Trade Line Added To Credit Report Without Knowledge
On August 13, 2013, I filed a dispute on Equifax.com due to discovering a trade line for $37,663.00. After investigating the dispute, Equifax found that the debt was valid and the confirmation was giving from SSA Office of Financial Policy at 1155-10 Jamaica Avenue, SSA Office, 11th Floor, Jamaica, NY 11432. I immediately did research on this office and the address on the credit report was incorrect. The office that I found was in 3rd FL district office 155-10 Jamaica Ave Jamaica, NY 11432.
I've been working with SSA in Sanford, NC due to overpayments that SSA has not been able to confirm. Since May 2011, I have received multiple billing statements attempting to collect $962.00 and occasionally $37,663.00. On every occurrence, I've contacted the payment center in AL and the office in Sanford, NC and was told multiple times that the waiver was still being reviewed.
In May 2013, the Sanford office told me that the waiver hadn’t been scanned into the system. I then had a personal conference with SSA Sanford office and I stated that I was not given proof as to this being validated. It’s been almost 2 month and no confirmation as to whether the waiver was approved or denied by letter. Then the trade line appeared on my credit report.
Lastly, I am in the process of sending a debt validation to the address of the SSA office located in NY. If they are unable to validate the debt within 30 days of the trade line being added to the acct, I will be pursing legal assistance from your company.
Hello,
Hello,
Here are some thoughts on your post. Please take these thoughts as they were meant to be--constructive and not hostile.
First, SSA is Social Security, is that right? Admittedly I am not an expert on SSA, but I can tell you that they would not be subject to the law that you might be thinking of when it comes to "pursuing legal assistance". There is a federal law called the FDCPA that only applies to third party collectors, and not to the original creditor. In your case, I do believe that SSA would be considered the original creditor. As such, there is no reason to send them a validation letter. That is something that does not apply to original creditors.
Next, we need to discuss VERIFICATION, not validation. Verification is what occurs when the credit bureau receives your dispute and notifies that creditor. They do not "validate" at that point, they only use "verification", which is often little more than checking to make sure that the name, address, SSN and DOB match what is being reported.
Also, there is no legal requirement, not even for a third party debt collector, to validate the debt with you prior to reporting it. That requirement only shows up when you dispute with the credit bureaus. Your fight is with the SSA, and you need to focus your efforts on payment records and addressing the waiver.
I would recommend that you contact an attorney that handles this kind of issue. As screwy as government agencies can get when it comes to $$$, you probably would be able to find one that's dealt with this kind of thing before. If you try to go it on your own, I'm afraid that you will make mistakes and focus on laws that do not apply to the party in question. But as far as their reporting on your credit report, that is the Fair Credit Reporting Act that governs that, and as far as that law goes, I do not see any violation based on the limited info you provided.