How To Get National Credit Systems Off Your Credit Report

What Are National Credit Systems And Are They Legitimate?

National Credit Systems, Inc. is an agency that specializes in collections. The headquarters of this agency is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The company recovers money that is owed to apartment managers and owners. They are a legitimate company that has been operating since 1991. If you have moved out prior to your lease expiring and you owe an apartment owner an early termination payment, you may be contacted by the NCS if you do not make this payment. 

This is because the NCS are one of the most renowned debt collection agencies that serve apartment managers and owners. The company has also stated that they have collected more debts than any other company within the United States. 

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Unfair Practice By The National Credit Systems Inc. 

If you believe that you are a victim of unfair practice by the NCS, you should be advised that it is far from easy to remove any collection amount from your overall report. This is because the NCS doesn’t make this an easy process. Many complaints have been filed against them by people who are in negotiations, and the company has also been previously sued for unfair collection practices. They have also allegedly sent false collection letters to consumers that violate their rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 

It is important to note that some debts are also time-barred which means that the borrower can no longer be sued after a certain period of time due to the statute of limitations. However, the NCS has allegedly attempted to make these collections outside of this time period. As such, they are renowned for being challenging to negotiate with. 

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Key Ways To Deal With The NCS

If you are currently engaging with anyone from the National Credit Systems, or any collections agency for that matter, it is important that you do not panic or avoid the situation entirely. However, there are some key steps that you can implement in order to negotiate with them in the most efficient and effective manner. These steps include the following: 

1. Knowing Your Rights

The rights of debt collectors and the rights of debtors are issued in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This act stipulates that a debt collector cannot contact you prior to 8AM or after 9PM on any given day. A debt collection cannot contact you at your place of employment and must issue all communications through a lawyer if you have one. A debt collections agency is also not able to communicate with your family members or friends or reveal sensitive information concerning your debts. 

A debt collector cannot issue any threats of physical harm nor can they threaten to harm your reputation or property. They are also not able to use any profanity in their communications with you. Prior to attempting to make any collections, they must also identify themselves with identification that relates to the company that they are representing. They are not allowed to claim to be officials related to the law, nor can they threaten you with imprisonment or threaten to seize your assets. 

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2. Validate The Debt

New regulations that came into effect on November 30th 2021 stipulate that any debt collections agency must inform you via a Notice of Debt within 5 days of making initial contact. This notice should include enhanced information in comparison to the notices that they sent prior to this date. If the notice that you receive is invalid or incomplete, then the debt is not collectible. Therefore, you should know what is required within any given notice. A notice that is valid should contain an itemization date, which can be one of five dates: the date that the last statement was provided to the consumer, the date of the last payment that was applied to the debt, the charge-off date, the judgment date if there is judicial involvement, and the date of the last transaction that caused the debt.  

This date will also help you to determine whether the statute of limitations has expired and when the debt will be removed from your credit report. The notice must also include information about the debt that includes: the debt collectors name and address, the consumer's name and address, whether the debt is directly related to a loan or other financial product, the name of the creditor, the account number associated with the specific debt, and the amount that is owed including any interest.

The notice of debt must also include a short statement that advises you of your rights that fall under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, including a statement that stipulates your right to dispute the payment of the debt within a 30 day period. Thus, the notice should also include a form that is returnable and allows you to declare your dispute for one of the following reasons: the debt is not yours, the amount is inaccurate, or another reason which will require added information. 

It is important to acquire all of this information as most debt collectors who have purchased debts prior to these new regulations taking effect will not include all of the required information in their notices. They also may not be able to receive this information from the creditor that they purchased the debt from, despite the fact that they may try to intimidate you into paying them. 

Therefore, if you receive a notice of debt, you should always thoroughly examine it in order to ascertain whether it complies with these regulations and is legally permissible. If it isn’t, then you should inform the debt collector that you will not engage in further contact until you have received a notice that complies with these regulations (Regulation F). 

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3. Always Dispute Your Debt

It is advised that you always dispute the debt within 30 days, otherwise it is usually presumed to be valid. If you choose to use a debt validation letter template, then you should also ensure that it is templated for notices that have been received after November 20th 2021. Then, send the debt collections agency a letter that addresses the following issues: ask for appropriate documentation that provides you with concrete verification that the debt is yours, including a copy of any original contract. You should also ask whether the statute of limitations has reached its expiry date, whilst the collections agency is required to tell you this information, they also cannot lie. Finally, you should ask for a copy of the last billing statement that was issued by the original creditor as well as ascertaining whether the NCS is licensed to operate within your specific state.  

It is crucial to note that if the NCS cannot prove that the debt is yours, they will not be able to collect it and it will be removed from your credit report by proxy of the fact that they are unable to report it to the appropriate bureaus. The onus is always on the debt collections agency to provide proof that the debt is yours and thus, they will be required by law to issue the removal from your credit report if they cannot find any concrete proof that the debt belongs to you. 

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4. Remember The Statute Of Limitations

Checking the debt against the statute of limitations within your individual state is imperative. This is because, if the statute of limitations has indeed expired, the NCS will not be able to pursue any form of legal action against you. This statute of limitations time period begins on the date that the debt was initially reported against you. It is also important to note that making any form of payment is an acknowledgement that the debt is yours and this will also restart any statute of limitations. 

Whilst the expiration of the statute of limitations will not remove the debt from your credit report, if it has expired, then it is highly likely that the seven-year period of it appearing on your report may be nearly expired also. In this instance, the best option may be to wait it out until it expires from your credit report. 

Conclusion

To conclude, the best way to ensure that National Credit Systems are removed from your credit report is to contest the debt in the first place and dispute it within 30 days of the notice of debt being issued. However, if you are unable to do this, then you should check the statute of limitations within your state and ascertain the expiry date for the debt.

It is also important to note that the NCS has allegedly engaged in unfair practices previously and thus, they are renowned for being difficult to communicate with. In this instance, it is better to negotiate with the NCS by hiring a lawyer as they will have to communicate entirely through your lawyer and this will make the process less burdensome for yourself. 

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