Dispute Process?
Complaint
William Murphy
Country: United States
They got us too, it seems. Situation: Recieved mail from Afni that my wife owed over $300 for account that was opened 12/2003 and closed 3/2004. She's called Cingular who verified that there was an account in her name (and SSN) including our home address. In addition, there was another address of her grandmother in another state.
There is a possibilty that this debt is legitimate, but certainly not ours. When my wife called Cingular, they said they couldn't talk to her about the account because it had been turned over to collections. So my first question is whether we should be allowed any access to the Cingular info. Seems like it will be difficult to proove we DON'T owe without it...
Next, and granted this came from the person at Afni my wife spoke to, if we dispute, we'll need to show how this couldn't have been us. Proving a negative is always hard. I'd like to make them proove that it WAS us.
I'm asking for quidance regarding next steps. My wife is going to call her grandmother to try and get more info. In the meantime I want to get this off my wife's credit report, and resolve this issue.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
There is a possibilty that this debt is legitimate, but certainly not ours. When my wife called Cingular, they said they couldn't talk to her about the account because it had been turned over to collections. So my first question is whether we should be allowed any access to the Cingular info. Seems like it will be difficult to proove we DON'T owe without it...
Next, and granted this came from the person at Afni my wife spoke to, if we dispute, we'll need to show how this couldn't have been us. Proving a negative is always hard. I'd like to make them proove that it WAS us.
I'm asking for quidance regarding next steps. My wife is going to call her grandmother to try and get more info. In the meantime I want to get this off my wife's credit report, and resolve this issue.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Comments
Under FACTA, you can send a dispute directly to AFNI. Make a copy of the credit report page, black out any unrelated information ("redact" it), then make a copy of that, and send it with your dispute letter. Your dispute letter can be as simple as "This isn't my debt. I don't owe it.". Mail it certified, and keep copies of everything, should you need them if you have to sue.
Following verifying through the USPS website that your dispute with AFNI was received, you should then also dispute it with the CRA on whose report it appears, to establish liability for the credit report error under FCRA. AFNI must respond to the CRA dispute within 30 days, or the CRA must remove it.
If after disputing an erroneous negative entry on your credit report they fail to remove it, get an attorney and sue for violations of FCRA. Since AFNI has a reputation for drawing out or ignore disputes, leaving damaging entries while they send you off to somehow "prove" you don't owe some "debt" they haven't even identified, once you catch them in a violation, it may be more effective to hand it off to an attorney at that point. You can find a consumer attorney in your state through www.naca.net