Dunning Notice Rules / Heard of Enterprise United Partners?

[Anonymous]

I was looking over my USAA report from yesterday and noticed that there was a new inquiry placed just yesterday from "Enterprise United Part" with the purpose listed as "Bulk Purchase Finance - General".  I have no idea what this could be for, but from what I can tell, this is a CA.  There are a ton of people online who seem to indicate they are suit happy, or at least love to threaten them, so it definitely worries me.  I do not know what debt this could be for.  I am aware of all debts on my credit report and none of those should be suing me right now, so I wish I knew what this was regarding.

However, I think it might be best to just ignore it until I hear from them.  My first question: has anyone heard of this company or dealt with them before?  Next, what are the rules exactly with regard to sending me a dunning notice.  Does putting a hard pull on my report start the 5 day clock for them to be required to send me one, or does that only happen when actually report a tradeline or start calling / mailing me?

Also, any advice for how to proceed?  I am inclined to just leave it be until I hear from them, so I can figure out what it is about and go from there, or just let sleeping dogs lie as they say.  Not sure if a hard pull means they are really doing anything, or if they just do it in huge batches and they recently bought my debt from someone.  One thing for certain, I am absolutely going to keep good records on this one.  I found lots of FDCPA complaints against them including a couple lawsuits where they were named as defendants.  Hope it isn't something I need to worry about.

Edit: If they do start contacting me without sending a dunning notice within 5 days, this is in fact a violation of FDCPA, correct?  If so, wouldn't I have a cause of action against them for the $1000?

[Anonymous]

Bump . . . Hoping somebody will have some suggestions on what to do, and what constitutes communication with me triggering the dunning notice requirement.  Thanks!

[RobertEG]

FCRA 809(a) states that dunning notice must be provided to the consumer within 5 days of "an intitial communication with the consumer."

The intent of that language has almost universally been interpreted to mean when they make a communication that constitutes an effort to collect on the debt.

Both FTC and case law have interpreted the reporting of a collection to the CRA as triggering the requirement for a dunning notice.  It is probably the most widely-used collection practice on the part of debt collectors.  Calling you is unquestionably a trigger of dunning notice requirement.

Your case is a bit more dicey.  They made an inquiry that purportedly was for the purpose of an internal business need, not collection on the debt.  It may have been a bogus reason, but it is the one they provided.  The statute prescribes that use of your CR is limited to the reasons they provided for securing it.  Try to police that requirement!

Even if you pursued an FDCPA violation, the FTC only writes nasty-grams to the debt collector should you file a complaint.  They dont pursue legal action on individual consumer complaints.  You could contact your local BBB and get a few more nasty-grams sent to them, or try to interest your state AG in prosecution, but in my opinion, your case is a bit iffy, and I doubt that anyone would take on legal prosecution based on an inquiry that was purportedly not made for the purpose of collecting on the debt.

You dont need a dunning notice to send a DV, so I suggest you do so without waiting.  In that DV, be sure to request the name of both the current creditor and the OC,if you want the name of the OC in order to help you identify the debt.  Neither the dunning notice requirement nor response to a DV requires the name of the OC unless you specifically request it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the respose Robert.  I would try the BBB, but if you look there, this company has an F because they either ignore most of their complaints, or provide the same generic response to a few that basically says "We do not tell our independent contractors to say or do that."  From my research, they are nothing more than  JDB that does nothing but threaten to sue people.  I am actually hoping they call me, because I will record it and hope they slip up.

My worry with sending a dunning notice is twofold.  First, if they actually do like to file lawsuits, that would trigger them to do so rather than my file just sitting around somewhere.  More importantly, I have a very generic name and I refuse to provide my SSN in a letter to some CA.  If I contact them via a dunning notice, they will likely reply with some request for more information because they couldn't find me in their system.  This is the same response I got from EOS-CCA recently.

What am I required to give them in my dunning notice as far as identifiable infromation?  Obviously I have no account number because they have never contacted me and a hard pull wouldn't show account info.  Thanks!

[RobertEG]

First, to clear up some confusion on terminology.  You dont send or provide dunning notice, they do.  "Dunning notice" is the common term used for a collection notice provided by a debt collector.  Your response to a dunning notice is commonly called a "DV" request, which is your request for debt validation from the debt collector.

Sending of a DV request, if timely, places the debt collector under an automatic cease collection bar, which remains in effect until they provide the requested debt validation.

It also requires them to obtain verification, at least by a yes or no from the creditor or their records, that the debt is indeed valid, and to provide you with some listing of the current debt. It also provides you the ability to require the name of the OC if you need it to identify the debt.   

You can, of course, choose not to DV, but I doubt that a DV alone would serve as the source of a decision to litigate.

Personally, I think you gain more than you risk.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

First, to clear up some confusion on terminology.  You dont send or provide dunning notice, they do.  "Dunning notice" is the common term used for a collection notice provided by a debt collector.  Your response to a dunning notice is commonly called a "DV" request, which is your request for debt validation from the debt collector.

Sending of a DV request, if timely, places the debt collector under an automatic cease collection bar, which remains in effect until they provide the requested debt validation.

It also requires them to obtain verification, at least by a yes or no from the creditor or their records, that the debt is indeed valid, and to provide you with some listing of the current debt. It also provides you the ability to require the name of the OC if you need it to identify the debt.   

You can, of course, choose not to DV, but I doubt that a DV alone would serve as the source of a decision to litigate.

Personally, I think you gain more than you risk.

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I'm sorry, I totally mixed up my words on that, but yeah, a validation is what I would send them.  I know it does have to be timely, but isn't timeliness based off of when you receive a dunning notice?  Assuming they have never sent me a dunning notice, it would automatically be timely I assume?

Also, do you have any information in regards to what information I am required to include for the purposes of them finding my account when I send my DV?  As I said, I do not want to send a letter to some CA with my social security number on it, and I worry that they would simply reply to my DV saying they couldn't find my account (this is what EOS-CCA did to me recently on another wrong debt).  So I guess, what is my responsibility when I send a DV with helping them identify me and whatever account they have for me?  I have no account numbers since it was only a credit pull, not a listing.

[RobertEG]

You are correct in that you can send a DV without prior dunning notice, and it will be timely.  Timeliness only becomes an issue after receipt of dunning notice.

As for what to send them, SSN is not required, but you should reasonably send them sufficient info to identify their collection.

Your full name and the name of the OC, and preferably the OC account number, should suffice. Additionally, since they received your CR, that is clear indication that they know your name.  Use the full name as set forth in your CR. 

As additional insurance, you might include a copy of the relevant portion of your most recent credit report, absent your SSN, that provides your name in association with the name of the asserted OC, if the OC has also reported.  

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

You are correct in that you can send a DV without prior dunning notice, and it will be timely.  Timeliness only becomes an issue after receipt of dunning notice.

As for what to send them, SSN is not required, but you should reasonably send them sufficient info to identify their collection.

Your full name and the name of the OC, and preferably the OC account number, should suffice. Additionally, since they received your CR, that is clear indication that they know your name.  Use the full name as set forth in your CR. 

As additional insurance, you might include a copy of the relevant portion of your most recent credit report, absent your SSN, that provides your name in association with the name of the asserted OC, if the OC has also reported.  

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That's the thing, I have no idea who the OC would even be.  As far as I know, all of my outstanding debts are addressed.  The only exception, and this is possibly what this is for is my really old credit card from college (2002-2004).  Whatever that card is, it no longer reports on my CR, and as in this thread, I can't figure out who it is:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Blacklisting-and-Hard-Pulls/td-p/1267153

Either way, I won't know the OC or the OC account number because I have no idea what OC this would be for.  I only have two unaddressed accounts, and I am communicating with both, I doubt it is one of those, but I wouldn't know if it was.  Also, from most of the complaints about this company, they deal with old CC debt, which is why I'm thinking it may be the old CC I had back then, but yeah, no way to know I don't think.

I can send them my full name and current mailing address, both they should have from the CR they just got.

[Anonymous]

Hey Robert, since you're the expert, I was hoping you would be able to take a look at this letter I typed up and let me know what you think.  Thanks:

March 7, 2012

From:    jimbo831

To:          Enterprise United Partners

                1860 Lampton Ave Ste 1

                Norco, CA 92860

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is in regards to a “hard inquiry” placed on my Experian credit report on March 5, 2012.  According to the FCRA §604, a consumer credit report can only be obtained with a permissible purpose, as defined by the statute.  Since I have never applied for credit or employment from your company, I request you send your permissible purpose for obtaining my credit report.  If you are unable to provide a permissible purpose, please remove this inquiry from my report within 10 days of receipt of this letter.

Furthermore, if this credit inquiry was in regards to any alleged debt, I also request a full validation of the debt as defined by the FDCPA §809.  Under this same statute, I additionally request the name of the current creditor and original creditor.

Lastly, it is inconvenient to call me any time at any number.  As such, I ask that all future correspondence regarding this issue be sent in the mail.  Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

jimbo831

[Anonymous]

Hope this letter is good.  Sent it out early this morning CMRR.  I'll report back with their response, if any.