Cavalry Portfolio Services Total Ripoff on my Credit Reports Hawthorne New York

Patricia:

California has some pretty awesome consumer protection laws, so use them.

And actually a previous poster was slightly misinformed about monetary awards for FDCPA violations. Violations of the FDCPA earn you $1,000 per action (meaning per lawsuit). However, you seem to have outstanding claims against them for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act "FCRA" and California's consumer protection laws.

Once you dispute with an entry with a credit bureau, and then inform a collection agency that they are reporting incorrectly, they must stop collecting until they send proof that YOU owe the debt. Every time they update your credit report is considered continued collection activity and is punishable with statutory, actual and punitive damages (plus attorney's fees) payable to you.

Talk to a local consumer law attorney about filing suit if they don't immediately remove these incorrect accounts from your credit report. An attorney can be found through the NACA webpage (do an internet search for them since I can't post a direct link).

Keep all mail receipts and copies of correspondence as proof that you made every attempt to rectify this prior to filing a lawsuit - that will then prove that their actions are willful.

I have been in a similar situation with these people and they out and out lied to the California AG's office. BUT, they did me a huge favor...they gave me the ammo to hang THEM, as they are not the smartest people on the face of the earth. They were actually stupid enough to re-age (change the date of last activity)three out of fourth months. They also lied to the AG and said they "purchased account on or about 12/12/05"...uh, then how come I could prove that they had supposedly had this (non-existing) account since 2001? Of course, confronted with the evidence I had against THEM, they stammered and stuttered and claimed it was a "misretrieval", and off it came...four days after they were confronted.

Dave is right..they DID NOT comply You have to take the stance that you will not roll over and give them money just because they say you owe it. What they sent you is NOT proof. It is NOT your job to prove that you don't owe it...it is THEIR job to prove that you do.

I found that faxing them worked much better than just the certified letter.

By not sending you a contract with your signature on it, they have NOT complied. Send them another certified letter stating they have failed to fulfill your written request for validation of this debt, and therefore this debt must be removed from all 3 credit bureaus.

Tell them that sending a bunch of pages from someone's cell phone account is by no way compling with FCRA guidelines. There is no contract, therfore, there is no debt.

I mailed Cavalry Portfolio Services a second time in January. They date stamped my letter as received on January 20th.

I asked them to send me a copy of the original application showing the terms of agreement, a summary of my account activities, all documents signed by me proving the amount of the obligation, a copy of the purchase agreement between myself and their corporations, documented proof that this is indeed my obligation, etc, etc.

Today I received 59 pages of someone's cel phone statements. But it is not mine......I do not recognize the cel phone number nor the numbers called from this cel phone.

I did not receive anything showing that I signed for this phone or any actual proof that it is mine. My name is at the top of every statement, but I have never had a cel phone through AT&T or Cingular. The cover page states that Cavalry Portfolio Services has now fully complied with 15USC1692g(b).

Where do I go from here? Don't they have to show me something with my signature? Help!!! This is not my bill!!!

I had a similar case with them. I wrote to the Phoenix area BBB and to the credit reporting agencies. I told them all that Cavalry had made illegal entries on my report etc., and it seems to have been cleared up for the time being. I was surprised that Cavalry responded because they have such a terrible rating with the Phoenix BBB.

Check the statute of limitations for your state as well. Never pay anything to a debt purchasing company! You're under no moral obligation to do so, and they purchased the debt for about 3 cents on the dollar. Paying them will only do more harm. It will restart the statute of limitations clock (maybe even if the debt is already out of statute). It also will not help your credit report. Always dispute, because they can in no way show legally that you are contractually obligated to pay them. All these companies are trying to get in on the swindle, because before long it will all come to a screeching halt. Reports to the FTC more than double each year about debt buyers.

If they didn't contact you within 30 days after disputing the debt with a credit reporting agency, they must remove it if they can't provide proof. I'm no lawyer, but if I were you I'd talk to an attorney about suing under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and The Fair Credit Reporting Act. This means money to you. For each violation of the FDCPA they will be out $1000 to you.