Dealing with Equifax and Setting the Sherman Family Straight

Upon discovering the Sherman account on my credit report, I immediately wrote a letter to the credit bureau disputing the account. There was NO WAY that I was going to live with come company reporting an open account that was currently in default – I had worked too damn hard over the last few years to pay my bills on time and I was not going to let someone place something negative on my report that was not accurate.

I my dispute letter, I told Equifax that the account appeared to be a duplicate reporting of the original creditor’s account, as Providian (the credit card issuer) was still reporting a charge-off dating back to 1999. I put my letter in an envelope, sealed it, stamped it and placed it in the mailbox. I asked myself, "Now what do I do?"

I’ll tell you what I did…I got on the Internet again and started looking up anything and everything I could find on Sherman Acquisitions and LVNV Funding. I got some fabulous search results and spent hours combing through a wonderful website called ArtofCredit.com. Sadly, AOC.com is no more, but the information contributed by forum members lit a spark of indignation within me. Not only was I able to commiserate with people that were having the same problems, but I also found the answers I needed within their discussions about the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Texas Finance code.

I was immersed in federal law statutes, federal caselaw, news articles about debt collection practices, and scores of consumers just like myself that were trying to figure out exactly WHAT was going on with their credit report. I reached a point where the rumors about Sherman and LVNV prodded me to write another letter telling them EXACTLY what they were reporting incorrectly: an "Open" account, 120+days past due, and the fact that they were classifying themselves as a factoring company. Just in case a newbie is reading this – a factoring company is a company that purchases open accounts receivable from a company at a small discount. This gives the selling company fast cash and the factoring company the right to collect the full balance and make a small profit. The key to the factoring business is that the factor purchases CURRENT accounts with the expectation of getting paid promptly from the invoicee – and that is NOT what Sherman and LVNV did with my account.

My particular account was charged-off in 1999 by Providian and then sold after the charge-off to a debt purchaser called OSI Gulf State for a small fraction of the value. Apparently OSI held onto the account for a few years and then sold it again, to Sherman Acquisitions, who in turn held onto it for a few years themselves. Upon the formation of LVNV Funding (a "Sherman Family Company"), the ownership was transferred to the new entity. These post-charge-off owners are NOT factoring companies (with all of the inherent legal remedies that come with the purchase of a "good" debt) – they are what’s called Junk Debt Buyers, or JDB’s. The fact that they were reporting as a "Factoring Company" on my credit report gave them the appearance of an "innocent" purchaser and creditor, instead of the collection agency that they were.

Add all of this to the fact that they were not reporting at all like the other collection agencies that were appearing on my report, and you can imagine my righteous indignation.

I waited anxiously for a response confirming that they would correct or delete their account on my credit report.

To be continued...