I’ve been settling accounts for clients since the early 90s, but I never had a creditor refuse to settle an account. On 3/13/13 I first contacted Dell Financial Services (on credit reports as WebBank and/or DFS) and I was advised that Resurgent Capital Services has the account. Resurgent then stated that it had returned the account to DFS on 4/20/10.
I immediately faxed the power of attorney to Dell. A week later it was still not yet in its system. I faxed to a new fax # and when DFS finally had the power of attorney so they could discuss settlement, DFS again insisted that Resurgent has the account. It didn’t matter how many times I explained that Resurgent stated that it had returned the account to Dell in 2010, they kept giving me the number for Resurgent and even worse, often transferred me directly claiming that I was being transferred to the department that would handle the settlement.
Last Friday I was on the phone with DFS for a long time and I finally got a fax number that allegedly goes to the DFS legal department. The first part of the fax is posted below. I also attached the fax I had previously sent to Dell credit reporting in India regarding the fictitious late payments (a documented FICO scoring bug) and I will explain details in my next post. While Dell credit reporting claimed that they updated the credit reporting last week, today’s Equifax report shows NO changes.
Another issue with DFS was that they initially claimed that the account could not be settled because it was in bankruptcy and that it would take a week to clear that up. My client’s bk had been dismissed, as DFS reported to the credit bureaus for years, along with the balance.
Yesterday I attempted to verify that the DFS legal department received my fax, but DFS refused to provide a phone number for its legal department. To add insult to injury, they even transferred me to Resurgent again and gave me their phone number to confirm receipt of my fax sent to the DFS legal department. Of course Resurgent again told me that they sent the account back to Dell on 4/20/10.
When I requested that the DFS Indian billing department manager transfer me to someone in the US, I got to speak with Marcia. She confirmed that there is no phone number for the legal department (they’d probably get thousands of calls from upset customers every day). Marcia said that she would try to confirm receipt of my fax and that the person she had to contact was away from his desk. I was supposed to get a call back from Marcia within an hour — several hours ago. I got NO call.
So we have no choice but to quickly file a small claims suit AND start contacting attorneys.
I already emailed the TX SOS for the registered agent info as the DFS headquarters are in Austin. I’ll post the small claims complaint once we get the info. If Dell doesn’t immediately delete the account from the credit reports and reimburse my fee we can have an attorney take over. If my client’s lease option expires because of DFS we’re talking major damages, far beyond small claims.
We are also going to send a published complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
FYI, my client paid $300 for the Credit Activist settlement. On average it takes about 6 hours to settle an account, including the followup to ensure that it is reported correctly or deleted. I already spent at least 12 hours on Dell, but if my clients cannot recover my fees from the creditors / collectors engaging in illegal activities, there is no extra charge for the sometimes over 50 hours required to get results.
Occasionally I start an entire new blog with regulatory complaints as for Asset Acceptance. However, since my Dell client’s lease option is expiring, we don’t have the time to go through the regulatory complaint process and have to file suit right away. The primary purpose of the CFPB complaint is to create public awareness and to hopefully have the CFPB order Dell to clean up its act. Indian support for financial services ought to be ILLEGAL!
For the record, I have nothing at all against Indian people, have Indian friends and clients and I wish I could visit India for a few months. However, our financial and personal records ought to be in the United States.
So I’ll post the small claims complaint as soon as we have it ready and below is the fax I sent to the DFS legal department on Friday:
Via fax to 512-728-7100 — 5 pages including cover
ATTN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT
Dell Financial Services
Re: Request for deletion and power of attorney [client]
To Whom It May Concern:
Attached is my client’s power of attorney. After weeks of frustration and not being able to settle this account, I hereby request that you permanently close this account and delete it from my client’s credit reports.
Summary of my calls to DFS and its collector Resurgent Capital Services:
March 13, 2013: I called Dell Financial Services (DFS) to discuss the settlement of my client’s account and I was advised that the account is with Resurgent Capital Services. I called Resurgent and faxed my power of attorney.
March 14, 2013: Resurgent advised that the account was returned to Dell on 4/20/10. I then faxed my power of attorney to DFS at 512-283-0029.
March 15, 2013: I called DFS to confirm receipt of my fax and was transferred to Resurgent. I called again, was transferred to a supervisor who finally transferred me to DFS collections and Apple advised that it takes 3 – 5 business days for the power of attorney to get in the DFS system.
March 20, 2013: I called DFS collections, was advised that I needed to contact Resurgent and I finally spoke to supervisor Katherine. DFS still did not have the power of attorney and she gave me the 512-283-4567 to fax the power of attorney again.
March 22, 2013: DFS collections finally had the power of attorney. However, the first person insisted that I had to call Resurgent and it took a while to convince him to transfer me to a supervisor. I then spoke with Jason, team lead, and after some research he found that the account was on hold because of my client’s bankruptcy. Jason advised that it would take a week to confirm that the account was no longer in bankruptcy. I offered to settle the account for $400, but Jason wouldn’t discuss settling until it was certain that the account was not in bankruptcy.
PLEASE NOTE THAT DFS HAS BEEN REPORTING THE ACCOUNT WITH THE BALANCE TO ALL THREE CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES!
As we also have an issue with the DFS reporting of “fictitious” late payments on the Equifax myFICO report and Jason referred me to the DFS credit reporting department, apparently in India. I was advised that I had to fax the power of attorney AGAIN. Attached is my 3/22/13 fax to DFS credit reporting, explaining the Equifax myFICO fictitious late payments.
March 29, 2013: I called DFS credit reporting and was advised that changes had been submitted to the credit bureaus and that it would take 30 – 45 days for the credit reporting to be updated. I was unable to find out what exactly will be reported and I was promised that a letter would be sent to my client. Due to the complicated nature of the credit reporting issue and my client’s deadline to exercise his lease option we really needed to have the reporting changed much sooner.
At DFS collections Katherine insisted that the account was with Resurgent.
NOBODY WAS WILLING TO SETTLE THIS ACCOUNT!
I am currently working on a published complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the fictitious late payments.
These totally bogus late payments lower my client’s Equifax FICO score significantly and prevent him from obtaining a mortgage.
I have now wasted at least 8 hours dealing with this DFS account and we hope you’ll agree that it is time to resolve the issues by closing this account and deleting it from the credit bureaus within 48 hours.
My client has to sue credit bureau Experian due to its refusal to investigate factual disputes and I hope it will not be necessary to litigate against DFS and to request that the CFPB order DFS to immediately change the credit reporting causing the fictitious Equifax myFICO late payments.
My client is facing a deadline to exercise his lease option and we will greatly appreciate your fax confirming deletion of this account from my client’s credit reports.
Please call me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Christine Baker
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Update 4/2/13 1:50 pm: Marcia did NOT call me as promised and when I called her extension, I was transferred to Moe, ID # 257419. Once again we wasted all that time getting my client’s account info and he gave me the Resurgent #. I asked whether he can’t see all the account notes about me telling them that Resurgent returned the account to Dell on 4/20/13 and told me that he sees NO account notes at all — only the phone number for the department handling the account.
Also, he objected to my recording as per Dell policy, but one of Dell’s first announcements is that the call may be recorded. He did not know who Marcia is and could not transfer me to her extension.
Update 4/8/13: My client filed the lawsuit and hopefully we’ll hear from Dell.
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