NCO Financial Would not take negative reporting from 2 credit bureaus Horsham Pennsylvania

Robert:

Excellent post and one that should be saved into everyone's storage that is disputing TU actions.

While I didn't have the legal cite's, I was determined to obtain a copy of the original HI that should reflect my autorization. I didn't want to contact NCO as I never contracted with them and didn't want to create same.

After continued persistence, I received a like letter stating that the inquiries in question do not appear on mt report. I do have copies up to the week that the letter originated showing these "non-existent inquiries".

Now the question is, do we have legal recourse to pursue damages - not just from NCO but also from TU.

Anyone have a comment?

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Larry, I had the same problem
NCO refused to take the item off my wifes report for a bogus debt they were trying to collect. While they never reported the debt, there was a glaring entry that they had accessed her TransUnion credit report. The fact that these bottom feeders did this can lower your credit score.

When I didn't receive any satisfaction from NCO, I went to TransUnion. We used the argument that TU was 'now allowed to prepare or furnish investigative consumer reports unless the agency has received a certification under subsection 15 USC 1681d(a)(2)' (Fair Credit Reporting Act - FCRP). This basically says NCO had to have a legitimate reason for checking your report and submit a certification that they did. Because they had no valid debt, they had no legitimate reason to check the report. We also cited Richardsons v. Fleetbank, et. al. (US Dist. Lexis 22581. Civil A. 99-30094) that states:

'A credit reporting agency is initially entitled to rely on infomration contained in the reports issued by credit grantors, becuase it would be unduly burdensome and inefficient to require an agency to look beyond the face of every credit report. However, once notified that a consumer disputes the information contained in such records, exclusive reliance on such information is neither reasonable or justified. (emphasis added).

Also, Bryant v. TRW, INC also states that a 'consumer reporting agency does not necessarily comply with section 607(b) by simply reporting in an accurate manner the information it receives from creditors.'

Needless to say, the first letter I sent was 'poo-poo'ed' and I got a form letter saying that they would not remove the listing. The second and third letter was answered with the same computer generated 'Explanation of Different Items on your Credit Report' letter. Our next response was to send a copy of every bit of communication to the senior attorney for TU. (You can google Daniel Halvorsen, his address is in Chicago.) We not-so-subtly let him know that we would be happy to file a suit against TU for failure to investigate.

Perhaps they were just tired of us and wanted us to go away, but about 2 weeks after the letter to the 'senior attorney' we received a notice from TU saying the 'Subscriber inquiry' from NCO Group had been deleted. This was after 3 different letters telling us 'to bad, we are not removing the information.' We got what we wanted. All it took was some time and some stamps.

Best advice. Get a copy of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act (FDCPA) and FCRA. Both can be downloaded from the NET in a PDF file. Save them, print them, then READ THEM. Spend some time researching lawsuits on the net, both against bottom feeding collection agencies as well as the Credit Reporting Agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian). Get copies of all your credit reports, go over them with a fine tooth comb and dispute anything and everything that even has a HINT of inaccuracy. The CRA must, by law investigate your claims. Do NOT settle for the initial 'we investigated and your screwed' response.

Good luck with this!!!

NCO refused to take the item off my wifes report for a bogus debt they were trying to collect. While they never reported the debt, there was a glaring entry that they had accessed her TransUnion credit report. The fact that these bottom feeders did this can lower your credit score.

When I didn't receive any satisfaction from NCO, I went to TransUnion. We used the argument that TU was "now allowed to prepare or furnish investigative consumer reports unless the agency has received a certification under subsection 15 USC 1681d(a)(2)" (Fair Credit Reporting Act - FCRP). This basically says NCO had to have a legitimate reason for checking your report and submit a certification that they did. Because they had no valid debt, they had no legitimate reason to check the report. We also cited Richardsons v. Fleetbank, et. al. (US Dist. Lexis 22581. Civil A. 99-30094) that states:

"A credit reporting agency is initially entitled to rely on infomration contained in the reports issued by credit grantors, becuase it would be unduly burdensome and inefficient to require an agency to look beyond the face of every credit report. However, once notified that a consumer disputes the information contained in such records, exclusive reliance on such information is neither reasonable or justified. (emphasis added).

Also, Bryant v. TRW, INC also states that a "consumer reporting agency does not necessarily comply with section 607(b) by simply reporting in an accurate manner the information it receives from creditors."

Needless to say, the first letter I sent was "poo-poo'ed" and I got a form letter saying that they would not remove the listing. The second and third letter was answered with the same computer generated "Explanation of Different Items on your Credit Report" letter. Our next response was to send a copy of every bit of communication to the senior attorney for TU. (You can google Daniel Halvorsen, his address is in Chicago.) We not-so-subtly let him know that we would be happy to file a suit against TU for failure to investigate.

Perhaps they were just tired of us and wanted us to go away, but about 2 weeks after the letter to the "senior attorney" we received a notice from TU saying the "Subscriber inquiry" from NCO Group had been deleted. This was after 3 different letters telling us "to bad, we are not removing the information." We got what we wanted. All it took was some time and some stamps.

Best advice. Get a copy of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act (FDCPA) and FCRA. Both can be downloaded from the NET in a PDF file. Save them, print them, then READ THEM. Spend some time researching lawsuits on the net, both against bottom feeding collection agencies as well as the Credit Reporting Agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian). Get copies of all your credit reports, go over them with a fine tooth comb and dispute anything and everything that even has a HINT of inaccuracy. The CRA must, by law investigate your claims. Do NOT settle for the initial "we investigated and your screwed" response.

Good luck with this!!!