Hi cneters! I want to thank all of you for your great advice to date. Though I still fell green in here every day, I am thankful for the knowledge. On to my story... I have three unpaid collections with Credit Management, RJM Acquisitions and State Collections (WI). They are for $40, $57 and $650 respectively. I have sent DV, estoppel and ITS letters on a normal interval. In the ITS letter, I gave 10 business days to act (it was just sent last Thursday). The first two collections are complete bogus. The third account is a medical bill from an emergency room visit. I do not know if it is legitimate because they have never responded. The first two CA's responded to only one letter and basically just asked for more information. The medical collection has not responded at all. I do fully intend to sue if they do not take corrective action. If it goes to small claims court, should I introduce a copy of my credit report(s)? If so, should I produce the whole thing or specific parts. Should I only try to collect for FCRA and FDCPA fines or should I show further harm? The small claims limit in Wisconsin is $5000. Thanks!
Remember, anything you give to the court will be public record. Do you want your full credit report viewable to anyone who goes to the courthouse and searches the records? Does that answer your question?
That seems like a straightforward answer. But how would I prove damages (aside from FCRA/FDCPA violations) without showing my credit report? Do I ignore them altogether and just go for violations?
Damages lie in the denial letters and action you suffered when others viewed your report and based negative information on it. (Not sure if you have any of these) This raises libel issues as well...falling under the qualification for printed material that is viewed by someone other than you or the CRA. Keep in mind DAMAGES are hard to prove. Such cases where they are more cut and dry...you tried to refi to a lower rate and were ready to close on the loan...then BAM, this bogus info ruined it and now the rates jumped...cases like that would indicate damages. The violations lie within the credit reports, your letters and the proof of mailing that show no response. So far, it seems safer to stick with those. A word of caution...small claims judges are usually clueless about FCRA/FDCPA laws. In most cases, they are not as apt to do the research (there are some exceptions), so be ready to back up your case with the pertinent laws. Also, be ready to prove that these are not yours and that you have received no information from the CA's indicating so. The CA will paint you as a person who doesnt pay bills, etc and the j.p. will frown on that. Oh, and you are suing these 3 companies separately, right? Hope this helps with the distinction between collectiong for violations and collecting for damages.
420- Thank you for your informative response. Assuming lack of deletion, I will be suing these companies separately. I have all of my green cards, the letters I sent and a few CC denial letters. I also have some case law and FTC opinions printed out. I just want to make sure that I cover all of my bases. I did notice that you mentioned using my credit report whereas the previous poster said to not use it. Any other thoughts on if/how to use the credit report?
This is where it gets tough to make the call. While I personally wouldnt want to use my credit reports, how would you prove to the court they are reporting it? How would you prove that you have damages because the cra's reported to some other 3rd party and you suffered adverse action? Have you applied for anything to get a denial letter in-hand to take with you to court? See, if you go for damages, you have to show the denial letter that states you were denied due to the collection activity/derog info in question. THEN you would have to show the cr to tie in with the denial letters. It is possible to cross out account numbers, etc, and personal info to use them. But I think the fact they are continuoulsly verifying/reporting info to the cra's that they are not validating to you is evident if you present the reports that show they are reporting and the no-reponse proof you are providing. It is my impression that they must cease collection activity until they validate. Also, they must mark the accounts in dispute until they validate such info. Not validating and verifying, especially if they don't mark account in dispute are more separate violations. A question to bring up is this...How can the ca verify to the cra if they can't even validate to you? It really may not be the fault of the cra...because all they do is say "do you have this account listed for this person?" CA says yes, and boom, its verified. No other questions are asked. Is your intention deletion or is it money and deletion? My strongest recommendation is to stay out of small claims court and file in district court. I am having this same dilema...s.c. court will be so much easier...but it is also easier for the j.p. to misinterpret or ignore the scope of the fcra/fdcpa laws. I have an oc that is reporting a ch 13 on 1 account for hubby. He has never filed. The oc messed up on a "handful of accounts" and erroneously reported many people as having filed...even though the accounts are in good standing. Our account (auto loan) is paid in full/paid never late status and they still reported it as inc in bk...so, you see, I have been doing my research and have the same issue with supplying copies of hubby's credit reports. This FUBAR is his only negative...prior to this screwup, he was clean (after spending a lot of time to have all fo his derogs removed). The game never ends.
To answer your question, my main focus is solely deletion. However, if the CA's are unwilling to settle, I feel like I will need to show that I have been harmed. In addition, how can I show that the CA never reported an item being "in dispute" without providing the credit report. Am I allowed to introduce my credit report while blacking out other information? Again, thanks for the continued insight.
Got an idea... If you pull your reports online, there is usually a summary portion. Then you have the ability to click into the individual accounts to get more information. I would use this approach first...print the detail pages. Have your full reports on hand...you will need to prove that denial letters were in fact attributed to the neg info you are suing for. But, if you can get away with only showing individual details, go for it. Dont forget to black out acct #'s and other info on your reports...just in case. Now, since you just want deletion, I suggest reading some of the other boards as well as this one to find a good ITS letter for this very case...CA verifies with cra and doesnt validate...usually does end with deletion. check this board too...they have some great info as well. http://www.creditboards.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2 I think someone just did this with sears or something...read over the posts.
