Midland...What should I consider this? Help, please!!

[Anonymous]

I DV'd Midland on the 10th of October, and this was their response: 

RE: T-Mobile

Dear Me,

The purpose of this letter is to advise you that you did not provide sufficient information to investigate your dispute of the credit reporting of your above-referenced account pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

After reveiwing the information you provided, as well as our account notes, and the information provided by the previous creditor, we are unable to determine the nature of your dispute, and consequesntly deny that our records are inaccurate. 

In order to further investigate your dispute, we need addtional information to identify the basis of your dispute, including a complete explanation of your dispute would be helpful. In the interium, we have requested that the three major credit bureaus change the status of this acoount to "Disputed" 

Huh?? I asked for validation. Something tells me this isn't it.

Where do I go from here? More letters to Midland? 

This account is due to fall off  my reports in Feb2015, but sooner than that is always welcomed!

[Anonymous]

Midland seems to be famous for this canned answer.

You might consider bringing up the recent FTC action against T-Mobile for cramming. That might get them to budge. But since its due to fall off in just a few months, I'd let it drop off unless you have pressing need for a home or auto loan before then.

[Anonymous]

Midland seems to be famous for this canned answer.

If this is not within the 30 day window for a timely DV (30 days within receipt of the first dunning notice) then they probably routinely treat it as a dispute rather than a DV.

You might consider bringing up the recent FTC action against T-Mobile for cramming. That might get them to budge. But since its due to fall off in just a few months, I'd let it drop off unless you have pressing need for a home or auto loan before then.

[Anonymous]

I'm actually in the middle of cleaning up my credit to buy a home!  So I would like this off my reports asap. It's one of the only collections left.

I think I'll go the complaint route!

Thank  you!

[Anonymous]

Again, research the recent FTC action against T-Mobile for cramming - they were acused of doing it all through the 2000's up until 2012 or so.Tell Midland the whole reason the account was never paid was because of T-Mobile illegaly cramming you.

[Anonymous]

Oh I never knew about that. Thank you for this little bit of info!! 

[Anonymous]

Should i contact Midland or include this in a complaint to the CRPB?

[Anonymous]

Both

[RobertEG]

I dont see any relevance of the FTC v T-Mobile complaint, which dealt with charging of unauthorized fess on consumer accounts.

The issue is Midland's response is that theu have improperly treated a DV request as a dispute of accuracy of credit reporting.

If the DV argued the accuracy of any information they had reported, they could have considered it to be a direct dispute.

Furnishers are permittted to make a finding that a direct dispute does not contain sufficient information to permit them to conduct a reasonsble investigation.

To the contrary, a DV has no requirement to document any error.  It need simply request verification.

I would respond to Midland by simply stating that your letter was not a direct dispute, and thus they have no basis for requesting any additional information.

Since their response failed to provide verification, they remains under a cease collection bar, and must refrain from any communication with you until they have provided the requested debt verification.

The only violation by their letter would be a possible holding that it violates their cease collection bar under FDCPA 809(b), assuming your DV was timely.

If you file a complaint with the CFPB, that would be the basis.

Personally, I would give them the benefit of possible confusion if your letter included any arguments pertaining to the validity of the debt, and hold off an any complainy based on violation of their cease collection bar unless they repeat such actions.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Robert! 

I went ahead and filed a complaint based off of the cramming charges by T-Mobile and just ignored Midlands response to the "dispute". My DV letter only asked for the basic info, but Midland sent me the letter above instead.