Midland Credit

[LearningCredit]

Happy New Year DocDon! I wish you a great year. I DV'd Midland Credit Management and they received it on December 1, 2004. They have not done ANYTHING and continue to report with the CRA's. What are my next steps??

Thank you.

[willingtocope]

You need to wait 45-60 days for a CA to react to your DV letter. If after 60 days, its still on your CR and not listed as "in dispute" then send a letter to the CRAs, including copies of your green card and dispute letter. If it hasn't disappeared or been changed to in dispute within 30 days of that, then you can think about suing someone.

The whole credit update, credit reporting cycle usually takes a month or two.

Not much you can do right now but wait...

[LearningCredit]

Thanks WillingToCope...

[Carlos]

So what happens in the event they do list it as in dispute??

From what I understand it can not be used to determine credit worthiness ie mortgage loan. But that has to be BS, because it would be similar to a prosecutor smearing some trash on a criminal to the jury and then the judge expecting them not to weigh all the "dirt" they just heard in their decision just because he told them to exclude it.

In any case, I had an item marked promptly as disputed. CA responded by listing it not twice but thrice for the same bogus acct, thus tanking my score on PG nearly 60 pts, even though all three are listed as "disputed".

It seems as I am at a stalemate with them until SOL is up in 8 mos.

I know that this is bogus debt though because they would have brought suit just as promptly as the listed it "disputed"

[Guest]

Carlos... what you do in this case is you call them on the telephone and you record the conversation ((if legal in your state))

You then ask them about your account.. ask them for the amount they say you owe and the account number so that you may "take care of the matter". The trick is to get them to admit they only have one account of yours in their office and verify the account number. Ask them "Is this being reported on my CR as and then see if any of the account numbers match what you are seeing on your CR.

When they give you that information you mail them a nice intent to sue letter for furnishing erroneous and false info to a Credit bureau that they KNOW is false..

make sure it goes to compliance or their legal department and make SURE you let them know you recorded them on tape admitting that they only have one account in their office.

If you keep your cool with thse bozos while on the phone you may wrack up some FDCPA violations to add to your FCRA violations.

That is just what I would do.

[reformeddebtor]

I actually won a case against Midland in May 2004 in Maryland, because they couldn't provide any evidence that the debt was mine, after they sued me, and believe me, the judge gave them two extra opportunities by continuing the case twice Anyway, my account is marked as "In Dispute" with all three CRAs, and Midland, even though they clearly have no legal right to do so, continues to report this debt as valid. I'm waiting the allotted period of time, because I know they won't respond to this letter, either, and then I'm going to file suit against them for numerous FDCPA and FCRA violations that I've been documenting, and I've already filed a complaint with the MD State Attorney General's Office and the FTC. I've never met a company as stupid and arrogant as they are. Anyway, here's my letter, with the correct Legal Outsourcing address (they've moved, BTW, and yet they are still reporting their old address to the 3 CRAs close to two months later). Feel free to modify and use as you see fit, and good luck. Tap into your warrior spirit, you're going to need it dealing with these idiots.

CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

December 15, 2004

Midland Credit Management

8875 Aero Drive

San Diego, CA 92123

Attn: YGC Legal Outsourcing Department

Re: Acct # BANK OF A-8501XXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is my final request for removal of the reporting of this debt to all three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, that you are currently providing this information to. My next action will be to file a lawsuit against your company under the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Please be advised that I won a dismissal with prejudice on May 3, 2004 in Howard County District Court, Civil Case No. 10-01-0005705-2003 (copy of Dismissal enclosed), which clearly proves that you have no legal right to continue collecting on this debt. The fact that you continue to report this debt as valid and “verified” with the three credit bureaus listed above is clear evidence that you are in violation of Federal and State consumer credit reporting laws. Federal law requires you to respond within 30 days, yet you have failed to respond. You may be liable for your willful non-compliance.

Please:

1. Remove this inaccurate and incomplete information, at once;

2. Report to me in writing within 30 days that you have; and

3. Supply a corrected credit profile to all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months, or the last 2 years for employment purposes.

4. Provide the name, address, and telephone number of such creditors;

I have also filed a formal complaint with the FTC (copy of complaint enclosed), as well as the Maryland State Attorney General’s Office (copy of complaint enclosed) documenting your company’s willful non-compliance. This letter invokes my rights under the state and federal laws, including the FDCPA and FCRA.

You are currently reporting this account on my credit reports. I have disputed this debt with the credit bureaus, and all three have verified that this is a “good” debt. As you are aware, information about this account comes directly from you. The listed items are entirely inaccurate and incomplete, and represent a very serious error in your reporting. Failure to comply with Federal regulation by collection agencies or credit bureaus are investigated by the Federal Trade Commission. I am maintaining a careful record of my communications with you and have proof of receipt, and will use this record should I need to pursue any further legal action against your company. I await your immediate response. I can be contacted at my home address listed above.

Sincerely,

Reformed Debtor

Enclosures

[c m chase]

Yeppers. Midland WON'T validate...or even attempt to. They WILL hire a jackass collection attorney and THEY won't attempt to validate either. They WILL sue if given an opportunity.

I'm going through the same thing right now. The tradeline has been marked 'in dispute' for over a year now.

PLEASE file your complaints. Attorneys General, FTC, Better Business Bureau, etc. Check to see if they're licensed/bonded and if that's necessary in your state.

Go get these suckers.

[reformeddebtor]

Nothing will make happier than getting my day in court with them, because they so richly deserve it I'm not holding my breath about filing a complaint with the Maryland State Atty. General's office, because Maryland is one of the least consumer friendly states you can live in. And if you're sued by a creditor, God help you, because the judges in District Court seem to think that because a company sues you for a debt that you must liable for it. I've already gotten a polite sort of non-response letter from the State Atty General's Office of Consumer Protection, which is where I filed my complaint, stating that they don't handle "these types of complaints", and they were forwarding my complaint to the Office of Collection Agency Licensing, under the Office of Financial Regulations. Huh? Midland's validly licensed and bonded in both Maryland and California (their state of operation), so my issue wasn't with their collection agency license. Anway, I'm digressing from the subject, but I can't agree with you more. If even 50 of the people on this board who have had similar problems with Midland were to pursue legal action against them, I bet they'd start cleaning up their act, just to get rid of the nuisance factor.

P.S. I will keep anyone who's keeping up with this topic posted on the status of my FTC complaint, and any progress I make with Midland.

[DocDon]

It happens sometimes, reformeddebtor.

In Michigan, for example, there are 2 different sets of collection laws. One falls under the Occupational Code, the other under the Collections Act. When you send a complaint, a low-wage secretary sees the words "collection agency" and immediately sends it off to another department who has to see if your complaint lists any of the violations in the Occupational Code. Even if there is a violation of collection law, they can't take action because it's not within their jurisdiction.

[reformeddebtor]

So should I follow up with the agency it got forwarded to? Even though they are probably going to review it, as you say, and determine that no licensing (administrative) violations have occurred?