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ibntumart
Mar 18, 2007

Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.
College Slice

Holy Wars Fistula posted:

The collector is supposed to follow the statute of limitations for the state you're currently residing in. It doesn't matter the source of where the transaction/loan occurred.

Incorrect. The SOL from the state in which the agency files the lawsuit is the SOL that applies *unless* that state has a borrowing statute (in other words, the forum state will use the SOL from the state in which the cause of action for the lawsuit arose). Generally, a creditor can sue in either the state where the debtor currently resides or where the creditor first opened the account.

Holy Wars Fistula posted:

The settlement itself must be approved by the client (Cap One) before it can even be offered. If they said that they could do this right off the bat prior to asking you how you're going to pay (no asset questions), that means that Cap One has a pre-approved settlement rate that they will automatically accept without wasting time awaiting correspondence of an approval letter and, therefore, more time wasted on not resolving the matter of the debt.

And what if the collection agency purchased the debt (as it almost certainly did, given that Capital One already charged off the debt) and Capital One has zero to do with it anymore?

Holy Wars Fistula posted:

This also means that the debt will not be reported negatively to your credit since you and Cap One are agreeing through the 3rd party collection agency that you will pay this certain amount to resolve the matter.

Unless, of course, you are wrong about Capital One still owning the debt as opposed to having sold it off for pennies to the dollar to the collection agency (which would be why they'd be so eager to offer a lower automatic settlement point). In that case, the collection agency will probably do exactly what it told BusinessWallet, i.e., either settle for less and a settled tradeline, or else pay in full and have it recorded as such.

Also, I have no idea where you get the idea that if the collection agency is actively working for Capital One (as opposed to buying the debt), that a magic legal loophole means the debt cannot be recorded as negative or settle in a credit report.

Do you practice in this area? Or have any legal background to speak of? Because you have been very cavalier in advising BusinessWallet to settle despite your lacking a very crucial piece of information (who actually owns the debt) and misunderstanding or flat-out getting wrong part of the general legal background.

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BusinessWallet
Sep 13, 2005
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen
Yeah Cap One still owns the debt. I'd be paying them directly. They offered me a settlement of 772 right off the bat, but I talked to the woman for quite a while, she was very friendly and pleasant, she eventually told me that she could offer me 675. Not sure what to do, just want to have this settled and eventually be able to buy a house/car.

Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

ibntumart posted:

Unless, of course, you are wrong about Capital One still owning the debt as opposed to having sold it off for pennies to the dollar to the collection agency (which would be why they'd be so eager to offer a lower automatic settlement point). In that case, the collection agency will probably do exactly what it told BusinessWallet, i.e., either settle for less and a settled tradeline, or else pay in full and have it recorded as such.

In my experience, Cap One is one of the few lenders that do not resell their debt.

BusinessWallet, you can spend months of your life fighting them or if you have the money, you can just pay them. That's a call you have to make.

Edit: In my neck of the woods, Cap One routinely sues people over as little as $500 in credit card bills.

Roger_Mudd fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Sep 23, 2012

BusinessWallet
Sep 13, 2005
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen

Roger_Mudd posted:

In my experience, Cap One is one of the few lenders that do not resell their debt.

BusinessWallet, you can spend months of your life fighting them or if you have the money, you can just pay them. That's a call you have to make.

Edit: In my neck of the woods, Cap One routinely sues people over as little as $500 in credit card bills.

They resold it to a collector a long time ago, it went to a law office, they tried to sue me, I found out about the judgement 2 years later, fought it for illegitimacy, it got dropped, and the law office sent it back to Cap One. It's been there a while. I just want to be rid of it.

Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

BusinessWallet posted:

They resold it to a collector a long time ago, it went to a law office, they tried to sue me, I found out about the judgement 2 years later, fought it for illegitimacy, it got dropped, and the law office sent it back to Cap One. It's been there a while. I just want to be rid of it.

It's possible but Capital One isn't a debt buyer. What's more likely is Capital One keeps assigning (assigning means that the original creditor retains ownership but allows another to collect) it to different firms to attempt to collect.

woozle wuzzle
Mar 10, 2012
I live pretty close to Capital One's nationwide call center, including their bankruptcy division. A standard % of the employees need bankruptcy services. That can make for some interesting reaffirmation discussions.


Collections people, in general, are also some of the most enthusiastic bankruptcy clients because they know the real scoop on the (low) consequences.

BusinessWallet
Sep 13, 2005
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen

Roger_Mudd posted:

It's possible but Capital One isn't a debt buyer. What's more likely is Capital One keeps assigning (assigning means that the original creditor retains ownership but allows another to collect) it to different firms to attempt to collect.

The last time it was "assigned" was 2010, it was a law office, and the law office gave up when their case fell apart, now cap one has it again.

BusinessWallet
Sep 13, 2005
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen
Unrelated:

I also have another account which was originally HSBC, was defaulted on, transferred to VION Holdings, and it is being collected on by Vision Financial Corp. I found out that it was transferred to Vision the day that it happened, coincidentally, so I sent them a debt validation letter right away. I never heard back. I waited a few months, reported it to all 3 credit bureaus as invalid, all 3 responded that it was valid.

I called them today to see if they ever sent anything. A collection manager told me they never sent any letter of any kind, not the initial letter they usually send, nor the validation letter that I requested. He said that when a debtor requests only written communication, they stop all collection activity and wait for the client to withdraw the account. I did ask about settlements and they told me they'd take $600, (the account is for $1127, defaulted in 2008) but I just want to know what I should do.

I typed up a PFD letter, put it for half the original debt, but I'm hesitant to send it, since I'm not sure I even need to.

I feel like they violated the FDCPA by not responding to my DV but I could be wrong. The client is VION Holdings, which is what is on my credit report. What I fear is that the company that is "collecting" on it will stop collecting, and it will go back to VION. Really just want to take care of this, it's really old debt and it's holding me up. :(

socialsecurity
Aug 30, 2003

Figured this would be a good place to ask but how are there any not scammy debt consolidation places, I know someone trying to lower their payment on 5k in debt from like 6 different sources but wherever they go they get turned down because the debt is killing their credit.

Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

socialsecurity posted:

Figured this would be a good place to ask but how are there any not scammy debt consolidation places, I know someone trying to lower their payment on 5k in debt from like 6 different sources but wherever they go they get turned down because the debt is killing their credit.

Tell them to stop paying and save the money they would be paying. After he has about 1/3rd of the total owed, call the lender and offer to settle.

PissFilledCumBubble
Jun 27, 2006

My wife has an outstanding medical bill from 2010 that totals $2,332.26. She racked it up before we were married and through whatever circumstances we've managed to avoid it until now. Today we got this letter in the mail from the collection agency:

quote:

YOUR APPOINTMENT IS FOR 10:00 AM ON: 10/10/2012

YOU ARE REQUESTED TO APPEAR AT [address]

This matter is IMPORTANT to you and it is in your interest that the appointment has been arranged.

THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. THIS CORRESPONDENCE HAS BEEN SENT BY A COLLECTION AGENCY.

Has anyone ever heard of an agency asking you to meet directly at their office? What's my best course of action here? The statute of limitations on the debt expires in October 2013 and I'm tempted to ignore it as we have been but I don't want to get sued, either. Any advice would be most helpful.

PissFilledCumBubble fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Oct 2, 2012

Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

PissFilledCumBubble posted:

Has anyone ever heard of an agency asking you to meet directly at their office? What's my best course of action here? The statute of limitations on the debt expires in October 2013 and I'm tempted to ignore it as we have been but I don't want to get sued, either. Any advice would be most helpful.

Ignore or Hire a lawyer and send him or her. Never heard of a personal meeting but you can bet they have lawyers.

warheadr
Jul 6, 2005
Apologies since I'm sure this has been answered in some form or another somewhere in here, but I wasn't able to find it amidst all the numbers and specific advice so I'll just ask to make sure I get it right.

I recently had two accounts apparently go to collections as I received the notice of intent to collect on them (I guess this is the dunning letter?). As I learned from this thread I sent debt validation letters by certified mail and received confirmation back that those letters made it there, within the 30 days from which the original dunning letters were dated.

It has been well past 30 days on both accounts since my DV letter was received and I have received nothing in return from either agency. No contact (in my letter I requested correspondence by mail only) and definitely no verifications.

However the accounts both remained on my credit reports which not long ago I pulled to check and see (this was all after the 30 days to verify were up so I knew there had been time for them to come off the reports). So I disputed both accounts online through the credit bureau and after the waiting game while they do their thing they decided to leave both accounts on, telling me it appeared they were valid.

So my question, obviously the collecting agencies told the bureau something they did not tell me even when requested and therefore legally required within a certain amount of time. So what do I do? Do I send something back to the collectors or do I need to send written dispute on the same accounts back to the bureau with any proof I have that no validation was ever sent to me in the time required?

EDIT: if it matters so far I only filed dispute through Equifax. I need to do the dispute with the other two as well, but I'm guessing if Equifax kept everything on there the results will be the same elsewhere so my question still stands regarding how to handle it going forward.

warheadr fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Oct 2, 2012

ibntumart
Mar 18, 2007

Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.
College Slice

PissFilledCumBubble posted:

My wife has an outstanding medical bill from 2010 that totals $2,332.26. She racked it up before we were married and through whatever circumstances we've managed to avoid it until now. Today we got this letter in the mail from the collection agency:


Has anyone ever heard of an agency asking you to meet directly at their office? What's my best course of action here? The statute of limitations on the debt expires in October 2013 and I'm tempted to ignore it as we have been but I don't want to get sued, either. Any advice would be most helpful.

It's a notice like any other debt collection attempt. You're free to write back and insist that all future communication be in writing.

SomeGuyinIL
Jan 25, 2006
Yo lunchbox, hurry it up!
I have 3($950, $450, $50) medical debts from May-August of 2008 that I'm trying to clear off my credit report. I live in Missouri on the stateline of Kansas(3 year SOL)/Missouri(5 year SOL). I was writing up pay for delete letters when I discovered the SOL. It wouldn't be tough to actually move to Kansas for me and make them noncollectable even though they would still appear on my credit. At any rate, is this a threat that I can leverage in some way in the pay for delete letters to lower the pay ammounts or just that, only a threat, and should be left out?

I realize the $50 isn't gonna have much wiggle room so I'll end up just paying it all most likely, but what about the other 2, would there be a feasible way to leverage this info to save a few hundred bucks?

ibntumart
Mar 18, 2007

Good, bad. I'm the one with the power of Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.
College Slice
Standard disclaimer: not your lawyer, not an offer of representation, not legal advice.

If you incurred the debt in Missouri, the debt collection agency could file suit there. I don't know if Missouri has a borrowing statute, but if not, then Missouri's SOL would apply.

a_pineapple
Dec 23, 2005


Dear thread: Thanks for all the advice!

I passed this info on to a friend who opened a store card ten years ago and forgot about it until she received a subpoena at 7 in the morning. The collection agency's witness didn't show up to the hearing today and her case was dismissed. They have the opportunity to refile, but we don't think it's gonna happen.

BirdOfPlay
Feb 19, 2012

THUNDERDOME LOSER
So, just got a letter asking for a "BALANCE VERIFICATION" from a debt collector for a debt of ~$2k. They don't seem to own the debt (at least, not yet), as I can still pay the original creditor and, in fact, that's what the letter is advising that I do. It also states that I know have a 30 day deadline to dispute it or it will be assumed valid. How should I proceed?

I know it's not a very large amount in the grand scheme of things, but I always felt that if any of my debts started to come knocking, my best course of action would be bankruptcy. Defeatist? Yeah, but I've really take a tumble after getting this.

baleze
Feb 23, 2005

Questions from Canadaland! :canada:

Thank you all for the amazing information provided, it's been very helpful. Here's a quick summary of my situation:

-I have two CC debts (approx 1500$ each) and a 1000$ debt related to a checking account from my bank. I stopped paying sometime in 2009 and I've received letters and calls from a few different collection agencies. This stopped after I moved a couple more times and I lost track of it.

-I'm now settled and better organized, and since I'm not completely broke so I'm looking into taking care of it all. I ordered a credit report two months ago and left the country for work, and when I came back, it seems a new collection agency got hold of my debts and started calling / sending letters to my new address.

My questions:

Since the debt bounced off between different agencies a few time already, am I safe to assume I have some latitude in bargaining a cheap settlement? Where should I start? 20-30%? Any chance I get a pay for delete? The date of debt on my credit report is past my province's SOL, can I consider this to my advantage in bargaining?

Finally, just to summarize, should I first send a debt verification letter, wait for their reply and then send a letter suggesting an agreement?

Trillian
Sep 14, 2003


The majority of the information in this thread is not relevant to Canada. Pay-for-delete is not an option here. You can either try to negotiate for a 'settled' tradeline or wait it out for ~3 years until it falls off your report.

You may have some additional issues with the chequing account debt if you decide not to pay. Usually a debt like that will get you blacklisted by other banks until it is settled.

Edit: It is also possible that you will not get off the blacklist if you settle for a smaller amount. I don't know, but I would definitely find out before you hand over any money.

Trillian fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Oct 5, 2012

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Roger_Mudd posted:

In my experience, Cap One is one of the few lenders that do not resell their debt.

Edit: In my neck of the woods, Cap One routinely sues people over as little as $500 in credit card bills.

Along the same lines, I have a ~$1000 debt to Capital One (originally about $400 before interest, fees, etc). It's never been assigned, and in a few months, it'll be 4 years since my last payment (as Mudd knows, but others probably don't, 4 years is the SOL in Texas for suit on CCs).

I haven't heard anything about this debt since December, and all previous communication was from Capital One. Chances of them actually suing?

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

Depends. Like Mudd said, Cap One likes to sue, if they think they have a chance at recovery they may take a crack at you. They might not. With Texas being a non garnishment state I would think they have some kind of internal process to determine if the costs of going after a debtor is worth it or not.

VulgarandStupid
Aug 5, 2003
I AM, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, UNFUCKABLE AND A TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT TO EVERYONE. DAE WANNA CUM PLAY WITH ME!?




On my Equifax that I checked in April, under Other Accounts and then Closed Accounts, Asset Acceptance LLC has the account with an account number from Citi. That's from a credit card that I owed Citibank money on in college. I then received a piece of mail from Pentagroup Financial LLC trying to collect on said debt, listing Asset Acceptance LLC as the client. I sent a letter of debt verification to both Asset Acceptance LLC and Pentagroup Financial LLC. I never received anything back from either group. What should I be doing now? I don't mind doing a pay for delete since I have some money now, but I have no idea which company to ask, since neither responded to my inquiries. I live in Massachusetts if that makes any difference.

Alpha Mayo
Jan 15, 2007
hi how are you?
there was this racist piece of shit in your av so I fixed it
you're welcome
pay it forward~
I've begun the slow process of repairing my credit after my life bottomed out last year. I won't get into the e/n though, but I have these open-collections account in my report:

One credit agency has 3 different accounts from the same hospitalization:
Hospital: $2300
Hospital: $200
Hospital: $72

Interest is being charged on this debt (is that even legal?)

A different agency has 2 accounts from a different hospital:
Hospital2: $490
Hospital2: $975

I also have an old utility bill that personally I don't think I owe since they took a $100 deposit that was never paid back to me and not applied to any missed payments.

Outside the report, I have a $3000 ambulance bill. Oh, and their collection agency has 3 rides listed (I only had 2) and are charging some ridiculous interest rate. It hasn't been reported to the credit bureaus though and I am not going to bother worrying about something I literally can't afford to pay.

I'd like to get a pay for delete on the others though if I can settle low enough, but honestly I am afraid of talking to them on the phone and them record it and if I say something wrong use it against me to get a judgement. Would I literally just ask them to settle and tell them I'll pay if they fully delete the accounts from my report, then get that in writing? Or would it be better to write a letter instead of calling them back?

Anthony Rapp
Mar 29, 2004
Blame it on Cain, don't blame it on me.
Grimey Drawer
This is one of the most interesting threads I have ever come across, and it inspired me to get my own mess cleaned up, so thank you everyone!

One thing I didn't see covered very much is the topic of co-signers. My dad is a co-signer on a few different things for me, and insert your typical young and stupid story here. I'm working to get things straightened out now, but I'm wondering what happens to my dad's reports. As things fall off/are deleted/marked paid/what have you, will they automatically update themselves for my dad, or will he and I need to work on his report separately? I know my dad didn't have the best credit to begin with, but I feel God awful knowing it's been made worse because I'm a complete dumbass and I want to do everything within my power to fix it. :(

For what it's worth, the newest of the debts were from I think 2007, and were incurred in Nebraska, where my dad still lives. I'm in Iowa now.

Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

some texas redneck posted:

Along the same lines, I have a ~$1000 debt to Capital One (originally about $400 before interest, fees, etc). It's never been assigned, and in a few months, it'll be 4 years since my last payment (as Mudd knows, but others probably don't, 4 years is the SOL in Texas for suit on CCs).

I haven't heard anything about this debt since December, and all previous communication was from Capital One. Chances of them actually suing?

Check your county records to see if a suit has been filed. Google "[County Name] Public Records". Dallas sadly doesn't have it's JP courts on-line. Might want to call the JP court closest to you.

In my opinion, I've seen some shady "junk service".

Alereon
Feb 6, 2004

Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed
College Slice
So I'm going to have to sue a debt collector. Long story short, back in April I settled a debt. A few months later they said they wanted to "unsettle" the account, mailed me a refund check with no explanation, and reinstated the full balance on the account (and continued to charge me interest). After back-and-forth, they said today that they will not honor the settlement unless I sue them.

Having never dealt with this before, how do I find a decent lawyer for this? Is there a usual process people follow or a good website, or should I just look in the yellow pages and try to Google for reviews?

Dolphin
Dec 5, 2008

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
I sent a debt validation letter to a collection on a bullshit AT&T (iPhone crazy overcharge) phone bill from 2010 that supposedly got transferred to a new collection agency (EOS CCA) and they posted a new collection to my account and updated the date. They haven't sent me anything. Are they allowed to do this? And what do I do now? They also claim that I dispute the collection, even though it was just a debt validation letter and not a dispute.

Tide
Mar 27, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
So after years of paying on various debts to where I know I have paid more than I owe, we're in a situation where we could/can keep paying (and stay broke, but alive), or we can choose option number 3 in the OP: walk away from it and see what happens.

All our debt is, well....valid. We have apprx 24,000 in debt to Bank of America (mine and the wife) Citibank, Orchard, Capitol One, and Chase.

Our plan is to follow the OP by stopping payment and socking that money away for the settle/pay for delete in 6 months (or however long it takes), hope they make some mistakes along the way to tilt things in our favor, and hope for the best.

Anyone have experience with the walk away, negotiate/pay for delete strategy in Alabama?

ugh its Troika
May 2, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
This seems pertinent.

Laranzu
Jan 18, 2002
I just recently received 4 letters attempting to collect from an agency. Its for parking tickets that someone I sold a vehicle to received at University of Hawaii. I never went to UH so them holding my records or any bullshit doesn't bother me.

I did not own the vehicle at the time. Should be fairly cut and dry if I can get the DMV records.

It seems the principal is $30 bucks and they added around $9 in undisclosed "fees". Hawaii law doesn't allow for collection of fees either. If this references the one ticket I know about, the principal should be $25.

Do I need to send 4 separate verification letters or can I just reference every account number on one big letter? How do the letters work if there is no signed agreement for a parking ticket? Can I just tell them to pound sand?

Whats everyone's favorite DV letter these days?

Edit: These seems to be assigned rather than bought it it makes a difference.

Laranzu fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Oct 14, 2012

mammothrept
Dec 11, 2009
Let me preface by saying I don't think that my way is the right way and I'm sure someone will think I'm a dumbass for doing this, but I had been dodging my debt for a couple years. It was an old hospital bill of about $2,300 I couldn't afford to pay in college. In the meantime, I'd gotten married and moved so I assumed I couldn't be found. Well, when a letter from the agency pops up at my new address (those sneaky bastards!) I decided to confront the issue head on and called the collection agency. After all, it was my debt. The lady handling my account was really nice and assisted me with setting up a payment plan. She said she'd send a confirmation letter in writing about the payment plan, which she did, so I have proof. I feel tons better now knowing I won't be sued and I agreed to a plan I can afford. I'm not always stressing about if they'd find me or if I'll have my check garnished.

Holy Wars Fistula
Mar 8, 2012

Tide posted:

So after years of paying on various debts to where I know I have paid more than I owe, we're in a situation where we could/can keep paying (and stay broke, but alive), or we can choose option number 3 in the OP: walk away from it and see what happens.

All our debt is, well....valid. We have apprx 24,000 in debt to Bank of America (mine and the wife) Citibank, Orchard, Capitol One, and Chase.

Our plan is to follow the OP by stopping payment and socking that money away for the settle/pay for delete in 6 months (or however long it takes), hope they make some mistakes along the way to tilt things in our favor, and hope for the best.

Anyone have experience with the walk away, negotiate/pay for delete strategy in Alabama?


In Alabama, the collector can discuss the debt with the debtor's spouse; however, they cannot dun them. Doing so is violating Alabama state law concerning debt collection practices.

Keep that in mind whenever they decide to give you a call.

woozle wuzzle
Mar 10, 2012

Tide posted:

All our debt is, well....valid. We have apprx 24,000 in debt to Bank of America (mine and the wife) Citibank, Orchard, Capitol One, and Chase.

This is a debt level where bankruptcy could be a really attractive option. It depends on your assets, future plans, etc etc. But it's worth seriously looking into it. To cut to the chase: if you've go no significant assets (nothing more valuable than a car), 24k in debt, and are OK with not buying a house for 3 years... the cold financial answer is probably bankruptcy. Try the OP stuff about debt verification. But research bankruptcy to get a feel for it in the meantime.

malcriada
Mar 21, 2012

Hello, I just wanted to say this thread is great and has helped me a lot!!!

Over the past few months I have been working on getting these little debts off my credit report. i.e. $130.00, $169.00, $5xx.00

I have succeeded in removing the $130.00 completely from my report and am currently working on the others as I have sent disputes to TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax on the $169.00 as the Collection Company never validated the debt, and I will do the same with the Medical one the $5xx.00 once the 30 days is up. :)

Now, I have one debt in the amount of $586.18 owed to TD Bank from a previos account that was closed in August 2010. I sent them a validation letter, they responded with the necessary paperwork. After that I sent them a letter with an attached settlement offer, I offered to pay $200.00 to settle the debt completely. I didn't hear anything from them, and was contemplating on what to do, then today I get a call from a TD Bank representative explaining that the debt went to a collection agency but is no longer there, and that its back with TD Bank.

So I spoke with him, and he said that he cannot go lower than 50% on the debt since this is dealing directly with the bank.

NOTE: This debt actually doesn't SHOW (yet) on my credit report as of the last time I checked my credit which was around 8 months ago.

Now, I explained to him that I want everything GONE if I agree to pay the amount of the settlement which will be $293.09.

He explained that they will remove the bad notice on ChexSystems and will also send a letter to the Collection Agency that they previously used, notifying them that the account was settled in full.

So, because I don't have this debt on my credit report, should I pay? Should I not pay?

I don't want to risk it actually getting on my credit report either.

What would you guys do in this situation?

malcriada
Mar 21, 2012

warheadr posted:

Apologies since I'm sure this has been answered in some form or another somewhere in here, but I wasn't able to find it amidst all the numbers and specific advice so I'll just ask to make sure I get it right.

I recently had two accounts apparently go to collections as I received the notice of intent to collect on them (I guess this is the dunning letter?). As I learned from this thread I sent debt validation letters by certified mail and received confirmation back that those letters made it there, within the 30 days from which the original dunning letters were dated.

It has been well past 30 days on both accounts since my DV letter was received and I have received nothing in return from either agency. No contact (in my letter I requested correspondence by mail only) and definitely no verifications.

However the accounts both remained on my credit reports which not long ago I pulled to check and see (this was all after the 30 days to verify were up so I knew there had been time for them to come off the reports). So I disputed both accounts online through the credit bureau and after the waiting game while they do their thing they decided to leave both accounts on, telling me it appeared they were valid.

So my question, obviously the collecting agencies told the bureau something they did not tell me even when requested and therefore legally required within a certain amount of time. So what do I do? Do I send something back to the collectors or do I need to send written dispute on the same accounts back to the bureau with any proof I have that no validation was ever sent to me in the time required?

EDIT: if it matters so far I only filed dispute through Equifax. I need to do the dispute with the other two as well, but I'm guessing if Equifax kept everything on there the results will be the same elsewhere so my question still stands regarding how to handle it going forward.


I think you skipped a part here, so I guess you might have to do everything over...

This is what I did....

First letter: Validation Letter - 30 days

Second letter: Failure to Validate Letter - 30 days

if at this time you do not receive a letter from the company saying that they will remove the adverse account from your credit line

THEN print out the dispute forms to the credit unions (Experian doesn't have one)
write a letter to each Credit Reporting company explaining you requested that the Collection Company validate the debt, then sent a second notice explaining to them that they have failed to send you the legally required validation and that they broke some laws and need to immediately remove the adverse line. Then explain that they need to remove it.

after that you need to wait for them to do the investigation.

If you want letter examples I would be more than happy to post them here.

Class Warcraft
Apr 27, 2006


socialsecurity posted:

Figured this would be a good place to ask but how are there any not scammy debt consolidation places, I know someone trying to lower their payment on 5k in debt from like 6 different sources but wherever they go they get turned down because the debt is killing their credit.

Probably too late but debt consolidation can completely ruin your credit because they sometimes advise measures like closing all your credit cards. Length of credit history and the number of open accounts are a huge portion of your credit scores and suddenly closing all your credit cards can absolutely tank your scores and takes a long time to fix.

One important thing to know is that balances above 50% of the account limit penalize your credit scores, so sometimes you can improve your scores simply by transferring debt from one credit card to another.

warheadr posted:


EDIT: if it matters so far I only filed dispute through Equifax. I need to do the dispute with the other two as well, but I'm guessing if Equifax kept everything on there the results will be the same elsewhere so my question still stands regarding how to handle it going forward.

Equifax, Experian, and Transunion are all completely separate companies and generally do not "share" information between them. If you're disputing an account you need to do it separately for each company.

Anthony Rapp posted:

This is one of the most interesting threads I have ever come across, and it inspired me to get my own mess cleaned up, so thank you everyone!

One thing I didn't see covered very much is the topic of co-signers. My dad is a co-signer on a few different things for me, and insert your typical young and stupid story here. I'm working to get things straightened out now, but I'm wondering what happens to my dad's reports. As things fall off/are deleted/marked paid/what have you, will they automatically update themselves for my dad, or will he and I need to work on his report separately? I know my dad didn't have the best credit to begin with, but I feel God awful knowing it's been made worse because I'm a complete dumbass and I want to do everything within my power to fix it. :(

For what it's worth, the newest of the debts were from I think 2007, and were incurred in Nebraska, where my dad still lives. I'm in Iowa now.

Well, the credit bureaus are pretty passive when it comes to collecting information. Unless someone requests or disputes something the credit bureaus pretty much leave it up to the companies issuing the credit as to how often they send in updated information. Paying off or getting a deletion letter from a collection can take up to 6 months to be reflected on your credit report, which is why some people opt for "rapid rescoring" if they have pressing needs for cleaner credit and/or better credit scores (usually to get funding for a loan/mortgage).

Dolphin posted:

I sent a debt validation letter to a collection on a bullshit AT&T (iPhone crazy overcharge) phone bill from 2010 that supposedly got transferred to a new collection agency (EOS CCA) and they posted a new collection to my account and updated the date. They haven't sent me anything. Are they allowed to do this? And what do I do now? They also claim that I dispute the collection, even though it was just a debt validation letter and not a dispute.

Yes they can sell your debt and it will show up as a new collection, and it can be sold several more times if it is just ignored. This is why it's important to check your credit regularly because oftentimes you can be accruing collections that you don't even know about because they couldn't get ahold of you. You'd be surprised how often collection companies have bad or incomplete data on the people that supposedly owe them money. It's like a giant game of telephone and by the time the third collection company gets the account they might have your name completely misspelled and an address 3 years old. The good news is that the second-hand collections can oftentimes be disputed and erased because a lot of the time they don't have the necessary paperwork to prove it is your account.

At this point you can either try and pay and get a deletion letter or dispute ownership of the account.

Meta Ridley posted:

I've begun the slow process of repairing my credit after my life bottomed out last year. I won't get into the e/n though, but I have these open-collections account in my report:

One credit agency has 3 different accounts from the same hospitalization:
Hospital: $2300
Hospital: $200
Hospital: $72

Interest is being charged on this debt (is that even legal?)

A different agency has 2 accounts from a different hospital:
Hospital2: $490
Hospital2: $975

I also have an old utility bill that personally I don't think I owe since they took a $100 deposit that was never paid back to me and not applied to any missed payments.

Outside the report, I have a $3000 ambulance bill. Oh, and their collection agency has 3 rides listed (I only had 2) and are charging some ridiculous interest rate. It hasn't been reported to the credit bureaus though and I am not going to bother worrying about something I literally can't afford to pay.

I'd like to get a pay for delete on the others though if I can settle low enough, but honestly I am afraid of talking to them on the phone and them record it and if I say something wrong use it against me to get a judgement. Would I literally just ask them to settle and tell them I'll pay if they fully delete the accounts from my report, then get that in writing? Or would it be better to write a letter instead of calling them back?

Basically don't admit to ownership of the debts. "Yeah, those are my debts but I shouldn't have to pay them because X and Y!" is bad, and will just seal them onto your credit report. Just refer to them as "the accounts" and work from there. I'd definitely settle and get deletion letters for the two smaller hospital bills. It's not worth getting two collections on your credit report for $272.

As for the other accounts, if they have made a legitimate error on your billing you can request paperwork from the hospital or your insurance and use that to dispute the amounts they are charging you. Keep in mind however, that doing this means that you've basically admitted the accounts are yours and you most likely will not be able to dispute them off your credit report in the future.


Disclaimer: Helping improve credit scores is my vocation so most of my advice is geared towards what is best in that department.

cr0y
Mar 24, 2005



What are the rules on a debt collector calling a cell phone over and over? I have one collector who calls me about 2-3 times a day (I don't answer as I am at work).

edit: I have received 7 calls over the past 3 days.

cr0y fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Oct 18, 2012

skipdogg
Nov 29, 2004
Resident SRT-4 Expert

They can keep trying to call until you tell them to stop.

Answer once, make sure there is a real person on the line, and record the phone call if you can (one party state), tell them "It is inconvenient for me to receive phone calls at any time, please send all correspondence to me via mail". He's probably going to argue with you, repeat that statement, and feel free to hang up. If they call again after that, then they're in trouble. But it's my understanding (as a layman and not a lawyer) they can call until you tell them not to.

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Roger_Mudd
Jul 18, 2003

Buglord

cr0y posted:

What are the rules on a debt collector calling a cell phone over and over? I have one collector who calls me about 2-3 times a day (I don't answer as I am at work).

edit: I have received 7 calls over the past 3 days.

Varies depending on state or federal law. 2-3 times a day is generally fine (and annoying). If they call every five minutes or late at night/early morning then you might have a case.

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