Can a GoodWill Letter help verify my debt?

[SandwichFace]

In another thread I asked about what to do about a parking viloation I had that went to collections. The two prevailing ideas were to write a goodwill letter to the CA and then write verification letters to the CRAs. The ticket has already been paid, and some people said that sometimes the CA won't take the time to verify a debt that has already been paid. Regardless, everyone thought that a GoodWill letter was the best first step. My question is, is there any way that writing the GoodWill letter will help them verify the debt later if it comes to that? I've moved in the past year and the ticket is associated with an old address, so I'm wondering if somehow that can be used to make the debt hard to verify? I've already submitted letters to get my old addresses removed if that helps. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to proceede? I want to send the GoodWill letter but I'm worried that will somehow make the debt easier to verify.

 

Thanks!

[SandwichFace]

Anybody? I don't want to send a GoodWill letter if it might make future Verifiaction letters not as effective.

[pingzing99]

i would personally dispute the parking ticket with the 3 CRA's. Just make sure that you have that particular address removed from your CR.

 

I agree that a majority of the time the CA wont spend their time verifying a debt if they are not required to do so. YMMV.

[SandwichFace]

Thank you for the suggestion! I haven't found a lot of verification sample letters around here so I combined a couple examples I found and tailored it to my situation a little bit. Does this look alright?

 

 

To whom it may concern:

 

Upon a recent review of my credit report, I have found an account that I
had no prior knowledge of. I am asking to please verify that the
information is correct for the following account in accordance of the
Fair Credit Reporting Act:

 

The following information therefore needs to be re-investigated. I
respectfully request to be provided all proof of this alleged item
(parking violations) to be mine, including name, address, date and
the original debt holder attached to this debt proving that this debt
is mine. Failing that, the item must be deleted from the report as
soon as possible:

 

Northwest Collectors Inc., acct. #**********

 

Please investigate and delete this misleading information, and supply a
corrected credit profile to all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months.

 

Additionally, please provide the name, address, and telephone number of each credit grantor or other subscriber.

 

Under federal law, you have 30 days to complete your re-investigation. Be
advised that the description of the procedure used to determine the
accuracy and completeness of the information is hereby requested as
well, to be provided within 15 days of the completion of your re-investigation.

 

Sincerely,

 

imnickb

[pingzing99]

Looks good. I always sign and put my ss # in correspondence with each CRA.

 

Good luck.

[SandwichFace]

Thanks so much! I'll include that information for sure. If anybody has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them. I was wondering if I should send copies of a drivers license or anything to prove that I'm me, but I was worried that might make it easier to verify the debt. Thanks again!

Edited March 1, 2013 by imnickb