I'm so excited! I just got a delete from TXU -- you almost never get a delete from a utility company because the laws favor them so extensively. They have you in a difficult place and they know it, so it is with great excitement that I tell you how I did it.
TXU received a judgment against me five years ago -- like an idiot, I ignored the notices because I was in such deep debt I didn't think it mattered. And I pretty much forgot about it until I changed jobs last spring and realized that in the ten years since I last applied for a job that employers now do extensive background checks on prospective employees, including credit, criminal and court checks. I tried to get them to do a pay-for-delete, but of course TXU wouldn't even think of it and, besides, it was in a court record and there was no way to delete it. So, I paid the judgment, got a release of lien, and filed the release of lien with the county clerk. Now, my credit reports show the judgment paid and my credit scores jumped. (Primarily because the amount of the judgment was working against my credit utilization ratio, and with that paid, my credit utilization went way down.)
The problem is that EXPERIAN was continuing to report the amount in its ACCOUNTS section as being unpaid. I disputed it twice, once in June and again in October -- and I was told each time that EXPERIAN had verified the debt with TXU. Now, I know there is some controversy about EXPERIAN and the way that it "verifies" debt, and that EXPERIAN recently lost a court battle over this very issue. Apparently, EXPERIAN sends a "computer inquiry" directly to the creditor and then takes the "computer response" that it receives from the creditor as verification; in other words, EXPERIAN doesn't really contact any person at the creditor to verify the judgment. It's the old GIGO -- garbage in, garbage out. Sometimes the original creditor doesn't really clean up its records very well -- especially if an account has gone into collections. The collections department knows the debt is paid, but the old accounts never get updated. That's what happened here. You'd think that after two disputes (along with a copy of the release of judgment lien) that EXPERIAN would at least take a moment to call the creditor to find out what was going on, but EXPERIAN didn't do that. (That's the very issue that EXPERIAN lost in the recent court case.)
But, of course, anything involving a consumer and a credit reporting bureau is going to take a long time to resolve; it's never simple. So, I did what many people on this board recommend -- I went straight to the original creditor. My first letter to TXU was summarily dismissed by TXU -- after all, TXU assumed that I hadn't properly filed the release of judgment lien and pretty much told me that this was all my problem. I must admit I was a little taken aback by this attitude because I thought TXU would jump right on this issue and correct this injustice. WRONG. However, I did do one thing that was pretty helpful. When I sent this letter to TXU, I also sent a copy to the Texas Utilities Commission which regulates energy providers in Texas -- and unbeknownst to me, the Texas Utilities Commission automatically started its own investigation.
I sent a second letter to TXU -- this time I sent it certified mail, return receipt requested -- and I quoted from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which specifically states that it is illegal for a creditor to report incorrect information about a debt to a consumer credit reporting bureau. Using the two EXPERIAN "verifications" as proof, I explained to TXU that TXU was negligently reporting false information to the credit bureaus and that if they continued, TXU's actions would cross the line from simply negligent to wilful and malicious. Those are key words to use -- they provide cause for damages in case you have to sue the creditor. Again, I copied the Texas Utilities Commission, this time referencing their case number.
Yesterday I got a letter from TXU. Oh, so sorry, thank you for explaining the situation to us, we're going to take care of it, blah, blah, blah. Then I got a second letter from them which was a copy of a letter they sent to all three credit reporting bureaus directing the bureaus to DELETE any reference to the debt, including any reference to prior payment delinquencies!
I never expected this to happen -- I expected them to write a letter correcting the inaccuracy. But faced with the truth -- that their computers had not been updated and their computers were generating false information that was being relayed to the credit bureaus, and thus they were acting illegally -- TXU did the honorable thing and erased the matter from my record.
So, there is hope! You just have to be patient, sure of your facts, and PERSISTENT. And I can't stress enough that you need to back-up all of your correspondence by sending things certified mail, return receipt requested (so you don't have to duplicate efforts if you decide to sue), and always, always, always send copies of your disputes to your state attorney general (in case the attorney general is investigating the credit bureau) and to the applicable state regulatory agency if possible. (I am under no delusion that the prose in my letter persuaded TXU to delete this record; it's just as likely that some underling at the Texas Utilities Commission gave TXU a call and said, hey, guys, just take care of this and get rid of it. - TXU is attempting to merge with another company in a multiple-billion dollar buy-out and one thing you have to disclose in such a buy-out is litigation and complaints that may lead to litigation. This is exactly the kind of case that could have led to a class action lawsuit if TXU did not have safeguards to update accounting records when the collections department receives payments.)
If this can happen to me, I know it can happen to you! Good luck!
