Consumer complaint received 2023-09-06
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: FL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Part 2 of 2 Debt Validation for every Synchrony Bank credit card Details about your authority to collect this debt. 

I would like more information about your firm before I discuss ( in writing, of course ) the debt with you. Does your firm have a debt collection license from my state? If not, say why not. If so, provide the date of the license, the name and previous names on the license, the license number, the valid status of the license and the name, address and telephone number of the state agency issuing the license. Also provide me with any name currently and previously included as a debt collector for making CFPB complaints on its website. 

If you are contacting me from a place outside my state, does your firm have a debt collection license from that place? If so, provide the date of the license, the name on the license, the license number, and the name, address and telephone number of the state agency issuing the license. 

I have asked for this information because I have some questions. I need to hear from you in writing with all documentation requested herein to make an informed decision about your claim that I owe this money. I expect a one time written communication for this purpose but only in writing provided you fully address each and every item of requested data I seek. In order to make sure that I am not put at any disadvantage, in the meantime please treat this purported debt as being in dispute in its entirety. Nothing contained in my letter should be construed in any way as an admission of any responsibility whatsoever for the purported claim. Failure to respond in writing controverting my allegations and points shall be deemed your admission by your non response and all conflicts shall be resolved in my favor. 

In addition to providing the information requested above, please let me know whether you are prepared to pay me for statutory and punitive damages in an amount not less than the balance you are claiming is owed. If so, please tell me in writing your offer with the amount you will pay me to fully resolve the account with an exchange of mutual general releases which, of course, would require permanent deletion from every CRA file of any reported data, if any. 

In addition to the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act prohibits harassment, false or misleading statements and unfair practices by collection agencies and debt collectors. Some violations of these acts are listed below : 1. They threaten to tell your employer or neighbors about the debt ; 2. Threaten violence against you ; 3. Threaten to have you arrested ; 4. Communicate with you or your spouse more than three times a week ; 5. Harass, intimidate, threaten or embarrass you ; 6. Imply that documents sent to you are legal documents or government documents ; 7. Imply that you can be deported ; or 8. Solicit a postdated check in order to threaten criminal prosecution.

The CFPB and advocates recommend consumers to also check to see if their state licenses debt collectors and if the company that is contacting them is licensed. If a state does not license debt collectors, check the registry for a neighboring state. Some states also provide licensing information to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX. That website will thus provide a few more states where the debt collector might be licensed. I purposely repeat myself to make it clear that I need to know complete details of what licenses you are required to have and what licenses you have. 

The CFPB and others recommend the Stop Contact or Cease Letter strategy to stop collection harassment by writing the collector a stop contact letter, also called a cease letter. Then the collector can only acknowledge the letter and notify the consumer about legal steps the collector may take. This protection usually only applies to collection agencies hired by the creditor or debt buyers that purchased debts from the creditor, but even creditors collecting their own debts must honor such requests as basic agency law requires creditors to be responsible for actions of the bill collector agents. Again, as stated above purposely several times to make the point absolutely clear, please stop contact and cease further communication of any kind whatsoever. 

I have also stated several times what advocates call the Exempt Income Letter to avoid fruitless expenses. If a consumers only sources of income are state or federal government benefits, their income may most likely be exempt or protected from collection. If the collector is informed that government benefits are the consumers only source of income, the collector may voluntarily stop contacting them about the alleged debt. Collectors can be informed that all of the consumers income is exempt which I have done to avoid an unreasonable multiplicity of proceedings having no purpose. Again, All of my limited income is from EXEMPT sources!

Again, you should consider this a Dispute Letter as I DISPUTE the entire purported claim. If the consumer believes the debt is not theirs, that the amount is incorrect, or that there is some other error, the consumer or their attorney should send the collector a dispute letter. Collectors make a lot of mistakes and disputing the debt may help resolve the matter.

Federal law requires debt collectors to provide validation information about the alleged debt and consumers rights to dispute the debt. Collectors will be able to provide this information in writing.

It is recommended that if a debt collector claims to have sent a notice previously but the consumer never received it, ask for another copy. Keep a copy of any letters that are sent. It is best to send the letter by mail, return receipt requested. A CFPB complaint is the best method to document a DISPUTE and Debt Validation as it not only proves delivery to the Debt Collector but it requires the Debt Collector to respond promptly. Debt Validation letters and Disputes can also be sent electronically using any type of electronic communication that the debt collector uses to accept consumer communications. If the collection agency accepts emails from consumers, the dispute letter can be sent via email. To insure this letter is not lost, delayed in the mail or mishandled by the Debt Collector, I am also sending this letter with any attachments via the CFPB Complaint Portal and website to assure receipt and guarantee a timely response.

Advocates such as the CFPB state that a dispute letter may be combined with a request for more information in a Verification Letter.

Often it is not even clear what debt a collector is contacting the consumer about, and in that case, the consumer should not pay the collector until more information is obtained. Federal law requires debt collectors to provide validation information about the alleged debt. However, the consumer may still have more questions about the alleged debt. My letter demands documentation which is indispensable in determining the amount and validity of the purported claim.

The FCRA requires every CRA and Furnishers to maintain reasonable procedures in their operations to assure maximum possible completeness and accuracy of data in the credit reports they report and publish. Credit reporting laws ensure that bureaus report only 100 % accurate credit information. The CFPB has repeatedly criticized the dispute process involving Furnishers and CRAs. CRAs routinely fail to forward complete written disputes to Furnishers and routinely XXXX non existent investigations and certifications from Furnishers and fail to delete and prevent known Facially False Data in violation the recent directives of XXXX XXXX, CFPB Director. To enforce the FCRA, I have filed multiple direct and indirect CRA/Furnisher written disputes including about XXXX CFPB complaints yet virtually no dispute is listed on my credit reports as Disputed as required in willful violations of the FCRA and Metro 2 protocols. To the extent that your purported debt has been directly or indirectly included in any of my written disputes, in accordance with The Fair Credit Reporting Act, Public law 91-506, Title VI, Section 611, Subsection A-D, please provide ( in addition to all facts regarding investigation records ) the names and business addresses of each individual with whom you client verified the purported debt reporting above, so that I may follow up. Every step must be taken to assure the information reported is completely accurate and correct. Furthermore, each of my credit reports for each account contain different and conflicting data on my paper credit reports and data required from Furnishers is either negligently or purposely missing, impossible, incorrect or conflicting and more importantly, Data submitted through Metro 2 is not contained on my paper credit reports resulting unknowingly to be of current accounts being falsely reported as 60 days late with credit scores being up to XXXX points lower than expected. Metro 2 compliance is out of control. For your purported debt, if it has been reported to a CRA, I need the actual Metro 2 submissions ( translated into XXXX ) for the last 3 years including every monthly and required interim submissions. If I have ever disputed an account with any creditor, I expect every credit report to continually contain the required and mandatory notice that it is DISPUTED which is not happening constituting willful FCRA violations. Any further violations of federal statutes will incur liability for actual, statutory, and punitive damages plus attorney fees and costs. 

15 USC 1681s-2 : Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies Text contains those laws in effect on XX/XX/XXXX 1681s2. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies ( a ) Duty of furnishers of information to provide accurate information ( 1 ) Prohibition ( A ) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the information is inaccurate.

( B ) Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors A person shall not furnish information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if- ( i ) the person has been notified by the consumer, at the address specified by the person for such notices, that specific information is inaccurate; and ( ii ) the information is, in fact, inaccurate.

I insist on 100 % compliance with all FCRA and all statutes and knowingly reporting inaccurate information after notice shall constitute willful and negligent violations of the FCRA, subjecting violators to statutory damages of {$1000.00} per incident plus huge punitive damages for repeated known repeated violations. Any current or future debt collector or debt buyer is obligated to investigate and ascertain the extent of and existence of actual or potential FCRA violations before furnishing data to any CRA.

To insure compliance with the FCRA and other statutes, your written response must include the purported exact month-day-year for the Date of First Delinquency and the exact day-month-year that the disputed claim would be required to be deleted from every CRA account under the 7 year statute of limitations for credit reporting assuming no payments are made in the future.

There is a Duty to Provide Notice of Delinquency of Accounts. In order for there to be a uniform date by which all consumer reporting agencies would compute the seven-year reporting period for adverse items of information, Congress included section 623 ( a ) ( 5 ) with the intent that the seven-year reporting period begin with the commencement of the delinquency rather than any other date. That section of the FCRA states that " a person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall. .. notify the agency of the date of delinquency on the account, which shall be the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency on the account that immediately preceded the action. My credit reports for every CRA and for most accounts fails to report the mandatory date of First Delinquency in violation of law.

Virtually every account on each of my credit reports fails to list my account as DISPUTED pursuant to the clear statute requirements. Failing to list a disputed debt as disputed on every CRA is purposely done by Furnishers for a sinister purpose to harm consumers as much as possible to lower credit scores. Once you dispute a debt to a credit reporting agency, they must report that debt as disputed on your credit file and in your credit reports. Also, if you dispute a debt to one of the three major credit reporting agencies ( XXXX, XXXX, or XXXX ), that particular agency must notify the other two bureaus that you dispute the debt. Failing to list the account as disputed, after a valid dispute has been sent to the credit reporting agency, is a violation of the FCRA. Not only are none of my valid disputes listed as disputed on my credit reports, but once a CRA lists my account as Disputed, virtually the next day the Furnisher will erroneously, purposelessly, maliciously, abusively, willfully, deliberately, intentionally and frivolously remove and delete the Disputed required entry using Metro 2 mid-cycle unauthorized and prohibited entries in violation of the Facially False Data prevention requirements recently explained in detail by CFPB XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX Not only is the entire Metro 2 system unworkable but employees are not adequately trained to insure accurate data coding. Willful failures to report accounts as Disputed and closed carry statutory damages of {$1000.00} plus punitive damages for each violation for every time the required entry was changed or deleted. I insist on 100 % compliance with the FCRA and other statutes mandating deletion if all disputed entries permanently. 

A common FCRA violation is when a creditor posts late payments after the debt has charged off a past due balance. I will Document this violation by highlighting the accounts on every CRA and by filing a direct and indirect dispute with the Furnisher and every CRA. Care should be taken by the disputed purported debt collector to avoid violating any statutes, if it is stupid enough to report my data to any CRA. 

The United States Supreme Court has held that willful violations of the FCRA include violations committed in reckless disregard of a company 's obligations under FCRA. Safeco Ins. Co., 127 S.Ct. at 2208-10. This standard of willfulness is now the law of the land. 

In XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the United States Court of Appeals , Fourth Circuit wrote : On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX brought this suit, alleging that XXXX XXXX XXXX violated its duties as a furnisher of information under FCRA , 15 U.S.C.A. 1681s-2 ( b ) ( 1 ), by failing to report the dispute. At the conclusion of the trial, the court instructed the jury on XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  's statutory duties as a furnisher of information. The trial court also instructed the jury that it could find XXXX XXXX XXXX had violated FCRA by failing to report the ongoing dispute After deliberation, the jury returned a verdict finding that XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX had intentionally violated its duties under FCRA. The jury awarded Saunders no compensatory damages but did award the maximum possible statutory damages of {$1000.00} and punitive damages of {$80000.00}. WOW!!! This means that the failure of a Furnisher to report a DISPUTE on a consumers credit report could result in statutory damages of {$1000.00} plus punitive damages of {$80000.00}. Failure to list my account as dispute, in violation of law, will not help collection efforts and only result in huge damages to ensure and enforce compliance. While many attorneys recommend filing lawsuits right away for obvious FCRA and FDCPA violations, I prefer to give violators repeated notices as I prefer to get {$80000.00} instead of {$1000.00} when a violator is stupid. 

I have a right to Privacy. Due to extensive and widespread malicious Willful violations of the FCRA, to protect my right to privacy, I hereby immediately OPT OUT and permanently revoke any right to report data on any of my credit reports as otherwise permitted and set forth in section 313.15 - Other exceptions to notice and opt out requirements- ( 5 ) ( i ) To a consumer reporting agency in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1682 et seq. or ( ii ) From a consumer report reported by a consumer reporting agency. The exceptions can apply if and only if every Furnisher and every CRA comply with ALL of their obligations under the FCRA. Once known violations of the FCRA have been disputed with Furnishers and every CRA multiple times without correction or deletion as required, the rights to report is deemed automatically revoked and an affected consumer may unilaterally OPT OUT entirely of credit reporting in the interest of justice. Consumer rights to OPT OUT from credit reporting to prevent inaccurate reporting TRUMP the rights of disputed creditors to flagrantly abuse the FCRA with impunity. The CFPB recently filed an amicus brief, arguing that furnishers are statutorily obligated to investigate both legal and factual questions raised in consumer disputes. The CFPB 's brief acknowledges that several federal courts have distinguished between " factual '' and " legal '' questions in determining the obligation of CRAs to investigate disputes under 15 U.S.C. 1681i. I need a complex analysis of the factual and legal issues and documentation requested herein rather than a worthless bare unsupported denial or statement.

Every Furnisher and CRA has failed to comply with any of their obligations as set forth in the below statute which is simple to understand.

623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [ 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ] ( a ) Duty of furnishers of information to provide accurate information. 
( 1 ) Prohibition. 
* Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors. A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or consciously avoids knowing that the information is inaccurate. 
* Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors. A person shall not furnish information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if ( i ) the person has been notified by the consumer, at the address specified by the person for such notices, that specific information is inaccurate; and ( ii ) the information is, in fact, inaccurate. 
( C ) No address requirement. A person who clearly and conspicuously specifies to the consumer an address for notices referred to in subparagraph ( B ) shall not be subject to subparagraph ( A ) ; however, nothing in subparagraph ( B ) shall require a person to speciry such an address ( 2 ) Duty to correct and update information. A person who * regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes information to one or more consumer reporting agencies about the person 's transactions or experiences with any consumer : and * has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate shall promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination and provide to the agency any corrections to that information, or any additional information. that is necessary to make the information provided by the person to the agency complete and accurate, and shall not thereafter furnish to the agency any of the information that remains not complete or accurate. 
1. Duty to provide notice of dispute. If the completeness or accuracy of any information furnished by any person to any consumer reporting agency is disputed to such person by a consumer, the person may not furnish the information to any consumer reporting agency without notice that such information is disputed by the consumer. 
2. Duty to provide notice of closed accounts. A person who regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a consumer who has a credit account with that person shall notify the agency of the voluntary closure of the account by the consumer, in information regularly furnished for the period in which the account is closed. 
3. Duty to provide notice of delinquency of accounts. A person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall, not later than 90 days after furnishing the information, notify the agency of the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the action. 
( b ) Duties of furnishers of information upon notice of dispute. 
( 1 ) In general. After receiving notice pursuant to section 611 ( a ) ( 2 ) [ 1681i ] of a dispute with regard to the completeness or accuracy of any information provided by a person to a consumer reporting agency, the person shall * conduct an investigation with respect to the disputed information; * review all relevant information provided by the consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 611 ( a ) ( 2 ) [ 168li ] ; * report the results of the investigation to the consumer reporting agency ; and * if the investigation finds that the information is incomplete or inaccurate, report those results to all other consumer reporting agencies to which the person furnished Simply stated, Furnishers and every CRA willfully and negligently failed to fulfill their mandatory obligations. States and federal authorities seem to attempt to license every possible type of employee, even dog sitters and dog catchers! If a doctor and lawyer needs to be licensed, then it is more important that a Metro 2 compliance expert is more important to be licensed to protect the privacy rights of consumers. Send employees back to Metro 2 school and refrain from permitting new untrained employees to inaccurately code data entries on consumer credit reports. Some system needs to be in place with comprehensive internal controls to protect consumers from XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX digit codes summarizing complaints without reading and forwarding disputes to Furnishers and other CRAs. We do not need untrained high school students doing the job required by certified EXPERTS. Simple Facially False Data is unable to be detected and corrected after repeated disputes where a Furnisher admits inaccuracies. The entire credit reporting system is a disgrace and the CFPB needs to punish individual violators. I demand complete 100 % compliance with all statutes, federal and state, as a precondition for receiving payment if any kind. CRAs created an unworkable monster with the creation of Metro 2 and statutory and punitive damages are the sole remedy to provide consumers with rights required by statutes. We need XXXX XXXX XXXX to continue to partner with CFPB XXXX XXXX XXXX, to lay down the hammer on violators and individual Officers who continue to XXXXXXXX XXXX consumers as part of their DNA. 

Wouldnt you agree that deliberate violations of the FCRA which unjustly reduces a credit score by XXXX points is wrong? How would you like it if your Mom and Dad were wrongly affected by life changing FCRA willful violations? How would you like it if your employer fired you, your spouse or your adult children for repeated willful violations of federal statutes? How would you like it if the CFPB banned you for life from participating in the business you have worked in for 20 years? How would you like it if all of your assets and sources of income were frozen and taken away? 

Have a heart and dont take your job so seriously that you will work for peanuts to damage innocent XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX who only seek to live the final few years of their life in peace without elder abuse!

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation