endless investigation

Send them a letter cc:d to the Federal Trade Commission, put down all your past attempts (what you have said above but in explicit detail, including copies of the correspondences and the original & corrected copies of your reports). State your claim in the strongest wording possible while still being businesslike. This is not my debt, and no one has sent me any proof that could be construed by any reasonable person as a proof that I wrote this alleged bad check. If this matter is not resolved immediately, I will file formal complaints and consider legal action....

Experian does not have to prove it is yours. They have to have the company making the entry verify the debt or delete it if they do not.

I didn't say Experian had to prove it, I said the CREDITOR could not and would not prove it so it must be removed. Simple as that. No proof? No debt!

Creditors Gone Wild.

I wasn't referring to your comments Chrys, I was referring to the OP statement "How do I make Excperian delete it since they seem not to have proof that this is mine"

Sorry for the confusion.

CRYS..I HOPES YOU SLEEP WELL AT NITE!!!

the credit bureaus are bound by federal law in these situations. Here's how the law requires this to go:

1--you submit a dispute to Experian.
2--They contact the creditor who listed the debt on your report, and ask them to verify it as accurate.
3--that creditor has 30 days from the date they get Experian's notification to respond with verification.

[samebox:ad6266bb97="NASCAR_Devil"]If disputing form your free annual report, the CRA's have 45 days to investigate[/samebox:ad6266bb97]
4--if they do not respond within that 30 day time frame, Experian MUST remove it from your report ASAP.
5--Experian must also send you an updated copy of your credit report showing the results of the investigation.

Simply put, the credit bureau's investigation cannot go past that point. If 30 days have come and gone since this all began, then they are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Another thing--if you sent the debt collector themselves a letter about this matter, and requested validation of the debt, they are not allowed to continue verifying the debt as yours until they provide you with proof of the debt. That is a violation of section 809 of the FDCPA. I hope you have copies of those 3 letters you sent and the green receipt cards from the USPS showing that they received them.....I would send the collector another certified letter, informing them of their repeated and willful negligence and how they are violating the FDCPA. Include copies of the 3 receipt cards and the 3 letters you previously sent them. Inform them that since they have refused to validate the debt, they now have 10 business days to remove the debt from your credit reports or they will be facing additional action from you, including legal action, to resolve the matter.

Hi Guest,

Of course I do, my conscience is clean, and that is what is important to me.

Thank you for your concern for my well-being! :D

i was online at midnight and my investigation results email arrived.it was that debt was "updated" and no other info. it is still listed. I have green receipts for the last two times I tried to contact the collector to no avail.
should I still:
1. send one more letter asking 10 day action by the collector
2. what should I do/send to Experian.
As I wrote before Transunion was not able to verify and simply deleted my debt. Equifax never had it listed.
Thank you all, you help is truly appreciated.

Yes. Send the dispute to Experian. CC: it to the FTC and your State Attorney General (it increases the impact). File complaints with the FTC & AG. Include copies of all your correspondence, green cards, envelopes, etc. Clearly state that the alleged debt is NOT yours, that the CA cannot verify or validate it - because it is NOT yours - and the other 2 CRAs have removed it.

what kind of text should I send this time to collector and what kind to Experian/FTC/AG?
thank you for amazing help!

that will not do you any good because it doesnt matter what the other two credit bureaus did. They are not keeping it on your report(Experian, I mean) because they want to--they are keeping it on your report because THE CREDITOR VERIFIED IT. By LAW they must continue to report it!

Your fight is not with Experian, it is with the creditor thats reporting this debt to them. It is that simple. And you have all the ammunition you need already--namely, the first two letters you sent certified to the debt collector. When you dispute with Experian, Trans Union, etc etc, they send a letter to that creditor stating that you have disputed the entry. Under federal law, that creditor has 30 days from the day they receive that letter to respond. Here's the kicker--all they have to do is VERIFY the debt, which is name, address, SSN and DOB. NOTHING MORE. It is a far cry from VALIDATION, which is what the FDCPA requires them to provide to you if you request it. And some of these debt collectors dont even look at the info, they simply verify what was last reported and call it close enough. But at that point, if Experian gets that letter back and it says "verified", then they MUST report it as such. But since you wrote the collector letters already and have the receipt cards to prove it, that would have required them to stop all collection activity immediately upon getting that letter from you, until they provide validation to you of this debt. The FTC has made it clear that continuing to report/verify an entry on your credit file is most definitely "collection activity"...thats where you have them in a corner.

Send a certified letter return receipt to the debt collector again, informing them of the following:

1--you have previously sent them three letters(at one point you said three, but then you said two, not sure how many you really sent) requesting validation of this debt. Enclose copies of the receipt cards showing that they signed for these letters, and showing the dates this took place.

2--to date, they have refused to provide you with the validation the law requires.

3--Additionally, the law requires them to stop all collection effort until they provide that validation, and they clearly have not done so, as reflected by your credit report. Tell them that they are verifying this debt as accurate on your Experian report, even when they cannot provide proof to you that it is legitimate and that is a direct violation of section 809 of the FDCPA as well as the FCRA.

4--You are hereby giving them 15 business days from the date they receive this letter to remove any and all entries from your credit reports and cease all efforts to collect this debt, since they refuse to validate it in accordance with the FDCPA. Should they choose not to do so, you will have no choice but to take further steps to resolve the matter, including legal action for FDCPA and FCRA violations that they are committing.

i sent three but the first one was not certified return receipt - i was not aware of this option.Then I sent to CMRR.
Transunion tried to verify but ended up deleting it. does it mean that they could not do it? how come Experian managed to verify it?

so should I just send the text you included above or anything else?

Thank you. I truly appreciate it!:)

You've tried the collector 3 times already so I wouldn't waste another stamp.

As far as the wording, pretty much as I have already stated. However I would modify Quote:

are you saying I should forget about witing again to the collector and just write this letter to EXPERIAN with copies? of my CMRR notes from attempted communication with the collector?

so, I will forget the collector and just send this letter with copies of attempted communication with the collector, right? pls review the letter and thank! u r great help:)

from:
xxx

to:
Experian
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
1 888 397 3742
800 493-1058

Dear Madam/Sir:

I have recently tried disputing a fraudulent collection report by a Zenith debt collecting agency which appears on my credit file on your records. The dispute was submitted online and both times I received email results of your investigation. Again, both times even though you provided no proof, the fraudulent collection was updated and kept on your public records as accurate and current.

I am taking this opportunity to let you know in recorded writing that this is not my debt, and no one has sent me any proof that could be construed by any reasonable person as a proof that I wrote this alleged bad check. I have tried communicating with Zenith several times and here I include copies of my most recent attempted certified mail return receipt attempts. Zenith, although in officially recorded receipt of my letters - as you can confirm from the copies included - failed to verify this alleged debt - because this alleged debt is NOT mine.

I am requesting your immediate action and removal of this fraudulent collection from your records and from the credit file under my name. If this matter is not resolved immediately, I have prepared formal complaints and will need to pursue legal action against you.
Since I have attempted numerous times to resolve this fraudulent collection and several times brought it to your attention I am also filing official complaints with:

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580

as well as:

Department of the Attorney General
235 South Beretania Street, Suite 401
Honolulu, HI 96813

Once more, if this fraudulent mark is not immediately removed from my credit report, I will be forced to pursue legal action. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to receiving a copy, as required by the FCRA, of my credit report showing this fraudulent collection removed.

Best,

xxx

Go to NACA.org and find an attorney that will sue the collector on your behalf. It will cost you nothing out of pocket!

Quote:

this is waht I will send. last corrections anyone?
also, any idea how to format and what to include in the letters to FTC and AG? thanks, guys. amazing help is amazingly appreciated!

---------------------------
to:
Experian
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
1 888 397 3742
800 493-1058

Dear Madam/Sir:

I have recently tried disputing a fraudulent collection report by a Zenith debt collecting agency which appears on my credit file on your records. The dispute was submitted online and both times I received email results of your investigation. Again, both times even though you provided no proof, the fraudulent collection was updated and kept on your public records as accurate and current.

I am taking this opportunity to let you know in recorded writing that this is not my debt, and no one has sent me any proof that could be construed by any reasonable person as a proof that I wrote this alleged bad check. I have tried communicating with Zenith several times and here I include copies of my most recent attempted certified mail return receipt attempts. Zenith, although in officially recorded receipt of my letters - as you can confirm from the copies included - failed to verify this alleged debt - because this alleged debt is NOT mine.

I am requesting your immediate action and removal of this fraudulent collection from your records and from the credit file under my name. If this matter is not resolved in a timely manner, in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which requires that only factual information be included in my Report, I will be forced to consider legal action against you, as I have exhausted every available means at my disposal to have this fraudulent claim against me removed from your Report, as the other Credit Reporting Agencies have already done.

Since I have attempted numerous times to resolve this fraudulent collection and several times brought it to your attention I am also filing official complaints with:

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580

as well as:

Department of the Attorney General
235 South Beretania Street, Suite 401
Honolulu, HI 96813

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to receiving a copy, as required by the FCRA, of my credit report showing this fraudulent collection removed.

Sincerely

Excellent! As far as the FTC & AG go, just a quick cover letter is ok, because you have a thorough letter and back-up documentation. I hope this works out for you, there is already far too much time, energy, and distress spent on a fraudulent claim. How ridiculous that you have to go through all this.

what info and which personal info should i include in the cover letter to FTC and AG? should I send those asap or wait 30 days and see if they reply?
thx! much appreciated

Whatever you feel you need to.
You can wait if you like, or not - that is totally up to you. Personally, I would send the complaints right away because you have sent so many disputes already. In case the junk debt buyer decides to sue, you will have a lot of documentation that you put forth the effort for them to validate this alleged debt.

how often does a junk debt buyer appear? do they re list the debt before trying to collect again?thx

That depends on the individual situation and there is no way to predict what they will do beforehand.