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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 6:45 am

Your Name
Your Address
CITY/Town, STATE ZIPCODE

Date: March 9, 2005

This is an Example of a Letter I have sent off to various Collection Agencies. It is a combination of a couple other Examples I had found and re-worded. It is a rather strong armed approach in content, but this is my first Salvo to verify these, and then use the debt settlement Proposal to Collector approach to try to settle any that do not drop of my Credit Report and get properly Verified. I do have a concern in this regards especially as I have a Son and Grandson with the Exact Same name as me, except I am a Jr. and they are III and IV and want to make sure I have no mixed accounts.

Collection Agency Name
Address
CITY/Town, STATE ZIPCODE

Re: Acct Ref. # XXXXX and XXXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice a couple entries by your company on my credit reports. Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you
.
What do I need you to provide as the debt validation.
What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (You are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me.) This is basic contract law.
Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. (I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to your company, and what fees/interest has been tacked on to this debt and how you/they determined these fees.) This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004..
Copy of the original signed loan agreement or credit card application. (My contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between us.) This is also basic contract law.

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent

I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days investigating this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.
If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, 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.

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records; any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Please read the enclosure for an opinion regarding matters such as these from the Federal Trade Commission

Best Regards,

Your Name Here.

I also printed and enclosed a copy of the legal opinion located here for them to review

[ENCLOSURE 1]
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/letters/wollman.htm

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:02 am

ya gotta love lawyers for some things huh! please let me know if any of those laws have changed and any of those rules have changed ,example; proof of debt and statute of limitations. there must be state to state differences. but its very clever and what ever slows there collection process

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:30 am

SOL varies from state to state (even from 3 to 10 years), we have tried to cover SOL and related laws under the ranking charts of reach state.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:46 am

Dear jtucker,

We really appreciate the letter, please make sure that we are not copying anything from any site. Our admins are very particular about (content) copyright.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Simon

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:50 am

Received my First Debt Verification Reply back yesterday:

From FCNB Credit Card Services

Dear My Full NAme

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your Card Processing Center Account.

Unfortuanately, we are unable to locate the above referenced account. Pleasde be advised that it may no onger be in our data system, and cannot be accessed. Therefore, you must contact the reporting agencies indicated below to obtain copies of your credit bureau to verify any information, as we regrettable unable to be of assistance. You may notify the folloowing agencies directly of any discrepancies:

Experian
Trans Union
Equifax

We hope this information will be helpful to you and we consider this matter resolved.

Sincerely:

Card Processing Center
Customer Service Department

I sent them EXACTLY: the account info as it was displayed on my credit report as they have been reporting it.

Now I get the joy of having these entries deleted form my Credit Reports...

One step closer to improving my Report and Scores Razz

Jerry.

(PS: in regards to the letter I used, it is a complilation with edits/changes/ideas I have come across, reworded and/or rephrased to fit my needs/circumstances.

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:36 am

Thanks Jerry,

Thanks for sharing , you are most welcome to join our debt samaritan club.

Regards
Denny

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:59 pm

Got another reply back...it kinda looks like a fishing expidition and delaying tactic maybe ?

This is actually from a Doctors Office (Orthodontist) in W.V. listing on my credit report as S.E. 2 Investments real weird Confused

Anyway the contents are as follows:

Dear [My Full Name here]

I received your letter regarding your credit report. I have tried to contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to get additional information regarding your account. The credit agencies are unable to give me information unless I have your Social Security Number.

I cannot find any records in my office relating to your name. I will need aditional information to help you solve this problem.

If you could please contact my office as soon as possible I will try to help get this matter resolved.

Sincerely

[His Name]

He has to think I am a fool if I am going to revel my Social Security Number to him, especially as I have never lived in W.V., have never had Orthodotic Work done by any dentist esp $4,000+ worth. And besides his S.E.2 Investments has it listed as a Legal Repossession. What did he Repo? Teeth? LOL...and besides if we had done business togeter he should have that information already.

My Social Security Number I never like to give out and will always find alternatives to using it for Identification purposes, I dont even have it listed on my Drivers License.

Guess I will have to draft a follow up letter and include a copy of his listing from my credit report as a answer for more info, But I dont think this should increase his time to validate my Debt past the 30 days afforded onced asked for.

Any opinions on this one?

Jerry

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:38 pm

Got another reply this evening when I got home from work Razz

This on eis a GOOD one..and shows WHY asking to Validate a debt is prob. a Very Good Idea.

Content of Letter:

Dear Mt. {My Full name here]

Attached is the Document you have requested. Your Itemized Bill was created while the Hospital was in the process of billing your Insurance. The balance on the Itemized Statement may not reflect your Current BALANCE. Your Correct Balance is listed below:

The below listed medical Acount balances are being provided as per your request:

Account # Service Date Balance
XXXXXX 05/25/2000 $0.00

Sincerely:

XXXXXXX
Collection Representitive

There ya go...another bites the dust and another step closer to cleaning up my credit.

Jerry

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:43 pm

Wow Jerry you have made this thread so useful with sample letters. Great work Smile

Denny

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:46 pm

Do you have an opinion on that request for my SSN requested in the privious letter for me to reply to?

But the last reply should illustrate how important it is to check your credit report and follow up on entries.

I have good insurance and Use a flex Spending account maxed each year so am suprised to see medical bills there ..maybe a few more of them will disaappear.

Jerry

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:25 am

Here is my Letter to the credit Reporting Agency to have this Mutual Hospital Severices Entry corrected or remove.

[My Full Name]
[My Address]
[My city, State,zip]

Date: April 1, 2005

Credit Reporting Agency Name
Address
[Their city, State,zip]

RE: Dispute and Investigation Requests
Personal Information
Report Date: 03/02, 2005
Report Number: XXXXXXXXX
[My Full Name]
Social Security Number: xxx-xx-xxxx Date of Birth: Month xx, xxxx

Dear Sir or Madam,

I received my credit report on March 02, 2005 from your company. I had an entry from �Mutual Hospital Srvcs IN� on my report from your agency that is in error. I sent them a Validation of the Debt letter asking for details on this entry. I have now received a letter dated March 21, 2005, informing me that this entry was in error and this entry should be �Paid in full� and not listed as �Paid in Settlement� the way it is currently showing. I expect to have this entry correct and/or removed at the earliest opportunity. As shown and indicated in attached letter/invoice I have a $0 Balance as the debt was paid by my insurance company and this listing was generated while the Hospital was billing my Insurance Company.(See attached copy of letter)

This is a letter to request for the removal of inaccurate information on my credit report. This inaccuracy has resulted in many inconveniences. Error Prone Entries like this has a negative impact on my Credit Scores and limit my options unfairly. I have not been able to apply for various loans and/or have received less favorable credit decisions due to errors of this type.

According to the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), the FCRA and Pursuant to United States Code, Title 15, Chapter 41, Subchapter III, Section 1681I an item must be removed if upon investigation by the credit bureau it is found to be inaccurate, incorrect, erroneous, misleading or outdated.

I do understand that you have a huge work load and this would have been a minor flaw. But this has curbed my financial options. For your convenience I am sending you the proofs of the items you need to verify. According to the law these changes must be made at the earliest. Otherwise you are likely to violate the federal law.

Please complete the changes at the earliest and send me a copy of the changed credit report.
Thanks,
Sincerely,

[My Full Name].

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:04 am

Heres what I finally drafted to that DR who asked for my SSN cause he couldnt find any record on me with his busniess:

[My Full Name]
[My Address]
[My city, State,zip]

Date: April 1, 2005

S.E.2 Investments
1040 20th Street
Huntington, WV 25703-2059

Re: Acct Ref. # XXXXXX

Dear Dr. Sammons:

I hope you can see and understand my reluctance in disclosing my SSN to anyone, none the less an unknown individual and/or company I have never done business with.

I have never lived nor worked in West Virginia, nor have I ever had Orthodontic Work done to the tune of almost 5,000.00 dollars as is listed as the �HIGH� with a balance of almost 3,000.00 (see enclosed documents I have copied from my credit report for your inspection). Also, the Entry on my credit reports is for a �Legal Repossession� which further confuses the issue, as I notice from your Letter head you are a Doctor of Dentistry. I can only assume you do not �repossess� teeth/dentures?

I refuse to disclose my SSN in this manner and it is my legal right to do so. If as you say, in your reply letter to me, you have no record of my Name. SSN, etc. then I would expect to have these entries removed from my credit files immediately as it is obvious that we have never had any business dealings of any kind.

I also see by my CMRR stamping that your received my initial VOD letter on 3/22/2005, and I am expecting that 30 days from that date is when this will be cleared up and no later.

Your business some how in error placed my name/Address etc. in the Credit bureaus and I expect if this can not be validated to have it removed in the same manner.

I have included copies of the EXACT entry on my TransUnion Report and the header of my report page with the Personal Information removed, leaving my mailing Address, and file number for reference.

Sincerely

[My Full Name]

I am no way in heck giving my SSN to anyone/Business I have never done business with or am unsure I did busnies with and they cant fully justify a legal reason to ask for it.

Jerry

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:39 am

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:23 pm

This case is closed Razz

received a letter today informing me this is a case of a mistyped SSN/Name from the OC reporting tbhis, told me as I did not supply my whole SSN number he can not delete it properly as the CRA will not revel any info to him with out my SSN.

He told me to dispute it with the CRA and he would have it removed as a incorrectly listed Item at that point.

This makes like 8 tiems I haev confirmed removed from my reports since I satrted this clean-up campaign Razz

Jerry

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 10:22 pm

Hi jtucker,

This is great news Very Happy

Keep sharing your experience and insights with other members of the forum in the coming days.

Cheers,
Jason

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