A client disputed several accounts with Experian. It refused to investigate a Household 2nd mortgage and a Chase account with a balance that it had forgiven (1099) because Experian previously investigated the accounts in 2011. My client had included the Chase 1099 with the dispute. Trans Union promptly changed the balance to $0 after it received the dispute. However, Chase also verified completely BOGUS late payments for this account, charged off in 2007.
I had contacted Chase about the lates on the Equifax myFICO last year and they refused to correct! The account was charged off in 2007.
Recently my client was DECLINED when he applied for a mortgage because his FICO scores are too low.
So now it’s time to sue Experian, Chase and possibly CSC. Of course I’m helping my client since he doesn’t have an attorney and it’s fairly easy to sue in his small claims court. I’m not even charging my client for helping him with legal research such as finding the registered agent to serve the lawsuit and summons and I won’t prepare the documents for him. But I decided to post the complaint as I would file it at the CreditFactors member forum and if he wishes to copy the complaint, he can do so — I’m not practicing law, but I post what I would do.
If he doesn’t get fast results with the small claims suit, he’ll retain an attorney.
UPDATE 7/8/13: I just posted the details about the Chase ordeal and the lawsuit:
Suing Chase and Equifax for verifying incorrect late payments and balance
Hello,
I have been disputing incorrect info on my reports too since December. No luck with Experian especially. I sent a follow up dispute but they won’t budge. Should i sue them now? They won’t remove zombie debt from my report and they are reporting old derogs as newly charged off accounts. Very annoying and a waste of my time. Thanks.
Before you sue them you have to make sure that their reporting is in fact incorrect.
“they are reporting old derogs as newly charged off accounts”
If an account is assigned for collection or sold to a debt buyer it is reported as NEW account. That’s why NEW collections are so devastating to FICO scores even if they are for 6 year old chargeoffs and they should be settled BEFORE they are reported if FICO scores are important.
In my client’s case we know the balance was incorrect and he even provided Experian with the Chase 1099. If your disputes were FACTUAL and you can prove that the reporting is incorrect, I’d suggest you sue.
Incorrect. Newly reported collections still have to follow the guidelines for the OC. It can’t be re-aged.
FALSE.
Collections are correctly reported with date when the collector received the account and it will result in often DRAMATICALLY lower FICO scores if it’s the newest collection and all the other derogs are old. And that’s why it may be very wise to settle new collections BEFORE they are reported (they usually give 30 days notice.)
I’ll put my money where my mouth is.
Want to bet $1,000?
I’m thinking that you’re just confused because you don’t know what “re-aging” is. It refers to the DELETION date of the account.
Hello,
thank you for the response. The old derogs are from collections that were on my report but were paid 3 years ago. In disputing some erroneous information, they marked both paid collections as new COs. On top of that, there is one account for which DOFD was sometime in 2004, however they are reporting this as a new opened account. My score took a few dinges because of this and i even got denied credit based on the falsely reported “new” COs.
“In disputing some erroneous information, they marked both paid collections as new COs.”
Did they change the “date opened?
“On top of that, there is one account for which DOFD was sometime in 2004, however they are reporting this as a new opened account.”
It is very confusing how Equifax reports the various delinquency dates. It’s best to use the myFICO report’s “date of last activity” to determine when an account will be deleted (add 7 years). Obviously, an account that became permanently delinquent in 2004 SHOULD have been deleted in 2011. So what happened there?
You are comparing the date of last activity to the date opened and I really have NO idea what’s going on as these two pieces of data are not at all related. That’s why I spend many HOURS when I prepare a credit analysis and I really can’t give any credit advice without seeing the actual reporting. If you want to post a screenshot of the reporting before and after the dispute, I can tell you a LOT more.
hey guys i recently paid off a debt that was being listed on my report from midland funding llc and then another collection agency called nationwide recovery pulled my file from experian so i talked to the credit repair company prime legal consultants and they advised me to contact nationwide and try to settle the debt which was the same debt midland funding was collecting on so i made a deal with nationwide i settled on the debt sent all the paper work to midland and all 3 reporting agencies and they wont take midland funding off my report even though i settled the debt with a different collection agency and sent them the proof any ideas what i should do now.
Sorry, don’t know because I don’t know who actually OWNED the account and whether Nationwide was collecting on behalf of Midland. I hope you have good documentation and recorded phone calls.
I’d have to spend several HOURS to go through all the paperwork and credit reports to determine what really happened.
And, I just posted about my client’s lawsuit against Chase, Equifax and Experian:
http://creditfactors.com/2013/07/suing-chase-and-equifax-for-verifying-incorrect-late-payments-and-balance/
Hey Christine I finally got midland funding off of my credit file seems they really didn’t own the account a company called bayveiw solutions bought the account and nationwide was collecting for them. Midland did get scared when I sent them a DV letter and told them I had a lawyer lol. they took it off quick then.
Excellent. I’d sure like to know why Midland was reporting the account in the first place.
FYI, I just filed a lawsuit against Midland, MCM and their attorneys Bursey & Associates.
hey Christine I believe they did own the account at one point but then it was sold in February and the company that Bayview bought it from was not midland so I don’t know im kinda thinking they were trying to collect a debt that they had nothing to do with till this day they claim they still own it but bayview sent me all the documentation that showed when were who and how much they bought it for and told me I should sue midland for violating my rights multiple times. I sure do hope you win your suit just because they are a big company they think they can walk all over us I stood up to them and didn’t back down and in the end got what I wanted and I hope you get what you want to I don’t know if it would help you in your case Christine but I would gladly send you copies of my correspondence with midland. Good luck Girl. Dennis D.
Thanks, Dennis!
That sure is weird that Midland still claims they own your debt. Obviously, they didn’t pull your name and account info out of a hat, but it DOES happen occasionally that debts are sold to SEVERAL buyers.
I think it’s extremely important that debt buyers can prove 100% that they bought an account and that requires the SELLER’S testimony. An IT person at a bank could easily get a tape with all the charged off account info and sell it.
I don’t know whether it would help in my case, but I wouldn’t mind having a look at your correspondence with Midland. Can you email or fax it to me?
Yes I will email them to you Christine if you want leave me your email and I will send them
Great, my email is christine@creditfactors.com
Thanks!
I just sent you the documents Christine good luck.
Thanks, got it!
Good thing that you had the full account number on your settlement agreement. I had a client last year who got sued for debt that his parents had settled for him — but he didn’t know it! He didn’t show up in court and they got a default judgment. We knew we had to deal with it before he got his mortgage, but had too many other accounts to worry about.
All of a sudden he found out that his parents had settled the account with another collector years earlier and they had some paperwork, but NOTHING with the original creditor’s account number. Fortunately I was able to get sufficient info from that collector they settled with to have the judgment vacated, but it wasn’t easy!
So to everybody settling accounts, make sure you have good documentation with the correct original creditor account number.
Well I did my home work I sent everything registered mail. Christine did you notice on midlands original account # that it doesn’t match Nationwides original account# nor did it match the tribute master card original account# that’s what made me very suspicious about the whole ordeal All of these collectors are very sneaky and its so important to get a debt verified I cannot stress it enough. I’M going to keep in touch because I’m going after Metabank for an Indigo master card that I nerver in my life heard of but they are saying I owe 761.00.Um NO I have no idea who these people are but soon we will find out. Thanks for sharing your interesting stories also its a pleasure talking Dennis D. over and out lol.
I didn’t notice that your account number didn’t match and that’s extra strange. That’s what I was talking about when I mentioned “hours” to research and check everything. Did you compare it with your credit reports? I really don’t know how that could have happened.
With the client with the default judgment, it also was extra complicated because he had TWO Household MasterCard account chargeoffs with similar balances. One was collected by Asset Acceptance and we ended up filing AG complaints:
http://liarsandcheats.info/debt-buyer-asset-acceptance-incorrect-credit-reporting-and-collection-inquiry/
It sure was confusing and a LOT of work and we got done just on time for his mortgage.
So I hope you’ll find out what’s going on with Metabank without too much trouble!