     frank hardy (Esajh) | Saturday, October 28, 2000 - 11:01 am 
I was going to post this under a specific topic but thought it would better be placed under it's own title. That way should one chose they would not be forced to view it while commenting to others. Thanks Christine for the forum to learn.
As normal this topic brings up many emotions in all of us. I apologize for the length but I believe it is pertinent here and maybe helpful to some. I claim to be no expert on this subject but I can say I have the purple hearts in my closet from my many frontline battles with the industry. So as with many of us I would like to share my experience and the information I have learned. I will say this; I have tried just about every method you can think of that is legal. If it is legal and you can think of it - I tried it! Name a company - I've tried them! A procedure - been there, done that! Attorneys - yes! Internet "clean up" packages - you bet-cha! Public records - of course! Internet chat sites - I've been on here for over a year. Sooo?
Well folks, it is my humble opinion "Christine is correct." Forget the attorneys. Deal with the CRAs and forget the collection agencies. Know your creditor for some are better than others and if you are right they will help you with the info you need to fight the CRAs. Go up the ladder in the CRAs (CEOs if necessary, they tend to get you to an ombudsman) and don't deal with the clerk at the end of the phone. DO IT ALL IN WRITING - CERTIFIED! Stay with it!
Here was my situation. I was the victim of identity fraud. Initially, once my credit was ruined and I learned of the problem, I tried to do it myself without any knowledge - big mistake. Then I tried the US Justice Department, waste of time for they only recommended the next mistake - contact the creditors directly. Later, after I dug an even bigger hole, I hired an attorney - an even larger mistake. By now I had taken nearly a year, $18,000, tons of inquiries, and done nothing more than turn bad credit into horrible credit. By now I had "made myself visible" to every creditor that saw my paycheck. It did not matter that the bills were not mine. Please remember in all this "it is your (in this case my) credit we are talking about. In this process it does not matter HOW it got to be yours! A divorce - who cares! Loss of job - that's America/capitalism! Sickness/Injury - in the immortal words "then let them die and be over with it!" Poor financial planning - so be it! FRAUD - that's your problem! Start to get the picture?
In the world of credit reporting, once it is on your report - IT IS YOURS! It is now YOUR responsibility to remove it and the procedure is difficult. In my case I did not know what to do once the creditors started hounding me - I DID NOTHING WRONG so it was not my responsibility. I'LL SUE! Easier said than done. Quickly I became scared - WHY? It was starting to affect my life in every aspect, so I took my next mistake. A mistake that gave me immediate relief but cost me dearly. I filed Chapter 7! That was 3 years ago (discharged 27 months ago.)
Now let me skip a bit and lighten this up. Since my filing (and in some cases before the discharge) I reestablished my credit. I got 2 auto loans for 60months (both paid off now.) I got 2 unsecured credit cards (one gold with a $5K limit - never use anywhere near that limit) and decent interest. A home loan of 90% and a second to do improvements only a few months later. So what did I do? I got educated.
I made mistakes and I am still working on things. I am currently trying to lower interests rates even more. I read as many reports on CRA CEO's testimonies to congress as I could. I read all the GOOD information (like Christine's) on line that I could find. I researched the CRAs financial statements (ironically one of the largest CRAs is not a US owned company.) I spent in excess of 30 hours a week researching and yes I do have a job. Yes I spent more money, but I spent it wisely. No I did not have a life, but this "problem" was affecting every aspect of my life. What else could I do? The immediate problem was gone (with the 7) but the effects were now, possibly, with me for a lifetime.
So while all of this is well and good, what does it have to do with you? I wanted to share some of my very personal situation, to present my qualifications - as it were. For what I am about to say may be controversial to many of you. What I said earlier is very true. What is on your credit report (as far as the CRAs are concerned) is yours. The law (while very weak) is very specific. Inaccurate information must be removed. This is, legally, a very weak statement. I know many of you are about to jump on that but folks it is weak. What is inaccurate information in my regard? Someone used my identity and got credit - it was not me. Pretty straightforward right? WRONG! Who am I? A name and a SS number - that is it! With that name (even a fake address) I am whoever uses it - pure and simple! THAT IS THE CONSUMER LAW! So there is no doubt as to the accuracy of the information - got you!
Now I know, as all of you do, fraud is a crime (in some cases, fraud can be a class 2 felony;) however; it has nothing to do with credit agencies and their reporting. CRAs commit crimes when they report inaccurate information (knowledge is a big part here too) and as it has been shown the information, in my case because of the identity, was accurate. So it was my job (and yours in your particular case) to link the two actions.
I will not enter the discussion of removing accurate information - it is illegal. If it is done by someone else to your benefit, without your direct involvement and without any activities by you then so be it. I filed a 7 (under duress) but nonetheless accurately by me and I did not, nor will I attempt to rectify that situation. It is there for the next 7+ years.
So what did I do? I attacked the problem on two fronts. First I started rebuilding my credit. That meant I learned what good and bad credit were. "Tell me sir, then if 5 credit cards are too many and 1 credit card is not enough, just how many credit cards are the right number?" Paraphrased from congressional testimony as a question to a CEO from a large CRA. "It depends!" was the answer. Learn how everything interacts with other things.
The next avenue was the removal of accurate (by CRA enacted law) but falsely place information (what I felt and still feel is wrong and in fact inaccurate information.)
The first attack was time consuming but fairly easy. I found an auto dealer that works with "poor" credit customers. It was embarrassing, but I presented all the documents necessary and got a High interest loan (19.9%) on a car. No trade in (had none) and only a few down, but I got it. After 6 months of good TIMELY payments I went back to the dealer and got another car (for my wife who has no credit - she's next:-) I asked the dealer for a different finance company and got a loan (more down) from a different hard loan company at 17%. Now neither of these companies were "finance" companies but auto loan companies. This is very important because finance companies carry a negative stigma when applying for a home loan. Between car purchases I got a credit card (semi secured) for 500 bucks. I used the card diligently and paid about 75% of the balance each month. It is very important that you use the card but keep a low limit each month. I would charge about $200 and pay $150 each month. Yes you pay interest and the fees are high but you are establishing a pattern. Every 3 months I received a line increase and after 9 months I received a second card from a different issuer at a much lower rate without security. Keep both cards open and use both but always keep that ratio low. After a year with the first card I asked to have the security return (they used it in my bills) and I had a $1500 limit without security. They lowered the interest rate as well (upon my asking.) The second card grew much faster and now I have a pretty good rate with a large "available" limit. 19 months after discharge I closed on a new home. I had purposely been renting a large house for the entire time (to show I could afford the payments.) I had a good record with the renter and started looking. Of course the conventional avenues were out of the question, but that was ok. I discovered that many large builders finance their own homes and I sought one. I found a developer that was building a new development. I did not let them run my credit but I did let them see my cash. I had been saving a few pennies and let him know that I could put that into the house. I told them how much I would give them and it was their job to find a lender. I would pay up to 5 points for them to do this. I also made it know that I would have 10% additional money for the down on the house. We had already agreed on the extras, the price and they knew they wanted the deal. THEN THEY RAN THE CREDIT!
The deal was already signed so they had to do the legwork. They found 11.5% money (but it took about 4 months - however, the house was not finished until then anyway - new construction.) In the mean time I was making accelerated payments on my auto loans. Quicken has an excellent site for "debt reduction" plans that you can build your own structure. Now I did not want to completely eliminate these "good" working lines of credit but I needed to reduce the principle amount. It is extremely important to keep your DTI (debt to income) low while maintaining at least 4-5 open lines of credit (something else I learned.) So I had 5 good lines of credit (2 CCs, 2 Auto and 1 mortgage, some over 2 years old.) Then came the magic 2 years out of Bk. I got a second mortgage added improvements to my home and paid off the small remaining amount on the two auto loans. Now I am looking to refi the 1st and lower the interest rate.
Now this was only the 1st attack area. I also had to simultaneously attack the credit report. I had many delinquents ranging from 30 days to 180 days. I had charge offs, collection accounts and of course my 7. The "creditors" that were willing to "help" me in my "investigation" worked with me directly. Those that were not; I dealt with through the CRA ombudsman. This was a detailed process that entailed a whole lot of work (far too detailed to mention here.) Let me simply say this! I keep meticulous records. I had to supply dates, times, locations government documents, handwriting analyses and legally deposed testimony; however, in many cases that was all that was necessary. The creditor removed all mention of me. In cases where I dealt with the CRAs I supplied similar information about a very SPECIFIC item on the report. I do not advocate giving all information to the CRAs. You can easily blank out areas of a report or document the CRAs do not need to see and is not relevant to the item/s you are questioning. I STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS! But that is up to you. For the most part this too works well, but for the difficult cases, those involving unyielding creditors and collection agencies you must use the law in your favor. I do not mean "removal for non-response," those will only appear next month again. I mean, while CRAs are not liable for reporting this information (they are ONLY the messenger and not the reporter) they are responsible to notify the reporter that the information they sent is challenged. If you do your homework well and phrase you letter properly and send it to the right person at the CRA; that person will (and later must be able to prove) they did contact the creditor/reporter. The reporter is required to submit ALL justifiable documentation you request. Justifiable is the key word. You can't ask for them to "prove" what color shirt you were wearing in their office that day. In fact you can't ask them to prove anything! You can ask for documents, signatures, dates, times, locations and media (URLs if they apply - not in my case.) Once you receive these items, via the CRA, it is now your obligation to PROVE they are erroneous. You can use the CRAs in this method. Once you prove your item (i.e. signatures are not even close) and you submit to the CRA your data (the verifier of the signature is a hand-writing expert used by your state attorney generals' office) the CRA must act in your behalf. What this means is the law now requires the CRA to make a determination as to the "validity" of the information supplied by the reporter (the creditor) and you. If you are accurate and the information is good, the CRA will remove it. Also they will have to flag your account for future "negative" inquiries, should you properly request it. Now I know many of you have heard "we can not identify automated data input into such a massive system. There are millions of entrees in reports daily." I personally don't believe this but so they say and while they say this is true the CRAs do have the ability (as of 1997) to flag YOUR account for all input. Then the system is to go to the proper channels (that means a person if you properly phrase your case) for review of the automated data. If the data is from the reporter that was previously denied, then the information is prevented from being place within your report. It does work, after a while; however, it does not apply to inquiries.
So what does all this mean? Why in the world did you spend so much time with this? Well the later is mostly a personal question but maybe a shrink can answer better than I. The former is easy and let me answer it with a question? What is the purpose of this thread and topic? "Credit Reporting, Scoring, Disputes, Collections, Bankruptcy: How do disputes report?" Well Christine B. and Don S. are much better at explaining how they report, but I wanted to help with what I think many of you are experiencing. For those of you that want to sue, I ask one question? What do you really want? Is it that you want an injustice corrected? I think so. So what do you do? Suits are lengthy and costly. The CRAs and Visa and Discovery and Wells Fargo have tons of lawyers on their staff. They get paid anyway and when you sue all you are doing is forcing them to EARN their salary. Those companies have far more resources (not only money) than most of you will ever have and they can keep you locked up in costly litigation (depositions, discovery, procedural requirements) so as to destroy you once again. Then what do you have - more headaches and still A BAD CREDIT REPORT! Isn't it better to simply fix the credit report? I am not advocating - no litigation. Once your report is correct and your life is on track you very well may want to take up the cause with Denise R. but at least you have your credit no matter what the outcome. Yes the process is long and boy is it revealing. It should not be that way - I didn't make it so. What I am advocating is help, like on this forum, that can correct the problems.
If you listen to the grapevine discussion (another site) you will feel like I did. We are all bad, lousy people that should not have credit. I can't speak for those that made bad financial decisions in the past, many people learn from errors. What I am saying is we all need to know what this system is like. And here is my summary for keeping good credit and that elusive 700 FICO score.
1. Keep at least 4 open, diverse accounts. Auto loan, Credit Card, Mortgage, Bank loan or Department Store Account. If you are starting out use utility accounts, phone accounts or landlords (if you pay for their reporting fees.)
2. Stay away from finance companies if you can. If you need to use them to get other accounts end it quickly - not to be confused with number 6 below.
3. Watch the maximum number of open accounts you have. I have been unable to find out how much is too much but Greg F. has been hunting a lot longer than I. I would feel certain that 10 open accounts are probably too many.
4. Under all circumstances keep you DTI under 40%. This is extremely important no matter how many open accounts you have.
5. Try to have 2 closed accounts that you paid on schedule (or close to it.) If it is a 5-year loan, it is ok to pay it off in 3 years but paying it off is 1 or 2 months is not good. I know there are many on the net that suggests that (some for a fee on "how to get 5 lines of credit in 90 days") but all in all I find that hurts you more in the long run.
6. That leads to this. Don't open and close too many accounts in a short period of time. There is no limit but 10 open and closed accounts in 10 years may be ok, while 5 open and closed accounts in 6 months may hurt your score. Once again there is no hard and fast rules here.
7. Try to keep your DTI manageable. This is an individual statement. What may be manageable for you may be unmanageable for me, but everyone has his or her level. More importantly, lenders - especially mortgage lenders - have hard and fast numbers when it comes to A, B, C or D paper.
8. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS pay your bills on time. Paying early or paying more than required is not always good enough. While lowering you debt load, helping your DTI and maybe your interest payments it does not eliminate next months payment. One 30 day late is the kiss of death when you are trying to re-establish (here he goes again.)
9. In the same light as 8 above, check with your bank that your check has been cashed. Remember, lost in the mail is no excuse with regard to your credit report. Check the lender that they received it and get a name, time. Record the conversation if you must (after notifying the lender you are doing so.) "I've had problems with my mail, could you let me know if you received my check for November."
10. Know your billing cycle. You know you should get your mortgage payment due notice before the first of the month. If it doesn't come - call! They will let you know what it is and better to head off the problem. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
11. Build some savings, no matter how small. Use an investment company or payroll deduction, but stay away from margin accounts. I don't mean play the stock market but buy a mutual fund, CD or money market and park some money.
12. Finally check your credit report often. You'll know how to correct those problems when (and they will) arise again. Remember it takes months to clean them so stay on top.
There is more but I've taken enough time. I hope this helps some and for others I apologize for the size.
Take care,
Frank |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Saturday, October 28, 2000 - 03:29 pm
Really appreciate your detailed posting. I don't know when you found the time to still earn any income!
I just have to comment on the lawyers and the fact that corporate has all the resources to outdo the consumer's lawyer.
While that is true, I believe there would be a tremendous impact if THOUSANDS of consumers would simply file Small Claims suits. Small Claims rules vary greatly from State to State. But the bottom line is it's CHEAP!
If enough consumers just sued for their EXPENSES to have incorrect data removed, reporting accuracy would improve dramatically.
Nothing will change as long as we work for free.
And MY main concern aren't the people with internet access and your sophistication, I'm just so sorry for the seniors, the laborers, the sick, the disabled that have NO idea what is going on.
There are so many people who worked hard and paid their bills their entire lives, and THEY are paying 25% interest so they can get their prescriptions and the next guy get's ZERO percent interest because he's "sophisticated" and knows how to get a good credit score.
9 out of 10 people that I ask about credit scores don't even know they exist. They think all you got to do is pay your bills on time. |
| frank hardy (Esajh) | Saturday, October 28, 2000 - 09:59 pm
Christine, I think a little clarification is in order. First thanks. As I said in my post I basically had no life. My job is one that allows me great amounts of time - I'm on the road and when I get to the hotel I sit in a room until I leave again. I bought a laptop when I started this and once I got to the room instead of meeting with the guys at the bar I did my "credit" work. There was no sightseeing as well as no meetings to go to or prepare for, so I choose to work on my situation. Even when I was home I worked on it because for me it was the most important thing to do.
Now I completely understand that this personality trait is mine. I know that others may not do this, but for me I had no other choice.
I would like to comment on both of your points and maybe others feel differently. With regard to "the seniors, the laborers, the sick, [and] the Disabled" I totally agree. With those "people who worked hard and paid their bills their entire lives," what can I say? I agree completely "9 out of 10 people that I ask about credit scores don't even know they exist." Until 1995 I was one of them (not disabled or senior) but I was a person who worked all my life (at that time 43 years old) and always paid my bills on time. I never heard of credit scoring (new at that time) or it's predecessor. But that does not change the point. As I say to friends from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) when arguing about capitalism (I try to stay away from creditJ) "There is much about capitalism I too don't like but like it or not, it is the ONLY game in town since the fall of the FSU. Learn how to play or loose the game."
Christine I know that sounds hard but I didn't make the rules. There is much about me I choose not to say publicly on a forum, however, I have learned over the years that in our country we either learn how to play or we are left out. Does that make the game right? Absolutely not! Is it fair? No way! Can I change it? Impossible. Am I fatalistic? Not really only realistic.
Our nation is made up of three autonomous branches of government: the Executive, Legislative and the Judicial. A basic premise of the judicial branch is that "ignorance of the law is no excuse." The freedoms of our country require that we as a people educate ourselves and not succumb to "post hoc, ergo proctor hoc" beliefs. Once again, I did not write the rules Thomas Jefferson and the boys did.
If you live in Maryland and choose to drive in Virginia, the responsibilities you have for the privilege of driving in Virginia with a Maryland drivers license is to know the Virginia laws. If the speed limit in a school zone, in Maryland is 25 mph and you are driving 25 in a Virginia school zone. When a police officer pulls you over for speeding in a school zone, because in Virginia the law may be 15 mph, you are shocked. Because you did not know that law, that argument will not relieve you from the violation.
So while it is unfair to those folks it does not change their responsibility. Maybe more of us should get upset at them for not NOTICING what is happening to them as they blindly go through their lives (like I did.) If more people were aware then that other body of government (the legislative branch) might be forced to act properly without lobbyists and enact true fair laws. Maybe many of us are going through so much pain because so many people JUST DON'T CARE UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO THEM TOO!
With reference to the lawyers and the small claims suits. Well I disagree with you here. First as I said above it takes more than the 10-20% of the population that has these large problems to make nightly news (which gets recognized.) How many of use outside of this circle know about Denise R's testimony and problems? How many know how hard Greg F. has testified to congress and raised poignant questions to CRAs? Not too many, for most Americans are entwined in their microcosm. Does that make it right? No, but it sure does allow them to perpetuate it.
So with reference to the lawyers and their employers, I do not agree that a flood of small claims suits will work. It is true that most small claims, magistrate or municipal courts do not allow lawyers to present cases; however, when you sue a corporation they have certain rights that you and I do not have. Now I am not talking about a small business but a corporation (especially those incorporated in Delaware as most US companies are.) Corporate law MAY preclude you from filing a small claims action. Also there is the issue of proper jurisdiction. Just the filing of the case does not mean you will get your day in court and I seriously believe the CRA lawyers will fight jurisdiction ad-infinitum. At best IF you got a million consumers to file a million claims in 50 different states you MIGHT get 60 minutes to do a report (but they already have done many with little change.) The CRAs will simply have their lobbyists claim "more government intrusion in YOUR life." Those same people that blindly go through life will accept that spin and vote for tort reform so you can't file "your frivolous suit."
No I honestly believe education is the short-term solution. We can't get one neighborhood to agree on when to cut the grass, how can such a task be undertaken? Who is strong enough to carry the torch? But as Mahatma Gandhi said to the Viceroy of Punjab "If 500 million Indians CHOOSE not to do something there is nothing the Crown can do about it." Another fitting quote is "A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step." Gandhi's march to the sea - the salt protest! So maybe? Once the American people know, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Thanks
Frank
"But then, I could be wrong!" D.M. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 12:51 am
I can't recall a SINGLE posting about any consumer losing a Small Claims credit related suit. We've had several people who were successful representing themselves.
And I've sued twice and didn't lose. Nobody complained about the venue or anything else.
Most amazing, we had no trouble at all collecting. We filed a form and they sent the checks.
I'd like to see some statistics and real cases of Small Claims denying a consumer the right to sue for reimbursement of credit dispute related expenses.
BTW, in Alaska you can have lawyers in Small Claims. Small Claims is VERY different from State to State.
Isn't there a site somewhere with info on credit related Small Claims cases in various States?
While we didn't break Loan America, it sure was nice to get their $500 check AND our good credit rating. We were told Small Claims can only award monetary damages, but the creditors sure fixed their incorrect reporting REAL quick.
There is the law, and there is reality. Judges should and often DO take into account whether you knew the law and what your intentions were. Again and again I got breaks as a tourist or new in a State.
My all-time funniest court experience was after we moved to San Francisco and got a street cleaning parking ticket. My husband had this LONG explanation prepared about how we didn't have street cleaning parking restrictions in Nebraska and we didn't see the signs.
It got to be his turn and he started "We just moved here from Nebraska ..." and the Judge interrupted "DISMISSED!"
Everybody was laughing, there's nothing like San Francisco Traffic Court for a fun time.
I don't believe in the law because it's the law. The entire point of having a judge is to have someone with a brain evaluate what's going on and make a FAIR judgment. Otherwise we could just input the case in a computer and have some software search the law and issue a verdict.
And we could go kill ourselves and have some robots doing our work. Robots with huge hard drives with the laws of every city, county, state and country, ready to recite and follow them all to the point. 
I also don't believe that people should spend a significant amount of time on mundane stuff like studying their credit reports and local traffic laws or reading here. It's not our purpose in life to achieve a high FICO credit score.
I don't really want to help the elite computer and financially literate segment of the population "outdo" the rest of the people who can't compete, for whatever reason.
That concept bothers me. |
| frank hardy (Esajh) | Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 06:48 am
I got your message Christine, loud and clear. As with you I too feel that those less fortunate should not be penalized. However, I have learned that in many cases few others care about how I feel and cite the requirements only.
With regard to your legal experiences, you have been lucky. My experiences were quite different. I agree that there are far more important things in life; I learned that a long time ago. I also learned that if bad things in life were happening to me it was my job to find out why and learn about as much as I can to correct or prevent it from happening in the future. Sometimes there is nothing one can do and that is the most destructive in any person's life.
My example of the state laws were not meant to suggest that we all should study law and be paranoid when driving in a new state or jurisdiction. My point was that while the judge in your new town "CHOOSE" to dismiss your husband's violation - it was the judge's prerogative to do so. With my luck I would have had the hanging judge and while my case may have been compelling to me the judge can always say - you broke the law pure and simple.
Now this is not a forum for the law and I think we could discuss this off forum if you'd like, but it is a forum (your forum) that discusses credit, reporting etc. As I said before I have been a lurker for quite a while (I think I had a brief exchange with Shylark about a year ago.) But for the most part it was an excellent resource for me to aid a wrong that I believe was done to me. Well my personality is such that when I receive a benefit (a free benefit such as your forum of information) I feel an obligation to my fellow citizens to freely, accurately and timely as possible to relate the information to them that I have learned. That is my sole purpose.
AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM EMOTIONS! While emotion is extremely compelling it seldom weighs strongly in most decisions by society. If that were the case few of us would be here. I would suggest that if we listened to the horror stories of nearly all the forum participants we would emotionally go ballistic. If we, as a society, truly looked at 10 million homeless children in the USA we would give our last dollar. But we don't! Why? Because they are inanimate words and numbers we cannot perceive and we have better things to do than worry about inanimate concepts.
Not to stray too much, Christine I do not feel any savvier than your average reader (elitism and arrogance irk me also); however, I understand you point (as I said above.) I will attempt to find the statistics on civil suits you mentioned against CRAs. And I am once again very happy for your forum. For any improper actions on my part, I sincerely must say, "I'M SORRY!"
Now I will stop.
Frank |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, October 29, 2000 - 09:13 am
Frank, there was absolutely nothing improper bout anything you posted. I very much appreciate your postings.
And I even started the legal section, because it all does come down to the law.
I'm just so tired of not accomplishing anything with the forum. And then there are the ongoing problems I myself have with creditors.
I was very fortunate that I didn't need any credit the last few years because I really didn't want to DO anything. Now I'm looking at real estate and I've been going from one cash flow crises to the next.
ONE bank account and ONE credit card definitely aren't enough. Last summer I was just very lucky they were alternating their screwups. This "if you don't like it, go elsewhere" attitude is really getting to me. I've closed just about every account I had in the last few years because they pissed me off. What am I to do? I NEED a bank account.
While I was waiting for money in Fairbanks, I sent an E-mail to a creditor who was reporting a charge-off because they didn't change my address several years ago. I had already spent hours on the phone with the "supervisor's supervisor" in May 1999 and while they promised to fix everything, nothing ever happened. So I wrote that I wanted their legal address so I could sue them.
To my surprise, the e-mail was forwarded to a real person, who wanted to know WHY I wanted to sue them. I explained it, and they promptly sent a letter apologizing and notifying me that the account was deleted from my credit record.
Now I'm really frustrated with GTE and the FCC, will have to update that. I refuse to pay money that I don't owe! I'm considering Small Claims. I'd rather have a lawyer file a real law suit, for damages etc. but I don't have a lawyer.
It all sucks. Well, I'm going to the big city today to pick up a friend and I'll be busy with more pleasant activities. But I know GTE won't go away. |
