Cavalry Portfolio Services illegal tactic?

[Anonymous]

Please help!! Looking for advice! I'm positive this tactic by Calvary Portfolio Services is 100% illegal, but not sure how to handle it.

I have 2 credit cards in collection with Cavalry. After my divorce I was unable to pay them (my ex husband was supposed to but didn't). I have never spoke with them. Have received several letters but I never contacted them. Since my divorce I have worked hard to rebuild my credit. I have signed up for services from places like Credit Sesame to keep track. In Missouri, the statue of limitations is 5 years. According to my credit report, June 2018 (next month) is 5 years. So tonight I received an email saying I had an alert because there was a change in my collections. Went into credit sesame and it says good job that I made a payment of at least $1 on the account with Cavalry. I absolutely did no such thing. Obviously they did this to restart the clock since it was to be out next month. So, what can I do? This has to be completely illegal, but can someone advise me on the process I would need to go through? Any help would be appreciated so much!

[beutiful5678]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Please help!! Looking for advice! I'm positive this tactic by Calvary Portfolio Services is 100% illegal, but not sure how to handle it.

I have 2 credit cards in collection with Cavalry. After my divorce I was unable to pay them (my ex husband was supposed to but didn't). I have never spoke with them. Have received several letters but I never contacted them. Since my divorce I have worked hard to rebuild my credit. I have signed up for services from places like Credit Sesame to keep track. In Missouri, the statue of limitations is 5 years. According to my credit report, June 2018 (next month) is 5 years. So tonight I received an email saying I had an alert because there was a change in my collections. Went into credit sesame and it says good job that I made a payment of at least $1 on the account with Cavalry. I absolutely did no such thing. Obviously they did this to restart the clock since it was to be out next month. So, what can I do? This has to be completely illegal, but can someone advise me on the process I would need to go through? Any help would be appreciated so much!

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I'm confused - are you asserting that they updated your account to show a "payment" to restart to SOL clock? While you may think this is obvious, it's not obvious to me. They may have simply recalculated the interest and updated your account for accuracy. I'm not sure on this but any decreases in a balance may be interpreted by a CMS as a "payment" hence, your notification.

[Anonymous]

My credit report shows a $1 decrease. And 1 month before SOL runs out. This debt is basically 5 years old and it shows Cavalry has had this account for 2 years. I'm positive it's not a recalculation of interest. AND, it literally says I made a payment... If I could upload it, I'd show you a screenshot...

[beutiful5678]

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@Anonymous wrote:
My credit report shows a $1 decrease. And 1 month before SOL runs out. This debt is basically 5 years old and it shows Cavalry has had this account for 2 years. I'm positive it's not a recalculation of interest. AND, it literally says I made a payment... If I could upload it, I'd show you a screenshot...

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Credit Sesame says that you made a payment. Cavalry may or may not be asserting that you made a payment. If you're concerned about it, you should call Cavalry and inquire why there was a $1 decrease on your account balance per your credit report(s) when no payment was made.

[Anonymous]

I will... After the SOL runs out.... Really hoping to hear advice that's helpful in others ways I could handle it. How many people do they do this to that never know? You can't really think a $1 payment and that the SOL is out next month is just a coincidence?

[cyrusvalentino]

Hey Amanda,

Cavalry is not doing anything illegal and they are not resetting the clock in the sense of the 7 1/2 years this can stay on your credit report. That date is determined by the date the original debt went delinquent and never returned to a current status. SOL only means they cannot sue you it holds no bearing on them updating or reporting monthly on the charge off or collection account.

The update of $1 as stated above could have been an adjustment due to interest or other reason, but the CA is free to report the account monthly with a balance until it is paid and it is perfectly legal. When was the DoFD?

[RobertEG]

Credit reporting cannot be subject to civil action on your part until you have first filed a dispute and provided the furnisher with the opportunity to investigate and verify, correct, or delete the disputed information.

You can dispute the accuracy of any reported item of information, regardless of whether their reason was a willful misreporting.

The foucus now should thus be on filing a dispute, and not asserting willful misreporting.

Your next step is to file a formal dispute, requiring their investigation and response back to the CRA.

Should they verify the accuracy of an asserted payment that you did not make, you then obtain the legal right to pursue civil action and get the contested facts reviewed by the courts.  See FCRA 623(c).

The basis for pursuing civil action would then become that lack of a reasonable investigation of your dispute, and not their having reporting inaccurate information per se.

[Anonymous]

The date of delinquency was June 2013. I'm not saying they reset the time it'll be on my credit report. I'm saying it's the SOL clock of 5 years they are resetting by saying I made a payment of $1. If you choose to believe that's a coincidence that they say I made a $1 payment 1 month prior to the SOL clock running out, then ok. But I do not. After 4 years and 11 months they are going to report a $1 difference?

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I will first file a dispute and go from there...

[pipeguy]

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@Anonymous wrote:
The date of delinquency was June 2013. I'm not saying they reset the time it'll be on my credit report. I'm saying it's the SOL clock of 5 years they are resetting by saying I made a payment of $1. If you choose to believe that's a coincidence that they say I made a $1 payment 1 month prior to the SOL clock running out, then ok. But I do not. After 4 years and 11 months they are going to report a $1 difference?

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I tend to agree with your assumption that it was a calculated "collection move" to either get you to notice it and contact them or attempt to reset the SOL clock although it's a pretty weak attempt. Keep in mind that the SOL threshold has to do with filing suit and I think that a judge would look at a $1 "willful payment" to restart the SOL as obvious and toss it. 

The SOL threshold is a funny thing, debt collectors attempt to subvert it more so toward debtors than the courts, debtors have their own bag of tricks to get past the magic date and there are different thoughts and rulings on what actually "resets" the date - mainly based on state law since most debt collection is state regulated.

IMO your best course of action is to do nothing and see where this goes. If they want you to contact them and you do then I have no doubt they'll get you to do something not in your best interest - if they intend to sue they will file the papers with the court before the original SOL date - debt collectors are not shy about filing suits and getting a default judgment. Again, in my opinion, this is an attempt to get your attention rather than make a court reviewable obvious SOL violation.  Personally, I would enjoy a day in court making the debt collector prove I made a $1 payment on an account thus resetting the SOL (if it actually did) - I'd make them show bank and routing records for the funds and I'm not an attorney.

Add: While I believe you should pay valid debts, and you didn't say this was not a valid debt, once the SOL has "expired" you are in a much stronger position to make a deal on the amount and terms/conditions you'll pay in the settlement of this account. 

http://www.nationallist.com/image/cache/White_Paper_Missouri_Debt_Collection.pdf

https://www.credit.com/debt/statutes-of-limitations/