they get to define "proper identification" as so much? Do I really need to send all of that in?
Wow, that does seem onerous. My feeling is that you could leave out the old addresses and copies of utility bills or bank statements, and they would still process your request. They're probably just hoping that most consumers wouldn't take the time to respond to such a notice.
Ok, first the good news: All 3 CRA's have deleted. But now, I just received a call from the CA collecting the debt again and they told me they mailed out a notice. So what gives? Is it going to go back on my report again? And when I receive this notice, do I need to proceed with validation in anticipation that they will put this back on my report again? Confused...
First, congrats on the deletions! Now, what kind of notice did the CA say they were sending out? Getting something removed from your reports doesn't necessarily mean the debt has completely gone away. It could come back to haunt you if they now believe they have the proper info. they need to validate the debt. You may have to go the DV route with them, but at least the CRAs removed it from your reports for the time being. Since this sounds like it's all a big mistake, I can't imagine they have the documentation they need to prove you owe this debt.
