Property Tax Liens

[Jeeper44]

I have asked this before but didn't get any response so I'll try again.

I have 2 tax liens showing up on my TU for unpaid property taxes in 2003 and 2004. Both liens were settled and released in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Researching the documents at the Registry of Deeds shows the original liens as well as the municipal discharge. The last discharge was in Feb. of 2005 which means both should not be on listed with TU as its now been over 7 years. The problem is that TU isn't showing that they were paid, and therefore should have already been deleted.

The registry of deeds only records the information. I don't know who originated the information for the TU report. Should I send a dispute letter to TU with the copies of the original liens as well as the discharge papers? I'm not disputing the validity of the debt, just that they were both paid over 7 years ago and should therefore be deleted.

[SupraTurbo2jz]

Yes you should send copies in to have them update/remove the liens off your report...I would make a note to verify information as it isn't correct and if I'm not mistaken its 7.5 years for a removal. I just did this with federal tax liens that got withdrawn. You also have the option of MOV due to the fact most federal and state agencies DO NOT report this to the bureaus nor do they confirm however it is listed as public records...and they do gather that information on there own. there are several post on how to do that. Hope that helps you out.

[RobertEG]

This is one area where a dispute through the CRA might, in fact, be preferable to a direct dispute.

Not knowing the reporting party, it is kinda difficult to dispute directly with them.

The CRAs have the authority, under their "reinvestigation" rights provision, to do their own reinvestigation and delete based on their results.

Being a public record, they have the ability to do that.

I would send all documentation to the CRA, and allege that the reported information has past its CR exclusion date.

The period for a tax lien is 7 years from date paid.  FCRA 605(a)(3).  No adverse items other than collections and charge-offs have a period of 7 1/2 years.

[SupraTurbo2jz]

Robert, thank u for expanding on my semi newb knowledge of this...I was hoping someone else would chime in to help them as well. I just didnt want them to think it was gonna b ignored again :-).

[Jeeper44]

While putting the paperwork together I saw that TU was reporting the Registry of Deeds as the reporting party so I decided to give them a call. They were very nice and explained they get calls like mine almost daily. They do not however do any reporting so she suggested I call TU and take it up with them directly.

I did obtain copies of both the original liens, as well as the discharges showing exactly when they were paid. I even highlighted the crossreference numbers so there is no question about which release belongs to which lien. I packaged this up with a Request for Investigation form I downloaded from the TU site and mailed it off yesterday. Now its just a matter of wait and see. I don't think I'll have any problem as its a pretty obvious correction.

[Jeeper44]

Just an update: I got a response yesterday from TU regarding the dispute I filed. They removed both liens from my record. They also sent me a letter at the same time saying they couldn't continue with my dispute until I send them 2 forms of ID verifying my mailing address. They stated the address I used does not match any they have on file. This is odd because my address hasn't changed in 12 years, I know they have the correct address on file because I've seen it on my reports, and they sent both letters to that address. For now I'm going to ignore it as the dispute was finished satisfactorily anyway.

The removal didn't change my FAKOs at USAA. I'll wait until Walmart updates their score to see what happens. Perhaps they were so old they didn't factor at all.