How to Attack a Chargeoff on Equifax

[Anonymous]

---

@seattlecredit08 wrote:

Thanks! Sure, a few clarifications:

If I am understanding you correctly, you are just looking for ways to get this deleted even though it is a valid debt. 

The debt is being reported inaccurately and contains missing information.

What are the inaccuracies?

Even if you manage to get it deleted, it can and likely will pop back up due to the amount. 

I am fine with that; hence I mentioned I am fine with all kinds of strategies that may work, may not work, may work temporarily.

You don't mention what the SOL is in your state, but if I were you I would be concerned that frivolous disputing may result in them suing you to get the balance of the account and having a judgement placed against you or wages garnished if you are still within the SOL.

To clarify, the debt is past SOL, 6 years to be specific.

The SOL is 6 years or the debt is 6 years past the SOL?  Your DOFD is 5/1/12, 6 years after that is 5/12/18, and 6 years prior to now you hadn't defaulted yet.  I think there is a misunderstanding here.

You don't have any payment history with the CA, so there is no payment history to report. 

As I mentioned in the original post, this account is reported directly Original Creditor (OC). This is NOT an account with CA. 

OC will have Payment History, since I paid OC.

Misunderstood, generally the OC is used when it has gone to a CA.  They are not obligated to report any payment history if they don't want to.  I have a creditor that only reports the negative information.  

You are asking for an answer when we don't have all of the information.  Is what is currently reported incorrect?

Most of the information is missing, like Payment History which I surely had with this creditor.  Similarly, Date of Last Payment is missing (it's within 7 year window).

If they reinsert the payment history, which is the likely result of a payment history dispute, you will then have additional lates added to your history.  I would be grateful they aren't reporting it.

Honest answer, attack the chargeoff by setting up a payment arrangement and once it is paid off, then seek a goodwill deletion.

Unfortunately, the particular creditor (bank) is well known to never accept PFDs or do Goodwill deletions. Believe, I would do PIF in one second if they did offer me the "non-reporting" option (which is by the way, contrary to what creditors will tell you is 100% legal- creditors are under no obligation to report, they just have to report accurately!).

Again, I am not looking for advice on how to dispute this account that WILL work but for advice / tactics/ chess play moves that MAY, just MAY "possibly" work given the specifics of how this account is being reported. It's past SOL so I am willing to try unusual techniques, even if each one of those techniques has < 10-20% success probability and even if the aggregate success probability of 10 techniques is < 50%.

Thank you!!

---

As I stated above in blue, I don't think that you are past the SOL.  I would not be trying crazy things to get this deleted unless you are 100% certain it is past the SOL.  Where do you live and what is the SOL?  

[seattlecredit08]

Thanks!

Question with respect to the following statement - "Lack of reporting of a derog is never a violation of FCRA 623(a)(1), as something that is not reported can never be considered as knowingly inaccurate reporting. "

If the following is the case, which it is here:

• About a year ago, Payment History as well as other details such "Last Payment Date" were being reported. I have a tangible proof in the form of old reports from Equifax (and this information is within 7 years).
• Now, Equifax is no longer reporting this information as if Data Furnisher got careless or just archived their files or Equifax lost their data.

Wouldn't this technically qualify as knowingly inaccurate reporting?

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

No.  Something that is not now reported cannot be inaccurate.

However, you can dispute if you disagree, which effectively asks them to reinsert the deleted derogs.

Also be aware that you cannot, even if you assert that their reporting is knowingly inaccurate, bring any civil action asserting this to be a violation.  Assertions of inaccurate reporting by a furnisher cannot be subject of private civil action by a consumer.  The consumer is required to first file a dispute with the CRA, providing the furnisher the opportunity to verify or correct.  Only the reasonableness of their investigation of a dispute can be subject of civil action, not the accuracy of their reporting per se.  See FCRA 623(c).

You are thus left with deciding whether to dispute.  I refer to my prior response regarding the use of a dispute to compel reporting of each and every factual derog as a "completeness of reporting" dispute./

[seattlecredit08]

So, yes, perhaps it's not inaccurate per se, but it seems that it could well qualify as "incomplete" per FCRA defintion, provided that let's say the following happens (which, of course may NOT happen):

1. I dispute incompleteness of the record, e.g. assert that missing "Last Payment Date" is incorrectly reported.

2. Let's imagine for a second, that after the dispute, "Last Payment Date" is still missing.

3. I have a clear proof that both the Data Furnisher and  the CRA, just a year earlier, had a valid "Last Payment Date" in their records and were reporting it.

This would seem to be a clear proof of, at least incomplete reporting. Of course, the recourse  is unclear as FCRA 611 (a) (5) (A) (i) specifies such recourse rather vaguely to be deletion of "that item of information from the file of the consumer."

Of course, one can make an argument that "'Last Payment Date" is " that item of information from the file of the conumer" but that would seem to me too narrow of an interpretation since it's an attribute of information reported. Moreover, it would not make sense to delete something that is missing in the first place. 

In any case, to me, this would be analogous to being asked, e.g. as part of let's say a legal proceeding, "When did you last see Mr. A," answering "I saw him on Monday and Wednesday" and then a month later, when asked essentially the same question "Please let us knwo the days when you saw Mr. A," answering "'I have no knowledge of seeing Mr. A."  Surely, that "wouldn't fly."

Thanks!

P.S.: and, yes, I am willing to be the "'trailblazer" or the guinea pig to test various tactics...