LVNV Issues

[Anonymous]

Hi Board!

I have been going back and forth with LVNV through the BBB since August 30th. The basis of my complaint was their reporting as a Factoring Account, the account being listed as Open and adding monthly KD’s to my report. I received a response with the following statement.

“After further investigation, the following account has been closed. We apologize for any inconvenience experienced regarding this account. Additionally, Mr. Davis should receive no further communication from our office regarding this account.”

I wrote back asking for clarification on whether the TL would be deleted and they never responded back to the BBB. I then get this message today from the BBB.

10/09/2012

Dear ****** *****:

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 8/30/2012 4:59:45 AM against Resurgent Capital Services LP.  Your complaint was assigned ID ********.

While the company states account ending in **** has been closed/tradeline deleted from CRAs/will not be sold, they have provided a copy of judgment regarding Account Number:  ************** (attached).

The business has sent the BBB a message regarding this complaint, and we are passing it on to you.  The contents of this message are below or attached.  Please respond to this message within 10 days or the complaint will be closed.

Regards,

Linda J. Bentley
Dispute Resolution Director

This is the 1st I have heard of this Judgement!

MESSAGE FROM BUSINESS:

From: Holladay, Pamela

Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 10:11 AM
To: linda Bentley
Subject: RE: ****** *. *****; Case/File No. *******

This email serves as confirmation that the account number ending in 0019 will not be sold or transferred.

Thanks,

Pam Holladay

Compliance Analyst

Resurgent Capital Services

15 S. Main Street 5th Floor

Linda J. Bentley

408 N. Church St. Suite C

Greenville, SC 29601-2164

Dear Ms. Bentley:

This letter is in response to your correspondence dated August 30, 2012 regarding the above referenced individual. This is an additional account which should have been included with our initial response. We apologize for the confusion. LVNV Funding LLC (“LVNV”) currently owns account number ending in ****. Resurgent Capital Services L.P. (“Resurgent”) is the servicer of the account owned by LVNV.  The account was previously sold by Arrow Financial Services, LLC (“Arrow”) on or about September 23, 2011. As of the date of this communication, the account balance is $3,305.60.  Please review the following account information:

1. Arrow advised that this account originated on November 21, 2005 and was opened with Washington Mutual Bank (“WAMU”).
2. This account charged off on September 29, 2006.
3. Arrow advised the last payment in the amount of $64.05 was received on February 25, 2011.
4. No payments have been received on this account since Resurgent started servicing it in September 2011.

Regarding the credit bureau reporting of this account, the consumer reporting agencies define a factoring company as a company or individual who purchases accounts with the intent of collecting debts owed.  Therefore, the term is accurate in the situation outlined in the complaint.  Additionally, the statement “installment account” is generally how a revolving line of credit is defined by the credit bureaus.  Both of these comments are added by the bureaus to further define the account; therefore, these statements cannot be altered. We would like to note that it is our goal to adhere to all state and federal laws and regulations concerning the collection and credit bureau reporting of accounts.

At this time, the LVNV tradeline will not be deleted; however, it is being reported as disputed to the three major consumer reporting agencies. It will continue to report as ‘disputed’ until the account is closed due to a valid dispute or the statute of limitations for credit bureau reporting expires.

Prior to LVNV’s acquisition, Arrow Financial Services, LLC (“Arrow”) obtained a judgment against Mr. *****. The judgment was awarded to Arrow on May 12, 2009. All rights to collect were transferred to LVNV when this account was purchased from Arrow.

Sincerely,

P. Holladay

Compliance Department                                                     

Resurgent Capital Services L.P.

Enclosure

To me it looks like the BBB just misinterpreted what LVNV was saying. How should I proceed with this?  I will be applying for a Mortgage in the next couple months and do not have the option of waiting for it to fall off. I have also read that they are nearly impossible to get to do a PFD.

[RobertEG]

The scenario, as I understand it, is that the OC charged-off the debt, and then sold it to Arrow. 

Arrow then received a judgment, and thereafter resold the debt to LVNV.

LVNV reported their collection.

LVNV then obtained collection services from Resurgent.

I dont see any substantive issue with LVNV reporting as a factoring company.  A factor is a party who buys delinquent debt for the purpose of collection of the debt.

I see no inaccuracy in their reporting of that fact.  That is apparentl what was done.

LVNV is not required, due to their acquring services of anothe debt collector in their attempts to collect the debt they now own, to delete their prior reporting.

The fact of their collection on their debt remains accurate.

The issue of a judgment is a side-issue.  Whether that is accurate does not alter the fact that LVNV purchased the debt, and is thus entitled to attempt to collect on it, and report that fact to the CRAs.

I dont see any assertion of inaccuracy of the debt itself, or clear disputable inaccuracy in their reporting.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I checked out the records at the courthouse. I found the original Judgement but I also found some other information. Arrow (previous creditor) was awarded the default judgement.

Document #1- Final Judgement Execution Withheld
Document #2- Final Judgement Execution Withheld (Same as 1st)
Document #3- Order For Execution
Document #4- Final Judgement Of Garnishment
Document #5- Satisfaction Of Final Judgement Of Garnishment

This is the statement from the last document. Can anyone tell me what this means?

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS. That the undersigned, the owner and holder of that certain final judgement of garnishment rendered in the above-captioned civil action, dated ********, against the Garnishee therein, recorded in the ****** County official records does hereby acknowledge full payment and satisfaction thereof and hereby consent that the same shall be satisfied of record.

WITNESS my hand and seal this ____ day of __________ 20__.


Also, the BBB stated the account would be deleted but I have not seen that stated by LVNV anywhere. I think they just misread a reply, unless they are sent something in addition to what was forwarded to me.

[Shogun]

Maybe they're going to delete.  I certainly hope so.  

[KnewBee]

Unless I misunderstand LVNV in their own letter is confirming they are reporting inaccurate information

They state"Additionally, the statement “installment account” is generally how a revolving line of credit is defined by the credit bureaus.”

Nobody defines an installment account as a revolving line of credit as by definition they are two different things.

Here is in fact how the credit bureaus (not to mention everyone else in the world) define these terms verbatum on one of their own websites

Installment account: An account with a fixed a payment for the term of the loan.

Revolving account: An account that establishes a maximum credit limit for a consumer such as a credit card or charge account. A balance can be carried over from month to month. Payment amounts are based on the outstanding balance.

Line of Credit: An agreement between an instituiton and a consumer where the instituation agrees to lend a consumer funds up to an agreed upon credit limit. The consumer may borrow as much of the as needed and pays interest on the borrowed portion only. Payment amounts are revolving based on the outstanding balance amounts.

I am new here so maybe some of the more experienced people can comment, but can't you write back them and the BBB and ask them to remove or correct based on the fact they lied in their letter when they said ""Additionally, the statement “installment account” is generally how a revolving line of credit is defined by the credit bureaus.”

And if they were reporting your revolving account as an installment account didn't they just confirm in writting for you that they are reporting inaccurate information and must correct or remove?

[NotIT]

I am in an odd situation... I sent LVNV a DV letter (also stating they are to cease TELEPHONIC communication... verbatium from my letter... "I am also stating, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by United States Postal Service.").  Never receive a response back.  DV'd again - no response.  DV'd again - still no response and yes I waited longer than appropriate for responses.  After SEVERAL months of frustration, I decided to utiilize the BBB to aide in verification.  Here is what I got from them:

-----------------------------------------------------------

This letter is in response to your correspondence dated October 26, 2012 regarding the above referenced account. LVNV Funding LLC (“LVNV”) currently owns the account number ending in xxxx. Resurgent Capital Services L.P. (“Resurgent”) is the servicer of the account owned by LVNV.  The account was previously sold by Arrow Financial Services, LLC (“Arrow”) on or about September 23, 2011 at which time the balance was $603.45. As of the date of this communication, the account balance is $630.14.  Please review the following account information:

1. This account originated on April 30, 2007 and was opened with CorTrust Bank N.A. (“CorTrust”).
2. This account charged off on November 1, 2007.
3. Arrow advised the last payment in the amount of $125.00 was received on June 24, 2007.
4. No payments have been received since Resurgent started servicing this account in September 2011.

It appears there is some confusion regarding the credit bureau reporting of this account.  The consumer reporting agencies define factoring company as a company or individual who purchases accounts with the intent of collecting debts owed.  Therefore, the term is accurate in this situation.

In most cases, creditors charge off accounts once they are 120 days or more past due/delinquent. 

The statement “120 days past due” is generally how a charged off account is defined by the credit bureaus. Due to the account being charged off, the bureaus still report it as 120 days past due.  This comment is added by the bureaus to further define the account; therefore, this statement cannot be altered.

Additionally, Resurgent did not provide validation of debt in response to NAME DELETED repeated requests due to the fact that her letters requested that we cease telephone contact with her.  Accordingly, this account was placed in a cease status, which resulted in no further contact, written or otherwise, from our office. 

If, after review of the above referenced information NAME DELETED believes this account is fraudulent, we would ask for a completed police/incident report regarding the fraud, or a notarized fraud or identity theft affidavit in order to help us resolve this matter.  A blank form is enclosed and is also available at the FTC’s website:http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/.  If this account was paid or settled in full, the settlement offer, cancelled check(s), and/or confirmation of payment in full would help us resolve this complaint.  In addition, if NAME DELETED has any correspondence to/from Arrow and/or CorTrust concerning her dispute, it may help with our investigation, so please have her forward it to:

Compliance Department    or     Fax:  866-467-0918

MS 250

P.O. Box 10497                       

Greenville, SC 29603

If you have any further questions, comments or concerns, please contact Customer Service at 888-665-0374.

Sincerely,

P. Holladay

Compliance Department                                               

Resurgent Capital Services L.P.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am now at a loss on how to proceed.  My initial thought is to reply via BBB with something to the effect of "Please see the attached letter in which LVNV if referring to, it stipulates no telephonic contact may be made, but to verify said debt via USPS." or of the like.  

Thoughts?

I won this battle with Arrow, but they decided to sell it to LVNV... it's a constant chasing of my tail.

[RobertEG]

The subsequent cease communication letter sent to them was totally redundant and immaterial until such time as debt verification was provided.  In fact, it unnecessarily created a basis for them to assert that it prevents them from now providing debt verification.

I would never send a cease communication letter after a DV.  Period.  A DV is more comprehensive than a cease communication letter, as it imposes a total cease collection bar on them, only a part of which includes inititating communications with the consumer.  To send a request for debt verification and then inform them that they are not to communicate with you is a contradiction.  Save a cease communication until after verification is provided, should you want to then continue blocking communications with you.

The issue of their reporting as a factoring company is not, in my opinion, the real issue.  The issue is whether reporting as a factor makes them a creditor as opposed to a debt collector.  They seem to contest that it does by reporting an installment account obligation to them. That is bogus, as you have no installment account agreement with them.

Thus, the only reporting of account delinquencies in your credit file should be that of the creditor, not any debt collector.

[NotIT]

The cease phone calls was in the DV letter, last paragraph, not separate.  It specifically stated to mail communications, not call.  They were notorious for calling and hanging up without leaving messages.  Took me some time to realize it was them.  This last paragraph was obviously bad advice I received.

Is there a recourse? Specifically, something I may do to allow them to mail me as requested.  Like I said, I'm at a loss here.  I've sent that same DV letter to other companies (inclusive of the cease telephone calls and all correspondence must be via mail USPS paragraph) and have not had this issue with any other creditor.  It seems they take it to a different level.  

Regardless, I need to circumvent this situation... anyone any ideas how to move forward.  The underlying issue for ME is, I've never heard of CorTrust, nor do I believe I've ever had an account with them, hence my requesting a validation of debt 3 times prior to the BBB dispute.  When this was with Arrow, I did a regular dispute, and it was gone.  

Lastly, RobertEG... I am confused by your last paragraph.  I do appreciate your advice, but, can you clarify the last paragraph a bit more or PM me?

thanks!