Credit Report reflects failed deposit from UB

[TheTemplar]

This is a long story and I do not have much time, so I will try to make it quick. This is also a reply to a user post about rolling FT for 2k, and they were wondering about any repercussions.

About 7 months before black Friday, I made a deposit on UB using Echeck. I made this deposit simply to trade funds onto another poker site. Well by the time I got the money on and got a hold of him, he blew his whole roll. I didn't want money on UB, and had not played there since 2007. So I decided to gamble and try to run it up. I played some slots, blackjack, and a few Nl games. In a week or two I ran my initial deposit of $100 up to 8 or 9 hundred. ( I cannot remember exactly )

Fast forward a couple months. I decided to cash out my winnings, but I noticed a few weeks back that my initial deposit has yet to clear. I contacted the support team about the problem, and they soon had me on the phone with the cashier dept. and the security dept. After a quick chat, they did not know why it was not taken out of my checking account. We decided that they will just deduct it from my poker balance, which was absolutely fine with me. I cashed out the rest of my balance, and received it 5 days later.

Fast forward to the end of March/early April. I starting receiving phone calls and emails almost daily. They were from a company called Mohawk Financial Services. I blew them off because I thought they were just fishing scam emails and phone calls. I do not have any outstanding debts, or anything in collections.

This past June I went to buy a new car. While signing the paperwork, I grabbed the credit report they pulled, and was pretty surprised to see a bill for $100 in collections. It was from Mohawk Financial Services. I went home that day wondering wtf it could be? They I remembered the calls and emails I previously received. So I simply called the number and paid the $100, because I did not want anything detrimental on my credit.

I realize now after talking to a few close friends that it was in fact a collection agency used by UB. Of course UB was unreachable. Why UB could actually put something on my credit report is beyond me. Why they would after I actually called them, told them about their problem, and agreed to give them back the $100 they were missing, blows my mind.

So if you have rolled one of these sites willingly or unintentionally, you might want to check your credit report. If there are any typos I am sorry, I wrote this pretty quick. Any questions, feel free to ask.

[BuSTMeANuT]

This happened to my brother on AP. It sounds like the employee that took the funds out of your account didn't fix the number in the books. It would be fucked up if GBT wound up buying FT and hiring a collection agency but I doubt it.

[Dan Druff]

I understand why you paid the $100 because you were in the middle of a new car purchase, and it wasn't worth the hassle to fight it. (I assume it was holding up your loan, right?)

However, other than situations where you need your credit fixed immediately, you can write to the credit agencies and explain what happened.

I would suggest throwing in some bullshit to increase your chances of the charge being taken off.

Write something like the following:

Dear [credit agency],

I am writing concerning the credit entry for [amount] owed to [company name].

This debt is not legitimate, and should be removed from my credit.

[company name] is a front for an illegal internet gambling site. I did not ever authorize this charge. On April 15, 2011, [company name] was shut down by the US Department of Justice for crimes involving fraud, money laundering, and several other criminal counts. I was unfortunately a victim of this company.

Please remove this illegitimate charge from my credit report.

Sincerely,

[your name]

You can also see your credit report for free by going to http://annualcreditreport.com

[TheTemplar]

Thanks for the info Druff. For the car dealership, it was not a big deal. I still received the loan no problem. I paid it right after that because I didn't want anything on my report, especially from a collection agency. I found out a couple of weeks later that it was in fact UB. If I knew this before, I simply wouldn't of paid it. Then went on to what you stated in the post before.

I still do want it removed, although it is shown as paid. So Thanks for the info. I will definitely send a letter later this week.

[SixToedPete]

I understand why you paid the $100 because you were in the middle of a new car purchase, and it wasn't worth the hassle to fight it. (I assume it was holding up your loan, right?)

However, other than situations where you need your credit fixed immediately, you can write to the credit agencies and explain what happened.

I would suggest throwing in some bullshit to increase your chances of the charge being taken off.

Write something like the following:

Dear [credit agency],

I am writing concerning the credit entry for [amount] owed to [company name].

This debt is not legitimate, and should be removed from my credit.

[company name] is a front for an illegal internet gambling site. I did not ever authorize this charge. On April 15, 2011, [company name] was shut down by the US Department of Justice for crimes involving fraud, money laundering, and several other criminal counts. I was unfortunately a victim of this company.

Please remove this illegitimate charge from my credit report.

Sincerely,

[your name]

You can also see your credit report for free by going to http://annualcreditreport.com

This is very good advice.

I agree with Druff that with a car purchase looming you paid the debt for expediency. Of course paying the debt will not remove the negative item from your credit reports so disputing the item as Druff recommended would be wise.

If your dispute doesn't resolve the issue you have the option of directly asking the original creditor to investigate the item. It's splitting legal hairs but if you go this route you will not be 'disputing' the item with the OC, merely asking them to investigate it.

That's because the FCRA does not require an original creditor to verify a direct dispute from a consumer BUT another law, FACTA, does require the OC to 'investigate' an item when a consumer asks and only after the consumer has first disputed it with the credit bureau.

It's also wise to check your state laws governing collection agencies and credit reporting. For example, an obscure Massachusetts statute makes it a violation for any collection agency to report 'any' data about a MA resident under the collection agency's name to any credit reporting agency. It doesn't matter if it's paid or not, it cannot be reported under the collection agency's name.

Collection agencies typically ignore this law but a knowledgeable MA consumer can sue and win in small claims court.

[TheTemplar]

Wow Pete, great advice I appreciate it. I am in the process of moving, but I will def look into it when stuff settles down.