I have an account being listed on my Experian report that I have been trying for about 6 months to get rid of. About 3 months ago, the CA partially validated the debt. Can I bring them to court? Sure. But, even if I win, that doesn't mean they are required to remove their listing especially in Small Claims Court. Sure, they may have some violations but when it comes down to it, Experian will NOT remove any accounts (at least that is what they told me 12 different times) unless either the CA doesn't respond to a dispute OR the CA tells them to delete OR the CA sends me a letter on their letterhead saying it will be deleted and I forward that to Experian. I have disputed this account 5 times now through Experian and they keep verifying. Although they only partially validated, since I believe this debt may be mine, I sent both the OC and the CA a letter stating I would pay the debt for complete removal from my credit report. Both declined and said it would be updated to reflect paid but would remain. So I can't pay them off. Sending letters to Experian showing they can't completely validate is useless (as stated above) because I tried that twice. Disputing it online and through the mail is useless as I did that 5 times. I am wondering if anyone knows of a new loophole or something that I may be able to exploit? Or, a contact person that would be able to help me out at Experian that WOULD remove the account after seeing only a partial validation. In my phone call adventures with Experian, I did end up getting one person's name who said that, if I send him the stuff, he would look into it and he gave me his name and extension. I called back and talked to four other people asking for their extensions and they said, we don't have extensions sir. So either this guy was higher than everyone else or it was another waste of my time. I kind of wish I would have kept it just to try to dispute it again but I didn't. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions? In summary, disputed 5 times through Experian, all verified. Sent Experian two letters showing they only partially validated, all verified. Send the CA and OC a request to pay in exchange for the removal of their entry, they so NO. Even if I do get some money from the CA in court, that could still leave the entry hanging which will do nothing for me.
The CA, OC, or Experian? Can you elaborate a little more? I am thinking you mean, you want to make it such a headache on the CA that they will just remove the entry to avoid the headache. However, if I do file suit, they will go to court over it. I am almost positive. Not because they are really smart but rather because they are really dumb. The CA is a home run business. It is very small with two employees. I know this for sure. Now, because of this, they have no knowledge about the FCRA, FDCPA, etc and will go to court thinking they did absolutely nothing wrong. They believe since they partially validated they are all set. They however have no idea that updating their tradeline as disputed 3 months late or verifying the debt twice w/o obtaining original account documents is a violation of the law. They think, well, since this debt is his, we can't possibly lose. So they will fight this one I am sure. They believe I am suing to get the debt removed from my credit reports so they think they will walk in there with an account history and say, see, he owes us this money. They are mistaken though. However, the problem is this...even if I sue and win, the OC still owns all the rights to the debt. So, let's say I do win and the CA says, your too much work. I am removing this debt. What is going to happen is they will return it to the OC and then the OC will assign it to another CA who will then start reporting the debt again...possibly this time to all three vs. just Experian. This is why I believe it is really the OC that I have to go after through the CA. The problem is that the OC is not listing anything on my credit report nor has the OC really done anything wrong. And, since I can't hold the OC accountable for the CA's violations, I am stuck over this. I could go after Experian directly but I hear they are very tough to settle with and will take the matter all the way to court regardless of if they are right or wrong so I think that is out of the question. I read that I should name the OC as a co-defendant even if they didn't do anything wrong and I can't go after them just in hopes that they may settle. And then, right before the case, remove them as co-defendants. Should I do this? I'm also thinking about suing the OC under the Fair Credit Billing Act. The problem is though, it states I must contact the OC within 60 days of receiving my first bill that I dispute. They claim they sent my first bill showing the debt years ago which I never got (I didn't become aware of the debt until it started being listed on my report years later). I am wondering if I should request a new bill and treat this as though it was the first bill and sue them directly under the FCBA. Any suggestions?
