Should I sue?

[annakathleen75]

I am struggling with three collections and desperately need some help! I apologize in advance for the length, but this started 9 months ago and I am getting nowhere. These are medical bills apparently. 

These are the the accts:

LAW OFFICES

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:	MED1 02 MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY M	MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:	44564**	44564**
High Balance:	2781	2781
Date Opened:	03/05/2012	03/01/2012
Date Reported:	03/22/2013	06/11/2012
Balance:	2781	2781
Condition:	01/22/2013	04/01/2012
Responsibility:	Individual	Individual
Remarks:

THE LAW OFFICES OF MIT

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:		MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:		44564**
High Balance:		472
Date Opened:		03/01/2012
Date Reported:		06/11/2012
Balance:		472
Condition:		04/01/2012
Responsibility:		Individual
Remarks:

THE LAW OFFICES OF MIT

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:		MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:		44564**
High Balance:		301
Date Opened:		03/01/2012
Date Reported:		06/11/2012
Balance:		301
Condition:		04/01/2012
Responsibility:		Individual

These are the remarks, same for all 3. 

Remarks:   [TransUnion] Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA requirements   [Experian] Customer disputed account - reported by subscriber.

 So first issue...Can they do that? Clearly  they know the account is in dispute, yet they are reporting? What does meets FCRA requirement mean? What does condition mean? 

Now the history. Found on CR in July of '12. Never received any notice or dunning letter. I did seek treatment in May of '08, however was told it was all covered by indigent care as I was unemployed. So if this is my debt, don't think it is, it could have only been accrued in May of '08. Notice the date open: 3/12. 

Ok, again, so I found these on CR in July of '12. Sent a DV letter to the Law Offices. Have green CMRRR card, signed by them. Never received anything. That's when they placed dispute on Ex report. (see above). Waited three months patiently. Never anything. Continued to dispute with CRA's by fax and online. Always verified. Last month sent another CMRRR demanding removal of all 3 from CR's due to the inaccurate dates and more importantly the fact that they are reporting to transunion while the acct is in dispute. I was pretty demanding and threatened to sue. 

Now, the mysterious part, the two accts with smaller balances disappeared from TU report (MPM report). I do not know if they were deleted by law offices or TU. I know I need to call and find out, I just have such a time trying to get a human! 

Today I received a paper copy sent by EX stating they have verified the above accts and that the "CA requests you contact them directly".  Again, I have NEVER NEVER received anything from the Law Offices NOR have I received a response to my CMRRR DV and intent to sue letter.

So my dilemma is: since I sent an intent to sue letter, what should I be prepared for when I sue. I have never done this before. I have copies of all CR's showing inaccuracies and CMRRR cards and letters I sent to them. All I was asking for was validation and they wouldn't even provide that. So, my final question, do I have a legitimate case here? Do I file in my county, or state court? What is the worst possible outcome for me?  If it is my debt, I don't know though, I guess it is still within the SOL, I am in GA and it is 6 years. How would the $1000.00 payable to me fine affect the case? If it is my debt would it cancel it out?  I say this because there is a good chance it's not mine. I won't get into the long story of why I believe that, but there's a good chance it's not. 

Thank you so much in advance for your help, I really need to get a mortgage this year and this just needs to be gone. I refuse to pay that much money to anyone without some cooperation from them showing me why I am responsible for this. I paid off two legitimate bills in the last two months, but I am not paying this if it isn't mine. 

[DaBears]

---

@annakathleen75 wrote:

I am struggling with three collections and desperately need some help! I apologize in advance for the length, but this started 9 months ago and I am getting nowhere. These are medical bills apparently. 

These are the the accts:

LAW OFFICES

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:	MED1 02 MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY M	MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:	44564**	44564**
High Balance:	2781	2781
Date Opened:	03/05/2012	03/01/2012
Date Reported:	03/22/2013	06/11/2012
Balance:	2781	2781
Condition:	01/22/2013	04/01/2012
Responsibility:	Individual	Individual
Remarks:

THE LAW OFFICES OF MIT

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:		MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:		44564**
High Balance:		472
Date Opened:		03/01/2012
Date Reported:		06/11/2012
Balance:		472
Condition:		04/01/2012
Responsibility:		Individual
Remarks:

THE LAW OFFICES OF MIT

	TransUnion	Experian	Equifax
Original Creditor:		MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIVERSITY MED
Account #:		44564**
High Balance:		301
Date Opened:		03/01/2012
Date Reported:		06/11/2012
Balance:		301
Condition:		04/01/2012
Responsibility:		Individual

These are the remarks, same for all 3. 

Remarks:   [TransUnion] Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA requirements   [Experian] Customer disputed account - reported by subscriber.

 So first issue...Can they do that? Clearly  they know the account is in dispute, yet they are reporting? What does meets FCRA requirement mean? What does condition mean? 

Now the history. Found on CR in July of '12. Never received any notice or dunning letter. I did seek treatment in May of '08, however was told it was all covered by indigent care as I was unemployed. So if this is my debt, don't think it is, it could have only been accrued in May of '08. Notice the date open: 3/12. 

Ok, again, so I found these on CR in July of '12. Sent a DV letter to the Law Offices. Have green CMRRR card, signed by them. Never received anything. That's when they placed dispute on Ex report. (see above). Waited three months patiently. Never anything. Continued to dispute with CRA's by fax and online. Always verified. Last month sent another CMRRR demanding removal of all 3 from CR's due to the inaccurate dates and more importantly the fact that they are reporting to transunion while the acct is in dispute. I was pretty demanding and threatened to sue. 

Now, the mysterious part, the two accts with smaller balances disappeared from TU report (MPM report). I do not know if they were deleted by law offices or TU. I know I need to call and find out, I just have such a time trying to get a human! 

Today I received a paper copy sent by EX stating they have verified the above accts and that the "CA requests you contact them directly".  Again, I have NEVER NEVER received anything from the Law Offices NOR have I received a response to my CMRRR DV and intent to sue letter.

So my dilemma is: since I sent an intent to sue letter, what should I be prepared for when I sue. I have never done this before. I have copies of all CR's showing inaccuracies and CMRRR cards and letters I sent to them. All I was asking for was validation and they wouldn't even provide that. So, my final question, do I have a legitimate case here? Do I file in my county, or state court? What is the worst possible outcome for me?  If it is my debt, I don't know though, I guess it is still within the SOL, I am in GA and it is 6 years. How would the $1000.00 payable to me fine affect the case? If it is my debt would it cancel it out?  I say this because there is a good chance it's not mine. I won't get into the long story of why I believe that, but there's a good chance it's not. 

Thank you so much in advance for your help, I really need to get a mortgage this year and this just needs to be gone. I refuse to pay that much money to anyone without some cooperation from them showing me why I am responsible for this. I paid off two legitimate bills in the last two months, but I am not paying this if it isn't mine. 

---

Date open is when the CA received the collection.  As far as sending the intent to sue letter. What is the SOL in your state? They could flip this on you and sue you. 

[750orbust]

Have you tried to contact the original creditor listed? If not, perhaps they still own the debt and if you find out that it is legitimately your debt perhaps they will be able to settle for far less than the reported amount, maybe even forgive the entire amount due to the circumstances. If you decide to pay it, ask the OC if they'd be willing to withdrawn the account from collections and request that the CA stop reporting. Although a lot of times a CA will offer you a larger settlement offer than the OC especially if they bought the debt for pennies on the dollar.

[guiness56]

The date opened is the date it was assigned/sold to the CA.  It has no bearing on when it will be excluded from your CR.

It was ok for them to report prior to a dunning notice but they were supposed to send that within 5 days of reporting.  They can even report after a dunning letter is sent but not after they receive your DV or before they validate.  That means they cannot sue you until they validate either.

As long as you have the green cards from them signing for the DV letter you stand a good chance.

The worst possible is the case will be dismissed.  The best possible is winning $1000 per violation.

[annakathleen75]

What about reporting while in dispute? Isn't that a no-no? 

[guiness56]

In dispute per a DV letter, no they cannot.

[RobertEG]

There is no blanket prohibition against credit reporting once a timely DV has been sent.  The prohition is against continuing collection of the debt.

Initial reporting of a collection has been interpreted by the courts to be a collection activity, but that does not extend to all credit reporting.

Investigating and responding to the CRA regarding a dispute initiated by a consumer is a statutory requirement upon a furnisher of information, and is not a barred collection activity. 

"Meets FCRA Requirements" is the posting by the CRA of the results of their reinvestigation. The furnisher does not make a determination on the resutls of a dispute made via a CRA, the CRA makes the determination, and posts the results to the consumer's credit file, thus terminating the dispute.

Similarly, simply reporting by updating current status is not, in my opinion, an act of collecting on the debt, and is not a violationo of their cease collection bar. 

I dont see a violation on their part.

Lack of a response to a DV is not a violation of the FDCPA. It is there right not to provide debt verification provided they choose to cease collection on the debt.

There is no requirement to respond to a letter from a consumer expressing their intent to sue.

Inaccuries in credit reporting are never, per se, a violation of the FCRA.  The statutory requirement is that they cannot knowingly report information that is inaccurate.

No statute can mandate against human error.  In any dispute process, the furnisher can either verify the accuracy as reported, or correct any inaccurcy to which they agree.  Deletion is only required if they fail to do either.

Any legal action must idetify the section of the statute alleged to have been vioated.  What are the specific provisios of either the FCRA or FDCPA that are alleged to have been violated?

From what is posted, I am hard-pressed to see any violations of the statute..

Perhaps a better approach would be to put your complaints into a formal complaint addressed to the FTC, and get an administrative complaint of record prior to bringing legal action. They will be required to respond, and you will get a copy. If you have basis for legal action, that would, in my opinion, be helpful, as it would explain their position before bringing action.

Invaluable to know their defense prior to bringing legal action, not to mention any possible views that the FTC might offer....