DV to GEMB/Mervyns

[w/ocredit]

I’m working on my and boyfriends credit. We found that mervyn’s was listed as a negative on all three of his CRAs, when he paid and closed the account years ago. Can you guys please look over my letter to them so I can make any necessary changes before I send it out. I totally appreciate it. We live in California where OCs have to abide by CAs statues also.

July 2, 2005

GEMB/Mervyns

P.O. Box 981064

El Paso, TX 79998

RE:

Account Name:

Account #:

Previous Address: 123 Street

Los Angeles, CA 00000

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is a formal complaint that you are reporting inaccurate credit information to each of the three main credit bureaus. You are reporting account number XXXX as having a past due collection balance of $581. I paid and closed my account on October 17, 2003. Since then, I moved to my current address with my fiancé on 6/2004 with the birth of my daughter. If anything was being sent to the Los Angeles location when this account became delinquent, I did and do not even live in the same county. From what I see on my credit reports. There was activity on or about 8/2004 making the account delinquent for the $581. Which being unemployed at the time, I would not use credit I could not afford to pay. Also, I was not aware there was credit with you since, as stated before, I closed my account on October 17, 2003.

Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent in accordance with the FDCPA, FCRA, & the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Statues of California, that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and there is some contractual obligation which is binding on me to pay this debt.

o Name, address and account number on file for alleged debtor

o Amount of alleged debt

o Date that this alleged debt became payable

o Date that the account originally became delinquent

o Any agreement that bears my signature, wherein I agreed to pay the creditor.

o A copy of all statements while this account was open.

o An itemized accounting of all transactions on the account after it was written off including all debits and credits.

o Complete documentation of the amount that was written off for tax purposes and by whom it was written off.

On 05/2005, you were contacted by Experian & Equifax concerning this inaccurate tradeline on my credit report, and you replied to them that the account information was accurate. I am sure you are aware that in placing inaccurate information on a consumers credit report carries violations with it. These violations carry with them civil penalties, including, but not limited to, $1000 per violation of the FCRA, damages, such as increased interest rates or inability to receive credit I request that this tradeline be updated correctly with “Paid as Agreed” “Closed by creditor” (as it should be) or completely DELETE from ALL credit reporting agencies you may have reported it to.

I look forward to your correspondence, as I am eager to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

Respectfully,

MY Mans name

Last four Digits of SS#: XXXX

Current Address: 123 MY HOUSE

City, CA 00000

[c m chase]

This letter doesn't really fit in some places. Some of your letter is for debt collection/validation purposes...which you don't have in this situation.

I would personally leave all this out:

Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent in accordance with the FDCPA, FCRA, & the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Statues of California, that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and there is some contractual obligation which is binding on me to pay this debt.

o Name, address and account number on file for alleged debtor

o Amount of alleged debt

o Date that this alleged debt became payable

o Date that the account originally became delinquent

o Any agreement that bears my signature, wherein I agreed to pay the creditor.

o A copy of all statements while this account was open.

o An itemized accounting of all transactions on the account after it was written off including all debits and credits.

o Complete documentation of the amount that was written off for tax purposes and by whom it was written off.

The rest should get it done.

[w/ocredit]

First, thanks for looking it over.

Second, My question is if they don't delete the tradeline, Is that when we would ask for validation?

[c m chase]

Actually, the way your story sounds, this really IS supposed to be a positive tradeline. You don't really even want them to delete it...you want them to FIX it - the history of the good account is raising your score. Your main goal is to get rid of the negative information - especially if it's actually false.

So, you might want to leave off the "or delete this information from...".

If they don't take care of it, you can sue them. It's their responsibility to report correct info. If you can find contact information (emails, direct addresses, etc), it's best to send it to those places and NOT the regular CSRs. Those CSRs don't care either way...if you can reach the higher-ups (ANY higer-ups), it'll get the job done faster.

If you get a crap response from them, sure...ask for proof. I'd say if it's just a reporting error, they should fix it with little roughing up.

Has he called to ask anyone about it at all? Has he been contacted by any collectors for this?

[w/ocredit]

No, he hasn't called them yet and he has not recieved anything. His mom still lives at the address, so he still gets some mail there. Even though it has been almost a year since the delinquency, he has not ever recieved anything.

Thanks for your help.