Review Your Results
While you are building your credit and waiting for the response on the investigations, slowly the results will start to pour in. The first thing you want to review is the deletions, so make a note of all accounts that have been deleted and mark it as a win. Next, assume no new collections have been reported, then it means your credit profile has improved.
The accounts, which have not been deleted, will be reflected either as” Verified” or “Remains.” Make a note of this and scan the profile for a possible Metro Two violation. A Metro Two is a data format that the bureaus are required to report in. It is essentially the format in which data is required to be presented – for example, the name of the account, account number, original creditor, high balance, credit limit, and history. If all this information is filled in, then it is called a Metro Two compliance or 100% Metro Two satisfactory.
Pay special attention to collection accounts. If you notice that these are missing, then you have a strong argument for Metro Two violations. Later in the article, I will put a link for Metro Two policies so you can review them. Make a note of the violation as this could be the subject of your next dispute letter.
Therefore, in your second dispute letter, you are going to re-dispute any address or names which have not been removed. You may even use the previous letter you sent – just be certain to change the date on it and then mail it.
More importantly, give a reference to other errors, if there are any. For example, you may say that the information given is not Metro Two compliant. It is crucial here to mention what is the error. For example, the balance is not filled in, or the name of the original creditor is not mentioned. Again, once the letter is sent, you need to follow up after 35 days.
Debt Validation
If the account is Metro Two compliant, then you need to send a Debt Validation notice directly to the debt collector. In this case, you will not contact the bureaus; instead, you have to contact the companies directly. Therefore, if you have any collection agencies in there, you are required to send them letters directly.
In the content of this letter, you are going to ask the debt collector to send you specific documents, including:
A) Evidence of proof of debt. E.g., signed sales contract
B) Proof of eligibility to collect this type of debt in the state
In response, some of them will send the required documents. You may want to organize them and go through each of them. If you see anything in there that you think is questionable, then I recommend you should engage an FDCPA attorney. Just do a Google search for an FDCPA attorney near your location. When you call the attorney, make sure to keep all the documents nearby so you can refer to them during the call if required.
Generally, FDCPA attorneys love to do this kind of work, and if you have done the hard work already, they might ask you to send them all the correspondence with debt collectors, and they will be happy to review them.
In some cases, they do not even charge anything for a review. They generally charge in the settlement with the debt collector.
As per the FDCPA law, if there is any infraction of the FDCPA, the debt collector is liable to pay $1,000 per infraction. Hence if there are multiple infractions, they will add up. In many cases, the FDCPA attorney will tell you that you could make three or four thousand dollars on it.
The attorney may even propose to settle at three thousand dollars with him and finalize the deal. This means the attorney will keep half of the fine amount, and you can keep the other half. So, it’s a good idea to review the letters and find yourself a reasonable FDCPA attorney to help you with the case.
Useful Link:
1. Metro 2 Format – https://www.cdiaonline.org/resources/furnishers-of-data-overview/metro2-information