PFD or FCRA Violation?

[guiness56]

Yes.

[jmc912]

Thanks Guinness, I'll give it a shot!

From the sounds of it they wouldn't be able to respond to a PFD anyway so this is probably the best route

[RobertEG]

The issue of any FDCPA violation wont, even if resolved in your favor, require deletion of theiir reporting.

It might result in nothing more than a slap on the hand from the FTC.

They may choose, as response to an FTC complaint, to delete as a way to appease the consumer and the FTC, or the FTC may, as a sanction, require them to delete reporting that violated the FDCPA, but violation of their debt collection practices obligation under the FDCPA does not alone render reporting of their collection inaccurate, and thus basis for requiring its deletion under the FCRA. 

The FTC, as a general practice, does not invoke sanctions or take legal action against a debt collector based on individual consumer complaints, so they most likely wont impose any credit reporting deletion requirement.  It is thus, for the most part, a side show.

[Shogun]

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@jmc912 wrote:

The CA never sent any letters to my husband.... I'm not sure when they acquired the debt but they never sent any letters or called. We noticed it when we checked his credit so sent a DV. I don't think that they updated anything but they most definitely kept reporting to the CRAs without marking that it had been disputed. 

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     Have you moved or do you have another address?  If they have documentation they sent you a dunning notice then it becomes a case of your word against theirs.  As you have posted, they haven't updated anything so that wouldn't be considered new.  Besides the dunning notice, if that is an issue, I'm still not seeing a violation anywhere.

[jmc912]

No, we have not moved... Have had the same address since before it was acquired by collection agency.... There have been no phone calls and certainly no letters. We noticed this on his report and sent the DV. 

Can't I just send an ITS letter based on the FDCPA violation? 

Shogun, the violation is that they updated the item on my credit report after receiving a DV letter. At the very least they need to mark it as disputed which they failed to do. As Robert said " any credit reporting is a violation of the cease collection bar imposed by a DV until such time as the debt collector has provided the requested debt validation".

[Shogun]

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@jmc912 wrote:

The CA never sent any letters to my husband.... I'm not sure when they acquired the debt but they never sent any letters or called. We noticed it when we checked his credit so sent a DV. I don't think that they updated anything but they most definitely kept reporting to the CRAs without marking that it had been disputed. 

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That was the part that got me on the updating.  So you say they are updating now.

The lack of a dunning notice is the big on on this one.  That was where the chain of events that should occur first went wrong.  I would start a little easier than jumping the gun with an ITS letter.

[jmc912]

Well they aren't technically allowed to communitate with us now since they are to cease collection, correct? So a PFD wouldn't work...  What other options would I have? 

[jmc912]

By the way, how would I prove that they are still updating with the CRAs? If the date reported keeps updating?

[guiness56]

The date reported is what you would use.  Keep all of those reports.

Start with the formal complaint to the FTC, attach copies of the reports and cc the CA.

You can also file a complaint with your state AG.  Some states take this kind of stuff very seriously.

[jmc912]

Thanks Guinness, I do have all copies of the credit reports from every day since they received the DV letter. 

I just fired off complaints to the FTC, BBB, and AG of Florida (where the CA is)....

Hopefully can get resolved through that, I don't really want to fire off an ITS if it's not necessary.