Verification is a joke, it just means that they look at there computer again and say yes you owe the debt. They don't offer any proof that you owe the debt or that you are the actual person that incurred the debt. I had my identity stolen and I didn't even know it. They could not produce a signed credit card receipt to compare my signature.
Debt collectors continuously resell the debt to other debt collectors who start the clock all over again. Then that debt collector resells the debt and the 3rd debt collector restarts the clock again, and so on. The burden of proof is put on the consumer to prove it is an old debt. The credit reporting agencies don't automatically remove old debts nor do they check to see if a newly reported debt is in fact a 9 year old debt that has been resold numerous times. The credit agencies (CRA) are more of a problem for consumers than the debt collectors. The CRAs are paid by the credit card companies and the credit card companies have bigger profits when they can charge higher rates based on poor credit scores. So there is inherently a huge conflict of interest here. If the CRAs can keep our credit scores down the card companies can make more money and don't mind paying the CRAs a piece of the action. Seems like unspoken collusion to me.
If the consumer claims identity theft then the Debt collectors should be required to prove otherwise. The CRAs should be forbidden to report any debt that has been disputed as Identity theft unless they can provide court admissible proof that it is a valid debt. The CRAs should be held more accountable and heavily fined for reporting erroneous information. Their fines should be paid directly to the consumer for the countless hours they spend trying to fix their credit reports. The CRAs should be required to send a letter to the consumer's insurance companies, mortgage companies, and anyone else that charged the consumer a higher rate based on their erroneous credit score and find out how much their error costs the consumer. The sum of those added costs should be paid by the CRAs directly to the consumer in addition to the fines. The burden of proof should fall on the CRAs and the debt collectors, not the consumer.
2012 FTC report -Identity Theft Tops List for 13th Consecutive Year in Report of National Consumer Complaints
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/02/sentineltop.shtm
"Verify" needs to be thoroughly defined. It should be no less than documented court admissible evidence that the consumer is responsible for the debt. If the debt collector cannot produce this evidence, he should be barred from reselling the debt or reporting it to the CRAs.
drose977
1
Verification is a joke, it just means that they look at there computer again and say yes you owe the debt. They don't offer any proof that you owe the debt or that you are the actual person that incurred the debt. I had my identity stolen and I didn't even know it. They could not produce a signed credit card receipt to compare my signature.
View this comment in the discussion thread
drose977
2
Debt collectors continuously resell the debt to other debt collectors who start the clock all over again. Then that debt collector resells the debt and the 3rd debt collector restarts the clock again, and so on. The burden of proof is put on the consumer to prove it is an old debt. The credit reporting agencies don't automatically remove old debts nor do they check to see if a newly reported debt is in fact a 9 year old debt that has been resold numerous times. The credit agencies (CRA) are more of a problem for consumers than the debt collectors. The CRAs are paid by the credit card companies and the credit card companies have bigger profits when they can charge higher rates based on poor credit scores. So there is inherently a huge conflict of interest here. If the CRAs can keep our credit scores down the card companies can make more money and don't mind paying the CRAs a piece of the action. Seems like unspoken collusion to me.
View this comment in the discussion thread
drose977
3
If the consumer claims identity theft then the Debt collectors should be required to prove otherwise. The CRAs should be forbidden to report any debt that has been disputed as Identity theft unless they can provide court admissible proof that it is a valid debt. The CRAs should be held more accountable and heavily fined for reporting erroneous information. Their fines should be paid directly to the consumer for the countless hours they spend trying to fix their credit reports. The CRAs should be required to send a letter to the consumer's insurance companies, mortgage companies, and anyone else that charged the consumer a higher rate based on their erroneous credit score and find out how much their error costs the consumer. The sum of those added costs should be paid by the CRAs directly to the consumer in addition to the fines. The burden of proof should fall on the CRAs and the debt collectors, not the consumer.
View this comment in the discussion thread
drose977
4
2012 FTC report -Identity Theft Tops List for 13th Consecutive Year in Report of National Consumer Complaints http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/02/sentineltop.shtm
View this comment in the discussion thread
drose977
5
"Verify" needs to be thoroughly defined. It should be no less than documented court admissible evidence that the consumer is responsible for the debt. If the debt collector cannot produce this evidence, he should be barred from reselling the debt or reporting it to the CRAs.
View this comment in the discussion thread