I'm sure some of you remember the thread I posted not too long back where I talked about how we are suing a CA. Well, we are about to sue another one.
This is a local CA to me. Small-time, mostly medical collections. They contacted me and claimed that I owed them $209. A little checking finds that they reported to my Experian file. So, I dispute with the CB. The very next day, this CA calls me:
"We see that you filed a dispute with Experian because this debt is listed on your credit report, how would you like to pay this off today?"
I told the lady on the phone that I wanted this debt validated. This is exactly, word for word, what she said to that:
"Well, we're just going to stamp this dispute "unpaid collection" and fax it right back to Experian, and thats all youre gonna get on this."
So, when I explained the fdcpa, and validation vs. verification, she again refused to send anything, saying, "I told you, thats all youre getting from me"
So, no validation. They verified the debt as unpaid collection on my report. That was February 13, 2008. I get my new Experian report, and wow, there they are still. She was right--they did verify it. They also didnt report it as "disputed by consumer", and while they claim the debt originated in 2005, the report states that the account was opened when they were assigned the account. Both of those are FCRA violations.
Of course, I contact Experian and dispute it again, informing them that this collector has been asked for debt validation in accordance with federal law, but has refused to provide it. That means they cannot legally continue reporting on my credit report. Experian sends them the dispute notice, and once again, I get a phone call. Wasnt home when it came though. They called twice yesterday, leaving voicemails about how I must contact them "before noon tomorrow" about this "very serious personal business matter"....Well, some of us work for a living, so I was unable to call them before they closed. Oh, thats another wierd thing--they are a collection agency, yet they close at 4 PM each day, except for Fridays, when they close at 1 PM. Wierd.
I checked my Experian file tonight. They already sent the dispute back, verified. So it is still on there.
So far, they have done the following:
1--continued collection calls while ignoring a DV request
2--incorrectly reported the "date account opened" information on the report
3--did not state in their report that "account disputed by consumer", an FCRA violation to leave that out.
4--continued collection activity by updating my credit report entry while ignoring DV request
5--specifically told me that they were not going to/didnt have to validate a debt
I think we have our next contestant!!