Collection company not validating yet reporting to credit bureau

[bbb925]

I changed jobs in June 2014 and moved out of state. In September of 2014 I received a collection notice from a company stating I owed them money from my previous employer. I called and spoke to them and asked them what I owed for. They didn't know and had no contract or any information but just said that I owed them. That sounded like a scam so I called my previous employer to see and they have no record of me owing anything. I continued to get calls from this bill collector. I then sent a letter of validation, Certified, signature required request to them requesting that they prove this is actually my debt, what its for and what contract I signed showing I owe this debt. They received it and never responded. Didn't hear from them so assumed they had the wrong person and moved on. Now 2 years later they have put the collection on my Transunion credit report. I submitted all my paperwork to Transunion to show them that I have asked this company to validate this debt, to show proof this is even my debt and they never responded but they put it on my credit 2 years later. Transunion sent me a letter stating they verified this debt and it will remain on my credit.

Why am I not able to get them to validate with proof that this is my debt yet Transunion allows it to be reported on my report? This definitely isn't my debt yet I can't get it removed.

Is anyone able to help me get this removed? I have sent a validation letter with no response. Transunion won't remove it even though I sent them all the proof that this company won't validate the debt yet they put it on my credit 2 years after the first initial contact and keep it on after disputing with proof.
I'm at a loss and could really use some help please.

[Anonymous]

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@bbb925 wrote:
I changed jobs in June 2014 and moved out of state. In September of 2014 I received a collection notice from a company stating I owed them money from my previous employer. I called and spoke to them and asked them what I owed for. They didn't know and had no contract or any information but just said that I owed them. That sounded like a scam so I called my previous employer to see and they have no record of me owing anything. I continued to get calls from this bill collector. I then sent a letter of validation, Certified, signature required request to them requesting that they prove this is actually my debt, what its for and what contract I signed showing I owe this debt. They received it and never responded. Didn't hear from them so assumed they had the wrong person and moved on. Now 2 years later they have put the collection on my Transunion credit report. I submitted all my paperwork to Transunion to show them that I have asked this company to validate this debt, to show proof this is even my debt and they never responded but they put it on my credit 2 years later. Transunion sent me a letter stating they verified this debt and it will remain on my credit.

Why am I not able to get them to validate with proof that this is my debt yet Transunion allows it to be reported on my report? This definitely isn't my debt yet I can't get it removed.

Is anyone able to help me get this removed? I have sent a validation letter with no response. Transunion won't remove it even though I sent them all the proof that this company won't validate the debt yet they put it on my credit 2 years after the first initial contact and keep it on after disputing with proof.
I'm at a loss and could really use some help please.

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The question is whether your Validation request was consdired timely or not. Under FDCPA, a written Validation request must be sent within 30 days of recieving an initial dunning notice in order to trigger the collection activity bar. Outside of that time a validation request can be ignored by the collector, unless your state has enhanced validation laws, such as Texas has - and then you must stipulate in your letter that you are requesting Validation under the specific state statute you wish to invoke.

Your option, if you believe they have violated a legal collection bar, is to bring suit against them for violating FDCPA. Disputing will get you nowhere fast.

[RobertEG]

First and foremost, was your DV request timely, meaning it was sent within 30 days of your receipt of their collection notice?

[bbb925]

The job I left May, 2014, was in California. I moved to Texas in May, 2014 for my new job. I received the bill collector letter dated Sept 8th, 2014, postmarked September 24, 2014 and I didn't receive it until September 28, 2014. I sent a validation letter postmarked on September 30, 2014 (all this took place in Texas).They signed for it on October 4, 2014(Printed verification from USPS). Never heard from them again. Fast forward one year to October 2015. Moved to Kentucky for my job and bought a new house. Nothing negative on my reports. Fast forward almost another year later. August 2, 2016 they report it to Transunion as a collection dated back to September 8, 2014 ( the date the collection letter was originally dated to me) in the amount of $4400.
So I did respond to them within the 30 day period, never received a response. I sent another validation letter August 4, 2016 (since they put it on my credit report) using the same address they gave me 2 years ago and sent the dispute to Transunion at the same time. The validation letter came back as no longer at that address and no longer is their mail being forwarded. I recently received the letter from Transunion which shows a new address for the collection company and Transunion telling me they verified the information as accurate. It's not even mine! My previous employer had no clue what was going on as I didn't owe them anything plus if I did they had my forwarding address to send all my benefits and tax information to me. So they would have sent me a bill if I ever owed them. It's extremely frustrating to say the least and now my score has suffered and I have a lurking collection on my report and can't seem to get it removed. When I got the first phone call back in 2014, they couldn't tell me what I owed the money for, what contract did I sign that says I owe this money, or any paperwork proving this money is owed by me. I told them no one in their right mind would pay someone over the phone almost $5k for something they have no idea about. I told them to send me the documents for what I owe so I can look them over. All they sent was a bill in their name showing how much I owe them. How is that even legal?
Should I look into a consumer lawyer to take care of this? I would rather pay an attorney to prove this isn't mine and get it removed, than ever pay a scamming company one cent. I will not pay for something that isn't mine. Now, having to prove this is obviously not going to be easy. It's so disgusting how we have no protection from fraudulent claims and have to prove ourselves innocent yet they don't even have to show an ounce of proof of why you even owe them in the first place!

[RobertEG]

Since your DV request was timely, the issue is whether their reporting to a CRA is a violation of the cease collection bar that is imposed under FDCPA 809(b).

The FDCPA does not explicitly state that reporting to a CRA is included as collection on the debt, and is thus included as a violation of a cease collecton bar.

However, there is pertinent case law that makes that interpretation.

You can thus either file a complaint with the CFPB or bring your own civil action asserting their credit reporting is a violation of the cease collection bar imposed under FDCPA 809(b).

Alternatively or additionally, you have the issue of whether the debt collector conducted a reasonable investigation of your dispute under the FCRA.

The clear issue is how the debt collector was able to verify a debt that your contact with the asserted creditor has shown not be be asserted by the OC.

Did they contact the OC and obtain confirmation of validity of the debt from them?  If not, you have an issue of lack of reasonable investigation of your dispute.

I would also attempt to get a written statement from the asserted OC both that you accrued no debt with them, and that they never sold or assigned any debt to the named debt collector.  That begs the additional legal issue of how they can assert legitimate collection authority.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Since your DV request was timely, the issue is whether their reporting to a CRA is a violation of the cease collection bar that is imposed under FDCPA 809(b).

The FDCPA does not explicitly state that reporting to a CRA is included as collection on the debt, and is thus included as a violation of a cease collecton bar.

However, there is pertinent case law that makes that interpretation.

You can thus either file a complaint with the CFPB or bring your own civil action asserting their credit reporting is a violation of the cease collection bar imposed under FDCPA 809(b).

Alternatively or additionally, you have the issue of whether the debt collector conducted a reasonable investigation of your dispute under the FCRA.

The clear issue is how the debt collector was able to verify a debt that your contact with the asserted creditor has shown not be be asserted by the OC.

Did they contact the OC and obtain confirmation of validity of the debt from them?  If not, you have an issue of lack of reasonable investigation of your dispute.

I would also attempt to get a written statement from the asserted OC both that you accrued no debt with them, and that they never sold or assigned any debt to the named debt collector.  That begs the additional legal issue of how they can assert legitimate collection authority.

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Yeah, I would say its ITS time. This CA definitely seems to be playing fast and loose...and needs to get slapped down.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like fraud to me. (Not consumer to consumer, but business to consumer). I would not waste ANY TIME in reporting this company. Think of the sheer number of people they may have and will victimize who will incur damages without knowing they have a right to dispute the debt! 

[Anonymous]

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@bbb925 wrote:
The job I left May, 2014, was in California. I moved to Texas in May, 2014 for my new job. I received the bill collector letter dated Sept 8th, 2014, postmarked September 24, 2014 and I didn't receive it until September 28, 2014. I sent a validation letter postmarked on September 30, 2014 (all this took place in Texas).They signed for it on October 4, 2014(Printed verification from USPS). Never heard from them again. Fast forward one year to October 2015. Moved to Kentucky for my job and bought a new house. Nothing negative on my reports. Fast forward almost another year later. August 2, 2016 they report it to Transunion as a collection dated back to September 8, 2014 ( the date the collection letter was originally dated to me) in the amount of $4400.
So I did respond to them within the 30 day period, never received a response. I sent another validation letter August 4, 2016 (since they put it on my credit report) using the same address they gave me 2 years ago and sent the dispute to Transunion at the same time. The validation letter came back as no longer at that address and no longer is their mail being forwarded. I recently received the letter from Transunion which shows a new address for the collection company and Transunion telling me they verified the information as accurate. It's not even mine! My previous employer had no clue what was going on as I didn't owe them anything plus if I did they had my forwarding address to send all my benefits and tax information to me. So they would have sent me a bill if I ever owed them. It's extremely frustrating to say the least and now my score has suffered and I have a lurking collection on my report and can't seem to get it removed. When I got the first phone call back in 2014, they couldn't tell me what I owed the money for, what contract did I sign that says I owe this money, or any paperwork proving this money is owed by me. I told them no one in their right mind would pay someone over the phone almost $5k for something they have no idea about. I told them to send me the documents for what I owe so I can look them over. All they sent was a bill in their name showing how much I owe them. How is that even legal?
Should I look into a consumer lawyer to take care of this? I would rather pay an attorney to prove this isn't mine and get it removed, than ever pay a scamming company one cent. I will not pay for something that isn't mine. Now, having to prove this is obviously not going to be easy. It's so disgusting how we have no protection from fraudulent claims and have to prove ourselves innocent yet they don't even have to show an ounce of proof of why you even owe them in the first place!

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Also since you are a Texas resident, you have the advantage of using the enhanced DV requirements of the Texas Financial code - you can send them another DV specifically referencing the Texas Financial code (you will have to look it up) and its requirement to respond within 30 days, and remove any reporting until they validate the debt.

[bbb925]

I looked them up online and found all kinds of horrible comments about them.  But many tried the same path I took and didn't get anywhere either.  So they are living with it on their credit and will not pay them. I don't want to do that.   Since I'm not knowledgeable in the legal field,  I don't think I can take them on myself any further.  I found a consumer lawyer I'm going to contact to see if they can handle this for me.  They know the laws, the correct verbiage and such to use.  I'm afraid if I do anything else on my own I might make matters worse.  Right now it's considered 2 years old because they backdated it when they reported it to Transunion in August.  I definitely don't want them updating it because I make a mistake in how I handle it. It is very disheartening to think how many people have to go through things like this.  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? They sent me straight to the electric chair without any proof! Thanks for your feedback!

[bbb925]

I'm no longer a Texas resident.  I only lived there a little over a year. I was a resident when they originally contacted me in September,  2014. They never reported it to the credit bureaus back then.  They never responded to my validation letter and never contacted me again. They still haven't contacted me, they just decided to put it on Transunion all of a sudden,  2 years after the initial and only contact. They also moved during this time so my letter sent in August came back undeliverable.  I'm frustrated with Transunion because I sent them all the paperwork, USPS of timely letter sent to them,  postmarked and delivered.  Sent Transunion the one bill they sent me and even explained that my previous employer told me they had no record of me owing anything.  I explained to Transunion that I never received any proof from them that this is my debt.  It's as if Transunion just took their word that I'm accountable for this.  Why wouldn't they have to provide documentation to Transunion showing I incurred this debt and how I am accountable for it? Why is it they just get to say "yes it's hers" because they have the name of my previous employer?

The crazy thing is when I spoke to them on the phone 2 years ago and asked for a receipt, a contract,  any documentations that show what I owe money for the guy on the phone told me that I would have to get it from my previous employer and then forward it to them with the payment. What!?! That tells me he doesn't have any proof that it's actually me that owes this. What if my employer sent my name and number on someone else's account and that's why they have no documentation on me and provide me any proof?  This is why I need to contact a lawyer.  I can't get anywhere.  I'm hoping the lawyer can make them provide the documentation then we all will see I'm not accountable for this and get this removed.  I would sue them in a heartbeat if I was able to. Putting me through all this and wasting my time and money to prove my innocence due to their negligence and fraud.  I'm beyond irritated.  I truly appreciate your feedback and help. I heard great things about a firm in Texas that goes after crooks like this.  Praying they can get this taken care of for me!