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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the true purpose of the CREDITWRENCH program? A. The true purpose of the CREDITWRENCH program is to teach you how to recognize abuse of your rights by unscrupulous debt collectors and combat such abuse when it happens to you. . It is not designed to be a credit repair program nor a debt repair program although it's easily possible to use it for those purposes. We can control our material but we cannot control all of the uses to which if might be put by others.
Q. How is this different from the way credit repair companies work to clean up your credit report? A. Almost all credit repair companies do what they do by a very simple process which we choose to call "spamming" the credit bureaus. We call it spamming not because it is an accurate term for what happens but because it so resembles the practices of some companies who bombard your e-mail inbox with unsolicited commercial e-mails. And the credit repair specialists do exactly the same to the credit bureaus, bombarding them with endless rounds of letters trying to make the credit bureaus somehow believe that the truth is a lie and a lie is the truth. We never contact any credit bureaus nor any other person other than our customer for any reason. Q. Talk about using CROAs or Credit Repair Organizations, I once got a letter from a credit bureau demanding to know if I was using a Credit Repair Organization or Company. The letter was really nasty and it had a form with a lot of questions that I was supposed to fill out and return to the credit bureau. I just ignored it, but at the time I sure did wish I had a good answer for their nasty letter. Do you have a good answer for such charges made by credit bureaus. A. Yes! When credit bureaus make such assumptions about you they may very well be violating the Federal Deceptive Trade Practices Act and may also be guilty of TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS both of which are very serious violations of law. You may feel a need to contact a competent attorney in this situation. Our reply that you may feel free to use is to be found here. Q. If an adverse report is removed from my credit report can it re-appear at a later time? A. It can under certain conditions, but since you force the collector who put the report there in the first place to remove it, there is little danger that it will ever re-appear and if they did cause it to re-appear they have broken their written agreement with you and you would have legal recourse against them. This is not so when only disputing with the credit bureaus as so many do hoping for success. One is not likely to get permanent results by spamming techniques. Here is what the law has to say on reinsertion of deleted items. Q. Can CREDITWRENCH tactics actually remove 100% of all negatives from my credit bureau files? A. No! Creditwrench tactics only work on debts that are currently in the collections process. That means any debt on which you have missed a sufficient number of payments that the creditor or a 3rd party collector such as a collection agency or attorney is trying to collect from you on. Attorneys are also 3rd party debt collectors under FDCP A. It will not remove any debts which are current and in good or fair standing with the creditor and the creditor is at least fairly happy with you. The reason we cannot touch those is because if you used our methods with that type of situation the creditor would close the account and put you in collections immediately, giving you a bad credit ratingwhich you surely don't want to happen. Q. Can CREDITWRENCH tactics get rid of delinquent student loan problems? A. No! Any student loan problems you may have should be worked out with the U.S. Department of Education's Student Loan Rehabilitation Program which you can avail yourself of by calling the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. and asking for that department. Here is their website. Please return here by using your back button. Q. Can CREDITWRENCH
tactics work against collection agencies trying to collect student loans?
Q. How is it possible
for CREDITWRENCH tactics to eliminate debts that I actually do
owe? Q. How can I know if they have violated the law or my rights? A1. We will now provide you with a series of small excerpts from the Fair DebtCollections Practices Act so that you will be able to study them and learn what things bill collectors cannot do to you. Trying to study the law is normally a daunting task, however if you take it a small piece at a time it does become a bit more palatable. In our first lesson, we will see the things bill collectors can do and cannot do in their efforts to contact you if you are not easily found. A2. In our second lesson, we will learn what the FTC says constitutes abuse of the consumer when collectors talk to or otherwise communicate with the consumer. A3. In our third lesson, we will learn what constitutes abuse or harassment of the consumer. A4. Our
fourth lesson will
be about false and/or misleading statements by collectors. A6. Our sixth lesson will be about validation of debts and what bill collectors must or must not do when validation is demanded by the consumer. In addition, we will also refer to the following FTC opinion letter to learn more about validation of debt. A7. Our seventh lesson will show us what legal liabilities a debt collector can incur in the event they break the law. In other words, what's it going to cost them if they arecaught breaking the law and sued by the consumer. Q. Can CREDITWRENCH tactics be used against original creditors? A. Yes they can in many cases and the reason is that most of them are totally unaware that they are not subject to the same laws as 3rd party collectors while being fairly familiar with the laws and usually believe that the FDCPA and FCRA do apply to them too. Even if they know the difference, those laws set the standards of reasonability and so are almost universally followed by all collectors. Or at least they usually are. Click here for the law. There are also other ways in which original creditors can become liable for the actions of their 3rd party collectors. This falls under agency law. In order to grasp that, you would need to contact a competent attorney as we are not presently familiar enough with that section of the law to make any comments on it. Q. So in other words, you can sometimes trick original creditors into believing that they are subject to FDCPA, but are there any circumstances at all where original creditors are brought under FDCPA? A. Only in a round about manner. Let us suppose that Banktoo hires a collection agency and the collection agency ends up violating FDCP? In that case, Banktoo may become liable for the actions of the collection agency they hired to do their dirty work. This happens under agency law, and again, we are not able to comment on that portion of law since we are not attorneys. Q. Do you often have to sue bill collectors in order to get them to forgive the debts and remove the adverse notations from your credit history? A. Yes. It is happening with much greater frequency now than before. This is because we can sometimes refer you to very competent legal counsel who are experts in the field of consumer protection practice. They handle all cases on a fee contingency basis and you put up no money to front the case. At the point in time when we suggest that you may need to speak to a qualified consumer protection attorney we no longer have any connection with the attorney's work and we do not collect any referral fees from the attorney nor do you pay us any further fees unless you have other items that you feel you need help with. A simple explanation might be that if you came to us asking for help with only one issue and you used our services for a period of time, say 3 months, and it was determined that you had probably exhausted all of your administrative remedies and we suggested that you contact competent legal assistance, our services and our fees would end at that point. A reasonable time frame for that to occur would be about 120 days max. Q. Do CREDITWRENCH tactics entail lying to credit bureaus? A. No! Lying to credit bureaus is never a good practice. Q. I have heard that credit bureaus often resort to false and misleading practices when dealing with consumers. How can I tell if they are giving me the run around or actually lying to me? A. Credit bureaus do try to keep up some semblance of obedience to the law although they often do things which are blatant violations of the law. They do these things simply because in most cases, the consumer does not know the law, does not know what his rights are under the law and does not know how to either defend them or protect them. So they can just about "get away with murder" but our customers learn their rights and learn how to defend them vigorously. Q. I've heard a lot about a thing called SOL. What is SOL and how does it apply to credit bureaus? A. While the law does not specifically refer to the term "SOL" or "Statute of Limitations" because the terms are actually foreign to the Fair Credit Reporting Act as it deals with credit bureaus it simply means what can they report and for how long can they report it. Here is what the law has to say about that. Q. When does the SOL start in my case? A. This FTC opinion letter tells us quite plainly how the start of the SOL must be computed. Q. If I make a payment on the account after it has been charged off by the creditor, will that or any other thing I might do make a difference in the SOL for reporting purposes? A. No. This FTC opinion letter makes that point quite clear. Q. Is there a separate Statute of Limitations on Judgments? A. Yes. Each state has it's own SOL on judgments. Click here to find the SOL on judgments in your state. Q. What is the SOL for all other items in my state? A. The Statutes of Limitations for lawsuits for your state can be found here. Q. I have been working with a credit repair firm and I have spent a large amount of money with them. I'd like to hire your firm to help me out also. Will the fact that I have someone else working on my credit at the same time make any difference to you? A. No. We are not a credit repair firm. Our methods are totally and completely different from any such companies or individuals. Therefore nothing they do would interfere with what we would be doing for you which is only telling you about your rights under the law. We never contact any person other than you for any reason whatsoever. It's up to you to do whatever you wish with the information we provide you with. Q. How can I learn how to do these things for myself rather than having to pay someone else to do it for me? A. There are many ways to learn how to do these things for yourself. There are many message boards where one can learn how to repair one's credit. There are also many form letters available that you can just copy and use on the internet. However, they all lack the actual instructions on their proper use. Even worse, many of them insist that one should demand that creditors and collectors answer a long list of ludicrous questions that neither the creditor nor the collector must answer by law. The result is that you can quickly become the laughing stock of the collection industry rather than obtain the desired results. Surprisingly, even with their faults, most of them do work fairly well. Q. Can I find all of the forms and instructions I need to do the job just by surfing the net? A. No! This is another of the problems one gets into just browsing the web, grabbing whatever form or advice that just happens to attract one's attention. CREDITWRENCH is an entire concept package and has forms or letters which are the result of long experience in the field and are designed to meet every conceivable challenge that might be encountered. These forms and letters are not available on the web as they are copyrighted property of CREDITWRENCH OF OKLAHOMA Q. What if I am sued for a debt I owe? A. The first thing you need to do is to determine whether or not you actually have been sued. Just because you have received a summons does not necessarily mean that you have really and effectively been sued! You can look at an actual judgment suit here and you can see a case in which although the person was served with a summons and a judgment was actually entered against the person, but in net effect the judgment is worthless upon it's face. And there are millions more such judgments out there which are totally null and void. If you have judgments we can look them over for you and tell you whether we feel you might have some valid reason to try and get the judgment overturned or not. This is merely an advisory service for which there is no charge or obligation whatever on your part. You do not have to be a student of ours to avail yourself of this free service. We will simply look over the papers to see if there are sufficient and proper affidavits and other forms mandated by law and advise you if they are not present. After that, it is up to you to either proceed on a pro se basis or seek assistance of qualified legal counsel. If you are not well versed in the law yourself then you need to seek qualified legal counsel. We are not attorneys and we cannot help you in that way. That is why we do what we can for free. It's just fun and we enjoy doing it. Q. Suppose that I want to apply for new credit. Is there a certain credit bureau or credit bureaus that are most popular in my area? A. Yes, it is well proven that merchants in certain zip codes will prefer to use one credit bureau over others, so when cleaning up your credit, you can use our list to find out which credit bureau is likely to be popular with merchants in your are Q. I'm having a problem finding out which state agency in my state I should contact for a problem I have. Do you have a list of state agencies and their addresses for my state? A. Yes. This Federal Trade Commission website should have just about all of the contact addresses and phone numbers for most state agencies in your state. Q. I need to find a lawyer to handle a legal problem that I have. Can you help me find an attorney? A. Maybe so. Why don't you try our helpful links page? Q. II. "Is it permissible under the FDCPA for a debt collector to report, or continue to report, a consumer's charged-off debt to a consumer reporting agency after the debt collector has received, but not responded to, a consumer's written dispute during the 30-day validation period detailed in 15 USC § 1692g?" A. As you may know, Section 1692g(b) requires the debt collector to cease collection of the debt at issue if a written dispute is received within the first 30-day period after the debtor has received the collector's first demand for payment. If the debtor has acted to demand validation within that window of opportunity the debt collector must cease all efforts to collect until verification is obtained. Because we believe that reporting a charged-off debt to a consumer reporting agency, particularly at this early stage of the collection process, constitutes "collection activity" on the part of the collector, our answer to your question is No. If the debtor has missed that 30 day window of opportunity, then the debt collector may proceed with collection activity at his discretion. Although the FDCPA is unclear on this point, we believe the reality is that debt collectors use the reporting mechanism as a tool to persuade consumers to pay, justlike dunning letters and telephone calls. Of course, if a dispute is received after a debt has been reported to a consumer reporting agency, the debt collector is obligated by Section 1692e(8) to inform the consumer reporting agency of the dispute. Q. "Would the following action by a debt collector constitute continued collection activity under 15 USC § 1692g(b): reporting a charged-off consumer debt to a consumer reporting agency as disputed in accordance with § 1692e(8), when the debt collector became aware of the dispute when the consumer sent a written dispute to the debt collector during the 30-day validation period, and no verification of the debt hasbeen provided by the debt collector?" A. Yes. As stated in
our answer to Question II, we view reporting to a consumer reporting
agency as a collection activity prohibited by § 1692g(b) after
a written dispute is received and no verification has been provided.
Again, however, a debt collector must report a dispute received after
a debt has been reported under §1692e(8). A. You might try
this website as it
has a large listing of creditor's names, addresses and phone numbers.
A. Yes. 15 USC 1681 (a)(1) deals with that situation. Just click on the blue link above and you can read it for yourself. Q. Suppose I really want to pay my creditors since I feel that it is my moral obligation to pay my bills but at the same time I want to be sure they don't give me a bad credit rating as a reward for having paid my bills as is my moral obligation to do. Can you help me with this? A. Yes. But as you most likely already know, collection agencies and creditors alike almost always refuse to do this saying that they have a contract with the creditor or with the credit bureaus or both that forbids them to do this. That may be true, but if they are forced into an untenable situation where the alternatives are a very expensive lawsuit or see things your way for free, you can easily guess which alternative they will be most likely to choose. Once they have been forced to see things your way, then you can pay them with a specially prepared check and be certain that they will remove it or pay the consequences. You must, of course, be ready willing and able to pay in full upon completion of the agreements. We very gladly provide this service to our customers who wish to pay their bills but it is much more expensive because the necessity of speed demands that you overnight your fully and properly made check to us, we add a specially worded binding statement to the backside of the check with an also specially prepared rubber stamp and overnight it to your intended payee and you get the post office notification of delivery so you have a paper trail as proof of delivery and in the event they accept and endorse the check they must perform as demanded or be sued. They have no choice but to do your bidding and remove all mention of the debt from all records or they get sued. Q. What is GLBA (Gramm-Leech-Bliley Act) and how can it affect the process of dealing with collection agencies? A1. GLBA is a new law which most people do not know much about and whose effects upon our economic lives has yet to be determined. However, more and more things are now becoming quite clear. All lenders are now under GLBA and many others who were not previously thought to fall under its jurisdiction. GLBA in so far as it affects the creditor/debtor/collector relationship depends on the contractual relationship between the creditor and the collector. A2. As time goes on, CREDITWRENCH
will be developing new strategies using this new law which will be most
helpful in dealing with your problems. For the time being, a small discussion
is started at this BEGINNING
GLBA DISCUSSION.
For further information about GLBA you should go directly to the FTC
website dealing with GLBA. It is becoming increasingly clear that many
financial instutions are forgetting about some aspects of GLBA and that
may be an additional avenue that might be exploited.
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