Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act
(FDCPA) violations typically practiced by junk debt buyers.
1. Re-aging Accounts: Junk debt buyers
attempt to force settlement on "time barred" or "Expired Statute of
Limitations" accounts. The actual date that the debt becomes delinquent is
supposed to be reported to credit reporting agencies under FCRA/FACTA within 90
days of the delinquency.
WARNING! Debt reporting re-aging is the
practice of reporting a bad debt account as more recent than it really
is. Re-aging causes the FICO score to drop dramatically since the
scoring model interprets the re-age as a more recent default.
Junk Debt Buyers press for payment of some amount to bring
the debt back under the
statute of limitations after which they can sue you and have a
chance of winning.
It is important to note that State statute of limitations
(SoL) for collections are different from FCRA/FACTA statutes of limitations for
reporting the debt on your credit report.
2. Misreporting the legal status (e.g., an
open chargeoff that was actually discharged in bankruptcy) and also
misreporting the "open date" and "date of last activity" on an account are two
favorite "illegal tactics"!
WARNING! Junk debt buyers purchase debts that are
outside the statue of limitations for lawsuit (legal enforcement of the debt)
but not outside the
statute of limitations for reporting the debt on your credit
report! They like to report this debt as a revolving account, which is
illegal.
3. Various Code Violations: (e.g. consumers
not being notified that their calls are being monitored or recorded) are also
likely violations in almost all fifty states.
4. Multiple Listings of the Same Debt: Junk
debt buyers are often responsible for multiple reporting of the same debt as
these change hands among buyers and sellers. Usually, these same debts are
reported by the original creditor as well. Thus you could have the same debt
reported multiple times! Increase your credit score by
properly disputing your credit reports - Click Here!
5. Collectors Pretending to be Lawyers. It
does not improve a credit score to settle an old debt unless the item is
completely deleted (not just reported as "paid in full"). Settling a debt with
a junk debt buyer makes your credit score worse because the delinquency or
chargeoff will now be reported as more recent!
