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
————————————
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.
This is EXACTLY what I’m going through today. No follow up calls, Dell vs Resurgent neither seem to have my account, shitty attitudes, no promised follow up, etc. My only issue is I can’t make the time to sue.
My client just received notice from Dell’s attorneys that they are requesting a 1 hour contested bench trial.
Apparently Dell and their attorneys think that the Dell horrible business practices and repeated lies are perfectly acceptable.
If this matter isn’t resolved to my client’s satisfaction within a week or so, I’ll be drafting my client’s complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and whatever other regulators could possibly have an interest in Dell’s bizarre business practices.
I’ll start a new blog for Dell as for notorious debt buyer Asset Acceptance and my client’s complaint to the NM AG:
http://liarsandcheats.info/debt-buyer-asset-acceptance-incorrect-credit-reporting-and-collection-inquiry/
Notably, it appears that my complaints and publications about Asset Acceptance resulted in ALL debt buyers now reporting collections correctly to credit bureau Experian as “collections” instead of installment loans.
And I’ll be contacting consumer attorneys. I don’t know anything about Indiana law, but I sure hope that Dell’s providing FALSE information is violating some Indiana consumer protection law.
I also recently found out that my client’s wife has a Dell chargeoff and it’s the exact same situation. Dell transferred me to Resurgent and Resurgent told me that the account was returned to Dell on 4/20/10.
Clearly, my client’s ordeal is not an isolated incident as his wife has the exact same situation and you also experienced this extraordinary incompetence.
If I have to draft regulatory complaints, I’d like to hear from you. Make sure you record the phone calls and keep a CALL LOG, take names and employee ID numbers, etc.
I’ll update here.
I, too, am having similar issues with Dell (DFS)…
After repeated attempts to correct this by phone, WebBank/DFS (Dell Financial Services) refuses to remove derogatory information from my credit report, even after my paycheck was garnished for $800 per month for four months and paid in full (via judgment) on April 27, 2012. All three credit reporting agencies show an unpaid balance of $2713 owed to WebBank/DFS (Dell), which they incorrectly reported as a charge off that was written off. For example, the Experian report reads, Status: Account charged off. $2,713 written off. This is not an outstanding debt! I paid Dell back every penny owed (via garnishment) plus attorney fees, and they refuse to honor my repeated requested to remove this damaging information from my credit reports.
This item is inaccurate because the full amount was sent to collections, I was sued, wages were garnished and fully collected and paid in full on April 27, 2012. I have been battling this issue for over a year now!
P.S. The amount for which I was sued was mostly finance charges and late fees accumulated during a time I had requested financial hardship assistance while battling cancer. These people are heartless!
Wow, that’s really incredible.
Now, the credit reporting can get complicated because they could be reporting a $0 current balance and still have the charge off notation, but it should be a PAID chargeoff.
Without seeing the exact reporting and the disputes I can’t really make any recommendations, but for Experian you should submit a WRITTEN dispute like this:
“The account was paid in full and no amount was written off.” If that doesn’t fix it, you might want to talk to a lawyer. And of course update here.
They can report the derogatory charged off and PAID account up to 7 years from the charge-off date, but it’s most important that the balance is $0.
Hi, Im going through this exact process….about 4 months ago me and the wife applied for a home equity loan but in order for them to give it to us they would have to pay 5 chargeoffs i had on my reports from a portion of the loan so the bank asked me to contact all the comapnys charging off and get the payoff amounts and where to send payment so the bank could pay them off…well when i contacted dell they took my SS# and looked up my account and said it was with there collections departemnt so they forwarded my call without me being able to ask any questions…so there collections department said that it used to be here but we sent it back to dell 1 year ago so they have it..so i call dell again and they insist that collections has it and they dont know why they keep sending me back…this has been going on for 4 months..my bank did let the loan go though and just paid my other charge offs but this dell is still ruining my credit…every credit card i try to apply for denies me becasue of this Dell chargeoff.. all other chargeoffs are marked as paid and are acceptable for getting new credit so Dell is really screwing me…funny part is everytime i dispute it with the CRA’s it always comes back verified…how could that be when me myself could not verify it….i am at my wits end….Is there anyway you can help me and give me some advice on what to do? thanks in advance
Did you pay the FULL amount on the other accounts or did you negotiate settlements?
Regarding Dell, did you seem my followup post regarding the settlement of the lawsuit?
http://creditfactors.com/2013/07/dell-financial-services-lawsuit-settled/
Interestingly, while my client settled the lawsuit about a month ago for the reporting of the $0 balance, Dell is STILL reporting the balance. He just disputed with the CRAs again and we’ll see what happens.
The only way I could help you is to contact Dell, prepare a factual summary as I did in my post here and then instead of filing a lawsuit, I could just contact their attorney and they might offer to delete the balance without being sued first.
Of course the regulatory complaint is also an option. Thing is, you want to be sure that they’ll delete the balance without actually having to pay them.
Hi Christine,
thanks for the reply….yes i paid all chargeoffs in full and managed to get a few collection companys to delete there account off my report with goodwill letters…the original creditors are still reporting the chargeoff but they are marked paid in full which is fine as far as im concern its just this Damn Dell account…its a joke as i was able to pay it in full also if they just could have found the account…as of now i am not able to pay it in full as it is for $2500 so its just frustrating that it could have went away 4 months ago when i had the funds. im not sure what a regulatory complaint is..what kind of fee’s are involved with this? thanks in advance for you reply
Mario
Mario, it bites that you paid the other creditors in full. Obviously you’re NOT rich since you no longer have the $2,500 for Dell and you could have negotiated with the other creditors. But that’s water under the bridge …
With regards to Dell, please have a look at http://creditfactors.com/subscription-and-services/debt-settlement/
It COULD be that Dell seriously impacts on your FICO scores if the balance is included in the balance / limit ratio — it depends on how your HELOC is reported and on the HELOC and other revolving account balances.
The impact of the Dell account depends on the OTHER accounts and I’d definitely want to at least briefly review your myFICO reports at no charge if you order the $300 Credit Activist (I can publish what happens as I did here) “settlement.”
I’d contact Dell and their collector on your behalf, document and record the calls and if they still claim not to have your account, I’d contact the Dell attorney and request that Dell change the balance to $0.
If that doesn’t do the trick, I can draft a regulatory complaint for you to send to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and possibly other regulators. Did you look at the Asset Acceptance ordeal at http://liarsandcheats.info/debt-buyer-asset-acceptance-incorrect-credit-reporting-and-collection-inquiry/ ?
It took TWO letters to the AG, but eventually they deleted.
Of course you could also sue them in small claims, just like my client did.
I’m not an attorney and I can’t give you legal advice, but I can post what I would do and I can post the small claims form as I would file it in the CreditFactors member forum and you could copy it and of course there is no additional charge.
It’s really hard to believe that Dell is so screwed up and refuses to accept peoples’ money!
Christine,
I have a DFS/WEBBANK account on my credit report but it has a zero balance. Should I bother with having it removed or not? I have absolutely no intent of purchasing anything from them. I just didn’t know if it being on my report has a negative effect.
Thanks in advance for a reply!
Johnny
Sorry for the late reply, been so busy.
It’s not as easy as “having it removed” and whether it is negative depends on what they report and especially the dates. Can you post a screenshot of the reporting?
DFS is re-aging an account that was supposed to fall off a couple of months ago. It was originally opened in 2005 and the date of status was originally 2007, but they have changed that recently to 2010. How can they keep upping the status date and keeping it on my credit for more than 7 years?
The status date (Experian) depends on the status. If you paid the account in 2010, the status “paid” will be 2010. But that has nothing to do with when the account will be deleted. Experian “should” state with any derogatory account when it will be deleted.
So. what is the Equifax DLA and what does Trans Union report? Have they deleted?
I haven’t checked TU or Equifax. I just remember seeing “this account is scheduled to continue on your report until 6/2014” or something similar. That statement is gone now and it is still showing up.
Clearly something went wrong. Always SAVE all credit reports, both hard copies and online reports.
Get your TU and Equifax free annual reports and check those. Please update with what they report (if they still report it) and then I can tell you how to dispute.
very helpful site. Thanks for posting this.
We too are going through something similar with Dell. Paid account off yet they show we owe $428.00…these ppl are scary.
Make sure you dispute IN WRITING and with proof of delivery.
Here is DFS registered agent info:
Corporation Service Company d/b/a CSC-Lawyers Incorporating Service Company
211 E. 7th Street, Suite 620
Austin, TX 78701-3218 USA
This is what I had in 2013:
Dell Financial Services LLC
1 Dell Way, Round Rock TX 78682
Registered Agent:
Corporation Service Company
211 East 7th Street
Suite 620
Austin, TX 78701
Make sure you SUE Dell and SERVE Corporation Service Company.
Unfortunately I know nothing about FL small claims. In Arizona, you can actually have the court clerk serve a small claims defendant for only $8 by certified mail — a great deal and saves the work.
I hope you prevail, hopefully you can settle with them.
Please post DFS registered agent info to sue them in small claims court
What state are you in?
And what state is Dell in?
I am in Florida and DFS is in Texas, if I am not mistaken
So sorry, totally missed this post and I hope you got everything worked out.
For others who want to sue a creditor, you can check if they have a registered agent in your state, it might be cheaper to serve them than in the creditor’s state — depending on YOUR court’s rules. In AZ small claims the court will even serve by certified mail. Rules for service often vary depending on whether the registered agent is in state or out of state.
I was told by dell if i settled my account that they would not put on my 3 credit reports as a charge off, but they did. They told me I would get a letter of it being a paid status which i never did. They won’t help me now that my credit union sent them the settlement check. They tell me I don’t have an account and get the run around.
Tina, I take it that you didn’t read this post BEFORE you settled. Now you can’t prove what they said.
Dell would violate their agreements with the credit bureaus if they removed accounts for payment. Maybe you misunderstood what they said? Maybe they said they would not report the account “as delinquent” any more — they have a way with words to mislead people.
Sometimes collectors will promise deletion or removal of derogatory info for payment, but they don’t put it in writing because they really don’t intend to keep their promises.
That’s why I RECORD all important calls.
Do you need a letter stating that there is no outstanding balance for a particular reason?
Did they update your credit reporting to show a $0 balance?
After reading this, and listening to one of my colleagues on the phone with Dell regarding our own small bogus collections claim for the last 2 hours, anyone associated with me will NOT receive my recommendation for Dell equipment, leased or purchased. I’m done. I had previously complained to Dell that the lack of reasonably priced 8-core workstations and laptops for $2000 or less is ridiculous.
We expect to be treated with a reasonable amount of respect in our business transactions with reputed organizations, however at early signs of their decline, I work to save my clients the hassle of dealing with such companies as Dell and HP. More and more I am just going with Supermicro. I am done with Dell as best as I can for now.
I am going through the same thing with Dell, they will not work with me I’m making monthly payments just not the amount they want and every month they tack on a late fee. They will not negotiate at all.