cueball-tx Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Long before I found this website, I had paid off a CA that was hasseling me and I had no knowledge of Debt Verification at the time. It turns out they were scum sucking junk debt buyers who promised the OC would delete the account from my credit report when I paid the CA off (the CA was never on my credit report). Is there any recourse to get my money back or should I just chalk this one up as a valuable learning experience? The OC is still reporting as bad debt/collection account with a ton of negative History. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breathing_easier Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Obviously you didn't know it at the time, but a junk debt buyer has no control over an OC's tradeline. Don't feel bad, though, as many of us found this board after we settled with CAs and OCs.What you need to do now is to begin attacking the OC's tradeline. If the OC sold the account then they cannot report anything other than "Account Sold or Transferred" and must reflect a $0 balance. In my own experience, the "Account Sold or Transferred" tradeline is not as damaging to FICO scores. After all, mortgage companies transfer accounts all the time and it is not perceived as a negative. You could first try disputing the account as "not mine" with the CRAs. If it comes back verified, then you write your first letter to the OC advising that they are incorrectly reporting your tradeline in violation of the FCRA and that you know they will want to correct it. If they refuse, then you need to send an even more strongly-worded letter stating that you intend to sue if the tradeline isn't corrected. Be prepared to follow through with your threats to file suit (small claims). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cueball-tx Posted November 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Thanks breathing I have tried the "goodwill letter" route with the OC with no results so I will try to hammer at them about the tradeline as well as the negative history as the multiple 120+ days late is killing my score.So, I guess there is no way to get the money back from the CA? Once it is paid I guess it is gone. That was a nice $3300 lesson Maybe I will go after my ex wife as she was the one who was supposed to pay on that account... she was another expensive lesson!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativechild48 Posted November 28, 2004 Report Share Posted November 28, 2004 Chalk up the money paid as "A learning experience". Sometimes a CA will take the money you send on a "junk debt" and still sell the rest of the debt. Also in some states paying on a debt resets the SOL. Good Luck to you and check the laws in your state:www.lawdog.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cueball-tx Posted December 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 Woohoo!! I just got my updated reports from TU and Experian and the OC account has been deleted after disputing it as "not mine" Maybe the goodwill letters worked after all. My dispute with Equifax has another couple weeks to go as I couldn't dispute with them online. My fingers are crossed. My score jumped over 40 points due to the delets Gosh I love this board! Thanks for all the info and encouragement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Methuss Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Well you could always write off the "lesson" as a capital loss on your taxes...losses due to fraud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghacorp Posted December 11, 2004 Report Share Posted December 11, 2004 Not a good idea to claim a theft and casualty or capital loss on federal taxes unless prepared to substantiate it in tax court which obviously is highly unlikely. IRS computers flag claims of this nature for audit. A copy of an ID theft police report can be convincing if this is actually the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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