How can I stop a collector of an old account from making "hard" inquiries

[floridacoast]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Hello,

For the past 10+ years I have done my best to keep a clean credit record. I check my credit reports almost 3 times a week for any changes. I recently discovered that two separate collection agencies were making "hard" inquiries, without my authorization. They are both attempting to collect on two CC revolving credit accounts that are at least 11+ years old since their last activity (they were closed and are no longer active). The two accounts DO NOT appear on my credit report because it has been over 7 years and they have not appeared for over six years.

It is obvious the collection agencies have my social and personal information (otherwise how would they be able to initiate these inquiries). However, can they do this? How can I stop them from making inquiries on my credit reports which affect my score? Equifax has been the best because they allow me to dispute the inquiries directly (unauthorized inquiries are almost immediately removed). But TransUnion and Experian are a different story. They make it hard on the consumer and force me to mail/call the source and ask them to explain the inquiry and remove it if it was not authorized.

But, when dealing with shady Collection Agencies, I don't want to contact them -- especially with a letter that may be construed as a "contact" to re-initiate negotiation (then they could reset the clock on the delinquency). Even though I realize they must have my personal information (social, etc.) I do not feel comfortable mailing them a letter, identifying myself with this information, asking them to remove the inquiry because it is unauthorized.

So, I guess you can see the bind I am in. How can I have the inquiries removed without having to deal with them? Do they even have a right to make inquiries without my authority? How about on accounts that are obviously past the statute of limitations?

Any suggestions will greatly be appreciated. Please refer to any specific language, details, entire letters, phrases, etc. that I can use to resolve this matter.

Thank you.What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?

 

[huerita]

Floridacoast,

Don't be afraid to contact the dastardly CA's. You will need to. I will try to give you some tips.

First, in Florida, the statute of limitations (SOL) is 5 years for written contracts, 4 years on open accounts. They are WAAAAAY past the SOL.

You will need to send them a letter demanding validation and proof that they had the right to pull your credit. That is called Permissible Purpose (PP). They did non-pp inquiries. They think because they bought the old accounts that they have the right to pull, but I believe they are incredibly wrong.

Each non-PP is a $1000 violation per FDCPA and $1000 per FCRA violation. You will need to remind them of this in your letter. Writing to them DOES NOT start the clock all over again!

Your letter to them can be something like this:

Re: Unauthorized inquiries on my credit reports

Dear blood sucking scumbag CA,

I recently received copies of my credit reports and noticed you have pulled my credit several times without having proper authorization nor permission. I have never signed a contract nor credit authorization with your company.

Since you are in the collection business, you should be quite aware of the FDCPA and FCRA laws that protect consumers from practices such as you are committing against me and my good credit standing. Your violations could result in thousands of dollars in penalties.

Should you feel that I am incorrect and that you did have a permissible purpose in inquiring into my credit, please provide the proof that you did have the legal authorization to pull my credit. I am also demanding that you provide validation that you have the legal right to attempt to collect on what you assume to be a debt that I owe you. Please provide the following:

Validation of the following debt(s) as provided under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Please investigate this matter, and stop all collection efforts, including inquiries, until you provide me with validation. This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested and is not a refusal to pay, but a notice that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

You shall specifically provide:

What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe
Specifically if you claim that I signed for the purchases that I also signed to be obligated for the Account by and agreement to be bound;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (That they are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me). This is basic contract law.
Evidence of any insurance claims made by any creditor or assignee regarding this account.
Evidence of the purported balanced of this account that has been used in any tax deduction claim.
Please list the particular products/services sold by the collector to the debtor and the dollar amount of each.
Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. ( I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to the collection company, and what fees/interest have been tacked on to this debt and how they determined these fees). This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept. 2004.
Copy of the original signed loan agreement or application. (A contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between them and consumer). This is also basic contract law.

Upon failure or refusal of collector to validate this collection action, collector agrees to waive all claims against the debtor named herein, remove all inquiries and entries on all my credit reports and pay debtor for all costs and attorney fees involved in defending this collection action.

If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately. I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment, or to any phone numbers you may have acquired that belong to me. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered fraud and harassment and I hereby reserve my right to take private civil action against you to recover damages. There shall be no further communication between your company and me, nor any attempts at communication other than to provide the proof of permissible purpose inquiries and validation of this debt. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Sincerely,
Pissed Off Consumer

You will need to send the letter to the collection agency Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested (CMRRR). Keep the receipt you will receive from the post office a few days later. It will cost you about $5 and your time.

You need to let them know you are no dummy and that you value your hard earned and kept good credit, and they or no one else is going to muck it up with inquiries and useless, fraudulent collection activity.

I suspect that you may not get anything back from them. After 30 days have passed and they have not responded, if the inquiries are still on your reports, send the collection agency a second letter. This one will say something as simple as this:

Dear Scumbags,

Please remove the credit inquiry of Scumbag Collection Agency from my credit report as this debt is disputed and I have not been provided with appropriate documentation.

Sincerely,
Pissed off Consumer

Make sure you include your account numbers so they can remove them off your report.

Keep copies of the letters you send them. You will need to also contact the credit bureaus in about 45 days after you send the second letters to the collectors. You will demand deletion of the inquiries from the bureaus due to the CA's failure to provide you with proof and validation. You will need to send the bureaus a copy of the letters that you sent to the CA, so that they know you have followed proper legal procedures for removing it through the CA's first.

Hope this helps.

Huerita

PS: please completely ignore the advice from the debtcollector on your other post. They claim to be a debt collector and answered as such. Their advice was not only completely wrong, it didn't even respond to anything you asked. Typical for debt collectors. Their standard validation remittance is another bill, clearly another violation of the FDCPA and the FCRA!

 

[floridacoast]

Thank you! Thank you!

Dear Huerita,

Wow, you are an angel. Thank you for your very thorough and knowledgeable answer. It has helped me immensely and undoubtedly will help others reading this post with similar problems (After all, who doesn't have a credit inquiry they never authorized).

I just have a few more questions to ask -- I hope you have an opportunity to read this.

(1) The CA's are definitely a sneaky and unscrupulous bunch. So, I definitely DO NOT want to send them the letter you kindly included with my Signature (who knows what they might try to do). So, what personal information do I include to identify myself? I am not even sure if they have my address but I do have a PO Box. Please tell me which of the following information I should include or exclude: Full Name, Address (as appears on the credit reports they inquired with), my phone # (I assume I do not need to give this because they don't have it or they have not used it to call me), my social (I hope i don't need to include my social), do I include a signature (I hope I could avoid it), any other identifying personal information in the salutation / letter?

(2) You mentioned I should include the account number. Unfortunately, I have no idea what account they are inquiring about because the inquiry listing on TransUnion/Experian does not identify an account. It only has the name(s) of the collection agencies and their address. Because my credit has been clean for 10+ years and I have no negative data in my credit reports, I am only assuming that these agencies purchased some very old, outdated, accounts (revolving credit). Therefore, this makes my question above more difficult. How should I identify myself? (No signature, I hope),

(3) As you speculate, I am sure they will not respond (being the honorable sort) . So, I should wait 30 days from the postmark of the first letter, then 45 days after the postmark of the second letter before contacting the credit agencies?

(4) Would you happen to know why Equifax makes it so easy to immediately and directly dispute inquiries while TransUnion and Experian make a consumer go through so much hassle?

(5) What method should I employ for regular non-collection agency unauthorized or unrecognized inquiries? (For example, from Banks or credit cards that I have never applied for). I am sure I should use a less harsh letter or do you suggest the same? Maybe a modified version?

(6) When you referred to my "other post" were you talking about my question about whether or not I should accept a new credit card (would it hurt or improve my score?)? If so, I would love to hear your advice within that post.

Once again, thank you for your care and reply. I look forward to your reply.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[floridacoast]

Huerits, are you around?

Dear Huerita,

Your prior response was incredibly helpful (back on 12/29/06). However, I had a few additional questions. I hope you have a chance to read my response/questions above. Thank you so much.

Also, just in case, can any one tell me how to contact specific members? Is this possible?

 

[Debt Guy]

So, I definitely DO NOT want to send them the letter you kindly included with my Signature (who knows what they might try to do).

Exactly what is it you are afraid of? You think they are going to steal your identity? You should be so lucky.​

So, what personal information do I include to identify myself? I am not even sure if they have my address but I do have a PO Box. Please tell me which of the following information I should include or exclude: Full Name, Address (as appears on the credit reports they inquired with), my phone # (I assume I do not need to give this because they don't have it or they have not used it to call me), my social (I hope i don't need to include my social), do I include a signature (I hope I could avoid it), any other identifying personal information in the salutation / letter?

Paranoia is so bizarre. You need to include enough information that they can clearly identify who you are. Otherwise, they don't have a clue and you will not get the action you are seeking. Personally, I would attach a copy of the credit report with the offending information highlighted. They will need name and address. Phone number is not important. In my opinion, social is important since everyone in the world uses it as the key to look up information in databases. You have very little to worry about by signing the letter (actually, you look like a moron if you don't​

(2) You mentioned I should include the account number.

Then your social is next best.​

(3) As you speculate, I am sure they will not respond (being the honorable sort) . So, I should wait 30 days from the postmark of the first letter, then 45 days after the postmark of the second letter before contacting the credit agencies?

I hate to burst your paranoid and ignorant little bubble -- but here goes. The CRAs are not cops. They do not make the data furnisher prove anything -- that simply is not their job. The CRAs are only a data clearinghouse. If you dispute to the CRA, they go to the data furnisher and say, "hey, this guy owe you money?". If the data furnisher says "yep", the the CRA reports back to you that the debt has been verified.

Same principle applies for your concern about non-permissible inquiries. All the CRA can do is ask the data furnisher if they have valid authority to inquire. If the data furnisher says yes then the dispute is resolved so far as the CRA is concerned. Again, to put it in simple terms -- the CRA is not a cop and has no duty to you or anyone to make the data furnisher prove anything.

Your best course of action is to dispute directly to the data furnisher. If they do not respond with the action you desire, sue them. Period. Your only other alternative is to just shut up about it.

By the way, I think you are wrong that a creditor has no right to pull credit just because the debt is past the federal reporting period. You still owe the debt. Likewise, even if the debt were past the state SOL for legal action, you still owe the debt and the creditor has the right to pull your credit. Just my opinion. Perhaps you would rather listen to others who have no idea what they are talking about.​

(4) Would you happen to know why Equifax makes it so easy to immediately and directly dispute inquiries while TransUnion and Experian make a consumer go through so much hassle?

The CRAs are in the business of selling their information to credit providers. They do not exist for the convenience or benefit of the consumer. Each are businesses and are free to run their business the way they want. The CRAs generally do not like consumer disputes since they believe 90% are bogus. Making consumers jump through hoops is just a way to manage their business. If you do not like it, then don't use their services.​

(5) What method should I employ for regular non-collection agency unauthorized or unrecognized inquiries? (For example, from Banks or credit cards that I have never applied for). I am sure I should use a less harsh letter or do you suggest the same? Maybe a modified version?

Banks to whom who you have not applied for credit cannot pull your credit. However, the CRA sells them information about you. The CRA sells what is referred to as "above the line information" and does not sell detailed credit data in those situations. Generally, the creditor will go to the CRA with a set of data parameters -- for example give me all the people who have scores from x to y and at least z dollars of revolving debt with no more than xx times 30 days late. The CRA runs those parameters against their database and gives it back to the creditor -- all for a fee of course. Those are technically not inquiries and have no impact on your credit report.

If you don't want people to see your credit file, then do not apply for credit or have any open credit accounts.​