Expert: Michael Brotherton - 5/14/2008

Question
One account, multiple collectors; how many times can one bad account be counted against you on your credit report?  Twelve years ago I requested a copy of my credit report & had problems obtaining it because my information no longer matched what they had on file for me.  I had to send copies of multiple documents and records to prove my identity before they would even talk to me about my own records.  After I verified my identity they gave me a copy of my report and the information on it was incorrect.  They had merged my file with someone else's and I had a hard time correcting it.  The majority of the mistakes were identification related like they had changed my middle name to a Man's name and they changed my date of birth etc.,  Whoever the person was that they merged my file with had a credit card account with a place called "Providian" that was past due and in collections.  As soon as my address information was corrected on my credit file a collection agency began calling me about the providian account and I refused to pay for it because it does not belong to me.  I put this in writing and sent it to them.  Then I contacted the credit bureau's and reported it and after an investigation they removed it.
But not for long because another collections agency bought the debt and put it back on my credit report with a different account number and doubled the amount past due.  The original creditor remained the same as Providian, so I reported it again and went through the whole process once more with the same results.  It was gone for about two years when another agency bought the debt and issued another account number and it showed up once again on my credit report.  This time when I reported it and requested it be removed the credit bureau's sent me a letter stating they had verified that the account belonged to me and therefore it would remain on my credit report until satisfied.  I tried everything to correct this problem but nothing worked.  I figured that I would have to wait it out for seven years and then would be done with it?  But I was wrong.  Three other collection agencies bought the same debt and each one reported the same account with a higher balance due and a new account number each time. Here it is almost 13 years later and this same account is now reported five times on my credit report for the same debt.  Each collection agency assigns a new account number and references the old creditor Providian.  Each one also reports it as if its new and shows the "established date" as a current date like I just defaulted on payment last month.  It seems like I am never going to get away from this account because each time they report it as "new" it starts the clock of seven years all over again for me.  Plus when you run my report it looks like I have five closed accounts now in collection that were newly reported and no one will allow me to establish new credit because of it.  How many times are they allowed to report the same past due account on your credit file?  Are they allowed to change the dates like that?  So far this same account has remained on my file for 13 years and each time it gets close to dropping off they repost it again with a different number.  What can I do about it?

Answer
This is not an uncommon problem. If you can document that they are all the same account you may be able to get the credit bureaus to cooperate. You may also consider filing a lawsuit against the original creditor for unfair practices and get a judgment against them you can send to the credit bureaus. There is nothing specific in the Fair Credit Reporting Act that deals with this issue that I can recall but there are limits on the amount of damage they can cause without stepping over you and your rights. You can file this as a small claims petition or consult an attorney and go all out, asking for damages. Seek legal advice before doing anything, but force the issue. They may concede without a fight because they would have to have an attorney represent them. However, this is such a big problem it could set a precedence that others may be able to follow.

Small claims filing shouldn't cost much. Contact your local, County or Municipal court for filing instructions and cost.

I hope this helps. Keep me posted.

Mike