HELP! EOS/CCA is a nightmare! I don't know what to do!
I have a credit collection from EOS/CCA that I had disputed in 2010 but the CRAs said it was correct based on FCRA.
Let me give some background. Sorry in advance as this will be quite long but I need to explain the events in order to give the right picture and hopefully get the right answer.
In June of 2007, my Wife and I wanted to switch cell companies. We Had cellular One since 2/2006. We were not happy with their service. Constant charges for roaming even though we never left our city. Every month we had to fight to get the money back. Our call records even showed that we would make a call in our city, then 5 min later we would call from Cleveland, 110 miles away. Then another call from our city. We couldn't get out of our contract though. It would cost us up to $400.00 to terminate. It was before the laws governing termination fees were changed.
So anyhow, AT&T bought Cell One in our area in 2007. Part of the reason Cell One was sold was because they were on the losing end of the termination fees lawsuit. AT&T sent us a letter stating the aquisition and terms changes. This gave us an out. Our contract with Cell One stated that if there was a change in any of the terms of the contract we could opt to terminate with no penalty. So that is what we did in July 2007. I called a CSR and said I wanted to terminate. They said I'd be charged and when they couldn't understand what the contract meant I talked to a supervisor. She said to go pay the final bill and they would cancel my account. I know that the final bill was paid in full because we wanted to port our numbers to another service and Cell One would not let us till we paid the balance. $60.00 or something. We went to the physical store and paid, then went to get our new service.
Everything was fine for a few years until I received a letter from a CA. It was US Asset Management. I think they bought the debt from AT&T. My memory is fuzzy about this because I don't remember any conversation or correspondence with their company before. I cannot remember if I spoke with them and explained the situation with them, but I am sure I wuld have told them I did not owe this money.
In Feb 2010, I received mail from EOS/CCA, a CA who said they represented US Asset Management. I called them and went through the routine of previous explanation but they said I owed it. Their letter had the "validity" disclaimer so I asked for them to validate the debt. They complied and sent me a copy of a statement from AT&T from June 2008. Only the bill portion nothing else. I called back and asked them why it was from '08 when I cancelled my Cell One account in '07. EOS rep told me they didn't know and the statement they sent is all they needed for validation. I also asked how could they prove I owed the money if they didn't have the bill statements showing the prior activity and I got the same answer. So now I got irritated and went into investigative mode. I finally located my last billing statement. It was from July 24 2007. Had the amount of $447.10, no payments in the previous month. I called to AT&T, went from rep to supervisor, got some info then called back to EOS then Back to AT&T. I will condense what I found out.
My last Date of payment was April 2nd 2007 in the amount of $131.31. This was told to me by a AT&T rep and a EOS rep. AT&T CSR said they have no records available only notes on the computer systems from previous calls to CSRs. They could see what contract terms I was talking about and the discussions I had including the correct cancelling terms agreed to but no final payment in July. Went to a supervisor and he told me the same thing. Was told by a AT&T CSR and then a supervisor that the records were archived and cannot be retrieved or they were destroyed. I cancelled on June 8th 2007as per AT&T rep. The supervisor then told me that the account was started back up in July 2007, but then cancelled again. Apparantly when AT&T took over billing they started the account again then didn't stop it till the next year.
Or their records are just that screwed up. No charges for a whole year but the account was open. And who knows what happened to the final payment or why the numbers would have been released without it. I disputed with the CRAs and the findings came back as "Meets requirement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act". I noted my accounts about my opposition to the file. After that I didn't know I could do anything else.
Now on what to do now. As I said I already disputed once and added a notation to my file when it was upheld. But I am trying to buy a house and pulled my reports. I decided I would try to find a way out of this mess by either paying for a delete or attorney. I searched for best ways to do this and came upon this site. I did some reading and now I think that they were all wrong and I could have done something before. Just didn't have the knowledge. I could use some help.
EOS/CCA is reporting incorrect DOFD or "Reported till dates" into 2015! And I think they have done this since I disputed in 2010. Every month they report so It keeps affecting my credit in a very negative way. Doesn't this violate the FCRA? Aren't there penalties?
I was thinking of MOV and I already disputed again with TransUnion online as a "multiple inaccuracies" dispute. EQ and EX do not give me this option. Should I dispute through the mail to these two as a "mutltiple inaccuracies" dispute?
If I MOV afterwards, can the CRAs give the info I provide to them to the CAs to use against me or do I only have to prove that the CAs have been illegally reporting in order to have the TL removed. Again, this isn't a legitimate debt and I have dealt with this for years. It's been a nightmare.
Finally, would I be better off to get an attorney who deals with this sort of thing.
Thank you in advance and again I am sorry if this was to long.
