After pulling my CR last year, I found a CA collecting for my veterinarian. Long story short, I had no knowledge of the item, but I paid my vet directly thinking "no big deal", (this is before I knew better). Now that I know better, I asked my vet to contact the CA and ask them to remove the item. He called me tonight and told me the CA said "NO". They told him they could not remove information once it was reported to a CRA. My vet is a very nice man and has offered to help me any way he can. I disputed this item(not mine) with the CRA"s last week....so I still have 3 weeks to see if it comes off. Any advice???
I was just told today by a CSR at EXP that an OC can remove the listing of a CA. Don't know if that's really true, but might be worth checking out with the CRA.
Hi Boho, Welcome to the board. Your situation should be easily resolved, especially since the Doc is co-operative. Here's a similar situation with Kathy. http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43036 Exerpt: "Okay long story...please bear with me. My husband has a collection for a veterinary hospital for 259.00 on all CR's. I called the vet's office to find out which pet he took in and never paid the bill for. They couldn't tell me...all the file said was an orange cat. I called my husband. Come to find out he did not take the pet in...one of our "lovely", goody-two shoes nibby neighbors did. Was it our pet? NO! it was a stray cat that she ASSUMED was ours and took it in because it looked like it was ill. Essentially you just need to have the Doc withdraw the account as "Submitted In Error", (assuming it's an assignment). This triggers an automatic deletion. The CA is required to check with the OC, (the Vet.). before responding to the dispute. In so doing the CA should get word that the Doc wishes the account removed. If that fails, I'd make up the letter for the Doc, walk into his office and ask him to sign it, and tell him you'll take care of the rest. Once you have this, let us know and we'll show you how to proceed. I'd make my letter now and go see the doc for signature while it's fresh in his mind. Chances are the CA with verify the account to [at least one of] the CRA's. In other words, chances are you'll need the letter. I'd rather see ya have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Oh, then I'd suggest to the Doc he find a new collector. This one is gonna get him into a jam, just a matter of time.
"TO CRA(S) I am JOHN DOES vet...I asked the COLLECTION AGENCY (XXXXXXXX) to remove the notation on his credit report since I have long since been paid...the COLLECTION AGENCY has refused my request and his. Please assist my customer with the removal of this account" THANK YOU MARK J SMITH DVM 17402 PARK PLACE LOS ANGELES CA (310) 285-2578
Besides losing the VETS business...I wonder if the CA can have some ADVERSE ACTION by the CRA??? FOR THE WILLFUL NON-COMPLIANCE???
I think rather than stating he "has long since been paid" you might reword that to say it was a billing error. By saying it has since been paid, a person may read that to mean it was a collection, but later paid. They won't remove it on that interpretation.
Same exact thing happened to me BOHO. The VET called CA, IC Systems, and they refused to delete. I was there when the office manager called. So, like Butch said, a letter was typed up, explaining billing error and to delete the account that the VET signed, and I sent this letter into the CRA, EXP. Of course, the EVIL EXP could care less about evidence, and since this account was already investigated twice by them, they wouldn't reinvestigate. So, next I sent validation to the CA (it was a paid account...go figure) and within about a week, they sent a copy of the UDF to delete. Remember, CRA's are required (despite what they say) to consider evidence, and to provide this over to the CA within 5 days. So, hopefully, if you have the letter from the VET, they will do this and the CA will likely delete.
Thank you all for your help. I've been lurking around on this board for some time. Most of my questions have been answered by reading all the threads. I believe the debt was assigned. On my EQ , there is a date that the debt was "assigned".
Cinderella, The CA we are dealing with is I.C. Systems. Isn't it a small world. Thank you for the advice.
I'm probably being overly simplistic here, but . . . If it's assigned, can't the vet officially pull back the assignment? Once it's officially "unassigned" can they legally continue to report on a debt they are in no way associated with? (I realize that some CA's aren't generally hindered by little things like legalities.) Just curious as to the mechanics of assignment.
Boho, I suspected it was IC Systems....they seem to handle a lot of collection accounts for vet's. They are **pretty** tenacious. They always verified the account with EXP (got deleted off EQ) and the VET's office and myself got nowhere with them through phone calls requesting deletion. In case you don't have it, here is the addy I used for mailing that I recieved a rather quick response to: I. C. System, Inc. 444 E. Highway 96 P.O. Box 64639 St. Paul, MN 55164 Good Luck!
Once it's officially "unassigned" can they legally continue to report on a debt they are in no way associated with?
Re: Re: CA won't remove even after OC asks "TO CRA(S) I am JOHN DOES vet...I asked the COLLECTION AGENCY (XXXXXXXX) to remove the notation on his credit report since it is being reported in error...the COLLECTION AGENCY has refused my request and his. Please assist my customer with the removal of this account" THANK YOU MARK J SMITH DVM 17402 PARK PLACE LOS ANGELES CA (310) 285-2578
Re: Re: CA won't remove even after OC asks I don't know if you want to put in the---->WILLFUL NON-COMPLIANCE
Re: Re: CA won't remove even after OC asks update: My vet sent me a letter stating that the collection was in error. That he had requested the item removed from my credit report , that IC systems refused. Today I received a letter from IC Systems stating that they were going to update the item to paid. I called them(I know a big mistake) In hopes we could resolve this painlessly. I spoke to an obiviously miserable person at IC Systems who told me to hire an attorney and hung up. I'd love to sue them in small claims, I'm going through FDPCA and FCRA looking to rack up violations. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Re: Re: Re: CA won't remove even after OC asks REMOVAL IS NOT CHANGING TO PAID Call the CRA and ask for an update on the REMOVAL...
Re: Re: Re: CA won't remove even after OC asks Tell us which strategy you want. § 623 [15 USC 1681s_2 "B"]. (b) Duties of furnishers of information upon notice of dispute. (1) In general. After receiving notice pursuant to section §611(a)(2) [§ 1681i] of a dispute with regard to the completeness or accuracy of any information provided by a person to a consumer reporting agency, the person shall ... blah § 611(a)(2) [§ 1681i]]. (2) Prompt notice of dispute to furnisher of information. (A) In general. Before the expiration of the 5-business-day period beginning on the date on which a consumer reporting agency receives notice of a dispute from any consumer in accordance with paragraph (1), the agency shall provide notification of the dispute to any person who provided any item of information in dispute, at the address and in the manner established with the person. The notice shall include all relevant information regarding the dispute that the agency has received from the consumer. (B) Provision of other information from consumer. The consumer reporting agency shall promptly provide to the person who provided the information in dispute all relevant information regarding the dispute that is received by the agency from the consumer after the period referred to in subparagraph (A) and before the end of the period referred to in paragraph (1)(A).
