Re: Who is this

Posted by computerguy (204.180.131.3) on July 07, 2004 at 14:36:28:

In Reply to: Re: Who is this posted by Karen on July 07, 2004 at 14:09:04:

They work like that! Send a Validation request to Sherman and the other company they employed and make sure it is sent Certified Return Receipt Requested to both of them. Send them a Cease and Desist and tell them they are not to communicate with you only by U.S. Mails and thats only if they are able to validate their claim. Send a request for Certified/Verification to the Credit Reporting agencies to verify each entry on your credit report. Here's something I ran accross the other day on the internet concerning validation. This was posted by a forum member that became a consumer attorney after contributing to the board for a couple of years prior. Keep in mind I do not mean this board.

*** Don’t bother calling the CA. Keep a log of your actions and conversations***

1.Send a standard validation request of CA in writing (sent certified rr of course)
2.Give 31 days after receipt of letter
3.If no validation is given from CA…(or if bogus validation is given)
4.At 31 days after CA receipt, dispute with the credit bureaus if a trade line is on the report (the idea being if the CA verifies the trade line to the bureau without validating the debt to the consumer it can be construed as continued collection activity without validation: FDCPA violation. And if they can't validate the debt, why are they verifying the trade line: FCRA violation compete and accurate info)
5.See if dumb CA verifies the trade line without validating first
6.See if dumb CA continues collection activity without validating (letters, calls etc)
7.Sometime in that process, apply for local credit and get actual damages (in either denied credit or higher cost of credit/ lesser credit line)… why local credit? You want to easily be able to subpoena a bank employee in case you actually go to court. Also your file must be seen by someone other than you to count as a definition of “file” under the FCRA. Look it up if you don’t believe me or read the Cousins appeal.
8.Sometime in that process, read the FDCPA and FCRA many times. Get adventurous. Read a bit of case law. Find an attorney in case you later need one (good luck finding a good one who knows consumer law)
9.Look up your state laws; you may have better state laws (Go Texas!)
10.Send CA and now possibly original creditor and credit bureau a demand letter detailing all FCRA and FDCPA (and State law) violations for actual, statutory, and punitive damages, court costs, mental and emotional anguish (you get the idea). Request a full deletion of all trade lines and inquiries and an affidavit from a company officer that all the sensitive info (ssn etc) will be purged from their system in full (with the idea that, if there’s no validation there’s a reasonable consumer assumption that there’s no debt. no debt equals no PP under FCRA, etc) and why should they then have your info on file for all to see… wait 31 days after receipt of demand letter.
11.File lawsuit if necessary
12.Settle or go to court (keeping in mind most cases are settled but be prepared to fight in case yours is not)

Boring, isn’t it. The real point is to learn the FDCPA and FCRA and your state laws and hold them accountable when they violate the law. We’ve just learned that there are some sequences that tend to generate a few more violations than others.

As for the complaint, it’s evolved from the simple “violations of the FCRA” statement to more like this (section from a credit burea lawsuit):

COUNT I
WILLFUL VIOLATION OF THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT BY CREDIT BUREAU A:
CREDIT BUREAU A violated 15 U.S.C. §1681(n) of the Act by willfully:
a) failing, in the preparation of Plaintiff’s reports, to follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the information in the report;
b) failing to provide trained personnel to explain Plaintiff the information in her file, in violation of
§1681(h)(c) of the Act;
c) failing to delete incomplete, misleading and inaccurate information in Plaintiff's file after being advised of such by Plaintiff or after conducting reinvestigations, in violation of §1681(i)(a) of the Act;
d) failing to provide subsequent users of the report with the Plaintiff's statement of dispute or a summary
thereof in violation of §1681(i)(c) of the Act;
e) failing to properly advise Plaintiff of her ability to make a consumer explanation under the Act;
f) failing to properly notify, train or otherwise advise its own subscribers about purging their records of inaccurate information concerning Plaintiff;
g) failing to establish any procedure by which reinvestigation would occur immediately upon the republication by the credit grantor of the inaccurate information or by failing to have a reasonable procedure by which to immediately notify the Plaintiff that the same inaccurate information, previously deleted or disputed, was re-reported by the credit grantor;
h) failing to permanently correct Plaintiff's report after repeated notification by Plaintiff;
i) failing to properly reinvestigate Plaintiff's disputes;
and by
j) concealing from or misrepresenting facts to Plaintiff regarding her report.
19. Plaintiff is obligated to pay her attorneys a reasonable fee for their services.
20. As a direct and proximate result of CREDIT BUREAU A’S willful violation of the Act, Plaintiff suffered credit denials, credit delays, financial loss, loss of use of funds, mental anguish, humiliation, a loss of reputation, the aggravation of a preexisting condition and expenditures for attorney's fees and costs. The losses are either permanent or continuing and Plaintiff will suffer the losses in the future.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands judgment for damages against CREDIT BUREAU A for actual and punitive damages, attorney's fees and court costs, pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681(n).

COUNT II
VIOLATION OF 15 U.S.C. §1681(o) NEGLIGENT NON-COMPLIANCE BY CREDIT BUREAU A:

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