Consumer complaint received 2022-05-23
Company: Harris & Harris, Ltd.
State: TN
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I retrieved a copy of my credit report and immediately noted that Harris & Harris LTD had inserted a derogatory entry on my credit reports and had not sent me any correspondence ( dunning letter ) prior to doing which would have granted me 30 days as required by law to dispute the validity of the alleged debt. To that end, I communicated in writing ( see attached ), to the credit bureaus regarding this inaccurate, erroneous, unverifiable entry being placed on my credit reports. The credit bureau responded, see attached. The bureau responded that the company verified the information as correct. How so? A third-party collection company can only validate a debt. The original creditor is the only one able to verify a debt. Nonetheless, Harris & Harris LTD did not advise the bureaus to update the account status to disputed. This is a violation. The dispute with the bureaus was the first notification Harris & Harris LTD received and should have advised the bureaus at the time they allegedly validated the information that they should update the entry to disputed. 
Harris & Harris LTD did not and as you can see in the attached document, it does not denote it was in dispute. This violation in and of itself warrants Harris & Harris LTD to delete this entry. My continued efforts to remove this entry from my reports was with a direct dispute to the company. If they were previously aware of the dispute from the bureaus and advised the bureaus that the entry was correct, they were negligent in not advising the bureaus to update the account to disputed. Harris & Harris LTD did not provide the comprehensive account history for this account; including but not limited to all invoices, payments, notices, documents that bear my original signature.

Harris & Harris LTD Services did not : Provide a copy of the financial responsibility page Provide a copy of my signature with the provider of service to release my medical information to you Cease any credit bureau reporting until the debt has been validated by me The ACA ( Affordable Care Act ) provides that a company should not report any alleged medical debt on a consumer report prior to six months. Harris & Harris blatantly ignored this law. See attached credit reports whereby reflect the account was opened in XX/XX/XXXX with them and they began reporting in XX/XX/XXXX. This was a mere 4 months, which definitely demonstrates their negligence. Again, no dunning letter was sent and the company inserted this inaccurate entry on all three of my credit reports. This entry is continuously updated each month which further diminishes my creditworthiness and has caused me to be denied credit. It is puzzling to say the least, that Harris & Harris can update a derogatory entry on my credit report but not respond to the certified disputes I have sent them and none have been returned as undeliverable.

Harris & Harris LTD did not furnish an agreement reflecting their authority to collect on this alleged debt in the state of Tennessee. Harris & Harris LTD did not provide a copy of all terms and conditions of the account from its alleged inception. They did not provide the name and address of the bonding agent in case legal action becomes necessary. Harris & Harris LTD blatantly violated my consumer rights and continues to do so. This alleged debt lacks veracity and verification ; further since they are violating FDCPA mandates to provide me notification prior to inserting it on my credit report and ( 2 ) failing to cease collection efforts and reporting when they received the letter of dispute, this entry should be deleted from my credit report immediately and Harris & Harris LTD should r
emunerate me for the violations.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation