Legal Advice

#1

JP_UT_O&W

Never We'll Sever
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#1
Two summers ago, I lived in Washington during a summer internship. More than a month after I moved back to Tennessee, my landlord from that time got a camera issued ticket. He then claimed that I was driving his vehicle (in Seattle) when it was ticketed and submitted this claim to the court via a 'statement of truth'. The court attempted to contact me, but were unable to since they mailed the document to the address that I lived at during the summer. I had mail forwarding, but somehow it was sent back to them.

Last week, I logged into a credit score website to check for any updates, and I noticed a drop due to a random account in collections. I did some investigating to find all of this information out.

I have records that prove that I was in Knoxville at that time. I spoke with the landlord and told him he needed to clear my name through the collections agency and the court. He was "dumbfounded" and acted like he didn't know how he could have possibly made the mistake.

I am concerned I won't be able to get him to take care of this without threatening legal action.

I would have to pay for a flight from Detroit to Seattle, hotel, taxi fare/rental car, food, time away from work, attorney's fees, court costs, etc. Would I be able to recover this through a lawsuit?

Not sure where to go from here other than send him the document and tell him again to please take care of the issue. I plan on giving him two weeks before I take legal action.

Thanks for any advice!
 
#2
#2
Two summers ago, I lived in Washington during a summer internship. More than a month after I moved back to Tennessee, my landlord from that time got a camera issued ticket. He then claimed that I was driving his vehicle (in Seattle) when it was ticketed and submitted this claim to the court via a 'statement of truth'. The court attempted to contact me, but were unable to since they mailed the document to the address that I lived at during the summer. I had mail forwarding, but somehow it was sent back to them.

Last week, I logged into a credit score website to check for any updates, and I noticed a drop due to a random account in collections. I did some investigating to find all of this information out.

I have records that prove that I was in Knoxville at that time. I spoke with the landlord and told him he needed to clear my name through the collections agency and the court. He was "dumbfounded" and acted like he didn't know how he could have possibly made the mistake.

I am concerned I won't be able to get him to take care of this without threatening legal action.

I would have to pay for a flight from Detroit to Seattle, hotel, taxi fare/rental car, food, time away from work, attorney's fees, court costs, etc. Would I be able to recover this through a lawsuit?

Not sure where to go from here other than send him the document and tell him again to please take care of the issue. I plan on giving him two weeks before I take legal action.

Thanks for any advice!

I'm not pretending to be a lawyer here but it certainly seems that submitting a "statement of truth" to a court that can be verified as false would go very badly for him if his reluctance to clear the matter became an issue.
 
#3
#3
Two summers ago, I lived in Washington during a summer internship. More than a month after I moved back to Tennessee, my landlord from that time got a camera issued ticket. He then claimed that I was driving his vehicle (in Seattle) when it was ticketed and submitted this claim to the court via a 'statement of truth'. The court attempted to contact me, but were unable to since they mailed the document to the address that I lived at during the summer. I had mail forwarding, but somehow it was sent back to them.

Last week, I logged into a credit score website to check for any updates, and I noticed a drop due to a random account in collections. I did some investigating to find all of this information out.

I have records that prove that I was in Knoxville at that time. I spoke with the landlord and told him he needed to clear my name through the collections agency and the court. He was "dumbfounded" and acted like he didn't know how he could have possibly made the mistake.

I am concerned I won't be able to get him to take care of this without threatening legal action.

I would have to pay for a flight from Detroit to Seattle, hotel, taxi fare/rental car, food, time away from work, attorney's fees, court costs, etc. Would I be able to recover this through a lawsuit?

Not sure where to go from here other than send him the document and tell him again to please take care of the issue. I plan on giving him two weeks before I take legal action.

Thanks for any advice!


What's your end game here? Have the collection removed? Or??

How much is the ticket?

And which credit report is the collection showing up on? Transunion? Equifax? Experian?
 
#4
#4
Two summers ago, I lived in Washington during a summer internship. More than a month after I moved back to Tennessee, my landlord from that time got a camera issued ticket. He then claimed that I was driving his vehicle (in Seattle) when it was ticketed and submitted this claim to the court via a 'statement of truth'. The court attempted to contact me, but were unable to since they mailed the document to the address that I lived at during the summer. I had mail forwarding, but somehow it was sent back to them.

Last week, I logged into a credit score website to check for any updates, and I noticed a drop due to a random account in collections. I did some investigating to find all of this information out.

I have records that prove that I was in Knoxville at that time. I spoke with the landlord and told him he needed to clear my name through the collections agency and the court. He was "dumbfounded" and acted like he didn't know how he could have possibly made the mistake.

I am concerned I won't be able to get him to take care of this without threatening legal action.

I would have to pay for a flight from Detroit to Seattle, hotel, taxi fare/rental car, food, time away from work, attorney's fees, court costs, etc. Would I be able to recover this through a lawsuit?

Not sure where to go from here other than send him the document and tell him again to please take care of the issue. I plan on giving him two weeks before I take legal action.

Thanks for any advice!

Obtain a bank-quality tri-merge report. Find out which bureaus the collection is being reported to. Make note of the trade line negative item number. Write to the bureaus that it's being reported to and dispute the debt. If he means what he says, he won't verify the 'debt' and within 30 days it will be removed from your credit report. If he 'verifies' the debt, write back to the bureaus and tell them they have 30 days to produce documentation of the debt. I seriously doubt that he or she can do it. Gotta come off if they can't. This should work, if your other avenues of action don't Good luck.
 
#5
#5
I'm not pretending to be a lawyer here but it certainly seems that submitting a "statement of truth" to a court that can be verified as false would go very badly for him if his reluctance to clear the matter became an issue.

Yeah, that's why I'm hesitant to believe that he will just drop what he is doing to go and admit perjury. I'm thinking the threat of legal action would be some form of instigation, but I am seeing this thing going to court in the long run.

I hope I'm wrong! It's certainly a big inconvenience to me.
 
#6
#6
What's your end game here? Have the collection removed? Or??

How much is the ticket?

And which credit report is the collection showing up on? Transunion? Equifax? Experian?

Collection removed. I'm not paying the ticket. I'm not going to pay for something that wasn't my issue. Plus that is basically admitting guilt to something that I did not do. Additionally, the whole account in collections aspect wouldn't look good on my credit history.

The Experian and Transunion FAKO websites that I use are where I found it.
 
#7
#7
Obtain a bank-quality tri-merge report. Find out which bureaus the collection is being reported to. Make note of the trade line negative item number. Write to the bureaus that it's being reported to and dispute the debt. If he means what he says, he won't verify the 'debt' and within 30 days it will be removed from your credit report. If he 'verifies' the debt, write back to the bureaus and tell them they have 30 days to produce documentation of the debt. I seriously doubt that he or she can do it. Gotta come off if they can't. This should work, if your other avenues of action don't Good luck.

Thanks. This is not an avenue I had considered! :hi:
 
#8
#8
Obtain a bank-quality tri-merge report. Find out which bureaus the collection is being reported to. Make not of the trade line negative item number. Write to the bureaus that it's being reported to and dispute the debt. If he means what he says, he won't verify the 'debt' and within 30 days it will be removed from your credit report. If he 'verifies' the debt, write back to the bureaus and tell them they have 30 days to produce documentation of the debt. I seriously doubt that he or she can do it. Gotta come off if they can't. This should work, if your other avenues of action don't Good luck.

This works generally the first time around. ( well in theory) that's why I wanted to know which agency the collection is reporting.
Trans and equifax are relatively easy to dispute. Experian on the other hand won't verify, they simply state that it is correct and let it stand. You have to go different routes with them.

And I'd wager that the agency got it from lexis nexis as court houses don't report to the agency's.
 
#9
#9
Collection removed. I'm not paying the ticket. I'm not going to pay for something that wasn't my issue. Plus that is basically admitting guilt to something that I did not do. Additionally, the whole account in collections aspect wouldn't look good on my credit history.

The Experian and Transunion FAKO websites that I use are where I found it.

It's on both of those reports or all 3?
 
#10
#10
Yeah, that's why I'm hesitant to believe that he will just drop what he is doing to go and admit perjury. I'm thinking the threat of legal action would be some form of instigation, but I am seeing this thing going to court in the long run.

I hope I'm wrong! It's certainly a big inconvenience to me.

Confused, did your ex landlord file the collection or the City/Court?
 
#12
#12
It wouldn't matter. If it's on file regardless. The data companies are the ones reporting it

If it's the city or court, I'd contact them first and fight it there, prove he was out of town. Then dispute through the credit agencies.
 
#13
#13
If it's the city or court, I'd contact them first and fight it there, prove he was out of town. Then dispute through the credit agencies.

Fair enough. But I'd hit them both at the same time. If the courts are investigating his claim they can't legally respond to the investigation of the agencies. Which if they do, he gets paid.
 
#14
#14
It's on both of those reports or all 3?

I only use the two websites (karma & sesame). Both are reporting. I recently filed for my annual credit report, so I will shortly know what is on the official scores.

Confused, did your ex landlord file the collection or the City/Court?

Court.

It wouldn't matter. If it's on file regardless. The data companies are the ones reporting it

I'm hoping that by him paying the costs to the collections agency or the court, they will both remove the mark and clear my name.

If it's the city or court, I'd contact them first and fight it there, prove he was out of town. Then dispute through the credit agencies.

I tried this. Spoke with both at length the day I found out. They claimed the only way I could get it resolved was through a lawsuit.
 
#15
#15
Also if the collection agency isn't licensed in the state of Tennessee, he has their ass.
 
#16
#16
I only use the two websites (karma & sesame). Both are reporting. I recently filed for my annual credit report, so I will shortly know what is on the official scores.



Court.



I'm hoping that by him paying the costs to the collections agency or the court, they will both remove the mark and clear my name.



I tried this. Spoke with both at length the day I found out. They claimed the only way I could get it resolved was through a lawsuit.

Wrong.

Trust me. I've been helping people for a long time.
 
#18
#18
And what do you mean by I get paid? Is there a situation where I can benefit from this whole scenario, because that's what I would like!
 
#19
#19
And what do you mean by I get paid? Is there a situation where I can benefit from this whole scenario, because that's what I would like!

Yes if you want to push it past simply having the collection removed. But I need a few more details then I can point you on the right direction.

What's the name of the collection agency?
 
#20
#20
What Memphis Blues said. Dispute the account through the credit bureaus. You should be able to find the link on ther websites (transunion, experian, equifax). Once the creditor doesn't respond to the dispute in 30 days, it falls off your credit report. You probably don't and shouldn't care to bring a civil action in Seattle. Not worth the time and $.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
#23
#23
What Memphis Blues said. Dispute the account through the credit bureaus. You should be able to find the link on ther websites (transunion, experian, equifax). Once the creditor doesn't respond to the dispute in 30 days, it falls off your credit report. You probably don't and shouldn't care to bring a civil action in Seattle. Not worth the time and $.
Posted via VolNation Mobile

No

Never dispute online. Almost all disputes online are "updated with new information" the account remains there. The date is updated from this as "last activity" and the score drops more.
 

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