I have seen a lot of people post about this lately. It appears TU is using this method to combat CHOD. Using this to try to blow-off the average consumer, or people that responded to some type of 'free credit repair kit' offer. (I saw one of these signs today) I think you should try to get TU to send you one of these letters. Keep your original dispute as generic as possible, maybe even make a form on your pc, with all the relevant information left blank. Then print it and fill in the blanks by hand. Don't sign! You want the csr at TU to be 100% positive you are using a CRO. Make sure you pay for the CRRR with a debit or credit card. If you have more than one CRRR going out, pay for them one at a time. You want a separate receipt for each one. This receipt will be your proof to the Judge you did not use a CRO. Therefore TU failed to respond to your 100% legal dispute in 30 days. It is a business decision on their part to determine if you are using a CRO or not, and sometimes business decisions are wrong. In these cases their wrong decision is going to get the TL deleted for you, and maybe even get you a $1000. Make sure your ITS letter stresses that fact that you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you did not use a CRO. Your 30 days are up, delete are go to court. Hopefully for most they will just delete. If I am missing something here please chime in. Greg
How does one prove a negative, that one did not use a CRO? You can't What you CAN prove is that TU's determination that you were using one is UNREASONABLE. And I think that would be achieved by making sure that one's letters were as distinctively one's own as possible. Don't use any sentences or phrases that are not industry terminology. Paraphrase any lettter templates you decide to use. Maybe print the letter on pink paper with hearts and flowers patterns around the edges. Add perfume (some of the reps at the CRAs are chemically sensitive!--they'll be out on workers comp for weeks). Then if you do get a CRO blowoff letter and you decide to sue, make sure you're so well-versed in the law and the facts that the judge knows you know your stuff--no outside help needed. And, for good measure, you can grill the representative of TU as to whether the letter's language tracked with any other letters they've received ... if they even checked against others before sending a CRO blowoff letter.
I'd like add a few points to this... TU will bump any small claims to federal court so ya better know your shiznit there... also you can sue for injunctive relief as well which really should be what your going for... the FCRA says they must investigate or delete. I imagine once you get an injunction any fight TU would have left in them would quickly dissapate and they would be more than happy to settle for permanent deletion.
What if you sue in state court under both federal law, and state law? Would that be bumped? You can also tie your CRRR letter to the Certified receipt by including the certified number on your letter before you seal it up. Just pick up a few slips at the post office. The certified receipt also includes the postage and date, which you can tie to your post office CC receipt.
This has just happened to me. I will send the ITS letter exactly 35 days after the Return Receipt date. I have two questions: 1) How long should I then wait for a delete (or correspondance from them since I won't know if there's a delete) before going to the court house and filing? 2) What do I do if they just go ahead and say all of my disputed items were verified.....after the 30 days have elapsed and in response to my suit filing? Can I still sue them saying that they completed that after the mandatory 30 days? And if so, how do I prove that? Thank you for your help.
Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" I think you want to keep the debt out the picture at this point. The law say investigate with-in 30 days or delete. It was their decision not to investigate, so now they have to suffer the consequences. They don't delete, you sue because they broke the rules of the FCRA. These laws were created to protect the consumer. You. Even if it was really your debt, that is not the issue at this point. They broke the rules, delete or pay up.
Another CRA, I think Exp, is being sued in federal under a class action lawsuit for not investigating disputes by CRO's. Maybe send TU a copy of the complaint and tell them they better investigate or they will be next????
The case is: Taylor, et al. v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Butch, Kickman posted about a class action against Exp about a month ago. It was filed in the 9th district in Santa Ana, I *think* in October. I only know what it was about because I called up the counsel representing the plaintiffs, Stull Stull and Brody. These guys pretty much only do class actions involving securities. I guess they thought it would be lucrative to do one against Exp for failing to investigate disputes from consumers using CRO's.
Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" Yes, but they can fudge on the verified dates and move them back so that it looks like they were completed w/i the 30 days. How do I prove it? How long after I send the ITS letter should I wait to file suit? 20 days after I mail it?
Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" If you have daily credit reports from some place like privacy guard, you will be able to show that the disputed items were never marked 'in-dispute' in the 30 days from when you got your green card back. If they never marked them in dispute, then they never investigated. If they claim they investigated but did not mark the items in-dispute, then that is another violation.
Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" Of course it doesn't. TU will argue that CROs generate frivolous disputes by the bushelful, and that they shouldn't have to process the whole haystack on the off-chance that there's a valid needle in there. A judge might give them a break on the grounds that if the letter looks like a CRO letter, TU's response is reasonable.
Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" What 'whole' haystack? The only reason a consumer would use a 'CRO' is because they cannot simply defend themselves on their own without statutes and case law which may require the help of others to interpret them. The law states every dispute must be investigated, it doesn't matter whether a conusmer is represented by an advocate or not. In addition, if a judge agrees to that, it would also open the door for all disputes to be considered frivolous and we would never again get an inaccurate TL off our reports. Poor CRAs. Oh well, that's the cost of conducting a frivolous business!
Re: Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" i don't have privacy guard, unfortunately. maybe i'll have to get it for this.
Re: Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" I received the same letter back in Dec. Since 30 days was coming, I thought I would call TU to see whats up, since it would be too late for them to begin a dispute and finish it in time. TU rep tells me when I asked why I recieved the letter "you referenced case law in your letter, which now triggers the CRO letter. Don't worry, we are still investigating your disputes! Darn it!
Re: Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" Go to the CRA with representation and you're considered bad. Go to the courthouse without representation and the judge might appoint one for you, because you're considered bad if you go to court without representation. Anyone can represent themselves when dealing with credit repair - I strongly recommend it. But no one should be punished for employing representation. The judge might not like my ambulance-chasing attorney, but he also should not deny me "due process" because of my decision to hire a particular attorney to represent me. I desire due-process from the CAs and CRAs - whther I represent myself or hire someone to do the work for me!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TU's "You are using a CRO response" When I was in the personal injury trade, we liked to think of ourselves as ambulance catchers.
The "CRO" response letter (legally) has nothing to do with the dispute (and its validity!). The CRA is REQUIRED to INFORM you that you have the LEGAL RIGHT to do all the same things a CRO does. This is INTENDED to be a "Consumer Awareness" move (initiated by the FTC) to HELP the consumer. The dispute is still valid, sending you a CRO letter does NOT relieve them of the legal requirement to investigate your dispute. Do NOT let them blow you off with this type of response. I would send them a response "thanking them" for their "concern" and "information", but REASSURE THEM, that you are NOT using a CRO!!
