Help with LVNV please

[Anonymous]

First time poster here. Greetings to all.

I've been peeking over everyone's shoulder here for awhile, reading, learning, sitting on the sideline (so to speak). Any way,  I wanna get in there and play now.

My wife and I are working on her credit at this time and there is a baddie on there that we are not sure how to deal with.

It's a LVNV acct

-On a lender pulled CR they LVNV has two TL with the same acct # except for the last 4 digits (there are 4 addt'l digits on one of them).

-The address for LVNV is different  for each TL.

-They list themselves as a COLLECTION FACTORING COMPANY on one and COLLECTION FACTORING COMPANY WASHINGTON MUTUAL on the other. (I still want to point out LVNV lists themselves as the creditor at the begining of theTL).

-It shows a balance of  $6,322.00 on both TL's

-It say's "Limit or Highest Credit"  $4,345.00

-It say's it opened 4/08 ( we don't remember doing any buisness with LVNV )

- I pulled my wife's report from EFX and it shows this acct as closed

-It shows acct opened 4/23/2008

-DOFD 7/2007

Maybe I'm missing something, but at the very least doesn't the math seem off from the time acct opened to DOFD?

Anyone?   

[SFernandez13461]

I'm sure one of the forum's experts will chime in with more helpful information, but LVNV is a collection agency. It sounds like the original account was probably with Washington Mutual. The DOFD would be when the account first went delinquent with the original creditor whereas the date opened would indicate when this collection agency opened their account to collect on this debt either acting on behalf of the original creditor or because they purchased the charged off account. 

It sounds like you have a duplicate listing, and I'm not sure how to handle that. But you might consider disputing one of them. Like I said, one of the experts here can probably help you with that.

My experience with LVNV wasn't all that bad compared to many I've read in the forums. By the time I settled my account it had been transferred to Northland who was collecting on their behalf. I settled for about 40% with Northland even though they wouldn't agree to delete (something I learned not to do later on), but wrote a goodwill letter to LVNV a few months later, and they deleted right away. 

Try to figure out who the original creditor was. You should be able to figure out whether or not they still own the debt by reviewing your credit report. If they sold it, their balance should be at zero.

Hope that helps some. Good luck.

[Shogun]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Not bad advice up there, but I'm going to try to explain it the best I can.  First we will take the important information.  This will include  LVNV, $6,322 and the DOFD of 07/2007.  I won't get into the factoring company thing yet, cause it makes my eye twitch.

DOFD 07/2007  This is the important date.  It sets the SOL of the debt and the CRTP.  This debt is a little over 5 years old.  What is the SOL of your state?  This determines if you can be sued for the debt and get a judgement.  If it is still within the SOL you should be prepared to pay the entire amount or a decent amount they will settle for or they can take you to court and get a judgement.

If it is outside the SOL then they can still collect on the debt, but they can't sue you.  They can still post to your CR and contact you about the debt, but they have no legal means to collect.

Now you know why the DOFD is so important.  It also means you might have a little more room to negotiate with them as far as removal.  For EX:

   I am writing you in regards to acct. #xxxxxxxxx.   I do not recall this debt nor do I recognize it as being mine. I also understand that this debt is beyond the legal statute of limitations for the state of _________. However in a gesture of good will I would like to offer $xxx to  satisfy and finalize this debt if you also agree to show a gesture of goodwill and delete any and all information concerning this debt from my credit reports.  Should you agree to this I will pay the amount agreed upon and you will delete the tradeline.  I look forward to hearing back from you.

Now you notice I at no time in that letter acknowledged the debt was mine or just offer to make payments.  Sometimes if you do that you can reset the clock.  The important thing you need to do is find the SOL for your state so you will know how to proceed.  If you have any questions, just ask away.  Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your responses.

We are in California SOL is 4yrs, so it is beyond that.

I (or I should say my wife ) has received settlement offers from a company named Capital Mgmt Services, LP  claiming to be representing LVNV  for approx $1569.00.

It's about a 25% settlement offer. We have received these in the past and this is the lowest , never replied to any though. Of course these never mention anything about a deletion. I understand that is something I would need to open with, right??

[Shogun]

Yes, you would want deletion for payment if possible.  Just paying the debt, although it would be satisfied, would not improve your CR.  The negative would still be on there and would still be dragging down your score.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that advice.

I wanted to ask :  On her CR there are two TL's with what appears to be this same acct. There are slight differences between the two.

For instance:

1. In the first box listing creditor LVNV is listed on both but each has a different address.

2: The acct #'s are the same except there is four additional numbers on the second one.

3.Then in the field for " TERMS PYMT AMT" ,  one has 6322E  the second has 1 M4345E

4.The next field "TYPE/RATE  VENDOR"  first one has OPN 09  TRU 01 01  EFX  the second has INS 09  XPN 01

5. The very last field " Historical History"  the first has just one 0 the second looks like this      5       0         0           0

                                                                                                                                                                              99999

                                                                                                                                                                         09/12 9  08/12 9

                                                                                                                                                                           10/12 9

My follow up question would be : If I do PFD and they accept, how could I be sure that both these TL's get removed?

Cause I'm assuming they are the same acct.

I apologize for being so ignorant.

[Shogun]

Where are you getting your CR from?  Kind of confusing there.  Have you went to www.annualcreditreport.com and pull your CR?  They are the place where you get your federally mandated free yearly CR and they usually have good information on there.  That way you would determine if there actually is a double posting. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Shogun for your response.

Yes I pulled my wife's CR's from that website and it looks like LVNV is reported just once on TU and EX, EQ is a little confusing. I think it's only reporting once just in two different places cuz there are 4or 5 baddies that come up twice on that one. Are you familiar with that?

[Shogun]

Can you post them on here?  Just leave off the acct. #s and any personal information.  Maybe someone here can decipher it.

[RobertEG]

If you have duplicate reporting on the same debt, that is prima facie inaccurate reporting, showing separate collection of the same debt.

I would send a direct dispute to the debt collector under FCRA 623(a)(8), requiring them to investigate the accuracy of their reporting, and either verify its accuracy as reported, correct if not duplicates so as to make the distinction clear as to different debt, or else delete one.  That imposes a 30-ish day period for response on their part.

They could simply verify, but at their legal peril.   If they verify without basis, they would subject themselves to legal action.  Get their response on record.