Submitted: Sunday, January 04, 2004
Posted: Sunday, January 04, 2004
Bill
Hudson
U.S.A.
Let me first say that you should read the fair debt collection act and the fair credit reporting act.
Now forget about police reports the bottom line is whomever is reporting info about your credit accounts to the credit bureaus are required to report it accurately having said that look at one of the collection letters you have been sent by them somewhere on the letter it must read you can dispute the validity of this debt in 30 days or they will assume its yours.
So send them a letter asking them to do just that prove that you owe this debt. That proof must be a signed contract by you for this credit card account 9 times out of 10 they cant produce it especially if its been sold to a collection agency and if they cant provide you with proof then this debt is not valid and how can you report a debt to experian if you cant prove that its yours so they must instruct experian to delete this account1
Submitted: Sunday, October 26, 2003
Posted: Sunday, October 26, 2003
Tracy L.
Las Vegas
U.S.A.
If the original creditor sells your information to a collection agency, they can no longer report you to the credit bureaus as they no longer own that paper. When the 1st collection agency has to sell your debt to another agency, they also have to remove there entry.
It is like double jepoardy in a court of law, it isn't legal or allowed.
Dispute these entries as being duplicated and that it is illegal for more than one company to try and collect a debt at one time, thereby eliminating the other entries except for the most recent. The credit bureaus do not check for duplicity, they aren't paid enough to do so, they are told to enter it, and they do not proof what they enter.
Please note: Lets say that Midland has you reported to Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union as seperate entries. These are not considered duplicates, but should be merged into one entry to show as one line item, not 3, even though they are reporting on all 3 bureaus. It's nerve wracking, time consuming and confuzzling, but I have been doing credit disputing for 4 years now and now how to read several different credit report styles. Always, always get a copy of all 3 of your reports from the bureaus. Not all companies suscribe to the 3, and may report on the ones you don't order. I have seen where a company only reports to Experian, others to 2. Be safe rather than sorry and get all 3.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Submitted: Friday, October 31, 2003
Posted: Friday, October 31, 2003
Josh
Omaha
U.S.A.
First things first, file a police report. If you never applied for a FCNB/Spiegel/Eddie Bauer/Newport News card but they say you have/had one, something is not right. You can consider this fraudulent. Someone has been using your identity and needs to be reported as such.
Experian will not remove anything from your credit report until they have some type of written proof that the card was not yours. Thus meaning you need a police report showing this is not your bill.
Also call the new FTC Identity Theft Clearinghouse's toll free # (877)IDTHEFT for additional advice. Laws & Regulations vary from state to state so I won't pretend to know Pennsylvania's
Submitted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Frank
San Diego
U.S.A.
If for some reason you are delinquent on a credit card often the company that issued the card will report you to the credit bureau. Eventually they may turn it over to a collection agency. The original creditor reports to the credit bureau that you are delinquent and the date you first became delinquent.
They turn it over to a collection agency which will show it as a new account and start reporting it to the three credit bureaus with a new date. This is illegal and you should call them on this.
The fair credit reporting act allows a delinquent account to be carried for seven years. If the original creditor carried it for six years and then turned it over to an outside agency and they carry it for six years and then turn it over to another collection agency and they carry it for six years etc and the bad debt has been carried for 18 years or longer if you allow it. These collection agencies have to follow the rules but only if you catch them and call their bluff.