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From a recent NYTimes Articlequote:Out-of-statute debt is readily available on various Web sites that cater to the collections industry. For instance, a Chaska, Minn., company called Credit Card Reseller is offering an $8 million portfolio of Bank of America credit card accounts, which on average have a balance of $4,981 and were written off by the bank in 2003.  That's some insane margin. You could make a FORTUNE being polite and offering to delete for 10-50 bucks (all that is required is not responding to Equifax right?).
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Aug 1, 2010 16:05
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Too bad trying to collect on any of that is illegal, and anyone who calls you on it has you on the hook for a grand. You could conceivably still make money if the percentage of suckers is high enough, but at that stage, why not go in for the full amount owed instead of demanding a piddly 50 bucks while using a term your victims might think to look up and thereby find out that they don't actually owe you anything? I mean, if you *wanted* to be a scumbag and make money on those.
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Aug 1, 2010 20:02
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Thanks to CubsWoo and all of the other goons who have posted their experiences and advice. It's been very informative and has given me at least some plan of attack for restoring my credit. Here's my current situation: I have seven negative marks on my reports (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). quote:1st Financial Bank USA - Credit Card account, closed with a high balance of $1,146. They never sold the debt to any collections agency, and offered me an opportunity to settle the debt for fraction of the balance (with the added "bonus" of showing the account as "settled in full"). Sadly, I knew nothing about PFDs (or this thread) at the time and accepted the deal. I checked my credit report again, and saw that 1FBUSA had changed the account status from "Delinquent - Canceled by credit grantor" to "Closed - Credit card lost or stolen" with a perfect payment history and "paid as agreed" comments. Thanks in advance for your help!
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Aug 1, 2010 20:59
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How can I find out who owns my debts? I have a few and I haven't received calls or letters for any of them in almost a year. I'm interested in paying/dealing with them but I have no idea who to contact. The info on my credit reports differ from one bureau to another.
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Aug 5, 2010 15:23
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BusinessWallet posted:How can I find out who owns my debts? I have a few and I haven't received calls or letters for any of them in almost a year. I'm interested in paying/dealing with them but I have no idea who to contact. The info on my credit reports differ from one bureau to another. Deny them all and the ones that remain on the credit report will be the correct entries.
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Aug 5, 2010 16:36
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What do you mean? Should I send a debt verification letter to all the addresses or something? I have my credit report from all three bureaus, and the listing for each account is under a different name for a few of them.
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Aug 5, 2010 18:26
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BusinessWallet posted:What do you mean? Should I send a debt verification letter to all the addresses or something? I have my credit report from all three bureaus, and the listing for each account is under a different name for a few of them. Send a dispute to each of the credit reports for the different entries. In fact I would just send a blanket dispute for any negative you have to all three CRAs. The ones that don't verify with them will be removed, the rest will be updated with the correct data. Then you can start sending out the debt verification letters to the collectors directly.
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Aug 5, 2010 18:36
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Forgive me for being dumb but what do you mean a blanket dispute to all CRAs? How would I send that letter? Is there a template somewhere that I could use to send out a letter like that?
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Aug 5, 2010 19:05
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BusinessWallet posted:Forgive me for being dumb but what do you mean a blanket dispute to all CRAs? How would I send that letter? Is there a template somewhere that I could use to send out a letter like that? You could do it online if you want. Each of the CRAs has a portal for disputing entries. I personally like doing it by mail though...makes the timelines more clear so you know that the agency violated by placing deleted info on like the 32 day. Again I beleive each of the CRAs has a template you can use when you grab your credit report from them...and I also think you can do it by phone as well.
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Aug 5, 2010 19:52
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So if you send a verification letter and the 3rd-party debt collector doesn't respond, can you somehow get the ORIGINAL creditors to take the bad mark off of your credit card? Or do you essentially need to get a Dunning letter from the ORIGINAL creditor, send a verification, and then get nothing back? In other words, these verification letters are stoping the sham collectors, but it's not helping my credit score.
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Aug 6, 2010 03:50
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beergod posted:So if you send a verification letter and the 3rd-party debt collector doesn't respond, can you somehow get the ORIGINAL creditors to take the bad mark off of your credit card? Or do you essentially need to get a Dunning letter from the ORIGINAL creditor, send a verification, and then get nothing back? Send a dispute form to the credit bureaus. If the collection agencies can't verify your debt to you, then they can't to the bureaus and they'll wipe them off your report.
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Aug 6, 2010 05:14
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Knightmare posted:Send a dispute form to the credit bureaus. If the collection agencies can't verify your debt to you, then they can't to the bureaus and they'll wipe them off your report. Right, they'll wipe the collection agency stuff off my report. My question is can you get the ORIGINAL debtor's negative marks to come off somehow via a validation letter if the original debtor has sold your debt to a debt collector?
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Aug 6, 2010 05:21
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beergod posted:Right, they'll wipe the collection agency stuff off my report. My question is can you get the ORIGINAL debtor's negative marks to come off somehow via a validation letter if the original debtor has sold your debt to a debt collector? If they don't verify, the debt falls off. In some cases the OC will not verify after they sold the debt to limit liability. YMMV, but I've found it very easy to get the OC to drop the entry because they don't want to hassel with verifying incorrectly. It's just not worth it for them.
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Aug 6, 2010 15:00
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I recently found a judgment for a credit card on my credit report. I was never served and it took me a really long time to actually find out where to contact to find out when and where I was served. After doing a bit of research I finally found the right people. I finally got ahold of my case ID at the city small claims court. I asked when and where I was served and the clerk who answered asked me what I look like. I told her my description (male, brown hair, 5'9", glasses, thin, 23 years old) and she said that the person who was served said they were me and met most of the description. I asked her what that was and she said early to mid 30's (I have an absolute baby face, most people assume I like 16 or 17), brown hair, average height, glasses. She told the date was July of 2009. The funny part is, the address I was "served" at I hadn't even lived at for over a year and a half from that date. At that time, I didn't even have glasses. I know that CapOne has my correct address. The court wants me to provide documentation or a bill with a mailing address from July of 2009 to prove that it wasn't me. The funny thing is that in late June of 2009, I had my license renewed to the address I was living at the time. Could I just show them that and a few pay stubs? I'm not even sure if I have any bills or anything from when I lived there, a lot of stuff has gotten lost in transition from house to house. One funny thing I did find was a late notice from Capital One which was addressed to the apartment building I lived in directly after the one where they "served" me at. It came a few months BEFORE I was "served" which means they had updated information, but went to an old address anyway. Do you think just having my updated address on my license would be enough for the court? I could provide contact info of the landlord of that apartment building to verify that I was no longer living there, would something like that work? I have every intention of paying this off, but I don't want this on my credit report. I would have dealt with this in court if I'd been informed, but this company of heathens sent some slimeball somewhere I haven't lived in years and said a person who doesn't really match my extremely generic profile was me with no verification whatsoever. And also, if I was served July 2009 an the judgment was October 2009, wouldn't I have heard something about it by now? The Sheriff hasn't showed up at my door, my wages haven't been garnished, no one's contacted me or my employer about anything. This whole thing is really disconcerting. If they'd actually done this legitimately I would have handed them a check.
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Aug 6, 2010 16:06
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BusinessWallet posted:I recently found a judgment for a credit card on my credit report. I was never served and it took me a really long time to actually find out where to contact to find out when and where I was served. After doing a bit of research I finally found the right people. You ought to crosspost this to the legal questions thread.
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Aug 6, 2010 17:44
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LorneReams posted:If they don't verify, the debt falls off. In some cases the OC will not verify after they sold the debt to limit liability. YMMV, but I've found it very easy to get the OC to drop the entry because they don't want to hassel with verifying incorrectly. It's just not worth it for them. So just to clarify: I should find my original credit account numbers (Experian won't give me the full number, which is a pain in the rear end), and then send DV letters to the OC on each account? And if they don't reply within 30 days they have to come off etc.?
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Aug 7, 2010 03:12
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beergod posted:So just to clarify: I would dispute with the reporting agencies first.
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Aug 8, 2010 15:57
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I just got a letter from a collection agency for $1848 owed to a unversity I used to attend. I ACTUALLY only owed them $1322 before the collection agency magically made the debt rise. I would like to attend this university again in the future and I'm certain they won't let me unless I repay the debt in full. I not only need the hit on my credit report removed but I also need to only have to pay the original debt. This debt was from 2009. If I contact the university what should I tell/ask them? If I can pay back the $1322 to get on good terms with the university then how do I get the collection agency off my back after that (and also remove the $1848 debt off my credit report)? I have about 2 more weeks I can return a letter to the collection agency to dispute the claim. OpusD fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Aug 11, 2010 |
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Aug 11, 2010 19:32
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So for the past 2 two months my house has been getting calls at all hours every day from these debt collectors looking for somebody named Lisa Smith. There is no Lisa Smith here, there never has been. We got a new number about two years ago and it is a number they have on file. These people are incredibly rude, they completely don't believe you when you tell them there is no Lisa here they just think your screwing with them. There no way to prove a negative, there is no Lisa Smith here but they just will not stop calling. I am perfectly willing to sue the poo poo out of these mother fuckers if there is any reasonable cause to do it. I have already told them to stop calling obviously. What course of action should I take?
Conqueror Bounma fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Aug 16, 2010 |
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Aug 16, 2010 01:48
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In 2000, I moved from the U.S. to Canada and in about 2004 I started attending an online school and I got some student loans to pay for it (american student loans). I believe originally they were granted by the government then citi bought them out (if that makes any sense, I remember something along the lines of that happening). Anyway, after two years I had to stop attending due to issues with my wife at the time, we ended up moving to another apartment because we couldn't afford the one we were in. I believe I got some "hey you need to make a payment" letters at my old residence, but at the new residence I haven't been contacted in about 4 years (still in Canada)... So i'm working again and want to pay this money back, however I'm not even sure where to start. Do I get my credit report pulled to see who owns the debt? Even though student loans can't be discharged through bankruptcy, do you think there's any chance they would be willing to settle with a reduced lump sum? I don't believe they can garnish my wages since I don't live in the country but just looking for some advice on where to start. Thanks
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Aug 17, 2010 22:20
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OzzyBlood posted:In 2000, I moved from the U.S. to Canada and in about 2004 I started attending an online school and I got some student loans to pay for it (american student loans). Definitely have to see who owns the debt first. If you have a lump sum saved, absolutely get in contact with them to see if they'd take it (don't offer what you've saved, offer lower and work from there). I remember some people in BFC saying it worked for them, but as student loans don't go away they may not take the offer.
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Aug 17, 2010 22:57
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Changed my mind. Sorry about that.
Pheeets fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Aug 19, 2010 |
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Aug 19, 2010 21:46
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Should I send a request for debt verification straight to the collection agency, or should I use a middleman? And what is the process of having that middleman? Just curious as I sent a request for verification about 3 weeks ago straight to the collection agency and haven't gotten any correspondence back. Will they just claim that they never received the request? Or received an empty envelope? I sent it certified.
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Aug 24, 2010 01:29
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spidoman posted:Should I send a request for debt verification straight to the collection agency, or should I use a middleman? And what is the process of having that middleman? They have 30 days to respond right? You don't need a middleman, the certified mail will suffice.
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Aug 24, 2010 03:09
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I send a debt validation request letter (using pretty much the one in the OP, with my account numbers which they provided when they sent me the first letter) to a collection agency, they responded a week later with two letters which I received today. One was a letter explaining that they had received my request, and had ordered the appropriate documents, etc. The other is called "DEBT VALIDATION" at the top and under that, it says the original creditor, World Financial Network National Bank, then the account number, which they already provided me, then the balance, also already provided. Below that is personal information, which has my address, which I provided them when I mailed the DVL, then last 4 of my social which I did not provide. So basically they only info they sent was a copy of the info from the first letter, but with the last 4 digits of my social. Don't they have to provide more? Like the contract details, signature, things like that? This doesn't seem too legit.
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Aug 26, 2010 22:15
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I had a Bank of America Mastercard in college that I didn't use all that much, and I set it to automatic payments with a low balance thinking repayment history would be good for my credit score (dumb). I moved and didn't follow my old bank account, and the card bounced a payment (without notifying me, even though I had money in the account specifically for the card), and subsequently started taking the monthly payments, plus a late fee, plus charging a new late fee every single month (for a drat $10 payment). By the time I noticed, the balance had gone from $150 to $600 dollars and I'd payed over $300 in fees. Since I was pissed at the company and they wouldn't negotiate with me, I let it go to collections and paid them half to settle, but I didn't know about the pay for delete thing. This was about a year ago. So my question (after that long backstory) is can I call up the collections people now and ask for a pay for delete? It might be worth it even if I pay them an extra $50 or $100 dollars. Or is it too late and they'll just ask who the hell I am, or tell me to gently caress off?
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Aug 28, 2010 18:28
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So, I disputed some things on my credit report and just now pulled my report. There are a few lines added to a few of the things that state: Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA requirements Customer disputed account - reported by subscriber. Dispute resolved; customer disagrees Subscriber reports dispute resolved - consumer disagrees. I'm imagining that's bad. I haven't received anything from any of these companies even through I sent off disputes 30 days ago. Are these terribly bad and am I screwed?
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Aug 30, 2010 04:08
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I checked my credit report and had a question. I had a Capital One card that a collection agency was trying to collect on. However, checking the credit report, I see that the credit is still from Capital One, and is listed as a "charge-off" Should I be dealing with the collection agency, or Capital one?
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Aug 30, 2010 07:51
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I don't even know where to start dealing with all this. Back in January my girlfriend lost her job and I became the sole provider for us (me, her, and her 3 kids). Around the same time my minimum payment on my main credit card doubled. I chose rent+groceries over paying my credit card. I had two credit cards, the balance on one was around 10,000 dollars, and the other had a balance of $100. Today I got ahold of 3 letters that had been sent to my old address notifying me of intent to collect or whatever. The first is from Citi card offering a settlement on the 10,000 of 6,000. It was sent on June 14th. The other two are from NCO Financial Systems Inc and Genpact Services, both trying to collect the same $310 for GE Money Bank. I don't know how it went from $100 to $300, or why they are both trying to collect the same debt. The letter from NCO doesn't have a date on it, and the one from Genpact was mailed on June 29. Either way it looks like I'm past the 30 days to dispute any of these. I have no idea what to do, or where to start.
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Aug 31, 2010 21:37
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I just got a call today from a collection agency over some credit card debt, and intend to request a debt verification letter, but there's one problem; I haven't received a dunning letter because they don't have my current address. Should I just send them a request directly, and declare my address that way? Do I have any options for dispute if the dunning letter was sent over 30 days ago to a defunct address?
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Sep 1, 2010 16:33
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I love this thread, and have read it end to end. I don't have a question, but if you're one of the people who does, I strongly recommend reading at least the first 5-10 pages of this thread. A lot of questions are recurring, and they've been very well answered. Keep up the great thread!
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Sep 1, 2010 20:06
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What do you do if the people calling on the phone refuse to provide a full or real address, I've tried looking it up online and can barely find very much besides other people in the same situation and a few different addresses from all over the country as well as others saying its a scam. The name is "Vincent P Cignarale" and any help would be appreciated.
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Sep 9, 2010 00:02
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Well good news and bad news. Capital One handed off the debts to a collection agency, but upon request of validation all the collection agency did was send it back to Capital One. So I guess they were just a subset of Capital One. After sending capital one a request for pay for delete for the full amount I got no response. I called up Capital One and they said that they didn't respond because the answer is no. They tried telling me that they couldn't not report the accounts, after I read them the actual laws that said that they didn't have to report the accounts they changed their tone to well we aren't going to do it. After 3 supervisors and two hours on the phone I decided to just pay it in full without the delete. Feels great to be done with the debt, no more credit cards. Just student loans now. It's a great feeling. My credit score won't be repaired as quickly as I would like, but that's okay. tl;dr: Capital One refuses Pay for Deletes, but it's nice to be able to say I no longer have any credit card debt. Reason posted:What do you do if the people calling on the phone refuse to provide a full or real address, I've tried looking it up online and can barely find very much besides other people in the same situation and a few different addresses from all over the country as well as others saying its a scam. The name is "Vincent P Cignarale" and any help would be appreciated. If they don't provide a real address then they aren't legit. However, you could tell them, "Alright fine, send me proof of this debt at this address [Give them your address.]" Or just ask them where you are supposed to send your payment. Then send request for verification letters and all other correspondence to that address. Sudden Loud Noise fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Sep 11, 2010 |
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Sep 11, 2010 01:19
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I remember reading this topic soon after it was created and now I'd appreciate some advice. Back in August 2000 (when I was 17) I sold some Diablo 2 stuff on Ebay and was paid through Paypal. The buyer issued a chargeback and Paypal asked me to provide a purchase receipt, which I obviously could not do. I explained to them why I could not and from then on never heard anything from Paypal again. My balance was listed as $0.00 where earlier it had been -$xxx.xx. I took all of this to mean that I was ok. A couple weeks ago I got a letter from a collection agency for the sum. I replied with a DV letter and they replied with what I can only assume is proof of the debt (having no idea what specifically that entails). The charge-off date is March 29, 2002. I checked my credit on one of the 3 agencies and it wasn't listed on the report. Is that unusual? Could it show on the other(s)? Does being 17 at the time have any effect? The actual transaction date was over 10 years ago at this point but the charge-off date was almost 2 years later. If I was going to wait it out at this point which date would it be based off of? I've mostly resigned myself to going for the pay-for-delete route but I like money so if anyone has any better ideas I'd love to hear them. Should I end up negotiating for a pay-for-delete should I do it through mail as well? Thanks
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Sep 20, 2010 01:54
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Yip Yips posted:I remember reading this topic soon after it was created and now I'd appreciate some advice. Back in August 2000 (when I was 17) I sold some Diablo 2 stuff on Ebay and was paid through Paypal. The buyer issued a chargeback and Paypal asked me to provide a purchase receipt, which I obviously could not do. I explained to them why I could not and from then on never heard anything from Paypal again. My balance was listed as $0.00 where earlier it had been -$xxx.xx. I took all of this to mean that I was ok. The original debt is 10 years old and the collections are 8 years old. IF this ever made it to a credit report, it probably dropped off at least a year ago. If you go after it now, you may end up with it back on your credit report. Just forget about it.
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Sep 20, 2010 04:25
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Also, you could probably send them a letter saying that the statute of limitations has run out, and any further attempts to collect the debt are a violation of federal law. Then, if they continue to collect the debt in any way, send them a friendly intent to sue letter and invite them to settle.
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Sep 20, 2010 19:13
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Also I don't think they can go after it if you were 17 at the time.
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Sep 21, 2010 02:49
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I got a fix-it ticket in 2002. The officer filled out the paperwork as me having to show that the light was fixed the day before I received the ticket. I went to the station the next morning and was told it was cleared up. Fixed the light, had it inspected, paid the $10. In 2006 I was visiting my old house and was given a collection letter from the county. I tried to resolve it at the county building (office # was on the letter) but was forced to talk to the agency. I disputed the debt, sent in what paperwork I had, and never heard back. Today I received an earnings withholding order from the State of California. Bill is $327. I think I saw the original ticket in my things when I moved back to CA (which could at least prove the error on the part of the officer), but other than that I have no idea where any of my paperwork is. I can pay, but would rather not. According to the letter I will be missing the full amount of the debt out of my paycheck come Wednesday. I do plan on calling the provided number in the morning. Will this affect my credit? Is it even worth disputing at this point?
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Sep 21, 2010 03:28
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So my apartment complex is being greasy, having switched management companies in the time that I've lived there, they "lost" the addendum that I signed to a two-year lease that lets me leave any time after one year with a 2-month notice. As I can't find my original copy, they are now claiming I (and my roommate) are responsible for $13,000 for leaving 4 months early (having given 2 months notice at end of August and this will be 20 months into a 24 month lease term). Monthly rent is $1700 btw, for the whole place. Thinking about just up and peacing out to see what happens with collections agencies. Anyone had any experience with apartment agencies? edit: feh this belongs in the legal questions thread because I gotta get some rental law behind me Gunshow Poophole fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Sep 21, 2010 |
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Sep 21, 2010 20:31
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transient posted:I can pay, but would rather not. According to the letter I will be missing the full amount of the debt out of my paycheck come Wednesday. I do plan on calling the provided number in the morning. You could look at the statute of limitations to see if this is an outdated debt. Might be if it really goes back to 2002. Not having paperwork isn't helping you, especially if there was a judgment against you which I think is the only way they can put an earnings withholding on you. See what you can find out when you call them in the morning. It may be on your credit, check up on it tonight so you can gather dates and such before calling.
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Sep 21, 2010 21:15
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