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Well, Lemberg Law decided not to pursue my case, after about 5 or 6 months of not hearing anything. Should I try to contact a local lawyer, maybe they'll be more communicative? Does anyone know if you have to ask the agency to contact you by mail every single time you send them a letter, or is the first time enough?
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Mar 3, 2016 20:13
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revmoo posted:With it being more than six years old, there's no point in having them validate it. Just write them a certified letter telling them it's a time-barred debt, and that you want all future contact in writing. I'm new to caring about my finances so I'd like to ask how I know if they re-aged the debt? I had a Verizon phone plan when I got a 20% employee discount at Lowe's, which I worked at 6 - 8 years ago (2008-2010) but I've got a 552$ collection from Verizon somehow, and it says April 29th, 2014 as the Opened date for the collection on my credit. Is this some kind of difference where the debt was sold to the company? If so how do I know when exactly it would fall off my credit? If it matters the collector is Pinnacle Collection Services and I have zero clue how my collection is $552. I was near the end of my contract and seem to remember a long angry conversation with the sales rep who said I would be cancelled after a early termination fee. I never received bills or had my accounts drafted for any amount after that and Dumb rear end me never looked at my credit until almost seven years later (Today.) It seems to me that since this all went down in early 2010 that I'm less than a year from it falling off my credit and can just put that $550 toward the principle on my auto loan for a much greater effect but the Opened date being 2014 worried me.
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Mar 20, 2016 07:04
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It should still fall out 7 years 180 days after the date of first delinquency. Collection agencies must still accurately report the date of first delinquency per FCRA 623(a)(5). If it doesn't, you follow the procedures for disputing, documenting it all as you go, and if it stays on then you sue the bastards.
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Mar 20, 2016 07:48
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Yep. Also re-reading my post I think I was incorrect about being able to dispute credit items that are past SoL. Pretty sure they can get away with that if it is under 7 years.
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Mar 20, 2016 16:41
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I am getting collection notices for a CenturyLink account that was never activated. I tried to order their fiber service almost a year ago and long story short nothing ended up happening, except somehow they think I owe them a DSL modem. I thought I had this taken care of months ago (they have notes in their system) but apparently not. My question is, when I talk to CL's collections people, what do I ask for to ensure that this gets removed from my credit report? I assume they have some way of telling the credit agencies that the claim was an error, and I want to make it like this never happened, because it shouldn't have.
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Mar 29, 2016 02:54
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Okay, so I have a bad account on my credit report. This is the situation: I had a CapitalOne card, which I canceled (because they're a bad company to work with) with zero balance. Months after canceling, CapitalOne permitted a charge from Amazon (annual Prime membership fee). This was in March of 2014. I moved addresses and didn't tell CapitalOne since I had no open accounts with them and why the gently caress would I tell them. They sent bills to my old address, which obviously accrued interest for several months until the account charged off in November 2014. I have not gotten any calls from any debt collectors to my knowledge. I can't remember exactly, but I think the only reason this account actually came to my knowledge is because I checked my credit report. I've talked to CapitalOne about this several times on the phone, and ALMOST got it removed one time, but ultimately no luck. What is the best course of action?
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Apr 14, 2016 15:19
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I've had something -kind of- like that happen with capital one, I dealt with it by continuing to badger them until a supervisor removed the charge and cancelled the card. The difference is, it was an unactivated card and despite me calling to close it they kept it open and charged a yearly fee to it, which I found out about after getting a bill 3 years later. Apparently I couldn't cancel it because I couldn't prove I was the person who opened it, but if you bother them enough and say you'll get a lawyer involved they eventually relent.
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Apr 14, 2016 16:43
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Arus posted:if you bother them enough and say you'll get a lawyer involved they eventually relent. Careful with that, a lot of employees are trained to refer a case to legal as soon as someone mentions a lawyer. They might stop talking to you.
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Apr 14, 2016 18:15
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revmoo posted:Careful with that, a lot of employees are trained to refer a case to legal as soon as someone mentions a lawyer. They might stop talking to you. Yeah, it's just what happened in my particular case with the supervisor's supervisor. I'd had enough of arguing with them and had already sent them ample proof and they were still saying they couldn't cancel the card so I just dropped it and they said ok fine we'll cancel it and delete the charge. Granted my step-brother's a lawyer so, I guess I had that in my back pocket and that's why I was comfortable saying that. Moral of the story, keep trying, if you have proof you've tried to cancel then they will eventually fix it. Be polite, explain the entire situation, ask for a supervisor immediately. Probably don't mention lawyers unless you actually plan to consult one, just to be safe. Stay polite, this bears repeating. Arus fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 18:23
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I had a call on my voice mail from someone claiming to be a debt collector today. Basically, the message went 'Hello, this is X with X, and I am calling about a debt, please call me back at X', and so on. It weirds me out that he didn't say my name or give any more information than that. I'm guessing that this means one of two things: 1). There's some sort of law in Washington state that prevents him from giving out personal details in that situation--maybe it's some kind of anti-slander thing? I know there are a lot of laws regarding how a debt collector can behave towards a debtor and that might be one of them. or 2). It's some kind of phishing attempt where the dude calls random numbers and hopes to find someone credulous. In that case I don't want to call him back at all, since I'm not terribly interested in being branded a live one. Googling the number does give me a website and stuff, but that's not really reassuring. I've never really run afoul of a debt collector before (and I'm not sure what debt this could be) so I don't know if this is a law thing or a skeeve thing. Any ideas?
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May 11, 2016 10:32
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Call back, run through the typical validation and mail-only spiel, then ask for their full company name and location. Go to that state's Secretary of State business search and check and see if they're a real corporation. For extra fun, do this while your on the phone with them and if it turns out they're not a legally registered business ask them why that might be.
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May 11, 2016 11:23
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The warning: NEVER LET SOMEONE ELSE USE UTILITIES IN YOUR NAME EVER. EVER. NEVER COSIGN EITHER. The Details: My mom died and I got the gently caress out of the shithole I used to live in. My remaining family, stepdad and sister, were hard up. I figured I could let them move into the apartment I was moving out of since I had a month left on the lease and my landlord didn't do any kind of check for credit - cancer is an expensive way to die and my stepdad got hosed by that - and even left my cable/tv/etc on in my name. Stepdad bounced checks and never told me. Neither did Comcast.  I get a letter just after Christmas last year from "AFNI" saying I owe $1403. I poo poo myself then call them, they say "gently caress you pay me, or call Comcast." After I call comcast and scream as loud as a nuclear explosion at them and then my stepfather, I call back ask them what could possibly make them charge me that loving much. Apparently early termination fees for the 'deal' I had compounded with the late fees from the bounced checks and equipment non return fees blah blah blah. Since my stepdad said that the stuff was "returned" - someone came and took them - I ask them to check if the stuff is there, and what should I do to keep it off the credit report. "Wait until we do our inventory investigation ticket whatever, then pay." January rolls around. "OK, so you dropped it to a barely painful $975. Do I have to pay it off all at once or can I just make a payment now and the rest in February? I can pay it now if I have to - do I have to? Tell me what I have to do to keep this off the credit report, please." "Just pay something this month and the rest next month and you'll be fine." I make them tell me a minimum number and pay $25. Next month as I'm about to pay the $950 I said I would I notice AFNI slam my credit. I call Comcast and ask why the hell this happened, and say I want this deleted, since I did what they said, and I explicitly asked, repeatedly, what to do to keep it off my credit report, since AFNI wouldn't work with me on the amount owed even though I didn't actually owe what Comcast said I did. "Just pay and it we will take care of it." I ask, repeatedly, explicitly, if it will be DELETED, not marked as paid, and bring up that I paid when they said and as much as they said after asking, repeatedly, what it would take to not have this poo poo on my credit report. Phone drone said it would be deleted. I pay. Marked as $0 on the credit report.  Just lost all of my leverage.I call in March, explain the whole loving spiel again, and they're told they'll make a ticket. This repeats a few times and nothing happens. April comes and I'm basically just a smoldering ball of rage. I ask for a copy of the recorded conversations since everyone knows these are very much recorded, ask to speak to a supervisor, and have to argue about what deleted versus marked as paid meant. I was told I could expect in 4-6 weeks the recorded calls I asked for and within 2 weeks the deletion. Never happened. I Contest poo poo on the credit reporting agencies. All but Equifax just delete it when I somehow fit this bullshit into 250 characters. I call Comcast today, deal with another idiot on the phone, and finally get a supervisor instead of a "two to twenty-four hour callback" which never happened. I explain the whole load of poo poo again and am given a new ticket number, bla bla escalation. The Question: Given all of this poo poo, is there any worth in getting a lawyer to get rid of this default, or ask for damages? I'd like to get a loving house sometime, I'm 31 already. I'd also like to refinance my car, but if this poo poo keeps up I'll just sell it and get a beater. I honestly should, anyway. Also, is it a bad idea to just contest this every month with equifax and keep calling Comcast every month until my credit isn't hosed? I'd like to think by tying up their phone lines over a long enough time I could cost them what I paid them, but besides being extremely vindictive (I am honestly tbqh) I'm not sure if I'm doing much but taking poo poo out on the twit wearing a headset. Finally, if you do have a default on your credit report, is it still not worth paying it off? One source told me they look at how long it took you to pay it off and how long it was since you paid it off, and others say it's wasting your money unless they negotiate a deletion. Anyway never ever EVER loan money to family since they won't pay you back, and never get utilities in your name and let someone else use them unless you check if they pay basically constantly.
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May 17, 2016 02:24
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revmoo posted:Call back, run through the typical validation and mail-only spiel, then ask for their full company name and location. My GF got a call asking for me not soon after we met. Claims I sold something on Amazon and owe money for a return or whatever. I have never, ever had an Amazon seller account. I call Amazon WTF is going on, and they ask what number called me/my GF and who they said they were. They said they never had any dealings with that company, ever, and they'd refer it to fraud. Not sure if this is related but scumbags gonna scum I guess. I'm still astonished they figured out she knew me.
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May 17, 2016 02:26
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Space Whale posted:The Question: As for Equifax, they suck and don't delete poo poo ever. Having one <$1000 blemish on your credit is barely going to affect it if you're good otherwise. If you have a default on your credit report, paying it off does not improve your FICO score. Finally, it sucks that you went through all of that, but the lesson that keeps getting repeated here is to always get everything in writing. I know it sucks, but there's pretty much nothing more you can do.
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May 17, 2016 16:27
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It's that some dipshit didn't do their job and said I defaulted when I was waiting as told until someone did their own drat inventory, not whether I owed or not. The reason I'm so frustrated is Transunion vs Equifax has a difference of some 70 points.
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May 17, 2016 18:00
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consumerfinance.gov Best place to go if you have a legitimate complaint.
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May 17, 2016 19:54
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Also, How does one get the recordings of the calls, besides a subpoena? What would it cost to subpoena that or file it myself if I don't want a lawyer? I know what I was told.
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May 17, 2016 21:01
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Space Whale posted:Also, A subpoena duces tecum summons a witness to produce documents and testify regarding them. A request for production of documents demands documents and other tangible evidence. You would have to look at your local court's schedule of filing fees to see how much initiating a lawsuit costs. Someone in my jurisdiction would have to pay an initial filing fee of $370 for a civil suit seeking $10,000 to $25,000 in damages, plus $60 for most motions. Discovery takes place before trial and this is where one would request something like recordings of phone conversations. Discovery is also often the most expensive phase of a lawsuit. That does not include the cost of amending a complaint, out-of-state subpoenas, process of service, etc. Filing in small claims court is much cheaper and less complicated, but generally, pretrial discovery is not allowed.
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May 17, 2016 21:31
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To file in small claims and demand they produce the recorded calls would require damages, right? Could I claim higher interest on something?
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May 17, 2016 22:44
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Space Whale posted:It's that some dipshit didn't do their job and said I defaulted when I was waiting as told until someone did their own drat inventory, not whether I owed or not. Also, are those FICO scores or something else?
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May 18, 2016 01:23
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Dik Hz posted:Do you want an honest response, or do you want people to tell you what you want to hear? FICO. Also, it's a 67 point difference, heh. Also yes, I want honesty, not what I want to hear. Space Whale fucked around with this message at 02:42 on May 18, 2016 |
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May 18, 2016 01:43
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Space Whale posted:Also yes, I want honesty, not what I want to hear. You're not going to win in court against this company.
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May 18, 2016 17:34
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Also, the time and money you may pour into the attempt would be far better used and achieve a great deal more if you directed them to directly improving your financial health.
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May 18, 2016 17:49
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Space Whale posted:FICO. Also, it's a 67 point difference, heh. In a year, it'll probably be less than 20 points.
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May 19, 2016 03:03
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Dik Hz posted:In a year, it'll probably be less than 20 points. Oh, well then. How do lenders look at "hey you're good in all but one bureau?" Do they shrug or do they ask or does it make them go by your lowest score?
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May 20, 2016 00:44
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Space Whale posted:Oh, well then. Most lenders use one bureau of their choosing and order a score package (there are like 70 different ficos lmao) that fits what they are selling.
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May 20, 2016 02:15
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Oh, huh, just avoid Equifax. Fine with me "Shopping around" shouldn't affect your score, right? When the time comes to refi something or get a house, I'll just avoid ones that use the 'Fax, and you really should shop around anyway, right? I guess everything did turn out ok.
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May 23, 2016 00:36
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So going to the BBB resolved it. Account Exec whatever called me and said they'd delete it all. ?
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May 24, 2016 19:29
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Space Whale posted:Oh, huh, just avoid Equifax. On mortgages and refi's, they always pull all 3. Shopping around doesn't affect your score. If you get multiple hard pulls for the same reason (auto loan or mortgage), it doesn't affect your score any more than a single hard pull in that period.
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May 25, 2016 02:06
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I have a general credit reporting question and I didn't want to create a new thread, I think this fits here. It was mentioned above that a creditor usually checks one of the three credit reporting agencies when someone applies for credit. If that person is behind or defaults, does the creditor report this to just one of the agencies (the one they used initially) or do they generally report it to all three major CRA's?
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May 31, 2016 13:43
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In late February / early March, I got a letter about a debt I apparently owed from a surgery a year and a half ago. I sent a validation letter, got there early March according to the certified mail tracking number. End of May they finally send validation back. I used the standard CreditInfoCenter letter saying that they had 30 days to respond or else "all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately." Since it was well over a month between my letter being received and their response being sent, do I just send them another letter pointing that out and telling them to pound sand? Does it mean that they can sell the debt on down the line, or is that that for that debt? It's <$20, I really don't care about the money, I just don't want my credit score to get hit. They did say that nothing had been reported to the credit bureaus yet in their response letter. I'm not sure if that was specifically in response to that section or if that's just part of the information they always give. I do have the evidence of when my letter was delivered and when theirs was sent, so they can't argue on that end.
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Jun 3, 2016 16:58
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22 Eargesplitten posted:In late February / early March, I got a letter about a debt I apparently owed from a surgery a year and a half ago. I sent a validation letter, got there early March according to the certified mail tracking number. End of May they finally send validation back. I used the standard CreditInfoCenter letter saying that they had 30 days to respond or else "all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately." Your first steps are to verify they own/are authorized to collect this debt and if it's reporting on any of your credit reports. They should have identified the original creditor either in their dunning letter or in their response to your validation letter where you should have told them to ID the OC. You check with the OC to see who it was sold to or who is collecting on their behalf; you may see if OC will accept payment directly and send you a receipt that the account is paid in full. Be sure to pay this in a way that you can track if they "forget" to send you a receipt, but if it's a hospital they tend to have most of their poo poo together. It's worth noting that if you didn't send your validation letter within 30 days after receipt of the dunning letter, the debt is assumed valid. In that case, simply failing to respond to your letter within 30 days (45 if you found out about the debt via free credit check, btw) is not enough to invalidate the debt. Assuming you sent your letter in time and they were obligated to respond in 30, it's up to you to weigh whether you want this popping up on your credit report(s) and going through the headaches and expense of getting it off, keeping in mind by that time the only way you will get it deleted is by proving a reporting violation; paying it after it reports will likely result in a paid in full, which will hurt your credit just as bad as unpaid. If this isn't reporting, it's not hurting your credit yet, and they have nothing to remove. They have no obligation to delete anything from any "credit file" if they keep one; their only obligation is to stop contacting you or stop reporting after failing to verify. If it's not on your report and you sent the validation letter outside the first 30 day window, they can continue to attempt collection even if they didn't verify within 30 days. If it were me and I determined the debt was legitimate and held by them, and it wasn't reporting yet, I would pay the thing (e: sending a letter requesting receipt of paid in full with payment) and keep good records. If it weren't legit (or they truly don't have authority to collect), then I would keep the same records and tell them to pound sand; if it ended up on my report or were already there I would go through the removal/lawsuit process, but I also have a lot of time on my hands. BonerGhost fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jun 3, 2016 |
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Jun 3, 2016 20:07
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Huh. So that part of the CIC form letter is completely toothless. Good to know, I guess  .Yeah, I got the validation letter sent in time. I also have a receipt saying they got it in time, but their letter I got today said it was sent on May 27th when they received the letter on March 4th. It's not showing up on my credit report, I checked that a while back because apparently I have something else I owe that I don't know about that I need to sort out, and I heard from Experian and Equifax about it. This whole thing really sucks, I just hope eventually I'll get to the point where I don't have this crap looming over my head. I'll double check the evidence they sent with the validation letter. I think they listed the original creditor, I'll see if they'll take that one back too. I'll try to pay by credit card if I can since that will show up in my online charges and I won't have to keep track of a copy of a check, although I could do that too if it's necessary. If the OC won't take it back, should I write up a letter to the collector saying that I'd be glad to pay as long as I get it in writing they aren't going to report to the bureaus? Is an agreement like that legally enforceable? Does this seem like the right thing to do? I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I had another bill from the hospital that went into collections after they presumably sent the bill to the wrong address. I got that one taken back by the hospital so I could pay it to them instead of the agency. When I tried to sue the agency for calling me four times after the validation letter telling them to make all communications by mail, the law firm I contacted dropped the suit, saying that they were allowed to call one more time after that letter, and the next three were apparently "requested" by me in my second letter. I'm not sure exactly how, I think all I asked for was whether to pay the hospital or them because their letter had said to pay to the hospital and the hospital said to pay the debt collector. That was more stalling for time while the hospital decided whether to take the debt back.
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Jun 3, 2016 20:38
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I can't advise you and I genuinely don't know how to pay it and also be sure it will stay off your report. I would assume if you pay it then there's nothing to report, and you'd have a dated receipt in hand that it would show a reporting violation if it later showed, but I can't say for certain if that would do it. The first step would to try the OC and also verify if this other agency is authorized to collect it, not to play some kind of gotcha, but just so that if someone else down the road tries to collect on the same debt, you'll know whether it's legit.
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Jun 3, 2016 22:13
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Also, sometimes small medical debt doesn't get reported to the CRAs for whatever reason. I got a debt letter, sent a validation letter, got a half assed response, sent a reply saying they didn't give me the required validation, and got another copy of the exact same information. At that point I just ignored it, and it never showed up on my credit report. It will be 7 years next spring so I feel pretty good about it.
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Jun 3, 2016 23:25
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Just wanted to thank the thread for the advice from a few months ago. We finally go another collection attempt letter (they even lowered the amount they were seeking, how nice!) in May, and I responded almost immediately with a letter I had drafted up. I gave them a response date, never heard anything, but we pulled a credit report for my wife yesterday and it's off her record so it must have worked. We ended up not sending one to the credit bureau to see what happened, but it looks like we should be good to go!
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Jun 7, 2016 14:44
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Hi all, could use some advice. When I was in college I did the typical dumb kid max your first credit card and ignore payments thing. Citi charged it off and now years later Northland Group is offering to settle. Also stupidly they got me to make some small payments on it recently so it won't be expiring any time soon. The offer they gave me is tempting, $900 to settle 4k of debt. However at this point in my life I'm starting to worry a bit more about my credit score and will need to buy a car in a few years. I could likely pay if off in full within the year with some effort but depending on how the settlement would affect my credit I'd rather put that money toward another card and student loans. One thing that worried me is that they said to write the check directly to Citigroup, the original lender. From what I understand if an account is already in collections than the damage to credit is already done but what if the collections is being outsourced by the lender to a second party?
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Jun 7, 2016 20:30
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I think you need to talk to them and get them to agree to completely delete the debt from your credit report if you pay the $900. Whatever you do I would try and get the agreement in writing. This might be useful: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/pay-for-delete.shtml
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Jun 8, 2016 00:12
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I have a supposed debt from February 2013 with Lab Corp for $858. I disputed the debt with transunion and they have removed it from my credit report (on Feb 27th 2016,) however now I have received a letter from a different collection agency for the same debt. I called them and they claim that they don't purchase debts, but that Lab Corp has hired them to collect the debt. Is there anything I can do aside from continuing to go through this loop? I asked them to send me an itemized list of what the charges are for, but I have done that before with the previous agency and received nothing.
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Jun 9, 2016 17:46
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Bojanglesworth posted:I have a supposed debt from February 2013 with Lab Corp for $858. I disputed the debt with transunion and they have removed it from my credit report (on Feb 27th 2016,) however now I have received a letter from a different collection agency for the same debt. I called them and they claim that they don't purchase debts, but that Lab Corp has hired them to collect the debt. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a lot of good information and sample letters available. They also have a reporting system for violations/mediation. Some of the things you might use this for might rise to the level of violations that you could sue and win over, but it's up to you to weigh the time and financial cost of dealing with that and possibly not even being able to collect vs using CFPB complaints and mediation to get them to just leave you alone. There are a lot of online sources for advice, personal interpretations of the various acts and laws, and people saying they've successfully collected against collection agencies, but I have yet to find any that correctly cite statute or even detail how they executed a lawsuit against a collector. So, I suggest you get the info directly from the source, and last I read the FDCPA, it didn't even specify what constitutes debt validation.
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Jun 9, 2016 18:48
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