[Credit Diva]

I sent a debt validation letter, certified/return receipt, to Midland Credit Management on March 29th and on April 18th they sent me a settlement opportunity offer letter for 10% off the current balance. See letter below.

Dear CREDIT DIVA,

You won’t want to miss this settlement opportunity offered to you by Midland Credit Management, Inc., service of the above referenced account.

Recognizing that you may have gone through some financial difficulty and have been unable to satisfy your account we would like to offer you a positive and flexible option to resolve your account for 10% off the Current Balance.

If we receive payment by 0518/2007 in the amount of
$XXX, we will consider the account balance paid in full!

CALL NOW! To take advantage of this opportunity, please contact us TOLL-FREE at (800) 282-2644 and any of our Account Mangers will be able to assist you.

MAIL! You may prefer to settle your Current Balance by using the Acceptance Certificate below. Simply detach the form and enclose it with you $XXX payment in the envelope provided. In order to receive payment by 05/18/2007, please mail no later than 05/13/2007.

PLEASE SEE REVERSE SIDE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

Sincerely,
A. Syran

Senior Vice President, Operations & Marketing


Anyway, what do I do now since they did not validate?

I am disputing this with the CA’s and have not gotten a response yet.

Thanks for your help,
Credit Diva[/size][/size]

[roybean]

Have you looked at the hard copies of your credit report yet? Other than keeping an eye on your reports...sit back and wait.

[jlynn]

When did they sign for the certified letter?

[neil5623]

DW received a letter from them today offering to settle for half of the alleged balance.

[Credit Diva]

Originally Posted by roybean

Have you looked at the hard copies of your credit report yet? Other than keeping an eye on your reports...sit back and wait.

Hi Roybean,

I have copies of my reports and MCM name is not on Transunion anymore but what they have done is removed their name and put FCNB as the collector. They are also on the other two.

Thanks for responding.

Credit Diva

[Credit Diva]

Originally Posted by jlynn

When did they sign for the certified letter?

Hi Jlynn,

I mailed the letter on March 29th and it was signed for on March 31th. I 'm way out of SOL for California, so I'm not worried about them doing anything legal to me. I just want them to prove it or remove it from my credit reports.

Thanks for your help.

Credit Diva

[Credit Diva]

Originally Posted by neil5623

DW received a letter from them today offering to settle for half of the alleged balance.

Wow!! They offered your DW 50% off a balance they legally have not rights to?

I feel cheated...I was only offer 10% off my awesome deal of a life-time.

It the end of the month and MCM must be hurting for money with all of the lawsuits they have against them...well, those blood suckers will never get one red cent from me.

[MadinKS]

I don't think they're hurtin' for money, because they sewer serviced my wife and got us for about $3k and that's just one of the thousands they get over on. I'm fightin' that though. Good luck in your fight against MCM.

[neil5623]

Originally Posted by Credit Diva

Wow!! They offered your DW 50% off a balance they legally have not rights to?

I feel cheated...I was only offer 10% off my awesome deal of a life-time.

Half of the alleged debt is a bit over $2K.

[neil5623]

Started looking ad their letter so I could send a DV letter to them. They have THREE ADDRESSES to choose from. One is on the payment coupon to Los Angeles - obviously not the one for a DV letter. Address for the letter head is PO Box 939019 San Diego, CA. On the back they have an address for correspondence relating to any credit reporting of this account to 8875 Aero Drive Suite 200 San Diego.

I'm thinking send it to the PO Box?

BTW, they have a contact number 800-935-4566 no where near what is shown on the first post of this thread.

[Hedwig]

I think I'd send it to all three addresses. Then they can't pull the "but it needed to go to this address" business.

[MadinKS]

My experience w/them is that they'll get it if you send it to the PO Box in San Diego. The office responsible w/get it no matter what address they're at. If you want to send it to all 3 that's okay too.

[tabufx50]

wow doesn't sound like you'll win.

And that red font color on blue background at top..sheesh my eyes are still hurtin.

[Credit Diva]

In March and twice in May, I requested validation of a debt that Midland Credit Management claims I owe them. Two of the letters were sent by CMRRR and the other by fax and I have a confirmation of its delivery. I have not received a response to any of my requests. The only thing that I have received from my first request is a letter offering me a discount if I accepted their generous offer by May 18th.

Because of Midland’s refusal to provide me with the validation I requested, I filed a complaint with the FTC and the California State Attorney General. I received a response from both a few weeks ago.

When I got the green card back from Midland, I disputed the information with the CRA’s and the accounts were removed from all but Transunion, and the FCNB TL that Midland placed on my Transunion report was deleted too. I requested that Transunion re-investigate and Midland responded on June 1st, verifying that the information was correct, and on my credit report Transunion listed in the remarks, “Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA requirements.”

So, out of frustration, I e-mailed everyone, from the CEO to Staff Counsel, that I could find an e-mail address on to Midland on June 6th, I attached a copy of the letter from the AG for good measure , and I demanded that they delete their information within five days from my Transunion report.

Much to my surprise , on yesterday, I received an e-mail from Midland’s Compliance Analyst, and she wasn’t included in the original e-mail I sent on June 6th. Think the AG’s letter got their attention this time?

Here’s what Ms. Compliance had to say:

Midland Credit Management Inc. (MCM) has recently received an inquiry and/or request for information from this e-mail address. It is MCM's policy not to respond to inquiries of this type through e-mail to protect the privacy of those we do business with. If you intended to communicate with MCM, and would like to discuss the matters raised in the prior e-mail, please contact the Consumer Relations Department at 1-800-825-8131 extension 2980 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time and we will be happy to discuss the matter with you. Or you may call me at extension 5421. Please understand this communication is from a debt collector.

Sincerely,

Michelle Lusk
Compliance Analyst

So, my question to all the FCRA & FDCPA experts and those that have dealt with Midland and defeated them. Now that I have Ms. Compliance attention what should be my next step? I have no intentions of calling her or anyone at Midland.

Should I send Ms. Compliance a intent to sue letter, head straight to court and sue them for repeatedly violating my rights, or e-mail her back and tell her the deadline to delete their information has come and gone and I’ll see her in court?

What I really want to do is to reply to Ms. Compliance e-mail and tell her and everyone at Midland to bite me and I’ll see them in court , but that wouldn’t be professional and I really don’t want to botch this up, so any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Credit Diva

[Enigma]

Midland Credit Management, Inc.
aka/ Midland Funding
a subsidiary of Encore Capital Group, Inc.
8875 Aero Dr. Ste 200
San Diego, California 92123-2255
Phone: (858) 309-6970 - 800-825-8131 or 858 309-6970 858-560-2600
Fax: (858) 309-6977 800-306-4443

Phoenix
4302 E. Broadway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85040-8808
Phone: (602) 707-0211 Toll Free: (800) 265-8825

Carl C. Gregory, III
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer
(858) 309-6961 carl.gregory@encorecapitalgroup.com

Barry R. Barkley Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
(858) 309-6970 barry.barkley@encorecapitalgroup.com

J. Brandon Black Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
(858) 309-6963 brandon.black@encorecapitalgroup.com

George Brooker Vice President and Controller
(858) 309-6957 george.brooker@encorecapitalgroup.com

Alison James Senior Vice President of Human Resources
(858) 309-6969 alison.james@encorecapitalgroup.com

Robin R. Pruitt
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
(858) 309-6964 robin.pruitt@encorecapitalgroup.com

John R. Treiman
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
(858) 309-6967 john.treiman@encorecapitalgroup.com

Rita Melconian Staff Counsel, Litigation
(/Phone:/ (858) 309-6962 /Fax:/ (858) 309-6998
Rita.Melconian@MCMCG.COM

Here is info for Midlands head office and counsel.

I would write a letter to Midland a long the tone of:

Dear Ms. Melconian:

Recently Midland contacted me in regards to xxxxxx.

On xx/xx/xx and xx/xx/xx, via CMRRR I requested that Midland verify and validate this alleged account. As of this writing, Midland has remained silent.

I can only conclude by your silence and non-communication that I was contacted in error.

Further, Midland is reporting to XXXX and XXXX this alleged account. Since Midland has failed to verify and validate this alleged account, Midland's reporting is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Additionally, upon information and belief, this alleged account is past the statute of limitations for any legal remedies that Midland may pursue. I trust that within the next ten (10) days, Midland will remove its trade line from my credit file.

Please govern yourselves accordingly.

Cordially,

xxxxxx



Now cc it to everyone on the above list. Along with the Calif. State Attorney Jerry Brown, the FTC and for kicks and grins send it to the US Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and cc your local Calif representative and your congress critters.

In other words make it uncomfortable for them.


As far as FCNB goes. Send them a full C&D letter and in it tell them to remove their reporting.

[hannah]

Great post, Enigma!!

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by hannah

Great post, Enigma!!

Thank you.

I have successfully gone toe to toe with Midland.

[hannah]

Originally Posted by Enigma

Thank you.

I have successfully gone toe to toe with Midland.

Sounded like you were familiar with them...