Topic: Judgement holder still reporting collection acct. Dispute w/ CRA verified.

[Fighting Irish]

Chase is in DE. Their contractual SoL is 3 years.

Also, echoing what KFMAN said. You need to know your FDCPA well enough to teach someone about it. The same goes for the FCRA. FDCPA is $1000 aggregate for all violations. But FCRA is per violation.

Which means that if they are reporting false information to three CRAs, then time they update that false information, it's 3 new violations.

[excelsior]

take3,
Are you looking at hard copies from all 3 bureaus?

If so, does every element of the tradeline match and are they all accurate?

(OC can continue to report, as long as they report accurately).

For FICO scoring, the judgment is what is dragging down a score.  An old charge off is not as depressing to a FICO algorithm as a judgment.

Is ARB language in the agreement?  If so, there is a good chance to use FCRA for mutual walkaway and deletion. 

[take3]

excelsior: I have hard copies in my hand from two of three right now. All info matches.  As far as arb language, the collection account already got a default judgement two years ago. I don't see what arb can do for me now.

Now, I understand the OC can continue to report accurately. That is my very question. The OC, WaMu/Chase, isn't reporting at all; Midland is. Even pretending Midland were the OC, I don't understand how continuing to report a collection is accurate. Does a collection not get written off and become a $0 balance once it becomes a judgement? Does reporting a $2700 collection and a $2700 judgement not misrepresent the total amount of alleged debt?

Fighting Irish: Are you suggesting that the SOL is based on the OC's place of business? I know I read about a New York case that made that claim, but I'm not sure it applies to Oregon. I am well aware that the FCRA is $1,000 per violation, and that is exactly what I am hoping I can use to settle this matter. But before I pony up the $340 to file suit, I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Of course, what I am admittedly missing is indeed the ability to explain the FCRA inside and out. I will begin that tonight. 

[CleaningUp]

If Midland still owns the account, they can report.

[excelsior]

excelsior: I have hard copies in my hand from two of three right now. All info matches.  As far as arb language, the collection account already got a default judgement two years ago. I don't see what arb can do for me now.

Arbitration, and I really can't stress this enough kids, is the only way to resolve an FCRA issue when the contract language provides for arbitration!

Why?  Because the OC didn't want to get dragged into the courtroom and litigate.  So they stuck that language in there and a consumer's only recourse then to settle an FCRA dispute is....Arbitration!

Just because there is a judgment doesn't stop future arbitration.  The party rages on!  As long as the furnisher keeps reporting the tradeline, they are subject to FCRA.  If they break the law, I would arbitrate.

Now, to be fair, I realize that the expense of Arbitrator's fees will inconvenience a furnisher several thousand dollars and that's mighty unfortunate for them---so unfortunate in fact, that a furnisher may even be willing to zero out an entire judgment and delete a tradeline if they faced a credible FCRA arbitration claim. 

This strategy is risky for balances that exceed 4k or 5k, but for lower amounts, the business logic becomes clear:  the furnisher will pay more to arbitrate an FCRA claim than to forgive the judgment and delete.

Say hello to my little friend:  http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

[CleaningUp]

Excelsior, OCs put arbitation clauses in their contracts for two reason:

1.  They had a pet arbitrator that would rubber-stamp their demands; and

2.  They wanted to forestall possible class action suits.


To imply that they did it because they were afraid of lawsuits under the FCRA?  Rubbish.

The FCRA is NOT a strict liability statute, and they can dodge any litigation by correcting the entry, thereby rendering any action moot.

[excelsior]

I am not implying that OC's put Arb language in to avoid small dollar FCRA suits.  However, FCRA claims are an Achilles heel of the rationale to put Arb language in a contract.  It seems to be the proverbial "cost of doing business" that OC's tolerate to avoid larger cases

Arb and FCRA allow a consumer with a small debt (like the OP's 3k amount) to get an advantage because of the price tag of doing an Arb.  Turnabout is fair play, as you say.

I understand what you are saying about strict liability, however my (admittedly limited but successful) experience is that furnishers refuse to report accurately when dragged into Arb.  Perhaps they don't want to admit wrong doing, or perhaps they just want to settle.  Even if a furnisher offered to report correctly (which I haven't seen in a scenario like this), they can't undo any actual damges that a consumer incurred as a result of their reporting.  This is why I urge a "credible" FCRA claim.

One doesn't want to initiate an ARB case with a weak claim--it has to be clear, and well-documented for sure. 

[CleaningUp]

You missed the point.

All that the credit reporter needs to do to dodge FCRA liability is to correct the entry.  Any case you would file would be instantly moot.

Do you think that they don't know that?

[KFMAN]

You missed the point.

All that the credit reporter needs to do to dodge FCRA liability is to correct the entry.  Any case you would file would be instantly moot.

Do you think that they don't know that?

The problem with Midland doing that is anything they report is more than likely inaccurate.

[Fighting Irish]

Fighting Irish: Are you suggesting that the SOL is based on the OC's place of business? I know I read about a New York case that made that claim, but I'm not sure it applies to Oregon. I am well aware that the FCRA is $1,000 per violation, and that is exactly what I am hoping I can use to settle this matter. But before I pony up the $340 to file suit, I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Of course, what I am admittedly missing is indeed the ability to explain the FCRA inside and out. I will begin that tonight.

If you get the case into arb, you are dealing with the law of whatever state you agree to deal with.

Agree to whatever state is to your advantage. Obviously, for you, that's the state where the debt is already out of SoL.

As excelsior said, ARBITRATE the case.

[excelsior]

You missed the point.

All that the credit reporter needs to do to dodge FCRA liability is to correct the entry.  Any case you would file would be instantly moot.

Do you think that they don't know that?

Oh, I think I got the point alright.  I arbitrate, they fix the tradeline or delete it outright.  I win.  I'm not looking to actually arbitrate the case; in fact I've settled every arbitration to my full satisfaction before the arbitrator was even selected (in a few weeks).  That's good enough for me.

[CleaningUp]

You certainly can't arbitrate the judgment (a public record and not Midland's entry) and I doubt seriously if you could win an arbitration on their TL if they owned the account when it went to judgment.

Also, what do you do if they fail to go into arbitration? 




Oh, and all of the statements made at the top of this post would apply to a case in court.

Your problem is that a judgment exists, and until you can undo that (little chance, there) you are stuck with both trade lines.

[excelsior]

I'm not suggesting to arbitrate the judgment itself.  Again, the cause of action should be a solid FCRA claim.

I've had CA's claim they "decline" my offer of arbitration.  I politely inform them that if they do decline, I'll MTC Arb and use Concepcion to get Arb ordered by the court.

If Midland wanted to settle for some amount of money, I'd counter with a proposal that they enter a stipulation/motion to vacate (or the like) to remove the judgment (or whatever the appropriate state RCP calls for).

[abe.j]

@KFMAN

I have a similar situation. I was evicted. Recieved Judgement of eviction with a total dollar amount of 276.50. Shortly after creditor started coming after me for a different amount that is much higher (roughly 1500). This was back in 2010.

Come 2012, I want to clean up my report. I have made contact with the creditor and being that I saw it as legitimate. I made a deal to settle in three payments.

I want to rescind that offer and not pay anything because I feel the judgement would satisfy this whole matter.

I feel its a complex situation now that I have stuck my head out a little.

The creditor is affiliated with the apartments but within the last two years the apartment complex has been sold to a new party.

I dont know what to do any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bless.

[KFMAN]

@KFMAN

I have a similar situation. I was evicted. Recieved Judgement of eviction with a total dollar amount of 276.50. Shortly after creditor started coming after me for a different amount that is much higher (roughly 1500). This was back in 2010.

Come 2012, I want to clean up my report. I have made contact with the creditor and being that I saw it as legitimate. I made a deal to settle in three payments.

I want to rescind that offer and not pay anything because I feel the judgement would satisfy this whole matter.

I feel its a complex situation now that I have stuck my head out a little.

The creditor is affiliated with the apartments but within the last two years the apartment complex has been sold to a new party.

I dont know what to do any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bless.

I would start your own thread.

If this was my issue, I would only agree to them VACATING the judgment and that is like it never happened.