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2508084 posted:So, I'll just keep an eye out for it to re-appear anytime in the future and take care of it then, unless theres something pre-emptive I can do. Would calling the hospital (it was all at one hospital) do anything at all? I wouldn't think it would, but it doesn't hurt to ask someone who knows way more than I do. If it's a matter of $5,000 in debt and you want to be square with them in exchange for the $1,000 you have on hand, sure, I'd call them. My rule of thumb is: if they're not hurting you by calling you all the time or constantly hitting your credit report, lay low and don't provoke them. If you get good at this (which in the grand scheme of things, is a fate I wouldn't wish on very many people), you can prod old JDB's for fun and profit. But if it's something actionable and they're leaving you alone, leave them alone. quote:The second DV is going out tomorrow! It is okay to send an "unsolicited" DV, right? This CA hasn't contacted me at all about the debt (Credit one bank, the account I honestly don't remember having, but they verified to the CRA when I disputed it there so I guess I did have it.). I have the account number and their address from the credit report when the CRA's updated them all. Don't forget to ask the CRA's how they verified. You're entitled to that information under the law, and the CRA's aren't delighted about complying -- usually because they do it online without involving a real person, which is a no-no if you want to start invoking FCRA rights.
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Dec 18, 2010 06:41
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antisocial posted:I found out from the court officer that the levy was from a law office and they only gave me a number to contact them and the amount I owe for a credit card. Liens are a massive pain in the rear end. At least until Monday, there's probably little or nothing you can do to have the account unfrozen (but try calling the law office tomorrow anyway in case they're staffed, but they likely aren't.) Depending on the law office, the amount you owe, and the Christmas spirit, you may be able to get them to unfreeze the account with a promise to pay or some form of down payment. But, again, they've done enough to start seizure proceedings on your accounts, so there's a very big chance they won't do anything but extract what they've been awarded on their schedule. If you were never served, you might be able to get the judgment vacated but that's going to be difficult to do on short notice, with Christmas in a week and most dockets on reduced schedules. Also it looks like New Jersey has rules allowing service to be done via newspaper posting if a defendant cannot be reached by other means, so it's possible they did that. Either way, talk to the law office ASAP and let us know what they say.
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Dec 19, 2010 02:07
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CubsWoo posted:Once you start getting the letters in the mail, you need to be proactive. Usually, if you don't respond to a collector within 30 days, they can assume the debt is valid and you lose a bunch of your rights. The first paperwork they send you a what's called a dunning letter. It basically states that they own your debt, this is what you owe, if you dispute the debt contact them within 30 days - pretty standard. Save all the paperwork you get - you may need it later, especially if they've made mistakes on them. First, thank you for this awesome thread. I've tried to read through most of it in order to avoid repeating anything else, but here is the short version of my situation: Because of my own college-kid great ideas, I got into some credit card debt. The largest being a $4,500 line from citi, along with a few others around the $500 mark. Pretty much all of these debts originated in the 2005-2007 timeframe, after which I (stupidly) pretty much just ignored them, along with any attempts from anyone to reach me about it. Since then, just as a result of life, I've moved a bunch and changed my phone number about 5 or 6 times. I even spent a year out of the country while deployed with the Army. Suffice to say, any and all collectors have lost the trail on me. I don't receive any letters or phone calls of any kind anymore, presumably because none of these people know how to reach me anymore. And after having only recently really looking in-depth at my credit report, I see a bunch of what I presume to be JDBs claiming a bunch of random amounts. At this point, even I'm not exactly sure where they would have originated from. The highest is by "Asset Acceptance LLC" for an amount of $9,375, almost double that original $4,500 amount -- I can only assume that's where that particular debt came from, as none of the other debts are high enough. Now, because I was an idiot and just ignored everything for years now, am I screwed in reference to the quote above? After reading this thread, and given the amount of time that's passed, I'm sure that a lot of these assholes have no way to validate the original debt. I'm just fearful that because I never disputed it in the first place, I don't have a leg to stand on. My credit is pretty abysmal (550) and I really want to fix that. Can I still dispute these, and what's the best way - directly to the collection companies, or through the credit bureaus? Also, I'm in New York state (and was when all of these debts were incurred).
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Dec 19, 2010 05:20
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Intrepid posted:Can I still dispute these, and what's the best way - directly to the collection companies, or through the credit bureaus? Also, I'm in New York state (and was when all of these debts were incurred). Can you wait out the statute of limitations on any of these or is it something you'd like to get fixed now? New York looks like a 6 year period, which is coming up for the 2005 debts. I'd be fine waiting a while if they're not harassing you. If you want to take care of it (and have cash for pay-for-deletes) I'd start firing off verification letters. Dispute invalids, offer PFD's for valids.
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Dec 19, 2010 05:34
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Intrepid posted:Now, because I was an idiot and just ignored everything for years now, am I screwed in reference to the quote above? After reading this thread, and given the amount of time that's passed, I'm sure that a lot of these assholes have no way to validate the original debt. I'm just fearful that because I never disputed it in the first place, I don't have a leg to stand on. My credit is pretty abysmal (550) and I really want to fix that. You can still dispute, but since it's 30 days after their first contact/dunning letter, they have no obligation to respond to your request. You can bring up in court that they refuse to validate, and most firms will still validate the debt on request, but that may also put you on their radar if they've not been bothering you about the debt recently. As Knightmare said, do you need your score fixed right now? If the debt is going out of statute in less than a year, you can probably just sit it out and dispute/delete those tradelines once they're out of statute in NY. Just keep an eye on those tradelines in case the JDBs/CAs try to re-age them and keep them on.
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Dec 19, 2010 14:28
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Your post above, Cubswoo, worries me because I don't know if the DV I sent a couple weeks ago was the first dunning letter not.  Anyhow, I just looked closely at the green return receipt I got back when the letter was delivered and theres a signature and a typed name, but no "date of delivery." Theres also no postage marks on the card. Is it 30 days from the day I sent the letter from the Post Office? I still have the original receipt and the other green receipt I filled out.
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Dec 23, 2010 05:01
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Sorry for the double post. I got a dunning letter from the other collection agency on my report. Here's the thing, its a collection agency for the collection agency. Yeah. The letter is from NCO Financial Systems in regards to Security Credit Services, which I assumed owned the only other delinquent account on my credit report - Credit One Bank. Both NCO and Security Credit Services have their own account numbers for this account for their own records. NCO only mentions Security Credit Services, not Credit One Bank. That, in itself, is confusing enough. Does it matter that, technically, they got my address wrong? I live in an apartment complex and while they listed the street address, they didn't actually list an apartment. Since I've lived here almost and year and get a ton of mail, the mailman apparently got it into my mailbox safely. NCO also lists two different addresses. One is a street address in PA at the top of the letter, the other is a PO Box in MN which is listed on the payment stub they so graciously provided. If I need to send a DV, which address would it go to? Should I send one to both? ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Dec 24, 2010 |
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Dec 24, 2010 04:17
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This doesn't have to do with a debt collector per se but it is similar so I'm posting it in this wonderful thread. For the last couple years up until maybe March, I was volunteering as an assistant instructor at a martial arts school. I say "volunteering" but on paper I was a student paying the standard tuition, but as a second degree black belt pretty much all I did was help teach classes. The school outsourced its finances to a "finance company" and I had signed a three year contract with them that basically stated that they had to provide facilities and competent instructors and in return I had to pay a lot of money. I'd never have signed a contract like this in modern times but I started going here when I was 18 and didn't know the ways of the world. Now, around March the owner of the school had some drama-fallout with the primary instructors, who all left the school, leaving a former student third degree black belt to teach classes. This caused my interest in the school to wane (the guy I studied under since I was 18 was gone, why would I stay?) so I stopped attending and paying. The third degree is a real nice and proficient guy but he's not a master, which according to my martial art is a fourth degree so he's not what the contract would define as a "competent instructor." Even so, the finance company started sending me "love letters" once a month saying that I owed them this and that for the balance of the contract. I called them on the phone and told them I wouldn't pay and they refused to accept that. I then sent them a return "love letter" saying that they had broken their part of the contract so the contract is no longer valid and to please stop contacting me. Of course they continued sending me love letters saying that I was in their "pre-legal" and if I didn't pay the balance in full they would take me to court. Pre-legal I basically took to mean they wanted to sue me but didn't want to pay the lawyers until they knew I wouldn't pay. Eventually they sent me a letter saying that they were now taking me to court if I did not pay a substantially lower figure. This letter I filed away but also ignored as I intended to fight the matter in court if it came to that. However that ended up being the last letter I ever received, I never got served or received any other communication from them. The impression that I get may have happened (but is just a guess) is that it went to their lawyers who looked at my letter and said, "poo poo this guy's got a case" and dropped it. Six months later I want to make sure this matter is behind me. I just pulled up a copy of my credit report and they aren't present on it. What do I do? Do I send a debt verification letter? Can I do that even though the finance company is not a debt collector per se but rather a third party financing outsourcing firm? Do I just assume that it's over and done with because I never received anything else and there's no negative effect on my credit? I kinda wanted it to go to court because then I could just show up, show the contract, get the decision in my favor and be done with it, but since that never happened and I'm in a total blackout from them, I'm a bit unnerved.
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Dec 25, 2010 15:28
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Vino posted:This doesn't have to do with a debt collector per se but it is similar so I'm posting it in this wonderful thread. It sounds like that "financial company" is shady as gently caress. It's hard to say, but sometimes contract debts like that just "disappear": ie they don't actually sell the debt to a debt collector. My old roommate signed up for a year contract for cable with Time Warner and due to financial difficulty, just stopped paying and returned the equipment. They sent him mildly threatening letters for a while and eventually just stopped. This was over two years ago and he hasn't seen anything on his credit report/got any collection letters after the first couple of months despite them claiming a $400 balance (termination fee + unpaid service). The "Pre-Legal" or "We're considering turning this matter over to our legal department" is a bunch of poo poo. It's just scare tactics meant to bully you into paying. I'm sure if a third party collector did something like that it'd be a FDCPA violation.
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Dec 25, 2010 18:24
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antwizzle posted:You say volunteering, and that "on paper" you were a standard student. Were you actually paying them cash money at any point? Or were you helping them teach classes in exchange for free tuition. Yeah I paid tuition, is what I was trying to get at. I got a discount because I was helping to teach but I was still paying monthly. antwizzle posted:It sounds like that "financial company" is shady as gently caress. Yeah. I probably shouldn't say too much but every impression I get about the company is shady and cheap. antwizzle posted:The "Pre-Legal" or "We're considering turning this matter over to our legal department" is a bunch of poo poo. It's just scare tactics meant to bully you into paying. I'm sure if a third party collector did something like that it'd be a FDCPA violation. It didn't scare me. I have a good case, the wording in the contract is rather clear. I'm just worried if I should put forth any effort to close the deal. How do I know they won't try to come after me again in the future? It is an interesting question though because they're a "finance company" and I think that doesn't really count as a third party debt collector. If so, then how does the law apply to them, if it does at all? 
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Dec 25, 2010 19:00
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I pulled my credit reports today and found a debt that is being reported as delinquent twice (once by the OC and once by a CA). How should I handle this? Also, my only source of income is VA Disability, which in PA cannot be garnished for anything but taxes. While no one is suing me at the moment, if someone were to obtain a judgment against me, could they take funds from my bank account considering that the sole source for the funds in there is the VA money?
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Dec 27, 2010 02:58
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The companies that typically handle martial arts billing are like the ones that handle billing for gyms, if that helps. In other words, yes, they are shady as gently caress.
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Dec 27, 2010 03:16
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Offrampmotel posted:I pulled my credit reports today and found a debt that is being reported as delinquent twice (once by the OC and once by a CA). How should I handle this? The reason I ask is that sometimes OCs will hire a third-party agency to annoy you in attempt to collect the debt but they don't actually sell the debt to that agency. In this case though, you will typically only see one entry on your credit report for the OC (at least that has been the case for me). So that implies you have some debt with someone that's been sold to a collections agency. The prob is at if the delinquency is that far along the damage to your credit report has pretty much been done. There's really no way to reverse those black marks other than by waiting and keeping your other accts as current as possible. I have heard that it is possible to get the OC to "recall" the debt once it has been sold, thus wiping the CA entry off your credit report, but I've never known anyone that's actually done this successfully. Typically once OC sells the debt they're done with you. Did the CA send you a dunning letter or contact you in any way? I would probably request validation, and if/when they validate try to to a pay-for-delete with the collection agency. If the debt has indeed been sold, other than pleading with the OC to recall the debt so you can set up some sort of payment plan (again, not sure if this is actually possible) there's not much you can do about that OC deliquency. But you might be able to remove the CA reporting with a pay-for-delete and consequently get them to leave you alone. If not, gently caress them.
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Dec 27, 2010 07:09
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Sorry if this has already been brought up, but where is a good place to get a credit report? A google search brings up a ton of places to get a free credit report, but they al seem really shady. Does it matter, or is there one place that anyone can recommend?
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Dec 27, 2010 17:41
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nbv4 posted:Sorry if this has already been brought up, but where is a good place to get a credit report? A google search brings up a ton of places to get a free credit report, but they al seem really shady. Does it matter, or is there one place that anyone can recommend? This should be the ONLY site you go to for a free credit report, unless you need a specific one because you were denied for credit. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
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Dec 27, 2010 17:44
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annualcreditreport.com is actually set up by the three major credit bureaus because they're required to by law. It doesn't try to sell you anything and is just a portal to each of the three free 12-month credit reports. There's other sites with funny jingles but ignore them, they're just trying to sell you crap. I learned this from listening to Clark Howard  I love that guy.
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Dec 27, 2010 20:59
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Vino posted:annualcreditreport.com is actually set up by the three major credit bureaus because they're required to by law. I don't know if this is common knowledge and I'm just a 'tard, but its a free annual report from the date you pull it. If you request a report from experian on 12/12/11, you won't be eligible for another report until 12/12/12. Same goes with the rest. Anyone know how often credit reports are updated? Its not super important or anything, but I check my score through that CreditKarma (the name escapes me, i think thats it though) site occasionally and I want to see what happens to my score when I pay off my credit card and leave it there. I know it won't be much, but its exciting to fix my credit  No, its not incredibly important and doesn't mean much, just knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Dec 28, 2010 |
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Dec 28, 2010 06:22
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Reposting this from another thread (thanks 2508084): When I was 18, I moved to Florida for a year to stay with my Dad. When I was leaving, Bank of America sent a credit card to the house. My dad activated it thinking it was for him since we have the same name. Over the course of a couple of years, my dad and his wife proceed to rack up thousands of dollars of charges on that card. Somewhere down the line, he stopped paying for it and I had Bank of America all down my rear end telling me I needed to pay it. I immediately refused because gently caress, I didn't have poo poo to do with it. I gave them my dad's number and they left me alone for a while. Now they are calling me again saying there is 4000 on it but I can pay 800 dollars. I told them to gently caress off (in much nicer words) and tried to dispute it with all the credit bureaus. I just got back my first response from Experian and they marked the dispute as "Updated" which according to them means: quote:Updated - A change was made to this item; review this report to view the change. If ownership of the item was disputed, then it was verified as belonging to you. So according to Experian this belongs to me. It wouldn't be hard for me to prove that logically it couldn't have been me since I was finishing up my degree in San Diego while all those charges on the card were coming from Jacksonville Florida. They didn't even really hear my case. I think I had to fill out a message box allowing me a couple hundred characters to explain, which is only enough room to say HEY, THIS ISN'T MINE. So what's my next move internet? I really just want it removed from my credit because its really unfair that BoA sends out a card that I never even saw/used but I'm deemed responsible for it.
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Dec 29, 2010 02:31
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1st collector:2508084 posted:Anyhow, I just looked closely at the green return receipt I got back when the letter was delivered and theres a signature and a typed name, but no "date of delivery." Theres also no postage marks on the card. Is it 30 days from the day I sent the letter from the Post Office? I still have the original receipt and the other green receipt I filled out. 2nd, separate, collector for different debt: 2508084 posted:I got a dunning letter from the other collection agency on my report. Here's the thing, its a collection agency for the collection agency. Yeah. Anything?
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Dec 30, 2010 09:17
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Sometimes the green card comes back with a stamp on it similar to what letters get over their stamp when they're delivered, which would have the date on it. Maybe you missed that? For NCO, I'd send it to the street address.
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Dec 30, 2010 19:47
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nbv4 posted:Sorry if this has already been brought up, but where is a good place to get a credit report? A google search brings up a ton of places to get a free credit report, but they al seem really shady. Does it matter, or is there one place that anyone can recommend? Aside from annualcreditreport, I also get a report from Quizzle (https://www.quizzle.com). It's owned by Quicken, and you don't have to pay anything, the only limitation is one credit report per year. To get it you have to do their 'report card', which you may or may not be comfortable giving a company that kind of information. But if you are, you can get your credit reports every 6 months.
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Dec 31, 2010 00:04
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I've been ducking bill collectors for several months now, but I'm about to leave for an overseas contracting job that would allow me to settle my credit card debt after about a month. Phone communication will be sketchy, and snail mail would take forever. Has anyone had any experience doing settlements via email/electronic signature?
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Jan 3, 2011 15:43
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nbv4 posted:Sorry if this has already been brought up, but where is a good place to get a credit report? A google search brings up a ton of places to get a free credit report, but they al seem really shady. Does it matter, or is there one place that anyone can recommend? LorneReams posted:This should be the ONLY site you go to for a free credit report, unless you need a specific one because you were denied for credit. While a CRA normally has 30 days to verify, they have 45 if you're using a free annual credit report as your basis for the dispute.  2508084 posted:1st collector: If you're trying to collect fines because they didn't respond to you in a timely manner, you're out of luck. All you can really do is bitch at the post office. Your CM number should work for tracking to show when it was delivered. I wouldn't be comfortable with that in a "They were supposed to do ________ in 30 days but it took them 35. Pay me $1,000!" scenario, but otherwise, it's probably sufficient for court or a CRA dispute. quote:2nd, separate, collector for different debt: Please Note: To ensure compliance with federal laws pertaining to debt collection, we are unable to discuss any debt collection issues or answer questions via e-mail. To inquire about an account that has been referred to NCO for collection, please send your inquiry in writing via the U.S. Postal Service to: NCO Financial Systems, Inc. 507 Prudential Road Horsham, PA 19044
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Jan 3, 2011 22:32
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Maybe someone here can help my mother figure out where to go next with this... She got scammed. My mother runs a daycare. One day a salesman for a publishing company stopped by and offered to put an AD in a small location publication for her. She decided to go ahead with it, they decided on a layout, pricing, etc.. Here is where she made a big mistake.. She signed a contract and gave him a check, but did not keep a copy of the contract. He was supposed to come back the next day to take a photograph to be used in the ad, and then they would send her a proof to approve. Well by the end of the day she decided she didn't want it. She called the salesman who dropped back by with the check and gave it back to her and said he would destroy the contract. A few months/weeks later (now!) she gets a letter from a collection agency representing the publishing company wanting payment of $427. Apparently the salesman turned the contract in anyway. She never received a proof, and couldn't have because they never came by to get material for the ad. Nor has she seen the publication it was to appear in. The letter was your standard collection letter from a real collection agency.. The name of the publishing company is American Marketing & Publishing. Collection agency is Transworld Systems, Inc. I found that American Marketing & Publishing is a BBB accredited business, so I went ahead and filed a complaint with the BBB. What direction should I tell her to go from here?
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Jan 6, 2011 04:58
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stevewm posted:Maybe someone here can help my mother figure out where to go next with this... She got scammed. quote:I found that American Marketing & Publishing is a BBB accredited business, so I went ahead and filed a complaint with the BBB. The BBB is actually a pretty hosed up organization. If you're not a member and someone complains, they try to extort a membership fee from you. If you don't pay up, you can count on having a lovely rating forever. But because so few people understand that the BBB has as much legal authority as a taco does, lots of businesses pay up and hop to when they get a BBB letter. So, if the company has better than a C rating, chances are they'll work something out with your mom. But, don't take that as a suggestion to skip the DV to the CA. That should always be your first step.
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Jan 6, 2011 07:55
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TWiNKiE posted:So, if the company has better than a C rating, chances are they'll work something out with your mom. But, don't take that as a suggestion to skip the DV to the CA. That should always be your first step. They actually have a A- rating... Maybe the BBB complaint will do it then. I'm going to go ahead and make up a DV letter for her to send anyways.
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Jan 6, 2011 19:52
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stevewm posted:They actually have a A- rating... Maybe the BBB complaint will do it then. I'm going to go ahead and make up a DV letter for her to send anyways. Let's say the company responds and says "We have the contract. We published the ad in good faith. Here are the publications: _________" You'll get that back in a letter from the BBB saying how wonderful they are and how wonderful the company is, and are you happy now? No. No, you're not happy. You told them not to do it. You were given a refund. You haven't even heard of ______, much less seen an ad there. Play dumb. Be irrational. The company isn't going to take a black eye from the BBB over $400, and will almost certainly decide you're more trouble than you're worth. They need to communicate that to the CA, though. Save everything you get from the BBB, in case you need it to dispute with the CRA's.
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Jan 6, 2011 20:53
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I got a notice last night of a summons to Arbitration some time in sept. I think PA is unique in that they are forced to go through this rather then an actual trial to save court costs/ time ,etc. I think I need to file a response to this right away, but I am a bit lost as to what to do. I see the lawyer sites(and was even contacted out of the blue by one) and of course they all claim that I should always use them, and NEVER try to do anything on my own. This debt is valid, and they really did follow things through to the letter, so i have no hope of getting anything vacated due to threats, etc. I stupidly didn't try and work with them on a settlement, and I am assuming its futile to try and talk to them now? I assume my course of action is to respond with my answer to prevent a default judgement, and just take my order to pay in sept at the hearing? Or would a debt lawyer really make any kind of difference?
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Jan 6, 2011 21:52
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Through some stupid rear end decisions when I was young I have about 9k of credit card debt through 3 maxed out accounts. I have been short on cash and missing payments and frankly ain't getting anywhere with the debt. What is the standard operation to trying to settle debt? Chase and Capital One call me several times a day and I just ignore it since I don't know how to approach it, I would like to settle and get these loving cards under control. I can't pay off a 3.5k card in one payment but could do like $700 if it meant the debt was cleared.
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Jan 7, 2011 17:55
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Quarantini posted:Through some stupid rear end decisions when I was young I have about 9k of credit card debt through 3 maxed out accounts. I have been short on cash and missing payments and frankly ain't getting anywhere with the debt. What is the standard operation to trying to settle debt? Chase and Capital One call me several times a day and I just ignore it since I don't know how to approach it, I would like to settle and get these loving cards under control. I can't pay off a 3.5k card in one payment but could do like $700 if it meant the debt was cleared. So SOP is just to let them harrass the gently caress out of you until you start getting letters saying "You owe 3.5K, but we'll take only 2.2K and call it even!", then offering them your $700. I'm not too sure if that'll cut it, but from CubsWoo posted above collectors are pretty desperate these days, and $700 is much better than $0. As you probably know, this means your credit score will be in the toilet unless you manage to do a pay-for-delete, but if you've been missing payments with a high balance-to-maximum ratio and not making any headway with repaying the debt, it's probably not that great anyway.
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Jan 7, 2011 18:26
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Quarantini posted:Through some stupid rear end decisions when I was young I have about 9k of credit card debt through 3 maxed out accounts. I have been short on cash and missing payments and frankly ain't getting anywhere with the debt. What is the standard operation to trying to settle debt? Chase and Capital One call me several times a day and I just ignore it since I don't know how to approach it, I would like to settle and get these loving cards under control. I can't pay off a 3.5k card in one payment but could do like $700 if it meant the debt was cleared. And by "call them" I don't mean "wait for their collections department to call you", because you'll want to talk to a person who has the authority to make changes to your account. More likely than not, the people calling you only know how to bitch about not being paid. It's possible that they'll forgive part of the balance if you agree to make very specific payments. For example, they may agree to forgive $1,400 of the $3,500 debt if you agree to let them automatically deduct $350 a month for the next six months. In that scenario, they'll most likely send you a tax statement showing that they forgave the debt, and you'll be responsible for paying income taxes on it. So, don't count on a vacation to Tahiti next year. Chase may be that generous, Capital One probably won't. Capital One is content to sue for surprisingly small amounts of money. No matter what, if you reach a settlement agreement on the phone, it is absolutely essential that you get the agreement in writing. I'm speaking from experience here. About 11 years ago, I was in a similar situation with Providian, called them up, made a nice settlement agreement (40% of the balance, paid in three equal monthly payments), and thought I was golden. A year later, a CA was after me for the remaining balance. I came to discover that Providian listed the remaining 60% as a charge-off (despite never contacting me again after the third payment) and then sold the debt. On one hand, my story had enough credibility that CA's and JDB's were reluctant to haul me in to court. I could provide cancelled checks, and ask the plausible question "If I didn't have this agreement, why would I suddenly decide to pay exactly 40% and then suddenly stop?". On the other hand, they kept listing it as a chargeoff, and it wound up on my reports five separate times as they'd keep selling it from one place to another. It wasn't until it had been passed through so many hands that the last JDB didn't have remotely enough documentation to satisfy a DV, and removed the tradeline from my reports (then making it possible to get the other old ones removed). That was nearly five years after I made the settlement agreement. Get it in writing.
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Jan 7, 2011 22:57
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Sorry for double posting, but after I posted in the finance/careers section I felt this was a better fit. I check my credit report regularly, but not enough to hurt my credit, and have been trying to turn my stupid irresponsible self from my early 20s around. I have 4 accounts that have been paid off/charged off and one that I was a month late, but the stupid store credit card put it on my CR. I have 21 accounts in good standing, most of them are student loans, but I have been paying on them regularly. I recently closed out my store card because I'm so scared that if I'm 1 day late then that will go on my credit report. All my bad accounts will be deleted by 2014. How can I look like a responsible citizen in the meantime when I can't get any credit? None of my bills are in my name because I'm living for free at my aunt's 2nd home. Also, since I cannot get a credit card, my husband got a 2nd card for me. Should he cancel the card? I heard that his credit meshes with mine once he does this and I do not want that to happen since we are trying to buy a house in about a year.
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Jan 8, 2011 19:03
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How does the statue of limitations work if you move state? Let's say you accumulate debt in one state and after a few years, you move to another. What are the stipulations there? Do you fall under the state that you accumulated the debt in or the one you lived in?
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Jan 8, 2011 21:44
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I'm only guessing, but I have to assume it's the statute of limitations for the state referenced in the card member agreement. Which, apparently, isn't always the state you lived in when you signed it. You remembered to keep all that crap they mailed with your first card, right?
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Jan 9, 2011 02:55
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PoliSciGirl posted:
quote:Also, since I cannot get a credit card, my husband got a 2nd card for me. Should he cancel the card? I heard that his credit meshes with mine once he does this and I do not want that to happen since we are trying to buy a house in about a year. I'm not knowledgeable about much, so if someone contradicts what I say here, believe them and not me. You're attached to his credit, but as long as you're paying on time, it won't hurt anything. However long he's had his card, it'll show up on your credit report as the same date of opening the account i.e. you got a secondary card on the account on 1/11, but he's had the card since 03/03, it'll show on your credit report as having the line since 03/03.
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Jan 9, 2011 03:33
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PoliSciGirl posted:Sorry for double posting, but after I posted in the finance/careers section I felt this was a better fit. quote:I have 4 accounts that have been paid off/charged off and one that I was a month late, but the stupid store credit card put it on my CR. If you don't owe anything, contact the creditors directly and ask them to delete. You'd be surprised how many will, just because you asked. Same goes for the 30-day late. If any of these accounts are still open, you have even more leverage. "I used to be in arrears, but I'm a good customer now. Could you please help me clear this up so that I can continue to feel good about paying you to borrow your money?" quote:I have 21 accounts in good standing, most of them are student loans, but I have been paying on them regularly. I recently closed out my store card because I'm so scared that if I'm 1 day late then that will go on my credit report. All my bad accounts will be deleted by 2014. How can I look like a responsible citizen in the meantime when I can't get any credit? None of my bills are in my name because I'm living for free at my aunt's 2nd home. You need accounts. Lots, and lots of accounts. Get added as an authorized user wherever you can. When your card shows up, cut it up or put it in your sock drawer, or tell the person adding you to their account that they can keep the card. You just want to ride on their good credit. Get a feel for your score on each credit report, and apply for new accounts accordingly. Around 620 on your TransUnion? That's good enough for a Juniper SeaMiles card, and Juniper always pulls TransUnion. 600 on your Experian? Probably good enough for a Target Store Card. Below 600 across the board? You're probably going to want to look in to a secured card. Better yet, secured cards. Just don't fall for Orchard Bank / Applied Bank / Merrick Bank / First Premier scams where you pay upwards to $175 and $8/month for an "unsecured" card with a $250 credit limit. Not only do they cost more money than they're worth, the stigma of having them on your report will hurt you in the future, when you hold accounts with companies that do active risk modeling (AmEx, Citibank, Chase, several others.) quote:Also, since I cannot get a credit card, my husband got a 2nd card for me. Should he cancel the card? I heard that his credit meshes with mine once he does this and I do not want that to happen since we are trying to buy a house in about a year. And as for mortgage applications, the person with the highest income is the one whose credit is taken in to consideration. With an FHA loan, your score doesn't really matter as long as you can hit 620 blended. So if at all possible, you want to be a co-borrower on that mortgage. A mortgage on your credit report can do wonders in conjunction with fresh new accounts, after the mortgage has been reporting for six months. BusinessWallet posted:How does the statue of limitations work if you move state? Let's say you accumulate debt in one state and after a few years, you move to another. What are the stipulations there? Do you fall under the state that you accumulated the debt in or the one you lived in? So, let's say the account charged off in December 2006 and you lived in Ohio until last week. As of last month, the debt is beyond the statute of limitations, and if they tried to sue you, you have an easy affirmative defense. Now let's say that you moved from Ohio to Michigan last week. The SOL in Michigan is six years, so you're fair game again. And no, moving back to Ohio doesn't fix it once you've been served.
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Jan 9, 2011 04:18
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The one negative account I had that I was 2 months late in 2006 I just closed it. Ugh!!! Maybe I can tell them I will open a new account if they will delete it? Then I will cut the card up.
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Jan 9, 2011 18:13
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TWiNKiE posted:The statute of limitations of the state you reside in when the suit was filed applies. That's a great relief to me, as I opened several credit cards back in college when I was young and stupid, and they're all beyond the SOL to sue me over in both that state and my current home state. I really need to tell the collection agencies who show up now and then over that debt to leave me alone about it...
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Jan 13, 2011 05:37
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New to the thread. Just wanted to say that I hosed up my credit years ago and have been concerned with repairing it lately and this thread is pretty awesome. I was not aware of "Pay for Delete" types of situations and thought I was just going to be hosed for a few more years. Quick question: Do you think a good starting point is to just "dispute" every negative item on your credit and then go from there? Or is that a bad idea for some reason? I know I had a bank teller tell me and my wife that we should do that and see if anything just magically falls off. We never did but I've always planned to do it eventually with a little more research. If this is a bad idea, where should I start?
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Jan 14, 2011 08:37
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Nissassa posted:Quick question: Do you think a good starting point is to just "dispute" every negative item on your credit and then go from there? Or is that a bad idea for some reason? I know I had a bank teller tell me and my wife that we should do that and see if anything just magically falls off. We never did but I've always planned to do it eventually with a little more research. If this is a bad idea, where should I start? Would I dispute a $50 collection for Columbia House from 2005? Totally. Would I dispute a 30-day late on a credit card account that's still open? Maybe. Would I dispute a $5,000 collection from Citibank on a card I stopped paying on in 2009? Hell no. Consider this: When you dispute something with a CRA, they conveniently verify who you are and where you live. Then they say "Hey! John Doe, who lives a 123 Anystreet says you're talking poo poo about him. You've got 30 days to fix it or tell us to gently caress off." to whoever put the negative info there. So, a collection agency who has been looking to get $5,000 out of you since you moved out of your aunt's basement three years ago now knows where to find you. On the other hand, a collection agency who has been sending you letters for years, offering to take $7.99 for the $50 you stiffed Columbia House is likely to remove, rather than waste any more time trying to collect from you.
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Jan 14, 2011 09:22
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