Consumer complaint received 2020-06-02
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
My understanding is that the Metro 2 Format is the industry standard for reporting accurate, complete, and timely information and that The data should be reported according to the specified definitions in order to process credit information correctly. You are in non-compliance by not reporting Base Segment Field 25 Date of First Delinquency ( DOFD ) and this is an account placed for collection. You report XX/XX/2017 ( The Open date that you took over the account ) but failed to report the Date of first Delinquency. The purge date is not the same as the Date of First delinquency, it is an estimation based on the Date of First Delinquency. 

Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit, and loss generally may not be included in consumer reports after seven years, as afterwards the information is considered obsolete. The seven-year period begins either 180 days after the first missed payment or when the account is placed for collection or charged to profit and loss. Unless informed by the creditor or other furnisher about a delinquency, a CRA has no way of knowing when the delinquency commenced and therefore when the information must be eliminated from reports as obsolete. Thus, the FCRA mandates that any person who provides information about a delinquent account placed for collection or written off must also inform the CRA when the delinquency commenced. 

This noncompliance occurs even though the FCRA specifies that the date of delinquency for an account placed for collection must be a date that immediately preceded the placement. It also occurs even though the Metro 2 Format requires debt collectors to use the date of delinquency from the original creditor and instructs debt collectors who do not know the date of first delinquency with the original creditor to use the earlier date for when the account was opened by the creditor. 

15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ( a ) ( 5 ) ; FTC Staff Summary 605 ( a ) ( 4 ) item 1, 605 ( c ) item 1, and 605 ( c ) item 3, reproduced at Appx. D [ 2 ], infra. See also FTC Staff Summary 623 ( a ) ( 5 ) ( A ) item 2 ( Furnishers of consumer information to CRAs must provide the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded placement for collection, charge to profit or loss, or similar action. They may not substitute an alternate, later date such as a paid-to-date denoting the due date of the last paid periodic installment. The month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the charge-off is the month the first payment was missed, regardless of how long after delinquency the creditor waits to report the charge-off to the CRA. ). 

The information that you have furnished to the Consumer Reporting Agencies are in violation of the following : FCRA 1681i ( 5 ) ( A ) ( i ) ( ii ) : ( 5 ) Treatment of inaccurate or unverifiable information ( A ) In general, If, after any reinvestigation under paragraph ( 1 ) of any information disputed by a consumer, an item of the information is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or can not be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall ( i ) promptly delete that item of information from the file of the consumer, or modify that item of information, as appropriate, based on the results of the reinvestigation ; and ( ii ) promptly notify the furnisher of that information that the information has been modified or deleted from the file of the consumer. 

And, 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ( a ) ( 5 ) 623 ( a ) ( 5 ) ( A ) item 2 ( Furnishers of consumer information to CRAs must provide the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded placement for collection, charge to profit or loss, or similar action. They may not substitute an alternate, later date such as a paid-to-date denoting the due date of the last paid periodic installment. The month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the charge-off is the month the first payment was missed, regardless of how long after delinquency the creditor waits to report the charge-off to the CRA. ). 

5 ) Duty to provide notice of delinquency of accounts ( A ) In general 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 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. 

( B ) Rule of constructionFor purposes of this paragraph only, and provided that the consumer does not dispute the information, a person that furnishes information on a delinquent account that is placed for collection, charged for profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action, complies with this paragraph, if ( i ) the person reports the same date of delinquency as that provided by the creditor to which the account was owed at the time at which the commencement of the delinquency occurred, if the creditor previously reported that date of delinquency to a consumer reporting agency ; ( ii ) the creditor did not previously report the date of delinquency to a consumer reporting agency, and the person establishes and follows reasonable procedures to obtain the date of delinquency from the creditor or another reliable source and reports that date to a consumer reporting agency as the date of delinquency ; or ( iii ) the creditor did not previously report the date of delinquency to a consumer reporting agency and the date of delinquency can not be reasonably obtained as provided in clause ( ii ), the person establishes and follows reasonable procedures to ensure the date reported as the date of delinquency precedes the date on which the account is placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action, and reports such date to the credit reporting agency.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation