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AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

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djpete
Established Member

AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

My wife and I trashed our credit the first few years of our marraige. One day, I woke up and decided to do something about it. I had 16 accounts in collects, my wife had 27. She is down to TU- 0, EQ- 2, EX- 0; I am down to two on each. We did this in 3 months.

The most recent deletes made me proud of myself, because I learned how to play the game and take back my credit score.

First, I looked at the forums and found a pretty good format for a deletion letter. I sent an email to recoveryteam@afni.com to resolve a cell phone bill on my credit report. The letter was stated as follows:

 

Last month, a collection was added to my account from AFNI. My name is ********, my SSN is *********. The account is listed as Verizon Wireless. I have no knowledge of this account and do not believe it belongs to me. I was not given notice that the collection was being added to my account, which is a FDCPA violation. I am requesting the following information:

1. Full original Account Number
2. Date original Account was opened
3. Any written agreements between myself and the original creditor stating this debt is owed
4. Full account summary and itemized calculation of alleged debt
5. Date of the first delinquency
6. Dates and times of any phone calls made and to what number in attempt to contact me concerning the alleged debt before it was reported to an agency, and so proving that these calls were made in the times governed by FDCPA law.

I also was not given the 30 day period to respond before the collection was added, which is a right guaranteed to me by law.

I did research and learned that your agency is reasonable, so I decided to contact you with my complaint first. If the above mentioned information cannot be verified, your collection must be deleted from all 3 credit reporting agencies. If this email not met with success, I will have to move on to other avenues to report these violations, such as a BBB complaint and a FTC complaint. I truly hope we can resolve this issue quickly.

Thank you

************

 

They emailed me this response:

 

Dear David,

 

Thank you for your inquiry. Afni  has closed your account as of 7/22/2016.  We will no longer attempt to collect on the debt. We apologize for all inconveniences.

We have submitted a request to delete this account with all three major Credit Reporting Agencies. Please note it may take 30-60 days for the Credit Bureaus to update their records.

  Please find enclosed a copy of the Credit Deletion confirmation letter for your records

 

 

They also sent a letter on their letterhead that stated they would be deleting the account. It took about a week to hear back but it was worth it.

 

So, my wife had a cell phone collection from Jefferson Capital. For them, I wrote a very similar letter (almost exactly the same), but I wrote this letter through the Better Business Bureau. Jeff Cap Sys replied the next day with this:

 

Ms. Carol Adelmann

Better Business Bureau         

220 S River Ridge Circle

Burnsville, MN 55337

 

Re:      ********

            Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC, Account #*********

            Debt Description:  Verizon Wireless

            Case ID: **********

 

Dear Ms. Adelmann:

 

We are in receipt of your correspondence sent on behalf of *********** concerning the account referenced above. 

 

Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC, acquired the Verizon Wireless account on or around April 4, 2016, with a remaining balance of $1,256.10.  Enclosed are reprints of the last two billing statements provided by Verizon Wireless.  Although we show a balance is due, in order to resolve this matter, we have closed our file and terminated collection efforts.  We are also requesting the credit bureaus to delete our trade line from *************'s credit bureau file.

 

We appreciate the opportunity to be of service.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Shirley Smith

Consumer Relations Staff

On behalf of Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC, A Debt Collector

866-516-3772

 

 

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! We are not SLAVES to the creditors. It is possible to fight back. My goal is to own a home by 1/1/20. Though almost all of my bad credit is gone, I still haven't built any positive credit, but that is my next step.

Thanks to the forums on here for pointing me in the right direction on how to deal with these two companies.

 

In closing, I will say that it's not every day that you feel like a debt collector did you a favor, but Jeff Cap Sys and AFNI did, and I am thankful that they fixed this for me. I almost feel bad for exposing their kindness, but I wanted to help people just as I was helped.

Now if anyone knows how to successfully deal with Collection Consultants of California, Executive Financial Conultants, The CBE Group, Credit World, or Kansas Counselors, that would be great 8)

 

Dave




Total CL: $21,650 | Scores as of 2/8/2023:
Denied for $200 secured credit card 12/2020. Come a long way since!
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

 

Thank you for submitting these letters.  I am dealing with Verizon today, and found your language about asking for the accounting particularly helpful.  Two questions:

 

1.  Did you in fact owe these debts?  (Does it matter?)

2.  Can you provide a reference statue, law, regulation, or code so I can see where it is stated that the 30 day notice is required or "FDCPA violation" 

 

Thank you, and good luck in your other efforts.

Message 2 of 7
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

It is not a violation of either the FDCPA or FCRA to report to a CRA without prior notice to the consumer.

 

Sending of a collection ("dunning") notice is only required after the debt collector initiates a communication with the consumer.  FDCPA 809(a).

They can choose to report to a CRA prior to any communication with the consumer.

Lack of dunning notice is not a basis for requring deletion of credit reporting.  It is a debt collection practices issue, not a credit reporting issue.

 

Message 3 of 7
djpete
Established Member

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

Are you dealing with Verizon or one of the two collection agencies I had posted about?
The rules of this forum prevent anyone from discussing getting factual debt removed from your credit report, so I cannot say whether or not I actually owed these debts. But I don't think it would be stepping over the line to say that I dont think it matters.

As someone else posted, it might not actually be a violation, but they just dont want to argue or deal with it, so they just close collection efforts. If youre lucky Smiley Happy

Good luck!




Total CL: $21,650 | Scores as of 2/8/2023:
Denied for $200 secured credit card 12/2020. Come a long way since!
Message 4 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods


@RobertEG wrote:

It is not a violation of either the FDCPA or FCRA to report to a CRA without prior notice to the consumer.

 

Sending of a collection ("dunning") notice is only required after the debt collector initiates a communication with the consumer.  FDCPA 809(a).

They can choose to report to a CRA prior to any communication with the consumer.

Lack of dunning notice is not a basis for requring deletion of credit reporting.  It is a debt collection practices issue, not a credit reporting issue.

 


Curious - can a collection agency report and never communicate with the consumer?

Message 5 of 7
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

FCRA 809(a) requires a debt collector to send a formal collection ("dunning") notice within 5 days after an "initial communication with the consumer," which must provide the amount and owner of the asserted debt, and advise the consumer of their right to request debt validation.

 

While reporting to a CRA is not specifically stated in section 809(a) as triggering dunning notice, and is not an actual "communication with the consumer," there is case law that has held it to nonetheless be an event that triggers requirment for dunning notice.

 

Lack of timley dunning notice, however, is not basis for requiring deletion of any prior reporting.

 

Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AFNI and Jefferson Capital: Two deletes, two methods

Hey Dave, Thanks for this awesome info! I have a very similar situation with Jefferson Capital. I'm curious, did you go straight to the BBB with JCap because of their terrible reputation? Or, did you first try other methods with them, then decided to go to BBB? If so, what were the other methods you tried first? Thanks! Jaya

Message 7 of 7
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