Hello; I need some good advise from people who have sued experian or LVNV Funding. To make the story short, LVNV Funding sued me last year over an account from Sears, I got a dissmisal without prejudice but the account remains in my experian credit report. I have tried to deleted but experian keeps verifying the account as mine even though LVNV Funding have NEVER! validate it the account. Can anyone tell me what's the proccess that I have to follow?? Do I have to send a letter to experian requesting method of verification first before doing anything else? PLEASE HELP!!
My understanding of a "dismissal without prejudice" is that it just means the case was dismissed while the plaintiff is allowed to sue you for the same thing again in the future. Did you send your debt validation to LVNV certified mail with return receipt? If you sent it within the 30-day time period and have proof that they received it, then you can dispute it through Experian with your documentation as proof that the debt shouldn't be reported on your credit reports since it hasn't been validated per the FDCPA. You can also request the MOV at the same time.
It makes no difference that LVNV lost the case they can still claim that you owe the debt. I'm being sued by Capital One and I might win the case. In the unlikely event that should happen I still owe the debt. I'll end up taking the lawyer to federal court and I will probably win the case there but I will still owe the debt and they will still have the right to report it to the credit bureaus Sending letters isn't likely to help much. I have my own methods for dealing with such situations which most around here seem to disagree with. I think that your problems are going to require much more than just sending letters. It seems that you have sent a few of those to no avail so why would more do any better? I'd say you need to start thinking about taking somebody to federal court. That's where the rubber really meets the road.
I totally understand that a dissmissal without prejudice is no a complete victory, but is still a victory.. the statute of limitations on this account already expired. I have sent validation of debt via certified mail and they have not reply. The last thing was that today I called them up and they told me any validation of debt had to go through the third party law firm they hired to manage the account. Well, guess what I called this company and they said that as of last week they closed the account with LVNV.. I called back LVNV and told them that this representative told me that account was closed as last week and can you believe that LVNV told me that I have to wait 30 days for them to receive that information... UNBELIEVABLE! I am contacting a lawyer to sue them. First I want that experian proof the method they use to verify this information first.
I'd go after Experian here. Send them a letter claiming you will sue and report them to the FTC and BBB for not validating this item as required by law. Experian usually buckles once you mention lawsuit, but some of my clients have actually taken their cases to small claims court and won anywhere from 2k-5k. The key is to document everything, send all letters certified mail return receipt requested.
