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Cease and Desist and Credit Reporting - The Bills.com Blog
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Cease and Desist and Credit Reporting
Monday, Jun 18, 2007
Question: If I Sent a Cease and desist all Collection activity letter to a collection company and then immediately file a dispute with the credit bureaus is the collection agency allowed to respond to the dispute or will they ignore the dispute and the credit bureau delete the account off of my file.
Such requests are usually referred to as “cease and desist” letters (CandDs). According to the FDCPA, a CandD forbids a collector from communicating with you, but it does not affect the agency’s ability to report account information to the credit bureaus. A separate federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates the reporting of accounts to the consumer credit reporting agencies, and outlines the procedure for disputing inaccurate listings on your credit report.
Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, so I encourage you to review your reports with the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. If you find any listings which you feel are inaccurate or improperly reported, you should consider filing disputes with the bureaus.
Once you file a dispute, the credit bureau will notify the creditor of the dispute, and the creditor will be required to provide proof that the information it reported is accurate. If the creditor does not provide the required documentation, the credit bureau should remove the listing
from your report. If you dispute an account with the credit bureaus after sending a CandD to the collection agency, the agency will still be able to respond to the dispute, so it is doubtful that the strategy outlined in your question will succeed in removing accounts from your credit reports. If you would like to learn more about credit reporting, I encourage you to explore the Bills.com Credit Report Resources page at http://www.bills.com/credit-report/
I hope this information will help you better understand credit reporting, debt collection and your rights as a consumer.
Bill
www.bills.com
I hope this information will help you better understand credit reporting, debt collection and your rights as a consumer.
Bill
www.bills.com
Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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1. Posted by Alan on Tuesday 6th May 2008 06:35
I've been disputing an LVNV Funding account for a year. I sent several validation requests and they ignored them. When I finally decided to call them, they told me they weren't allowed to respond to my requests due to a cease and desist generated by the disputes with the CRAs. Is this true? Also, is there a rule of thumb on how much (as a percentage of the original amount charged off) to offer or agree to as a settlement. I've heard these collection agencies buy these "junk" debts for just pennies on the dollar.
2. Posted by Bill on Tuesday 6th May 2008 08:20
There is a certain period of time within which, they are supposed to respond to your validation request. I am guessing you sent a debt validation letter to the creditor that you mention. I am not aware of a cease and desist being automatically generated by the CRA's, unless you had sent one yourself. There is no general rule of thumb with the percentage of settlement. It is up to you to negotiate one as low as possible. Start with a low amount and then see what they agree to. Getting a settlement as low as 20% of the current due amount is not uncommon.