Hi Guys! I am so grateful I found this site! My husband and I recently REALLY started working on our credit, and to our dismay we found a FAT discrepancy! He had a charged of acct from Crescent Jewelers dating back in 96'. It was sold to Gulf State and then to Challenger Financial. We received a call from Challenger to settle for less than the full amount...the agreement was that if we sent a Western Union payment for the agreed amount...they would show our account as paid. This was back on 7/01. We agreed to terms as as long as we received it in writing. We received their letter which had the agreed upon amount and they wrote"once your payment has cleared our bank, we will adjust your account to reflect a zero balance. Upon completion of payment clearing, your credit report will be updated to reflect that this account has been paid". We sent PIF on 8/16/01. It is now 2/02, and his CR (EXP) has 3 collection accounts on his report. Crescent jewelers, gulf state and CHALLENGER! I did an online disputewith EXP on 2/1 through Creditexpert, HOWEVER, I told them that the agreement was for deletion...WHAT SHOULD WE DO NEXT??
Do you still have a copy of the letter? BTW, when CA's say they will do this, they are lying. They have no intention of updating your report to anything favorable. If you have your copy, take it down to small claims court and sue them for at least one violation of the FCRA. Then send validation letters to the other two, and when they don't do anything (they won't) you can sue them also. That should clean your reports up nicely,teach them a lesson (they never learn)and net you a few thou for your troubles.
Thanks Breeze! Yes, I do have a copy of the letter and the reciept that I paid the full amount ($683.16 to be exact) through Western Union....should I wait the "30 days" for the CRA to verify the items first and see result or send validation letter to Crescent and Gulf State ? Where should I look on the posts to find out procedures about filing?? Do I threaten them w/ lawsuit and demand $1000, or should I just file small claims? HELP! I'm nervous!!
For the one that sent you the letter, just go file. Don't let them get off so easily. Filing in small claims is simple fill-in-the-blanks. And at the same time send validation letters to the other two CA's. Do everything certified RRR mail, and when you get the little green cards back, dispute with the CRA's. Hopefully they will fall off then, but if not, just wait for those other two CA's to verify with CRA's and there's your other $2,000 plus court costs, and/or deletion.
OK...don't mean to sound dumb...but this is all new to me. On Monday I will file in small claims court, and when I file...what information do I need? For example, the reason I am suing is because "Challenger Financial" is in direct violation of FCRA...what section? Do I need to specify? Also, am I suing for $1,000? Then what happens? Does it go to court? Do they send me a letter with a check?? Which validation letter should I use for the other 2? The one in the sample letters?) and if so, should I indicate the account has been paid in full? Thanks for all your help!!!
You have to find the street address to have the CA served, possibly a name or legal representative. There are a bunch of posts on here on "how to file" just search with that phrase, you should get them. Use the quote marks also. Yes, one of the letters from this site's stash will do nicely. Just pick one you like and personalized it.
