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I think they're required to provide disclosures in their letter, but I'm unaware of a time frame requirement between calls and letters, unless you sent a DV right away. Someone else here will be more knowledgable.
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May 8, 2014 00:48
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Thanks for all the informative replies!
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May 14, 2014 17:29
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So I've pulled my credit reports, and I'm finally in a place where I have enough income to conceivably address my debts and take some action towards fixing my credit. Obviously step 1 is to ask a bunch of strangers on an internet comedy forum for financial wisdom. My TransUnion FICO is coming up 541. This is up 20 points from the last time I tried to check it several years ago. Basically I had some poo poo happen as a young adult (lost job and living situation, wound up itinerant and occasionally homeless living hand to mouth for the last 6 years and let all my bills go to poo poo in the meantime.) I have student loans that are in good standing. I was in deferral for a while (and soon will be again) and in the mean time have had no late payments. I have a pretty amicable relationship with Great Lakes, who holds those loans. I also have a secured loan through my credit union strictly for the purpose of helping me rebuild credit. I threw down $2400 as collateral for a loan in the same amount, and have been paying that for two months now, on time. I do have some collection accounts and delinquencies reported, however. I have one department store credit card from 2007 that was never paid at all, and was charged off and sent to a million JDBs in succession. As far as I know, none of those JDBs are still reporting, but the OC entry is still on there, showing 30, 60, 90, 120, 120, 120 days late and then a charge-off. This is set to fall off of my report June 1st, and I'm frankly thrilled to see it go. I also had a car loan back in 2008 or so with my credit union where one payment hit 30 days late. All other payments were on time and the loan has been satisfied for years, but it still shows up as a negative entry due to the one late payment. This entry does not have a date where it is scheduled to fall off, and I'm not sure I want it to given the amount of on time payments it reports. Beyond that, I have several collections accounts, as follows: 1. ENHANCRCVRCO $115 In Collections No idea what this is. It shows up in CreditKarma but didn't show on the TU report I pulled from AnnualCreditReport.com 2. HELVEY ASSOC $152 In Collections $152 for a power bill to Duke. Placed for collections 4/16/13, well within SOL, but low balance. 3. RESDTN DATA $1,324 In Collections gently caress-off charge from my last apartment. I was laid off and moved out mid-lease, giving them 30 days notice. They have all my contact info, and never attempted contact in any way shape of form. I want this GONE so I can rent again. For what it's worth, the place was a slum, and the property changed hands at least 4 times in the year and a half I lived there. I have no idea where my original paperwork might be or where the people I signed the lease with are now. 4. FST NAT COLL $804 In Collections Old-rear end charge to DirecTV from 2009. Debt was accrued in South Carolina, where it would be outside SoL, but I now live in Florida with a longer statute, so I don't know how to proceed. The tradeline claims it wasn't placed for collection until 2011, which I think is bullshit. It's set to remain until 2016 as of now. 5. JEFFERSON CAPITAL $187 In Collections Holdover from an old bank account. It's listed as a Factoring Company Account, tradeline says it was placed 6/11 and due to fall off this November. 6. KEOWEE RADIOLOGY $45 In Collections Some bullshit medical bill from an accident I was in. I was unconscious the whole time, they have nothing with my signature on it. Also the tradeline may violate HIPAA? Date of first delinquency is 11/10. It's a stupid small amount, so I'm willing to pay it, but not if it will re-age the debt and keep the tradeline. Here's what I'm not sure about : With my recent move, the situation with my statute of limitations has changed from what it was in SC, which is 3 years across the board. My report has about a million different addresses on it, and I'm not getting phone calls, emails, telegrams, dunning letters, nothing at all from anybody. No contact from creditors, point blank, period. I haven't heard from a bill collector in years. Since I haven't gotten a dunning letter, I don't think I can force anyone to validate, and with the SoL situation, I'm not sure I want to draw attention to my current location. I have enough income rolling in right now that I can pay most of these off in a month or two if I buckle down. However, the job which provides said income is keeping me in FL with it's longer statute. My goal is to obliterate as many of these tradelines as I can by any means without provoking a lawsuit from some long lost CA. Once that's done, I need advice on how to build good credit and net some beneficial tradelines going forward, hopefully without tying up too much money, as I'm also looking to move back to the carolinas sooner rather than later, but definitely not until I deal with all this poo poo while I have the money to do so. I realize that's a huge wall of text, but I figure the better the info I give, the better the advice I can receive. Please help! Crunk Abortion fucked around with this message at 08:43 on May 21, 2014 |
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May 21, 2014 08:38
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What I tell everyone to do as step #1 is to pull credit reports from each of the CRAs and dispute everything negative. There is no downside to this as if they don't respond it falls off and if they DO respond you now have additional information on how to proceed.
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May 21, 2014 13:50
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LorneReams posted:What I tell everyone to do as step #1 is to pull credit reports from each of the CRAs and dispute everything negative. There is no downside to this as if they don't respond it falls off and if they DO respond you now have additional information on how to proceed. And that's still a good idea with debts inside statute? I've read that it's not a good idea to dispute online, should I do this byail with the CRA? And should I do the dispute before validating?
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May 21, 2014 20:27
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Crunk Abortion posted:And that's still a good idea with debts inside statute? I've read that it's not a good idea to dispute online, should I do this byail with the CRA? And should I do the dispute before validating? Not for those small amounts...if it was like $10K and you were trying to wait it out because you are fearing a lawsuit, then I could understand. What I would do is just a blanket dispute of everything negative from all 3 CRAs all at the same time. You can do this online. Then you can see what's left after the dust settles and you can go through the various steps on removing them for good. For the car loan, I was dispute as never late, for everything else I would say they are not mine. I would also ignore the one that is going to fall off (as well as any other that will hit the 7 year mark in the next couple of months), no point in loving with it/them. It sounds like you first need to get all the reports though...that is #1 no matter what you do.
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May 21, 2014 20:55
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Is debt verification really worth it on a valid debt? I read (on ONE place online, I admit to that) that all it would do is bring attention to my debt (instead of the hundreds of other people who don't even respond) and takes away some of my negotiation skills because it shows that I potentially plan to pay it off. Does that make any sense? Also, they seem to have added an extra 50 onto my debt. Regardless, it is only 200 bucks.
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May 24, 2014 14:42
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Crunk Abortion posted:And that's still a good idea with debts inside statute? I've read that it's not a good idea to dispute online, should I do this byail with the CRA? And should I do the dispute before validating? Do some research on Florida's borrowing statute. The Florida court's might use the South Carolina statute of limitations since that's where the dispute arose. My 30 seconds of research looked promising but you should make sure it will apply in your situation.
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May 26, 2014 22:31
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casual poster posted:Is debt verification really worth it on a valid debt? I read (on ONE place online, I admit to that) that all it would do is bring attention to my debt (instead of the hundreds of other people who don't even respond) and takes away some of my negotiation skills because it shows that I potentially plan to pay it off. Does that make any sense? If you're referring to the article I think you are, the author also goes on to say that the best course of action is to negotiate over the phone and arrange things on an oral contract basis instead of by mail, in writing. That guy is a loving tool.
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May 27, 2014 08:12
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Vorenus fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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May 31, 2014 02:13
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I have an interesting situation with a credit card I tried to open a few years ago. I was approved for the card, but they put a fraud alert on it immediately because I'd just moved and asked me to send them a ton of information about myself I wasn't comfortable with sending. I told them to close it at the time and thought it was over and done with. Jump ahead to about two months ago, I get a bill in the mail for the card (yearly membership charge?) and find out they not only didn't close the account, but it's still on fraud alert. Frustrated, I call them to yell at them about closing it. I found out they want proof I'm me before they'll even close it. I tried to send it all in this time (license, ss card, pay stubs), but they tell me I didn't have enough proof to close the card, and I can't get more without opening a utility in my name (which I can't afford-- they're all in the SO's name). So I have a phantom credit card in my name on my credit report. I can't prove I'm me, and I can't prove I'm not me to close it. I've done everything under the sun with the people on the phone so at this point I don't know what else to do to get rid of it. The last time I spoke with them they assured me it was closed, but three days ago I got another bill from them in the mail (zero balance, active restricted account). I just want this awful card closed and out of my name. Help?
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Jun 4, 2014 20:34
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I don't know how to fix your situation, but utility should be easy, and that sounds like it would fix them. I'm on my SO's utilities as I moved into her place vs other way around, it took 1 phone call per each (ok, 2 for Comcast, first girl we talked to said she did it but didn't, so she prolly just stole my identity omg!! 10mo later my report is clean so I hope not..), super easy. Do that, then send in the next bill?
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Jun 4, 2014 20:53
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Ugh, my wife's credit problems are rearing their head again, we were just served notice that she is being sued for a debt (it is valid, not disputing that). The letter mentions two amounts, the charge off balance of $5xxx and the unpaid balance of $47xx. I have money in savings to deal with this--should I just contact the lawyers and ask how to pay it off? is there any chance I can negotiate a lower payoff amount if I offer to pay it all off at once?
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Jun 5, 2014 17:52
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Depending on your income and her assets, it's worth taking a gander at bankruptcy with those amounts. But yeah, you contact those lawyers and seek a lumpsum settlement.
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Jun 5, 2014 19:14
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Bankrupcy is not an option. Would it be worth it to get a lawyer?
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Jun 5, 2014 19:26
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BraveUlysses posted:Bankrupcy is not an option. Would it be worth it to get a lawyer? Depends... it can't hurt to talk to a debt attorney though. If the debt is valid and in the statute of limitations it is probably in your best interest to negotiate a settlement before they go to court and get a judgement.
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Jun 5, 2014 19:44
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skipdogg posted:Depends... it can't hurt to talk to a debt attorney though. If the debt is valid and in the statute of limitations it is probably in your best interest to negotiate a settlement before they go to court and get a judgement. Depends on the state. Where I practice, it's really hard for most debt collectors to win a civil suit. Other states it's much easier.
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Jun 5, 2014 20:53
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BraveUlysses posted:Ugh, my wife's credit problems are rearing their head again, we were just served notice that she is being sued for a debt (it is valid, not disputing that). Are you sure this isn't a standard collection letter? I've been sued and sued others and you never put multiple amounts owed like that...it sounds like a settlement letter.
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Jun 5, 2014 21:31
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No, it's a real lawsuit, it's been filed with the courthouse and has a document number. I was unsure of what the difference is between the two terms of 'charge off balance' vs 'unpaid balance' but the difference is about 300 bucks, which makes me think one is the balance from the day the debt went 30 days delinquent vs the balance when it was written off. Thanks for the advice, I will contact a lawyer this afternoon and get this dealt with.
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Jun 5, 2014 21:50
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BraveUlysses posted:No, it's a real lawsuit, it's been filed with the courthouse and has a document number. It's hard to say what the difference in balances is, but I see it sometimes on accounts my firm sues. Getting an attorney is definitely not a bad idea, especially if the debt is purchased, because a lot of account information could be lost at this point. I'm not an attorney, but I do document prep on junk debt cases all day every day. Our settlements are frequently more favorable to defendants with attorneys, and not just because most people who bother to answer lawsuits do a pretty lovely job of it. What state are you in?
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Jun 12, 2014 04:30
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BraveUlysses posted:Ugh, my wife's credit problems are rearing their head again, we were just served notice that she is being sued for a debt (it is valid, not disputing that). Were any documents included along with the complaint? Who is suing you? The original company you owed money to or some random collection agency? How old is this debt? They will absolutely negotiate a lower payoff amount. If it's some lovely junk debt buyer amounts in the 25-35% range shouldn't be too hard to negotiate. But a lot will depend on how strong their case is, and a lot of that will depend on who exactly is suing you. Whatever you do, make sure you respond to the lawsuit. Most of these collectors just assume you won't respond so they get a default judgment and the fact that they can't document their claim never ends up mattering. You can see if you can get an attorney to do it cheaply, or honestly if you can spare some time to read up on how to respond, you can even do it yourself.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:17
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Okay, my mom just called me crying and asking for money because some debt collectors have been garnishing her wages since November for a debt that she can (supposedly*) prove was paid back in 2005. I talked her out of calling them up directly and told he to see if she could find any lawyers in her area doing free consultations or something, but really, I'd like to know what the best next step is for someone is completely broke and can't afford a lawyer. For background, the original debt was several thousand dollars and my grandmother paid it for her, and has a record of the check that she paid with (which as cashed), but that was to a different agency, and this is a new agency. The state they're in is Florida. I think this should be an obviously illegal thing, but is it possible that she didn't read their agreement correctly and ended up agreeing to something like "you pay us in full, then we'll sell most of the debt off again"? EB Nulshit fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 15:16
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EB Nulshit posted:Okay, my mom just called me crying and asking for money because some debt collectors have been garnishing her wages since November for a debt that she can (supposedly*) prove was paid back in 2005. If they are garnishing wages, it means your mother missed a court case somewhere. I would start with who got the default judgment against her.
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Jun 19, 2014 15:35
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if I'm past the 30 days to send in a DV letter, what should my course of action be? Should I send one in anyway, or dispute the debts with the credit bureau? (these are old, but valid debts from medical bills)
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Jun 19, 2014 16:41
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Fatty Patty posted:if I'm past the 30 days to send in a DV letter, what should my course of action be? Should I send one in anyway, or dispute the debts with the credit bureau? (these are old, but valid debts from medical bills) The 30 days to dispute debt time limit never really holds up, at least in my experiance. I would dispute the dept with the CRA first, then based on their responses, start sending out DVs.
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Jun 19, 2014 17:07
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I got a letter from a collection agency (Continental Service Group) saying I owe $7000+ on a student loan. Now, I'm 99% sure I paid off all my student loans about a year and a half ago, so I sent them a DV letter CMRR. They responded with copies of my Master Promissory Note, loan disbursements, and the added interest and fees. So good on them for replying with some good documentation. I, consequently, checked all my credit reports, which show no outstanding loans. I have a check image showing I paid the school about $2500 back in October 2012, with the memo saying "student loan payoff". I haven't heard anything else about owing on student loans until I got this letter in late April of this year. Neither the Feds nor the State took my tax refunds this year to apply to my loans. So, I'm pretty drat sure I don't owe on this debt. What do I do now?
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Jun 21, 2014 09:26
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Contact your student loan lender (or loan servicing company if they sold it one) and make sure you paid off the loan completely.
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Jun 21, 2014 23:09
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So National Enterprise Systems has been calling and harassing my father-in-law about an alleged debt of mine. I called them up to get a mailing address to send a cease-and-desist and they flat-out refused to provide a mailing address. I ended up calling them over and over again for about an hour and a half and they kept hanging up immediately seeing me on caller id. Finally I wore them down and they answered the phone and gave it to me. What the gently caress?! At one point a supervisor answered and tried to get lovely with me about calling over and over. It's like dude, I'm not stopping until you provide a mailing address. He hung up and I kept on. I've already consulted with a lawyer who will take the case on a contingency so at this point it's just a matter of building a paper trail. By the way within an hour after the fiasco on the phone with NES, my call control log on my phone started BLOWING THE gently caress UP with blocked calls. Really professional organization. I'll disable call blocking once I get my C&D delivery receipt so I can make a record of their abuse.
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Jul 1, 2014 14:37
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I have a collections account for $600 that is two months past the SOL deadline, and is scheduled to continue on account with the CRA's until August. If I dispute with the CRA's online could these be removed faster? Edit for more details: Date of first delinquency was 11/2007, with a SOL of 6 years. However some of the reports have different drop off dates: Experian in August, TU in 10/2014, and Equifax has no drop of date listed. I guess my question is what would happen to these if I disputed now? steimer fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 20:26
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steimer posted:I have a collections account for $600 that is two months past the SOL deadline, and is scheduled to continue on account with the CRA's until August. If I dispute with the CRA's online could these be removed faster? There's a decent chance it will be deleted early but maybe not by all three. No harm in trying.
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Jul 3, 2014 22:20
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I am being sued by a debt collector for $3400 in medical bills, $800 tacked on as interest. This is at least the second, possible third, debt collector who has allegedly purchased and owns the rights to collect on the debt I am going to fight it myself since it probably makes no sense to hire an attorney for $3400. All I have seen so far are two account numbers with the debt listed, in the complaint. The complaint & summons also makes several false claims. -Does the Plaintiff need proof of the disputed debt, such as the invoice, dates of service, etc? I do not know how high the burden of proof would be -I pulled my credit report last week. The debt is listed as in collections in my Experian report, but the agency listed is different than the one suing me. I don't know what "evidence" they have. Wouldn't surprise me if they just have the two account numbers and a dollar amount, but who knows. Will there be a discovery? Also, can the lawsuit threaten to collect additional court costs and fees if I do not settle with them immediately? I am in Boulder County, Colorado.
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Jul 14, 2014 15:15
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Kase Im Licht posted:There's a decent chance it will be deleted early but maybe not by all three. No harm in trying. Thanks for the help, it was dropped from 2 out of 3.
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Jul 14, 2014 20:11
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Meta Ridley posted:I am being sued by a debt collector for $3400 in medical bills, $800 tacked on as interest. This is at least the second, possible third, debt collector who has allegedly purchased and owns the rights to collect on the debt I don't know the Colorado court rules offhand but they are up on Lexis Nexis for free and it would be a very good idea to read through them. You absolutely will want to file an answer denying each of the plaintiff's claims in order to avoid default judgment. Read over your state's court rules for small claims cases. Apparently Colorado does not provide for discovery in small claims. Plaintiff may or may not have access to your medical records, which would be evidence you would be unable to counter with proof of payment (which you don't have, right?) Check the court rules for court costs and fees and if/when they may be claimed. Medical debt falls under FDCPA so keep that in mind as well. I would strongly recommend doing a free consultation with a consumer rights attorney regardless of the balance claimed.
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Jul 30, 2014 05:46
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I went back a couple pages and read the OP again, sorry if this has been extensively covered. About July 4th I had a collection account appear on my Experian credit report from "Enhanced Recovery Solutions" who I haven't spoken to at all. I'm as certain as one can possibly be that this debt is not mine. I disputed it already and only got a response of "we updated your report!", but it wasn't removed. The account is for Time Warner Cable which doesn't service the state of Oregon. I moved here in May 2013 & I've had service with Comcast (sigh), in my name, the entire time - so I'd have no reason to open an account even if they did have services here. My report says Date opened: 04/2014 & Date Reported: 06/2014. I can't open an account if they don't do business in the state I have lived in for more than a year. My identity hasn't been stolen and this only reports to Experian. I have had someone with my name who lives in Texas (where TWC has service) have DMV/doctor correspondence sent to my email address, so I'm wondering if it was possibly a name mix up and the debt collector just went "close enough!" I actually googled the number and called the Texas DMV who confirmed my e-mail address was on file, so it wasn't a scam thing. The weirdest part is my credit report says its scheduled to be removed 09/2014. My question is should I call Experian and tell them this or dispute it again and send them a scan of my lease (dated 11/2013)? I'm not sure which is the better method since I've disputed it once with them & it apparently didn't get looked at very closely. Would calling Time Warner Cable help at all? My CU denied me a loan because of this, but said they would be glad to re-review my application if it does get removed, otherwise I'd just wait and see if it actually does fall off in September.
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Aug 6, 2014 16:05
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I had a situation several years ago where my credit with one bureau was messed up because I have a common name and people are stupid. There were at least 3 other people with the same name whose accounts were intertwined with mine. Most of it got solved by calling the credit agency and pointing out that there was no way I could be living in 3 different states with 4 different SSN's at the same time. I'd give Experian a call and see if they are able to determine if the report is in error just by the information in the file.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:54
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ladyweapon posted:I'd just wait and see if it actually does fall off in September.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:59
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I keep getting debt collection calls on my cell phone for someone named Rosario Bustamante ( deadbeat jerk!)I don't know who that is, and I can't find out how to make them stop. I've had this phone number for like 7 years.
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Aug 6, 2014 21:50
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Get android call control. It works just like Gmail spam blocking. EDIT: You can get their mailing address and send them a cease and desist but that costs time and money so if they're not reporting to credit don't bother. If they are, I'd personally dispute it directly with the credit bureaus and only then if the CRAs refuse to remove it contact them directly in writing and demand proof and then go through that whole process.
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Aug 6, 2014 21:51
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Let's say I don't have a smart phone. These also come from a variety of phone numbers, sometimes showing up as "unknown number". Is there a place I can lodge an FCC complaint or something?
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Aug 6, 2014 21:53
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canyoneer posted:Let's say I don't have a smart phone. These also come from a variety of phone numbers, sometimes showing up as "unknown number". http://www.consumerfinance.gov/ https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx Are they calling with an automatic dialer? You should also get their address, send them a cease and desist letter which also states that you will sue them if they contact you again. What do they say when you tell them this is the wrong number?
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Aug 7, 2014 01:02
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