
Christine of Danville, VA on Nov. 5, 2002
Back in 9/'99 I had a telemarketer call from ACE pitching a credit repair credit card. He said I'd have a balance of $400 on a Visa. He told me that I would be sent a credit repair kit that would be billed to this Visa and that I could pay off the cost of the kit on my monthly billings. He also stated that there was a 30-day money-back guarantee if I decided I didn't want the card after viewing the kit.
It sounded good the way he stated it, so I agreed and gave him the info he wanted since I had had credit problems after a divorce. About two wks later I did recieve a credit "kit". I found it to be far too highly priced at $374, leaving my available credit at $26! I returned the kit by mail within the next 10 days. I never received any credit card. However, about a month or so later,I did recieve a bill stating I owed $374, so I called the phone # which referred me to another phone #, which referred me to yet another phone number (not toll-free).
I spoke to a very rude man who stated that there was nothing he could do, I owed the $ and had to pay it! I received another notice later, but ignored it. Eventually, they stopped and I thought everything had been taken care of on their end. This past summer I applied for a mortgage and was turned down, so I investigated my 3-bureau credit reports, and lo and behold, there was ACE stating that I was still owing them $374!
Not only was ACE listed, but they had sold "the account" to United Credit Nat'l Bank in Sioux Falls, SD. who also had reported the "alleged debt" to the credit bureaus! Wait! I'm not done! UCNB had then in turn sold the "account" to Household Bank in Las Vegas which also reported it on my credit report! Yes! these now are all listed as bad debts! I have since written certified letters to all 3 credit bureaus. Only two have responded within the required 30 days. (I have not yet heard from TransUnion.)
Experian has deleted ACE and UCNB but not HhB! Equifax has deleted UCNB but not Hhb (also listed as Household Credit Services on their report)and they have not deleted ACE. That leads me to believe that these companies are still "verifying my alleged debt" as of this date-11/4/02. I've heard that changing my credit report can take quite a long time since they believe the reporting companies over the consumer. Yet we're the victims of these scams and fraud schemes.