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Credit card scammed!!

Submitted by on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 06:56
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I live in NY and was issued a Cross Country Credit card in 2001 which was supposed to help rebuild my credit! What a joke. They gave me a credit limit of $500, none of which was available for use, due to all the initial fees. Here it is 7 yrs later and they are on all 3 credit bureaus, showing as a charge off, under the name APPLIED BANK for $1285!! After doing some online research, this company has class action lawsuits in several states, NY being one of them, due to their rip off tactics. Some people even say that after paying it just to have it removed, that it still wasnt removed. Should this not fall off after 7 yrs?? What to do? I've not received anything in writing from them and no collection calls. But I'm afraid of being sued. I have had it investigated with all 3 credit bureas, and they come back that it was found to be my account. PLEASE HELP!! I am trying to re-rebuild my credit, and they are severely impacting my credit score.


It is suppose to fall off 7 years after last payment so you need to figure out when you made the last payment if you ever made one at all. At that point pull a copy of your 3 major credit reports and match it to when they say you made your last payment. If they changed that date and are trying to make it look like you paid more recently then you really did then they violated the FCRA which comes with a penalty of $1000 per violation. That is a minimum of 3 violations at 1 violation per each credit reporting agency. If they have not changed the date and it has been more than 7 years then dispute it as debt over 7 years old and request that it be removed.

In tangent with that you can also send a DV letter to the CA with a full CD attached. At that point they have to properly validate without verifying correct information to the CRAs. If they verify with the 3 CRAs without validating with you then it would be 3 more violations of the FCRA. You have to wait 30-45 days for them to see if it drops off your CRs before they are in violation of this. I would wait 60 days and pull the reports again.

With a little bit of effort you could probably also get them for a violation of the fdcpa. That would be good for another 1k penalty. At that point you could get a decent FDCPA/FCRA attorney and sue them for 7k in violations and probably win.


Submitted by DOLLARSandSINCE on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 07:13

DOLLARSandSINCE

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Thank you for your advice. They have the date opened as 12/01, and date closed 2/03. I know that account was way closed before then. Anyway, what is CD? I got the other abbreviations, except that one:)
Also should I send the DV letter to all 3 addresses I have for the credit card company, cause as of now it is still not with a CA? Should I send it return receipt requested, so they can not say that it was not recv'd??


Submitted by on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 11:56

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I believe there should be a date of last payment on the CR. It would be different than the closing date I think. Review your reports and see if you can find something along those lines. Also, there are more detailed explanations of reading credit reports in other threads on this forum that might help in that area.

CD = Cease and Desist letter basically telling them to not contact you at all via telephone mail or any other avenue. If you are out of SOL then a CD is very useful.

If the account is still with the original creditor then a DV letter will not do any good. Since it was so old I thought it had passed on to collection agencies. I would probably try to contact the people listed on each CR and try to figure out if it is the OC or if it is a CA. If it is a CA then you should send a DV letter to them. If it is the OC then I would request a full accounting of all transactions on the card. You could use that to figure out when you made the last payment. If it is over 7 years ago then you can use that information to get it off your CR. Check your state SOL. If your state SOL is out then they can not sue and win as long as you use the SOL as a defense.


Submitted by DOLLARSandSINCE on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 12:23

DOLLARSandSINCE

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I believe Cross Country Bank is the original creditor and now they are operating as Applied Bank Card. Can I still send the DV letter asking for proof that I had an account with them? I know that I have never had an account with Applied Bank Card.


Submitted by on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 13:01

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An OC is not bound by the fdcpa; therefore, a DV letter really has no impact on the OC. Since this debt is so old and did change hands I would still probably send a DV letter though. At a minimum they are obligated to give you a full accounting of all transactions on that account and as an OC they should have full access to that information. If they do not have that information then there is no way they could win if they sue you. I doubt they will oblige and send you any info though since they are bascially a scam company to begin with. You will probably have to get them on some FCRA violations and sue them to ever get this thing removed since it sounds like the are reaging to keep it on your CR.


Submitted by DOLLARSandSINCE on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 13:10

DOLLARSandSINCE

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i'M TRYING TO CLEAN MY CREDIT REPORT AND HAVE SEVEARL QUESTIONS.I FILED BANKRUPCY BACK IN 05 AND THERE ARE ACCOUNTS ON MY CREDIT REPORT THAT WERE INCLUDED IN CHAPTER 7 AND SOME THAT WERE'N'T SHOWING THEY WERE
DO I SEND A LIST AND DISCHARGE TO CREDIT BUREAUS? I'M SENDING DV TO SOME CA AND SOME HAVE NO DV THE ACCOUNT DO I DINSPUTE WITH CREDIT BUREAUS? WHAT IS A DV LETTER SUPPOSE TO SAY?I RECEIVED 2 THAT SAY THEY OWE THE ACCOUNT THE AMOUNT AND THE ORINGINAL CREDITOR, ARE THEY ALSO SUPPOSE TO PROVIDE COPIES OF STATEMENTS? THERE IS AN OLD CELL PHONE AACOUNT THAT I WASN'T AWARE BECAUSE I TRANSFER THE ACCOUNT TO A FRIEND SHOULD I SEND DV TO THE 3 CREDIT BURUEAUS OR TO COMPANY?


Submitted by on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 10:47

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