I did the Lizardking validation letter to the collection agency for my paid collection account that was not mine. The paid collection was removed from my Experian and Equifax reports (it was not on TU). I never received a reply from the CA, not did I receive anything from either EX or EQ. Should they have sent me anything? Should I insist on something in writing or just let it go? I am concerned because this thing popped up on my credit reports for the first time 2 years after it was paid off and it was only for $50. I got a letter from the creditor saying they had never dealt with me and sent it to the CA.
In light of some recent developments here on Creditnet, it's not at all surprising that TU did not remove while the others did. I think we are likely to see a lot more of that trend in the very near future. I hope I'm wrong, but there are some things going on that leads me to that conclusion. Yes, they all should have replied. No, I would not recommend that you insist on the CA's reply but I would send a follow up letter to the CRAs which included a photo copy of your original request for verification. Insisting on a repy from the CA could end up being to your great disadvantage later but that would not be so with the credit bureaus. Of course you should have been very concerned. Are you sure you worded that last part correctly? Seems awful strange to say the least that a creditor would claim they never dealt with you and then send the non-existant account to a collection agency. That would be highly illegal and would put them in great danger of you filing a lawsuit against them they could not possibly hope to defend. So that's why I'm asking if you might not have made some error you didn't intend to make when you posted.
Did you ever have it investigated with the credit reporting agencies? If so, they owe you an update showing it was deleted. If not, then the will not send you anything. Just like they didn't send you anything to show it was there in the first place. Most collection agencies do not respond to validation letters in my experience. They just drop it and move on... what you need to do it hold on to the original letter from the creditor because often the collection agency will sell the account to another company who can come knocking later trying to get the same debt.
Thanks for the replies. Bill: TU reported it briefly in March but dropped it off when I asked them to verify it. The problem here is with the CA mixing me up with someone else - same name. But they were unwilling to admit it. The creditor was great - they were willing to give me the letter saying they had not dealt with me. I don't think they sent the collection to the CA - this is all a mistake on the part of the CA. BKEv: I did the verification bit with EQ and EX, sending them the creditor letter. But, they went straight to the CA, who verified. Totally ignored the creditor and his letter. Both sent me a new credit report and a statement that they verified with the CA. That;'s when I sent the Creditor letter to the CA with the validation letter. It was impossible for them to validate. So, with that in mind, do EQ and EX owe me notification of some type? I have Credit expert so I know it is off the EQ report. I am pretty sure it is off EX but don't really want to pay for a report. Ex always gives me a hard time when I ask for a report so I would rather not deal with them.
No... you started an investigation, they completed it with verification and provide you with the results. Unfortunately, they are not required to send you a report when any account is updated, inserted or deleted. To make matters worse, I don't think they would have put the block on having the account inserted later. If it had gone 30 days, they would have. But what caused it to be removed with a collection agency update... so no block.
Since it appears to me that Bkev has come forth with some pretty good comments as he often does, I'll just leave it be at that with the single exception to comment that you might have some grounds for suit against the CA for defaming you if you cared to pursue the matter. Of course, you would have to ask an attorney qualified and experienced in consumer law to find out. I wouldn't make a pimple on an attorney's nose, so I can't tell you. It's just a suggestion that you might want to look into further.
Tom: Seems to me that Bkev is absolutely correct. The only time I can see is that they have to report is within 5 days of a re-insertion. For a look at the portion of the law dealing with that, click here
TU ALWAYS sends an updated report when I dispute. I LOVE TU!!!!!!!!! If you drink Bud Light and eat smarties at the same time, you lose all feeling in your tounge!
I wouldn't know about that. I've never even found my tounge yet. Where Oh Where has my little tounge gone? Where OH Where could it beeeeeeeeeee?? Sorry, not a slam, just couldn't resist that one. LOL
yes Anna, it is. I wasn't trying to slam you for a simple typo, however. The part about looking for what don't exist was what tripped my trigger. Don't worry about it, if we don't misspell something, we are likely to make a simple typo anyway somewhere along the line. I have never slammed anyone over spelling or typo errors yet for the simple reason that it's not nice in the first place and in the second place some people don't know how to spell some words and some people are just prone to make typing errors and not notice them. Lot's of reasons actually. But it sure isn't nice to slam them over it. But the thought of trying to find my tounge just seemed hilarious at the moment. LOL
