My BBB dealings with BOA

[Meddie10]

Quick history: BOA has two accounts, both charged off, both paid after charge off (pre-CB). Tradelines are inaccurate. Disputed with CRA and BOA. CRA verified and no answer from BOA. Tried again with BOA, and again no answer. 2/07 I disputed with an email to CEO Ken Lewis. They verified (letter from executive relations officer). Never marked the tradeline as disputed by me. 1/08, sent goodwill to Ken Lewis. Amanda Adams, Customer Advocate, Office of the Chairman replied "sorry, but the info is remaining". While I agreed that the account was mine, I never stated in the letter that the reporting of the tradeline was accurate.

 

Fast forward to now. As this account is paid off, they cannot reage (yes, I realize they CAN, but I'm rolling the dice on this one). It is due to fall off in September of this year. I want it off now.

 

I filed a complaint with the BBB that they never listed the account as disputed as required by the FCRA. They responded to me that in my goodwill letter, I "confirmed the accounts and the reporting of the accounts as valid", which I specifically (and knowingly) did not. The last paragraph also states that they will "no longer respond to furthe rcorrespondence regarding this matter that raises no new issues."

 

 

Here is my response (sorry it's long, but I think it's good):

 

I have attached a PDF file containing 5 different communications from both me to Bank of America as well as from BOA to me.

 

Page 1 contains the correspondence I received from BOA in response to this BBB dispute.

Page 2 contains my 2/12/07 email to Ken D Lewis (CEO of BOA) that is referenced in Pg. 1

Page 3 contains BOA's response to my 2/12/07 email.

Page 4 contains my 1/4/08 email to Ken D Lewis that is referenced in Pg. 1

Page 5 contains BOA's response to my 1/4/08 email.

 

In BOA's response to this BBB dispute, they have provided a letter addressing the attached disputes and their version of resolution.

 

Paragraph 2 correctly references the 2/12/07 email which disputed the accuracy of the information contained on my credit report as given by BOA to the Credit Reporting Agencies. Per the FCRA, BOA is required to note on that and any future reporting to the Credit Reporting Agencies that the tradeline is disputed by the consumer. That never happened and still has not taken place to this day.

 

Paragraph 3 correctly references the 1/4/08 email which states that I confirmed ownership of the accounts as well as detailed the circumstances surrounding the lapse in payments leading to the charge off. I did request a goodwill gesture on their part to remove the account, which they denied. As you can see from my attached email (page 4), at no point did I ever say that the tradeline as reporting on my credit reports was in any way accurate, in fact, the tradeline continues to contain inaccurate information. I requested the goodwill gesture in hopes that we could resolve this issue without me having to take this to the BBB, the FTC, and possibly court. I did not then, and do not now, agree that the tradeline as it appears on my credit report is accurate.

 

Paragraph 4 INCORRECTLY states that I confirmed the reporting of the accounts as valid. I challenge BOA to produce such a document, as I no none exists. I have attached all of the correspondence BOA referenced for you to make the decision yourself. You will plainly see that at no point did I state that the reporting was valid.

 

As I referenced in my original complaint, at anytime where the consumer notifies the owner of the tradeline that they dispute any or all of the information notated in the tradeline, the creditor MUST note on the subsequent reporting of that tradeline that the debt is disputed. That never happened. Even if you were to side in your opinion that my attempts at a goodwill resolution somehow states that I agree all reporting of the tradeline is correct, almost a year had passed since my 2/12/07 correspondence where the tradeline was updated to the credit bureaus WITHOUT the required note that I disputed the tradeline as reported.

 

In addition to this, Wisconsin Statute states that once a "dispute" notation gets placed on a person's tradeline (which is required to happen in this case - but did not), it must be reported in any and all subsequent reporting to the credit bureaus. Please reference Wisconsin Statute 427.104 (1) (f). On that same page, located in the second column, center of page 1 references caselaw supporting this which states: "Sub. (1) (f) requires a bank that discloses a disputed debt to a credit bureau to disclose the disputed status of the debt each time that the debt is reported and not just the first time. Turner v. Gene Dencker Buick-Pontiac, Inc. 2001 WI App 28, 240 Wis. 2d 385, 623 N.W.2d 151, 99-3174."

 

They MUST report the debt as disputed as it is disputed due to the information contained in the tradeline is inaccurate. Once they report it as disputed, it must continue to be reported that way. They never did. This is in violation of the FCRA as well as Wisconsin Statute 427.104 (1) (f).

 

I am attempting to correct this violation on their part by the simple removal of the tradeline which will fall off my reports in 6 months anyway. I view this as a much simpler solution than taking this to trial. While I realize that when I prevail I will be richer due to the statutory damages plus legal fees, I currently feel this resolution is more favorable than going to court.

 

One last thing: The closing paragraph in which they state that they will no longer respond to further correspondence regarding this matter is another violation of the FCRA. If they question this, I recommend they look it up.

 

 

Regards,

meddie10

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

[staranyway]

Paragraph 4 INCORRECTLY states that I confirmed the reporting of the accounts as valid. I challenge BOA to produce such a document, as I no none exists.

 

 

 

See typo above (strikethrough).

 

Good job on the letter.

 

I like how you have listed their repeated violations... followed by

a reasonable solution to cure their violations.

 

Seems like a win-win scenario to me.

[brothert69]

Why waste time with the BBB as they do not have the legal authority to force BofA to delete the TL. Send the complaint to the AG of your state for the violation of state statue and take them to court for the violation of the state statute and the FCRA. Its free money why shouldn't you collect it?

[deni5251]

Why waste time with the BBB as they do not have the legal authority to force BofA to delete the TL.

True, but since I'm very sure OP is keeping copies of all correspondence through the BBB, it will make a very good addition to OP's paper trail & show that OP exhausted all available remedies before bringing it to the court...should that be necessary.

 

I've had very good luck with BBB complaints, including getting EX to delete inaccurate TLs.

 

ETA: Nice job on the letter. Except for the typo noted above, I wouldn't change a thing.

Edited March 31, 2009 by deni5251

[Meddie10]

Why waste time with the BBB as they do not have the legal authority to force BofA to delete the TL.

True, but since I'm very sure OP is keeping copies of all correspondence through the BBB, it will make a very good addition to OP's paper trail & show that OP exhausted all available remedies before bringing it to the court...should that be necessary.

 

I've had very good luck with BBB complaints, including getting EX to delete inaccurate TLs.

 

ETA: Nice job on the letter. Except for the typo noted above, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

Thanks for pointing out the typo. I was actually going for "I know none exists", but put "no" instead. It's funny, because I looked at that phrase a few times and I missed it and normally I'm overly anal about that type of thing.

 

And you are correct that I'm creating a papertrail to bring to court (should it go that far) showing that I exhausted many different avenues in good faith to get this resolved, only to be blocked by BOA at every turn.