Dispute

[Anonymous]

Hi

I hope someone can give me a bit of guidance. I had a collection account from 2012 that was reported last year from an old apartment complex I had lived in for $500. I disputed this with Equifax and they removed it, I then disputed it with both Transunion and Experian and provided them both with the results of the Equifax dispute, the result was that Transunion removed the item but Experian did not. I then wrote Experian with a more detailed explanation and explained that both Equifax and Transunion removed this item, again they declined to remove it. Is there anything else I should do to get this item removed from my Experian file or do I just have to accept that it will remain until it falls off in 2019?

Thank you!

[RobertEG]

What was the asserted inaccuracy that was the basis for your dispute?

Did the CRA send you a Notice of Results of Reinvestigation stating they deleted the collection, or was the collection deleted by the debt collector?

The outcome of a dispute, of which deletion is only one option, and only if the accuracy cannot be verified or corrected, extends only to the specific information asserted and shown to be inaccurate.  Deletion of an entire collection is not necessarily mandated simply because a dispute it successful.  

Additionally, a debt collector could chose to respond only to one or two CRAs, and permit deletion to occur others.

Deletion by one CRA is not necessarily basis for deletion with all.

What were the details of your dispute, and what was the outcome as officially stated in the CRA's Notice of Results of Reinvestigation?

[Anonymous]

Robert

There had a been a prior collection for the same account filed, this amount was included in that and was settled back in 2012.  Yes, I did get notices from Equifax and Transunion that the account was deleted and I confirmed it on my reports with them, the item is completely gone from both.

To specify the result according to Equifax response was "This item has been deleted from the credit file".  Is that enough info to answer your question?  I was wondering if I should call Experian possibly about it.

Thank you

[RobertEG]

A furnisher is required, upon resolution of a dispute, to report a deletion to all CRAs if, in their investigation, they find that the accuracy of the reported information cannot be verified.  It is not sufficient to simply respond by deletion with the CRA who is processing the dispute. See FCRA 623(a)(8)(E)(iv).

That requires an explicit finding that they are unable to verify.

If, however, they can verify or corrrect the accuracy of the disputed information, they are under no obligation to report deletion with any other CRAs.  They can choose to verify or correct their reporting with the CRA handling the dispute with no requirment to report any deletion with any other CRA.

You would thus need an explicit finding by a CRA that the furnisher responded with a finding that they could not verify the accuracy before you can assert any requirement for deletion with any other CRAs.  The simple fact that deletion followed a dispute does not establish an explicit finding by the furnisher that they are unable to verify the accuracy of the disputed information.  Deletion only establishes that a dispute with that CRA is now moot due to deletion of the disputed info with that CRA.

[seattlecredit08]

Very interesting discussion and is very relevant to my case where OC deleted a particular account from 1 CRA but not ther other two.

Regarding Robert's point:

"You would thus need an explicit finding by a CRA that the furnisher responded with a finding that they could not verify the accuracy before you can assert any requirement for deletion with any other CRAs."

Is there a way to request for CRA to provide what information they used to delete the account since by default, the printed deletion notice only states "We have researched the credit account.....  The results are: This item has been deleted."

In other words, can one force CRA to say that the original OC could not verify the account, which in turn would mean that they would been required to inform other CRAs.

Thanks in advance!

[RobertEG]

Yes.

FCRA 609(a) is included in the FCRA to cover situations where a consumer desires information in their credit file that is not provided in normal commercial credit reports (seeFCRA 609(a)(1)), and additionally, for the sources of the information (FCRA 609(a)(2))

Section 609(a) requests for information and/or their sources requires payment of a processing fee, as set forth under FCRA 612(g).

The current fee, adjusted for cost of living, is $11.00

Additionally, or alternately, if the requested information relates to how a dispute was processed by a CRA, then FCRA 611(a)(6)(B)(iii) and FCRA 611(a)(7) permit a consumer to request details on the method used by the CRA in their reinvestigation.  These are commonly referred to as Method of Verification, or MOV, requests, and entitle the consumer to disclosure of who the dispute was referred to, and the response, if any, they received from the furnisher.

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