Hello Folks, Several weeks back, I had a item inserted on my report from Benificial Tax Masters. Here is the rundown of what happened. In January of 1999 I filed an one of those rapid refunds with HR Block. I recieved a check from Benificail Tax Masters in anticipation of a return from the IRS. Everything seemed fine and them about 6 months later I recieved a dunn from a Ben Tax masters, saying that my account was in collection and way over due. Until this time, I had recieved no documentation from anyone saying that they did not recieve a check from the goverment in return for my anticipated return. I immediately checked my credit report to find this item on there ruining my credit as a collection account. I then called Benificial Tax Masters and asked them what was going on. They told me that they never recieved a check from the government to cover the cost of the loan. I was never made aware of this up to this point. I then asked why I was never notified, they said they did (a big LIE). Anyway, I called the government and they told me that the U.S dept of education had accidently had them hold back my return as payment for a student loan that I was overdue on. They later found out it was an error and credited my student loan account for the amount. They refused to give me a check, they would only credit my account. They also refused to support their claim with any documentation. After all of this, I called back Ben Tax Masters and spoke with a collection manager. I told hem that first, I never recieved any notification of this matter secondly, it was not my fault to begin with. The collection manager was actually nice enough to send me a letter stating that if I paid them back, they would remove the entire collection tradeline as an error on their part. He did this and also sent me a letter after I paid it stating that they would remove the tradeline from all the credit bureaus. It has been about three years now and the negative item is now showing up on my report as a new PAID COLLECTION ACCOUNT. I contacted them and they said that they would remove it, but have not done so. I called Tran Union and explained to them that it was an error. They told me that they would investigate it. They are saying that it has come back as verified. To top it all off, I was turned down for one credit card offer I had sent out previous to my knowledge of this. Today I recieved a letter form Fleet, they are dropping my credit line from$10,000 to 6,000, due to a recent audit of my credit status. This was due to a serious delinquent account being reported on my Trans Union report. It is the one and only negative account being reported on any of my credit reports. My score has dropped from a steady 720 to a whopping 530. I want to file a agianst someone, but I am not sure how I should go about it and who to name in my case. I have seen Lizard Kings letters in the past, but I am having little luck searching for them. Any help is appreciated..any pointers... Thanks
GoDaddyo LTNS! You got 'em. All you have to do now is send the procedural request to the CRA so that you get a detailed account of who at Benificial Tax Masters was contacted, when and how (phone/mail etc). If they respond, you have the whole trail and with your credit denial, a sure bet to win some damages in court. You will probably end up suing Benificial Tax Masters because you will find that their "auto report" or tape is feeding your listing to the CRA and ruining your credit...and you have the letter saying they should have removed it. Slam Dunk. When the listing gets removed...have the CRA re-send your report to the company that denied you and get reviewed for the account again without a Hard Inquiry you could get the account. Good Luck, and glad to see you back. -Peace, Dave
Dave, Thanks, It is good to be back. This board is so addictive and If I had more time, I would post here more often. I did send a letter to the CRA to back up my online dispute. I will send a letter for procedure right away ( I forgot all about those!!!). I will file in small cliams court and I was wondering If I just name the company and address or do I need to put an actual name of a rep from the company? I am not sure what type of damages I should ask for from a creditor. Should I ask for the amount of credit line I have lost? Thanks again!
BTW, I would totally agree that it is more than likely BT Masters fault. After all, why would a tradeline pop up for no reason with Trans Union, when it was removed three years ago. I realize that CRAs screw up, but I would bet it was Ben Tax Masters updating their files.
Find the registered agent of the company from your State Secretary...I have used this site to direct others to information on State Secretaries and RA's online and offline. Make sure you serve them correctly. Also search for Lizardking's post on small claims court and proper venue (not sure if it is in the FAQ). As for amount to sue....sue for the max in small claims court. Add the violations at $1000 per. Claim the credit denial will hurt you from the hard inquiry. How??? - In getting credit for the next 2 years (the length it stays on your report)...take in a section of the FICO score website where it describes inquiries affect 10% of your credit decision. Also you could claim that after your credit denial, you had to pass up XXXXX (cheap car/great house or anything really) because you could NOT apply for ANYTHING credit related until you cleared this thing up which is their fault...make the whole thing add up to way more than the small claims maximum, but state that you could only sue for the maximum of $xxx. Let the judge tell you that you sued for too much -Peace, Dave
Dave, I will be searching for Lizard kings info. I used my Secretary of states website and found that the agent is located in my state. Does this make it easier to file in my local courts? I always thought that an agents name was filed under a real persons name. In this case it is a corporation. It is only about an hour away from my city. Time for me to do some homework... Thanks,
There are co's. such as CT Corp that act as authorized agents for large corps for the sole purpose of accepting service of process. Just address your complaint to Tax Masters c/o authorized agent. Also, don't forget you have actual damages of $4000 because of fleet.
LKH, Thanks. I am looking up their corporate info. They have branches all over the place and one is actually in my city. Since I did find their agent is only about 40 miles away. I am wondering if I should name both, the branch and the agent in the lawsuit. Would this circumvent any venue issues?
I don't think you will have any venue issues to begin with, but, if it makes you more comfortable with it by all means list everybody who should be at the party. LOL
Honestly, I would sue them in Federal court. There are damages of $4,000 alone for the drop in your credit limit. Just something to think about.
First I would like to thank everyone for the encouragement and advice. I would also like to ask another question. After looking through my letters from three years ago, I realized that there is nothing on them that indicates that it was an error on the part of Ben Tax masters or the IRS for that matter. I do have two letters stating that they would remove the information, one is a letter confirming reciept of my payment and acknowledging that the items would be removed from the credit reproting agencies. Nothing indicates neglect on their part. My question is "What is going to stop them from telling the court that the account was sent off to collection for non payment and that they are reporting the correct information". Will the letter stating that they will remove it after they recieve my payment, good enough?" thanks,
Here is an update. Spoke with Recovery Department that I worked with originally about this debt. The head of the department is telling me that it was a courtesy on their part to remove the negative information in the first place. I explained the situation once again to this person. I told him that I cashed the anticipated refund in February of 1998. I never recieved any notice or dunn in regards to this matter until 9/21/1999. If you are familiar with this type of transaction (and I would never recommend it unless you are desperate), you also understand that they are supposed to recieve payment from the IRS. They never recieved it and they never notified me until over a year later that they didn't. By that time they had ruined my credit with a collection insertion on my credit file. The department is telling me that they re-sent the information agian electronically on 7/16/02 to Trans Union. This person actually had the nerve to tell me that I had a contractual obligation to pay him and that was the end of the story. The problem is that they have to notify someone before they charge it off or send it out to collection. Does anyone no what law requires them to notify someone that payment is due. They are a creditor and I am not sure what laws apply to their being required to notify someone of a debt. I guess they could say that they did, but what proof do they have to provide? I am guessing that it is their normal business procedure.. Thanks again.
Hun, do yoursdelf a favor, get to Radio Shack and start taping these conversations. You'll be real happy then. And have more (my fave word)... LEVERAGE. You have proof that you paid it, so that means a lot.
I thought that recording a conversation is not permissable in court unless the person on the other end accepts it too and give the concent? The only way the court will accept a recording is if someone left a message in your answering machine with details, and you use the actual tape. Will someone please correct me if I am wrong.
