Some wisdom and multitude of counsel would be nice

**abner80** · 06-02-2009, 02:02 PM

So my wife went to check her credit report in April and found a collection for $500. My wife calls the company they say it is a debt from 1999 for tires that she purchased. Wife never bought the tires. My wife thinks it might have been one of her sisters that has a reputation for doing this sort of thing *identity theft8. There is a link to challenge the claim on the transunion credit report site so we challenge it. Week later we recieved mail informing us that the claim remains, something to that affect, with no paperwork to back it up. Well I think Dave Ramsey says something about Fair Trade Credit Reporting Act and mailing them something saying they have 30 days to show me in writing proof that she owes the debt. Who is they the credit bureau i.e. Transunion or the company? Also has anyone written a letter verbatim, trying to put something very professional together.

Thanks

**omalleyc** · 06-06-2009, 08:30 AM

I can't help with a letter, but under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I found this:

FDCPA Section 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g]

(b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

**Momto2Boyz** · 06-06-2009, 08:38 AM

"They" being the original debt collector (so whoever sold her the tires) has to provide paperwork upon request to the credit bureau and to you. If whoever bought them didn't pay upfront, there should have been some sort of credit agreement, and it should be easy enough to prove that it wasn't your wife who signed it.

If you recieved notice from the cc company that the debt remains, you actually need to phone them and let them know that the debt is not yours, and they will check it out as an identity theft case then.

**Greebo** · 06-07-2009, 05:49 AM

What the others said - you have to have the debt collector who is reporting the debt to the agencies prove the debt.

And odds are they can't, so once they fail to show proof and you have your demand for them to show proof in writing, you then send a copy of your letter demanding proof, and a statement affirming that they have not shown proof, to each agency and demand the agencies remove the debt from your report.

**nuclear_j** · 06-14-2009, 11:17 PM

Hey abner80, you should be able to find a credit dispute letter from google and the interweb. Some tips though:
1) send all correspondence with in three days of their responses
2) send it all certified / registered
3) make them get proof of the debt and their authorization to collect it

Something else you could try is because they are a collection agency and a third party, they have no business representing the other company unless that company signed a power of attorney. Which they did not of course and I'll explain why.

It's a game, the collection agency said to the tire company, "Hey do you have any old uncollected bills?" The tire company says, "Why yes we do!" The collection agency then says, "We'll how about we try to get some person to pay for it and we'll split what we collect!" The tire company says, "Let's do it!" And they go to collect money. But do not take my word on it, please do your own research.

Last thought, is not the debt over 10 years old anyway and it should not be allowed on your report anyway?

**Thevail** · 06-25-2009, 03:29 AM

Make sure that anything you send them you send in one of those signature for reciept envelopes. Otherwise you have no way to prove that you DID disput it in writing. It sucks, but otherwise they can just not record on their computers that you disputed it. They send you a "yes you do owe it" form letter, and trashcan the original correspondence.

I've seen it happen too often. They are right by default, unless you can prove that you dotted every i and crossed every t while jumping through the hoops.