court jurisdiction?

where you live. What are the violations?

I requested debt validation from the Debt Collector who out of the blue started sending me notices. The limited data the debt collector provided to my Debt Validation request indicated it wasn't mine. Basically they provided my current address, the original creditor name, a balance amount, and a ssn that did not match a single digit of my ssn. I requested the item be removed because the data they provided indicated the account was not mine, and that they did not provide sufficient information to validate the debt mandated by the FDCPA and FCRA. I have sent multiple return receipt letters to the Debt Collector, but they continue to attempt to collect this debt, and report it to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Additionally, I contacted the Original Creditor. The Original Creditor responded with an apology letter, and stated that they had already removed the entry reported by them from my credit history. I'm trying to determine my next steps to resolve this situation, including filing a claim in court.

ok, here is what i would do--

I would dispute the entries on all three credit reports. Dispute this with the credit bureaus themselves--Experian, Equifax and TU. Do this in writing--send each of them a certified letter stating that you dispute the entries in question. they will notify the debt collector and give them 30 days to respond. Wait for that 30 days to go by, seriously, and then the credit bureaus will provide you with the results of your disputes. Chances are good that the debt collector will verify the debt as yours to them.

Thats what you want them to do, because it is an additional violation. here is where it gets interesting, because they KNOW they have the wrong person. Want to know how I can tell you that?? Simple--the social security numbers! they put this on YOUR credit reports, so they know what social security number they reported this debt to! Plus, they sent you "validation' with someone else's SSN on it, so there is no doubt that they know full well what they have done. Plus, here's the good news--the FDCPA violations carry a maximum penalty of $1000 plus actual damages. That means they can violate the FDCPA a hundred times and you can still only sue them for $1000.....BUT, the FCRA allows a penalty per violation, so them reporting this on your credit file in the first place is a violation because they have proven that they know its the wrong SSN. that's $3000 right there--three violations, one for each report they put it on. So, now, they could verify it as accurate on all three reports when you dispute it--and that's ANOTHER $3000 that you can sue them for!

This is important--you got that letter from the original creditor--up to this point, do NOT send anyone a copy of that letter. That is your backup, your ace in the hole so to speak. If it were me, i would dispute with the credit bureaus, wait for the results, and if the debt collector verifies all the reports, then I would file suit right away. right then and there. File suit against them for the following(and this is only based on what you have said so far, they may have violated the law more than this....)

FDCPA violations--

1--continued collection activity without proper response to a debt validation request.(section 809)

2--illegally disclosing debt information to a third party, since you are not the person they are looking for and they had sufficient information to know this before they did so. Although you cannot sue them as the third party for this offense, I would include it because it isnt the only reason youre suing, and it shows the pattern of illegal actions they have done.(section 805)

Me personally, I would also throw these two in, although a judge may consider them redundant...

3--Harassment(section 806), in that they learned that they were contacting the wrong person by SSN, but continued to do so anyways.

4--Deceptive practices(section 807), because they knew that the ssn's didnt at all match up, yet they still came after you demanding money that they had no right to demand from you. The deception came from the fact that their own info showed the debt not to be yours, yet they falsely continued to represent the debt as yours and tried to get money from you by using that deception.

here's the good stuff--FCRA violations

1--knowingly reporting a debt on your credit report that is not yours.(three counts)

2--refusing to correct said entries on your credit report even though they have sufficient information to know that they reported the debt on your reports in error. This applies to when you informed them that they gave you someone else's information and claimed it was yours.(three counts)

3--if they verify to the credit bureaus, then this applies--

knowingly verifying a debt as "accurate" to the credit bureaus when they possess sufficient information to know that it is not. again, i would argue to the court that since they reported to my credit files, they obviously have access to my SSN, but when I requested validation, they provided me someone else's SSN that isnt even close to mine. (number of counts depends on which reports they verify as accurate but will probably be 3 again)

At this point, youre up to a grand total of $13,000 plus court costs, attorney fees if you hire a lawyer, and actual damages. Hopefully you saved every letter you sent them, all the green receipt cards for when they signed for your certified letters, and all the letters they have sent you. You will want to make a copy of each of those, they are your evidence. now, that letter you got from the original creditor, what exactly does it say? hopefully it says something about the mistaken identity that took place. either way, make a copy of that one too, it will be the icing on the cake for your case.

if you would like more help, just let us know, we would be happy to help you stick it to these crooks. by the way, what debt collector is it?

Thanks for all the information. I'm very frustrated at this point. The Debt Collector is Paul Nolan from asset acceptance llc. I have sent all correspondence USPS Certified with Return Receipt and have all the signed green cards. All I really want is the error removed from my report, but I've learned that it is not as easy to be successful with this effort, even when you provide the Debt Collector with evidence beyond proof. I've come to the conclusion, and believe in our justice system, so the courts are my next step. Now I need to find an attorney in San Francisco that is specialized in consumer credit reporting.

asset acceptance has a history of not following the law.

go to www(dot)naca.net and search for attorneys in your city. i just did a search and found 35 of them who deal with these kinds of issues. And, a lot of the attorneys on that site offer free initial consultations, and a lot of them also take this kind of case on contingency basis, which means you dont pay a cent. If you win, they take their fees from asset acceptance. if you lose, you dont pay them anything. not all the attorneys are like that, but enough of them are that you have a good chance of finding that.