Midland Credit Management
Date: Thu, 05/01/2008 - 07:09
Hello everyone,
i have found this website and forums to be very useful and feel as though I am not alone.
Here is my Midland Crisis and what i have done so far. Any help in telling me what I may be doing wrong or right would be great.
Several years ago, maybe 04? I received a call from Midland, the woman was nasty of course and told me I wowed Midland 458 dollars from an MCI account that I had told MCI years ago was not my account. To be honest, I don't remember getting a letter from them just a call. At the time I resided in Pa. Itold the lady i would like a copy of this bill and disputed it was even mine, she then told me I was going to pay or she would sue me and take my house etc.. I again requested a copy of the bill, pretty frazzled, but then told her to sue because I had nothing to sue for. I was receiving public assistance at the time. She hung up. Fast forward to 06? give or take, I received another call from this company requesting I pay this debt, i again asked for a copy of the bill, she or he said they could not provide a copy and I told them simply I would never pay on an account that was not mine but if the account was verfified as mine through a copy of the bill sent to me and I deemed it mine I would then consider making small payments as my financial situation was not well. She refused. I hung up. Fast forward to 2007, I decided investing in cleaning up my credit report might be a good idea and contacted all the creditors with valid debts that I owed and started making payments on those accounts and have successfully wiped 2400 in debt off my reports through conscientious payments.
However, I seen Midland on there. Unbelievable. Midland has reported to all 3 agencies, with two of them they report the same debt twice but under different account numbers and different dates, the also have some accounts listed in the "loans and credit" section with my credit cards and school loans. It appears the accounts have been aged with dates ranging from 2002 to 2007. They also provided a false address of which I sent certified mail to and received it back.
Here is what i did. Big Boo Boo i called Midland and requested they remove this account from my credit reports as I dispute they are not mine and question whether they haven't already expired past the 7 year mark already. The agent told me to send a "fax" to them to dispute the account and to request a copy of the bill. I did so on 4/15/08. I called the next day, and left a message on the answering machine as to whether my fax was received, after not receiving a reply i recalled and talked to an angent who told me bluntly and with much laughter and glee that I didn't respond to them within 5 days of the date a letter was sent to me? I honestly don't remember a letter. In unbelief, I said you are not going to validate this account or send me copies of the debt? He laughed and said no. Told me I was stuck with it. I then told him i would call the BBB and hung up.
I spoke with the FTC and filed a complaint with them. I spoke with the BBB and filed a complaint with them. I spoke with the Attorney General's Offices in the states of Pa-where the alleged debt occured, FL- where I live, and CA- where the debt collector operates out of. I was told these practices were illegal. i sent certified written requests to the 3 major credit reporting agencies to have this "alleged" account investigated. 2 have already replied and wiped it off my reports as Midland did not reply or did not validate the debt. i am waiting for TransUnion. I also filed complaints with the ACA- American Collector's Association, and California Association of Collector's. As for Midland, I sent 2 certified return receipt requested letters of dispute, the first was sent back due to a bogus address(the Roscoe Ct. one reported on my report), I have that returned letternow, I then sent another letter using the BBB address Midland provides(the legal one). They received it and I received my green copy of who signed for it.
Here is where I am at. The BBB out of San Diego is waiting for a reply from Midland, even the BBB agent is miffed that they havent responded. They have two weeks to do so and only have a few days left. Midland has sent me their standard "We want to help resolve this dispute, please send your documentation and we have pulled these accounts from your credit report" along with some from asking if I want to opt out of them sharing my info (their privacy statement). i have not called them and will never do so again. The BBB said do not respond to anything.
Here is a question or two
1. Is any of the above illegal? If so, can this company be reprimanded?
2. Was it a good idea to ask the BBB for help? Whose side are they on really?
3. The statute of limitations for this "alleged" account in Pa. is 4 yrs. so I cannot be sued by these people, has anything I have done above reopened that door for Midland?
4. I contracted the original creditor MCI to see if they could give me any info on this account, even their dates don't jive with Midland's first date of delinquency. MCI said 2003, Midland says 2002. I believe this goes back way farther, I remember MCI hounding me in 2000 or 1999. From what date does the 7 year rule startif an "alleged" debt has been rebought?
Hello amoriello and welcome to the forum! I found some very inte
Hello amoriello and welcome to the forum! I found some very interesting information about Midland on the Bud Hibbs website, you may want to read it. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't want to give you the wrong information, so let's wait to see what other members here have to say about your dilemma. Here is the link about Midland:
budhibbs.com/debtcollectorpages/midland_credit_management.htm
Just add the 'http://www.' in front of the link and it will take you directly to the page with the information I was referring to. :)
They seem to have done a number of questionable things in your s
They seem to have done a number of questionable things in your situation. When you do receive a collection letter from a company, you have 30 days from the date of the letter to dispute the debt and request the company validate said debt, not 5 days as they told you.
Also, they do have to send you the collection notification in writing. They cannot just call you to try and get money, and then report the account to the credit bureaus.
Also, they have to provide a legitimate address for you to respond to them. It does appear as though you did finally get a correct address in the end.
As for the BBB, they can make a record of complaints against companies and report as to whether the complaint was resolved or if company even responded. But, they cannot go to battle for you to get anything done. The Attorney General's Office, FTC, etc. would be the ones to help out with taking companies like this down, and fining them for breaking the law.
Disputing the accounts on your credit reports is the way to get them removed, which you have done. Midland is required to verify to the credit bureaus that the debt is in fact yours and the info they have reported is current and correct. If they fail to do this within 30 days of you disputing, the credit bureaus are supposed to remove the account from your reports.
You seem to be on top of this, so don't give up. But, it would be advisable to put all future correspondence to Midland in writing and send it certified/return receipt requested, and do not sign your name in ink on the letters, as I have read about instances where debtor's names have been forged on documents. Just type out your name....
Sending correspondence via fax is iffy, as you have no proof that the fax was received and read by the company, and they can claim you didn't send anything.
It looks like you are dealing with some violations of the Fair D
It looks like you are dealing with some violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. FDCPA:
1. Failure to send dunning letter within 5 days of first contact.
2. Refusal to validate with continued collection activity
fdcpa violations may be pursued via civil action for $1,000 total.
FCRA:
1. Reporting as a regular trade line as opposed to collection trade line. They do this so that it will damage your FICO score more than it should in order to pressure you into paying.
2. Duplicate entries on credit report. A entity may only report once for each account per consumer reporting agency.
The violations these fall under are:
???? 623A 15 U.S.C. ???? 1681s-2, knowingly supplying inaccurate information
???? 616 15 U.S.C. ???? 1681n, willfull noncompliance
???? 617.[15 U.S.C. ???? 1681o], negligent noncompliance.
In total it looks like you may be able to pursue via civil action a total of (Reporting as a regular trade line (5)+ duplicate trade line (2) x 3 FCRA statute violations each, plus FDCPA = 22 violations.
FCRA violations may be pursued for $1,000 per violation for a total of $22,000 or 1% of the companies net worth (whichever is lesser)
Recent Activity From Midland, Should I accept or sue?
Thank you all for the info. You all have helped me solidly. No more contact via phone what is the sense... they tape it when you agree to pay though.
Here it is. BBB says Midland responded back to me, the gist of the letter is this person wishes to validate the account but as per fdca she has not done so in a timely matter, BUT we here at Midland are eager to have happy customers so we will wipe out the "alleged" debt, stop selling her info, and notify the 3 credit reporting agencies to have it removed. I note to you that all 3 have been disputed and TransUnion is the only one left who hasn't wiped it out. So, should I sue? I have 10 days from May 1st to accept or reject this. The BBB lady In San Diego told me if I accept it will look like Midland has once again been there for a needy client and has come through. if I sue it will affect them more. I wonder if I can ask for an extended amount of time to reply to BBB? And if I sue, who do I go to? BBB told me FTC. Anyone know a lil bout this sueing stuff?
1. Sue or accept
2. Midland has since sent me a letter saying they wish to resolve this matter and the letter includes copy of account, the amount, and from whom(MCI) they got it from supposedly and asked I send my documents supporting my claim in the BBB matter(before they said they'd close it on 5/1, I received it about 4/25, the same day they received my written notice to validate this debt etc... are they bound now to validate it?
Thank you all and the goodies in this forum and website are endless, my heart goes out to those in debt h*ll
I noticed that this company appeared on my credit report as an i
I noticed that this company appeared on my credit report as an inquiry for collection purposes. I don't know who they could be trying to collect for because I'm currently in a chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Guest reply
Use Shazzers link above...It will tell you who they are and what their game is..good luck
Guest any collection attempts during a bankruptcy violate the st
Guest any collection attempts during a bankruptcy violate the stay of bk code and should be given to your attorney.Those violations can be worth a lot of money depending on what the courts nails them with for sanctions.
