Sorry about that, Dmystified. Looking at your issue, how old is the account? There are 2 Statute of Limitations to be concerned with. The first is specified by the FCRA which is SOL for reporting - 7 years. The second is SOL for Collection - The legal meaning for statute of limitations for collection is: THE TIME OF COMMENCING ACTIONS-Time allowed that litigation-lawsuit can be brought. This depends on the state you live in. I would write the OC and have them send you a letter that the account is closed and has zero balance and has been paid as agreed. Second, I would send the CA an Intent to Sue (ITS) letter stating that you are suing them for FACTA/FDCPA violations. Enclose the letter from your OC. Tell them they have 5 business days to remove the TL or the next communication will be a Summons. Send this to their RA as well. Send a letter to the CRA's disputing the TL as obsolete and include the letter from the OC as well. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE DOCUMENTATION AND YOUR DUCKS ARE IN A ROW BEFORE CONTACTING THE CA.
Argento, I don't quite understand why they would need me to produce a letter from the OC when the OC's positive statement is right on my report. All that should be needed is for them (the CRA) to take a second look at it and compare it to what the CA is claiming. Or for the CA to take a good look at the statement and go away in shame. D
What you may have here is a "contract law" issue. The OC may have written off a balance on the contract, and then somewhere sold off this balance to a CA. ( a case of left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing..) Start from the beginning of the trail; call the OC and inquire what they perceive the status to be. Request documentation of the status (paid, balance due, etc.). Find out what happened with the contract. Be "prudent", and send another "validation request" to the CA, but insert the specific language that you "dispute this debt as not yours", and that to date they have not supplied reasonable evidence of your legal responsibility for it. This is a case where language of "Intent To Sue" language should be added, and you should mean it. If you are not comfortable starting a suit on your own, then find an atorney. Contact your state's Bar Association for a referral.
Argento, I just learned an amazing but not surprising fact. The OC on this alleged balance-due went bankrupt in 2003, which is after I had paid and closed my account with them, and there is no way now to get any statement from them. Even if I could write or call them, wouldn't they just have me point to their entry on my CR, in order to show the CA and CRA what they say about the account I had with them? This is just like the other one I finally got rid of -- they were bogusly representing a company who had gone out of business and with whom I had paid in full. But the wheels on the bus continue to go round and round as these people sell all this to the next guy and then the next. It has happened to me already, several times. I cannot pay an attorney the retainer they want, and I do not want to entrench myself further into the world system by playing right into the 'take 'em to court' game; what I'm trying to do is extricate myself from it and then not re-enter it again. After many years of dealing with these things, observing what happens to others, and thinking deeply about it all, this is a sick world with a sick system and it's best not to be part of it! I'll go back to using good old fashioned reliable ca$h from now on, and like my grandfather used to tell me years ago, "If you can't pay for it with cash, you can't afford it". I know he lived in a much different world, but it is up to us today to decide the world we will tolerate or not. He never bought even a car that he didn't pay cash for, and he built his own home from scratch and never went into debt over it. I think we have let all this get out of control. Also........ writing to Attorneys General, Consumer Protection Agencies, etc., etc., obviously does nothing whatsoever. There have been so many class action lawsuits against the company on my report, and so many many many many complaints to state and federal authorities, yet like the energizer bunny, they remain in business unscathed and unharmed. They're all in this together and I want no part of it. I strongly feel that my best recourse now towards any person who might need to check my credit rating for some reason such as my wanting to rent an apartment, etc., is to show them the letters I've written and all the websites, blogsites and lawsuit sites against this company, and ask them to believe 'me' instead of the obviously dishonest CA. I'm sure this is not your advice, and that is okay; it is just the way I'm going to do this at my age and at this point in my life with my health and finances as they are. D
Dmystified, It sounds like you are dealing with JDB (Junk Debt Buyer)/CA's. Also there's a lot of confusion around your situation because it got mixed in with the original post. We need to clarify things and get the facts straightened out. Aslo, is there a time constraint or urgency (getting a loan, for example) on your part? Having more information now, you might want to start a new thread with more focus, but I'm not sure what the protocol is here. As I mentioned in an earlier post you've got to get the emotion out of this, it's going to take time and JDB/CA's are bottom feeders who fight a war of attrition and use the CR's as a way to inflict pain and suffering until the consumer cries uncle! You are saying that the account is closed and is several years old. Correct? You are also saying that the OC went into BK. You say that the OC on the account list $0 Balance and Pays as Agreed, Account Closed on Consumers Request. When did you pay this account off? Do you have any canceled checks for the pay off? Do you have any statements showing that you paid the account off? How did you close the account - verbally or in writing? Now there are 2 CA's claiming that they are collecting debt on this account. Right? Are they both trying to collect on the same debt, and are they both showing up on your CR's along with the original TL listed by the OC? The CA/JDB's probably bought the OC's account receivables at a discount as part of the OC's BK proceeding. PERHAPS, they got you confused with another consumer. Perhaps they are playing fast and loose with the law. We need more information. What are the names of the OC and the two JDB/CA's? 1. What is the outstanding balance on the account shown by each CA? 2. Is the account number on the OC listing the same as that shown by the CA's? 3. Are they showing it as a Charged Off? 4. Are they showing when was it charged off? 5. When did the OC file BK? The only leverage that you have here are the facts that you can gather in support of your position and then using those in an ITS letter. They only respond to the notion of being sued. I understand that hiring a lawyer is expensive, but you don't need a lawyer to get their attention with an ITS letter. Also, if all is as you say, your states attorney general and the AG of the states where these CA's are incorporated are GREAT allies. This helped me to get a TL deleted listed by a notorious CA/JDB. I did what I'm suggesting to you and the CA/JDB capitulated when their state AG wrote to them. Provide more details and let's see what we can do to help you. A
