Child Support

[lhslancers]

I've posted this question on a number of boards to no avail. I hope someone can help me out a little.
Equifax only is reporting a child support obligation under their heading of "other accounts". Open date is May 2005. I have paid support as part of my divorce agreement since 1997 never missed a payment. Under NJ law child support is not to be reported to any bureau unless you are 1000 dollars in arrears. NJ claims they never reported it to any bureau. It is not listed as a derog.
Equifax is picking up a substantial monthly payment amount in my Credit Watch Gold reports which makes it appear I have to pay $4400 each month. The entire Equifax entry is nuts. Date of last payment is May 2005. It says pays as agreed 0 credit limit 0 scheduled payment amount.
I disputed the tradeline as not mine last year it came back verified. I just disputed the $4400 monthly payment due as incorrect on June 1 it is still being investigated.
It is not listed as a judgment or a collection and it doesn't appearto be a derog on my file but this tradeline may hurt my chances of getting a mortgage in a few years. Equifax states this is on the report until May 2015.
While it is not supposed to appear on the report at all since I was never in arrears shouldn't this be deemed a judgment and only be listed for 7 years and drop off in 2012?
This does not appear on my Transunion or Experian reports at all. I am afraid to contact the morons at child support for fear of having it report in error to TU and EX.
Anyone have any ideas here?

[Enigma]

Section 622 of the FCRA governs child support reporting. It must be in arrears and it must be reported by the child support enforcement agency OR if reported to the CRA it is verified by the child support enforcement agency.

You have it in writing that you are not now and never have been in arrears? You have it in writing that the child support enforcement agency never contacted the CRA?

Since you have already disputed it with the CRA, do a procedures request letter. If they confirm they contacted the child support agency, then you can reasonably infer they are lying. Then I would point that out to them and give them opportunity to cure, if not, litigation may be in order.

[magyar123]

I suggest that you contact your state's dept. that oversees child support payments, and ask them if that is allowed in your state.

[Hedwig]

What Enigma pointed out is federal law, not state specific.

If I were the OP, I'd do exactly as Enigma states.

[lhslancers]

Thanks all.

[lhslancers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lhslancers Thanks all.

I'll wait for the results of the investigation to come back. I have looked in a number of places for a sample procedures request letter but can't find one. Anyone have a link? Would it be necessary to include any written backup with that letter? Currently I have nothing written.

[Pale Rider]

Dear CRA,

Please provide me with a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information relating to my recent dispute of (account #, name, etc.), including the business name and address of any furnisher of information contacted in connection with such information and the telephone number of such furnisher.

Sincerely

Joe Consumer

[lhslancers]

Thank you Pale Rider.

[neil5623]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pale Rider Dear CRA,

Get ready. Every time I requested this, all I ever received was a general form letter.

[lhslancers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neil5623 Get ready. Every time I requested this, all I ever received was a general form letter.

I've heard that too. Maybe I'll get lucky.

[jlynn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lhslancers I've heard that too. Maybe I'll get lucky.

Don't hold your breath. But even though they only produce letters as Neil described, you still have to follow this step to create a paper trail in case of litigation.

[lhslancers]

I disputed this on June 1 it came back verified today. They are verifying incorrect information. Scheduled payment amount states $4390 monthly. I do not and never have paid that amount. Should I wait or just send the procedures letter out now?
I don't appreciate the fact that there is incorrect info on my report. This is not scheduled to drop until May 2015. I have another 4 years to pay and likely won't be looking at property until some time after that. I imagine any mortgage lender will pull all three reports so this should be easily explained away at that point once I show papers from the court that there is no further obligation towards child support correct? This amount is skewing my monthly debt to income rather badly on my EQ report. So this really shouldn't be much of a problem should it?

[Hedwig]

Send the procedures request now. You want to see who they say they verified it with.

[lhslancers]

Maybe I am going about this one the wrong way. According to everything I have read about this topic the past few weeks this tradeline falls under a judgment not an open account. According to credit report statutes this should have fallen off 7 years after the judgment was put in place by the court. My divorce and the child support agreement were finalized September 1997. So by all rights this should have been gone in 2004. I have heard that it is not a good idea to send paperwork backing up things like this to the CRA so how would I go about doing this? I really don't think a procedures letter will do much since I have no intention of threatening court. Evidently Equifax doesn't classify this as a judgment. Could they be persuaded to see it that way?

[Hedwig]

You want the procedures request, because you want them to say they verified with such-and-such a court. Then you go to the court, find out they've never received a request from the CRA, and get a letter to that effect.

Then you send it to the CRA and demand that they remove it, since they never verified it.

I think it's 10 years from when the judgment was satisfied, but I'm not positive.

[lhslancers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hedwig You want the procedures request, because you want them to say they verified with such-and-such a court. Then you go to the court, find out they've never received a request from the CRA, and get a letter to that effect. Then you send it to the CRA and demand that they remove it, since they never verified it. I think it's 10 years from when the judgment was satisfied, but I'm not positive.

I pay child support every week and will for at least my youngest until June 2012 when she will graduate from college. So in essence the judgment isn't satisfied until that point I would guess. I'll give the procedures letter a shot though. Would the letter have to come from the state or would my local probation department (county level) be sufficient? The state is listed on the account. Thanks again.

[jlynn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lhslancers I pay child support every week and will for at least my youngest until June 2012 when she will graduate from college. So in essence the judgment isn't satisfied until that point I would guess. I'll give the procedures letter a shot though. Would the letter have to come from the state or would my local probation department (county level) be sufficient? The state is listed on the account. Thanks again.

How exactly is it reporting? My understanding is there are really two different things. Someone could have a judgment for child support, which is usually an arrearage that has been reduced to judgment as a lump sum, and then there is simple monthly obligations.

If you have never been in arrears, there should not be a judgment reporting in the public records section.

[Hedwig]

That's what I was thinking, too. The judgment would have been for unpaid child support. If the support was caught up, there isn't a judgment.

[lhslancers]

I was never in arrears and from what I can tell this tradeline sticks until 2015. It is listed under other accounts in Equifax like an Amex charge card might report. Last payment listed is the day it was first reported May 2005. Under NJ law as I stated this should NEVER have been reported since I was never late. It does NOT update either. It is not reported as a delinquent account EQ shows no negative accounts present. No collections are listed either. Why would this only report on EQ if it was reported to them? Something is wacky with this tradeline.

[jlynn]

I would send a letter to the NJ child support agency, along with a copy of that particular tradeline, and see if they can get to the bottom of it.

[lhslancers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlynn I would send a letter to the NJ child support agency, along with a copy of that particular tradeline, and see if they can get to the bottom of it.

My greatest fear is these numbnutz in child support will then take it upon themselves to report the tradeline to Experian and Transunion. Gotta be another way. You do know who I would be dealing with in Trenton NJ right? Maybe I can get a letter from my local county child support case worker stating the tradeline was reported in error and to please remove. Like I said I asked about this notation in my child support history which stated credit bureau reporting canceled dated May 5 2005. I think some idiot hit the wrong button back then and just reported the damn thing. I guess I could explain it away to an underwriter doing a manual review for a mortgage. It hasn't hurt me getting decent lines of credit from Navy Federal or Penfed so I imagine they just ignored the outrageously high monthly payment which I supposedly need to make. There is no payment history for this tradeline whatsoever. It shows 0 paid. 0 in arrears. 0 owed. 0 scheduled payment. Pays as agreed. Very strange.