Debt Reported as Fraud, Now with a CA?

[buckeyechick1219]

My husband and I are trying to buy a house. I made a lot of stupid decisions when I was a freshman in college and ended up with something like $2500 worth of CC debt and a loan for a Dell computer that all went into default.

The computer that I bought broke about 9 months after I bought it, while it was still under warranty. Instead of fixing it, Dell told me that I would have to pay $3 an hour for tech support. They then sent me notice that they were no longer servicing my loan and that it had been sold to another lender and that I would be receiving a statement from the new lender within the month.

I never received another statement, and for five years it didn't show up on my credit reports. It showed up in December of 2005 and I immediately sent a letter to Dell telling them that I was disputing the account because they did not uphold their end of the contract. January 2006 the account was deleted from Equ and listed as a fraudulent account on Exp and Trans with a $0 balance, so I assumed it was all done with (obviously I hadn't found this site and it's wealth of information yet.)

Fast forward to February of this year when my husband and I went to a mortgage lender and he told us that one of our credit reports showed that the loan had a balance on it. I told them that it was incorrect, and a day later Kroll Factual Data contacted me so that they could conference call Dell to verify that the debt was fraudulent.

Dell was unable to verify my account by account number or SSN. Two days later I got a letter from Asset saying that they were now collecting for Dell and the account was now at $3400+. I immediately sent them a letter (2/27)indicating that I was disputing the collection account and provided copies of all three credit reports showing the removal of the negative information.

I did not receive any response from Asset, which is apparently the norm from what I'm seeing here, and now it's on my credit report. The loan advisor and real estate agent that we're working with have both told me I have no legal ground since I didn't get anything in writing from Dell indicating that the account was fraudulent. Are they right? Am I back to square one?

[gbay65]

I would check statue of limitation, I believe clock starts date of last activity (dola).

Recently I had a debt collection removed from all 3 cra's.

I live in california, found out 4years was the time they had to collect a debt, from dola. Debt was 6years old. I wrote the ca and told them that the reported collection on my cr was fraud and to please remove it.... or else.

Didn't know what the or else would be, but it didn't matter. They stop calling and the collection came off.

If I am wrong do not worry, someone smarter than Me will correct Me.

Also, send all correspondence, certifiedmail return receipt requested.

[kevin3344]

Fast forward to February of this year when my husband and I went to a mortgage lender and he told us that one of our credit reports showed that the loan had a balance on it.

Is this still showing a balance? Because it seems like they sold it to the CA, and it should say "transferred" or something similar.

Now for the CA. If you sent your DV CMRRR (I hope you did), send a copy of it and your original letter to the credit bureaus and request they delete the CO due to lack of validation.

________

Glass Pipes

Edited September 9, 2011 by kevin3344

[buckeyechick1219]

Unfortunately, I didn't know about the whole CMRRR thing until after I sent the letter. I assumed since they said I had 30 days to dispute the debt and they would provide verification that it was mine if I did, that providing three different credit reports all showing the debt as fraudulent would lead to them removing it from my credit report. Silly me. All I have is the receipt from the post office showing that I mailed something to their zip code, no proof that it was ever delivered.

[kevin3344]

Don't worry about it. You've found this board and we're here to help.

Here's what you do: send a letter to your state AG and tell them that you requested validation within the 30 day time frame and they are still listing this on your CR. Tell them Dell deemed this as fraudulent and the CA is still attempting to collect on this account. Send them proof if you have it. They'll give the CA 10 days to respond and copy you. It may take a while, so give it time. I would say you would have an answer within 30-45 days.

________

Weed Bubblers

Edited September 9, 2011 by kevin3344

[buckeyechick1219]

Thanks! I'll have to get on that this afternoon when I get home from work.

Our real estate agent and loan advisor are trying to get us to contact a lawyer, but they've been trying to get us to contact the lawyer since the day we walked into their office. I would prefer not to have to pay a lawyer, if I can get it resolved myself.

[chilton1]

When was the last time you made a payment? You said you "never received another statement, and for five years it didn't show up on my credit reports. It showed up in December of 2005 "

If sounds like you stop paying at minimum 2000. Is this correct? If this is the case and they have not reaged then it should be off the report sometime this year. Of course if they see that you are trying to get a mortgage they will be difficult.

I feel your pain. Ohio is just one of the worst frigging states to live in terms of consumer protection laws. As other have said send out the DV CMRRR and see what happens.

Good luck.

Chilton1

[buckeyechick1219]

It looks like it's scheduled to come off of my reports 11/2008, along with the other account that Asset is trying to collect. I sent notice on both accounts when I received the first dunning letter and never received a response, but they did list them on my credit report. I'm guessing I'm out of luck as far as the law is concerned though, since I didn't send the first letter CMRRR.

I did sent the DV letter, based off the template on this site, CMRRR on Thursday, but from what I've seen about Asset, they'll probably just respond with their standard forms, if at all, especially since the second letters were sent more than 30 days after the date it went to collections.

Also, wasn't it illegal for Asset to add this account to my credit report when I sent them a letter within 30 days indicating that I disputed the validity of the debt? They never provided verification, just added it to my credit report.

[buckeyechick1219]

Bumped to ask: Asset still has not provided any validation of this account. I sent Dell a request for validation before receiving notice from Asset. Does Dell have any obligation to send me the requested information since they've sold it to a JDB?

If not, how do I validate that what Asset is trying to collect is fraudulent, given that from what I have read on this board, all the CA is required to do is provide the name and phone number of the OC?

[kevin3344]

Remember validation is for the CA, not for the OC. Once it's sold/assigned to a CA, the OC is out of the picture. Dell has no obligation to provide any information so keep that in mind.

If the CA hasn't validated you can try a 1-2 punch or get your state AG involved as I mentioned previously. The CA has to provide much more than the name/address of the OC. Namely, proof that you owe the debt/original contracts, etc. Basically whatever proof they have that says you owe the debt. It's not enough to say 'Dell says you owe them'...they have to prove it if they want to continue collection activity.