Credit Bureaus not cooperating

[Plantinga]

What is the name of your state? MN

About every six months I have my credit reports pulled from Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, just to check to see what I have on there. I recently pulled them, and a collection has been reported to a Harcourt Direct at home college program. This company claims I owe them over $700.00 for a program I never requested. I am currently enrolled in college, my second semester. This company claims I began this program in August of 01. I have made several attempts over the past year to have this investigated and removed from my credit reports. I have contacted the collection company Northeast Credit and Collections (which by the way, has an incredible low ranking and insulting testimonies from clients on many web sites.)
I spoke to three representatives through this collection agency, and twice I was hung up on because they said there was no way an investigation could be pursued after such a long time. I asked what their statute of limitations was, and not one person knew what I was talking about.
I have contacted my credit bureaus over and over again about removal of this collection from my reports, but each time, they say there is not enough evidence to proceed with such action.
Will writing to the BBB do anything? I need to know what actions I can take to have this removed pronto. It is affecting my credit scores.
Thanks in advance for advice!

Regards,
Plantinga

 

[billy456]

Writing!

You need to do this in writing. Credit reporting companies have absolutely no obligation to do anything when you call them on the phone. When you call them on the phone, you speak to some idiot making minimum wage in another country pretending to be American. Write them a letter and send it with a request for a return receipt. Tell them (don't ask) that there is an error on your record and that they must correct it. Tell them that they need to mail you proof that you were supposed to pay this college money. If they cannot produce something with your signature on it saying that you will pay this college some amount of money then they will have no choice but to remove the error from your record. Of course they could just decide not to do it anyway. Then unfortunately you will have to hire a lawyer and sue them. But if they were totally wrong then you could ask the judge to make them pay for your legal expenses in addition to correcting your credit record.

Good luck.

 

[bigun]

CRA's are not required to furnish physcial evidence. This will accomplish nothing.

Send a letter to the collection agency demanding validation and send it CRRR. When the green card comes back, send a letter disputing the account to the CRA's again, CRRR.
THe CRA has 30 days to investigate. If the collection agency does not send you validation prior to verifying with the CRA then, they've committed a FDCPA violation. If they fail to mark the account as "in dispute" they have violated the FCRA.
Post this at www.creditboards.com for some more advice. Several have dealt with that ca and will have some thoughts.