Valkyrine Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Hi everyone.I had a charged off account with Sears that went to collection, of course. In 2002, their CA ALLIED sent me a letter saying Sears had authorized a 30% settlement on the account. I accepted and sent payment with a restrictive endorsement letter and wrote "paid in full" on the check. I have recently begun my repair process, and I see on my credit report that less than 6 months later, PORTFOLIO RECOVERY is listed as a CA for Sears for the same account. Needless to say, I freaked. I called Portfolio -playing stupid consumer- and said that I had previously reached and honored an agreement with a previous CA, faxed all my records; the Portfolio entry is still on my CR almost a month later. I mailed an angry letter to Sears demanding total deletion, which I am sure will fall on "deaf ears." The account should be off by next year going by the 7.5 year rule, if I am figuring it right.What should I do now?? To my knowledge, I have never received anything from Portfolio regarding this debt. I am so discouraged!! Any help will be appreciated!! Thanks, V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divemedic Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Here is a potential problem:The OC is not bound by any agreement you had with the CA, AFAIK. That is why you should deal only with the OC. Anyone else know any different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted January 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll deal with Sears only from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adminppdotcom Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I had a charged off account with Sears that went to collection, of course. In 2002, their CA ALLIED sent me a letter saying Sears had authorized a 30% settlement on the account. I accepted and sent payment with a restrictive endorsement letter and wrote "paid in full" on the check. Dejavu, in reverse.Ok...so you settled with Allied (Allied Interstate I presume?).Most states do not observe "restrictive endorsements", but check your state's laws about that. Did you receive any kind of confirmation from Allied about the settlement payment?I see on my credit report that less than 6 months later, PORTFOLIO RECOVERY is listed as a CA for Sears for the same account. Needless to say, I freaked. I called Portfolio -playing stupid consumer- and said that I had previously reached and honored an agreement with a previous CA, faxed all my records; the Portfolio entry is still on my CR almost a month later. You have the right idea, but need to send all that info to the consumer reporting agency(ies). The debt collector is only required to conduct an investigation into their reporting after reveiving a notice of dispute FROM THE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY.But, since you already told Portfolio the item was paid, they have a little more culpability if it came to court, but dont confuse that with liability.I mailed an angry letter to Sears demanding total deletion, which I am sure will fall on "deaf ears." The account should be off by next year going by the 7.5 year rule, if I am figuring it right.You might want to CALL Sears instead. Ask them WHO is authorized to collect on the account and find out the dates ALLIED and PORTFOLIO were authorized to collect. I sued Allied for collecting on an account while only RMA was authorized to. Allied paid me $4500.00 for that It is not unlikely the account was recalled from Allied and they took your money without having a legal right to. That can violate the FDCPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Most states do not observe "restrictive endorsements", but check your state's laws about that. Did you receive any kind of confirmation from Allied about the settlement payment? I am in California... I seem to remember seeing something on this site saying CA is a restrictive endorsement state; will have to double check.I never received confirmation from Allied Intl.; I think that was my biggest mistake. I never asked for it - just that they delete their listing form my CR (which they did) and clear the debt with Sears.You have the right idea, but need to send all that info to the consumer reporting agency(ies). The debt collector is only required to conduct an investigation into their reporting after reveiving a notice of dispute FROM THE CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY. I didn't know that. I have dispted Portfolio online, but I will follow up with a paper copy of all my docs. Thanks for the suggestion.You might want to CALL Sears instead. Ask them WHO is authorized to collect on the account and find out the dates ALLIED and PORTFOLIO were authorized to collect. I sued Allied for collecting on an account while only RMA was authorized to. Allied paid me $4500.00 for that.It is not unlikely the account was recalled from Allied and they took your money without having a legal right to. That can violate the FDCPA.You got it... thats exactly what I was afraid of. Ugghh. OK, I will call Sears and inquire. Thanks SO much for your help adminppdotcom ... I really appreciate it!!!Good news tho... I've gotten 3 deletions in the last 2 weeks from EX using info from this site... thanks everyone!!V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adminppdotcom Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 got it... thats exactly what I was afraid of. Ugghh. OK, I will call Sears and inquire. Thanks SO much for your help adminppdotcom ... I really appreciate it!!!Good news tho... I've gotten 3 deletions in the last 2 weeks from EX using info from this site... thanks everyone!!V No prob....I will dig up the number to the Exec office for ya. There is a lady named Bonnie Linde that can be helpful.I recall a discussion on another site about CA and restrictive endorsements. Although there was no statute listed, it said in CA you can write a letter of proposed settlement and send it to the debt collector (or anyone for that matter). The site suggested that if the consumer waited a month or so, and then sent the amount of the proposed settlement addressed in the first letter, if the debt collector cashed the check, it is a valid contract because they had the opportunity to refuse the proposal.It would boil down to contract law in CA. THIS IS JUST THE INFO I SAW on the site, I have not done research on it. Maybe one of the resident attorneys can add their input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 No prob....I will dig up the number to the Exec office for ya. There is a lady named Bonnie Linde that can be helpful. That would be great. I didn't have much luck this morning with the numbers I found on the internet.I recall a discussion on another site about CA and restrictive endorsements. Although there was no statute listed, it said in CA you can write a letter of proposed settlement and send it to the debt collector (or anyone for that matter). The site suggested that if the consumer waited a month or so, and then sent the amount of the proposed settlement addressed in the first letter, if the debt collector cashed the check, it is a valid contract because they had the opportunity to refuse the proposal. Kind of a "silence gives consent" kind of thing then... makes sense. I'm going to send all my docs to the CRAs tomorrow and dispute, CRRR, of course. Checked my CRs on PG, and Portfolio has apparently "verified" the debt; their listing is still there and its not even marked "disputed " anymore. I have not recieved a response to my letter from Sears, but its only been 3 weeks. What a battle this is turning out to be!! Geez, and I have so many other things on my report to fix, LOL. Well at least I wont be bored for the next year or so Thanks again, adminppdotcom. You're keeping me from being really discouraged. V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adminppdotcom Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 Bonnie LindeSears National Exec Office847-286-2500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Wonderful!!!! Thanks. I will keep you posted on my progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 adminppdotcom... still watching this?? Anyone?Bonnie Linde is not at Sears anymore (no one by that name there). They simply referred me to their "collections division" for assistance. I had been on hold for almost an hour, so I deceided to cool off any try again tomorrow.Will they be able to tell me if Allied Intl. was authorized to collect this debt?? Should I DV Allied, even though it is 2+ years after the fact??I have not received a response to my letter to Sears.I do not like Sears.I will never shop at Sears again.Sears could give sh*t away and I wouldn't take it. Val Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Interesting development, for those who may be watching.Checked my CRs today on PG.Portfolios entries have been deleted from TU and EX, but not EQ. I disputed Portfolio with EQ today, as apparantly I had neglected to before.However... Sears listing has been deleted from EQ (but not the other 2). Very very interesting... wondering if Sears has received my letter and is beginning to delete TL from my reports as requested? OR.. is it just a lucky fluke?Hopefully, it holds. I know they are supposed to notify me within 5 days if it is reinserted. We shall see.V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrine Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 BTW, I spoke with LaShawn at the main number, (757) 519-9300. She was actually pretty nice.I faxed my documents to the attn. of Trustan K. Temple at (620) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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