Past Due Account on Experian Report is not my account

[Anonymous]

Hi, there - any help I can get on this would be highly appreciated.

I checked my credit report with Experian this weekend. An overdue account with a company called Leasecomm shows up on it and it's dragging my otherwise good score into the death zone.

It's not my account. I believe it was an account that was opened when I owned a small business in 2001. I had 2 partners who bought me out shortly after we opened this account (for a credit card machine - I looked up Leasecomm - they have a horrible reputation and have been involved in scores of lawsuits). There were multiple late payments in 2007 but it shows the account is now closed.

All Experian provided me with is the last 4 digits of the account number. Leasecomm is a huge parent company that operates under different local names. I can't even find a phone number to call them.

I've contacted my 2 former business partners about this. They were a married couple who are now divorced and are not on good terms and they closed the business over a year ago. The ex husband has the business files and is being difficult about relinquishing any information to me. I've asked to get the account number for the Leasecomm contract and to get copies of the Transfer Agreement from when they bought my share of the business.

I have no records of any of this of my own. It's also been 8 years and my memory on things is pretty shoddy at this point.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can track down this account number. And also, where I would begin to try to track down the Partnership paperwork, if it was even filed (the business was located in Los Angeles County.) IRS? State of CA? I don't even know where to begin with this...

And once I get that information, what exactly is the best route to get this account expunged from my credit records? 

Thanks so much!

[krielly]

I think I would start by disputing this with Experian as "not my account". They will need to verify this with the creditor. Maybe you will get lucky, and that will take care of it.

I'm sure others will chime in here as well for what to do beyond that.

It can't  hurt.........

K

[Anonymous]

I've done this with Experian already - sent the dispute today. It also showed up with EQ and I submitted a dispute. It doesn't show on the TU report. I guess that's a good sign. Maybe?

[Anonymous]

Wait until the dispute is over before doing anything else with the CRA.

Even though you transferred the business over, did you actually contact this company and transfer the lease/account from your name to theirs or was just the business name on the lease/account?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'll wait patiently. In the meantime, I'm trying to work with my former business partners to get info on this account. At this time I have absolutely no information on it, no access to the files (plus I'm 2,000 miles away from them), and dealing with in-fighting divorcees to get them to cooperate with one another and me...

Hopefully I'll get somewhere on it while I'm waiting out the 30 days.

At this point, I don't even know if the Business Transfer even got filed in 2001... As to whose name was on the Leasecomm account, I'm assuming it was just the business name but I really don't know anything. Nor how to get further information if my former business partners won't cooperate with me.

[Anonymous]

Checkout ftc.com and search for leasecomm corporation. Apparently they were scamming people and had a lawsuit filed against them. I used them for a merchant account when I was 19, 10 years ago. I ended up getting a letter stating that they were in a lawsuit and I was no longer obligated to pay them. I was very young at the time and lost the letter. They did not report on me until 2004. I know this doesn't answer your question but hope this can help you fight to get it off your report. If you can prove that they were scamming people. I am going to try and have it removed based on the fact that they scammed me. Hope this helps.