Here's a question I've been pondering since I've been reviewing my credit report. My now ex-husband and I went through CCCS about 4.5 years ago and both paid all of our debt. Those payments were made on time without exception every month for nearly 4 years. Most of the accounts were in both our names, or I was at least authorized, yet my report shows not ONE positive reporting from any of those creditors. If they have the right to report negative activity, shouldn't they also have to report the positive as well? There is no info whatsoever regarding most of those accounts, unless of course it was a late payment before we went through CCCS. My question is, can I get this info reported and if so, what steps would I take? Fair is fair, if you're gonna report the bad, you should also report the good. thanks!
In short, as far as your lenders are concerned, there is no "good" (relative to your original agreement with THEM, which is what is reported on your credit history). What is "fair" is that: (a) You made an original agreement with THEM. (b) You did NOT fulfill the obligation as orginally agreed with THEM. (c) THEY are reporting ACCURATE information regarding your repayment UNDER THE ORIGINAL CONDITIONS. The entire purpose of a person's credit history is to help a potential lender to determine their risk in extending you credit, and it is based on your PAST HISTORY of your debt repayment to be used as a predictor your FUTURE willingness to repay (new) debt. 'Making good later' does not change your past performance, nor does it turn "bad" to "good". You can't change what you did NOT do back then. You went through a CCCS, which means you did NOT fulfill your agreement with the ORIGINAL CREDITOR as you HAD originally agreed with THEM. Just because you made payments to a CCCS doesn't mean diddly when it comes to what you did or didn't do BEFORE you went to a CCCS program. As far as your creditors are concerned, you did NOT "pay as agreed" with THEM. They (the original creditors) are reporting YOUR activity with THEM accurately. The CCCS does NOT report your payment activity, nor does it "fix" your credit history.
So, it seems going through CCCS is a huge waste fo time. One might say that CCCS and the debt collectors are on the same side of the battle. Paying them only gets the debt collectors paid and does not help your CR. I am making a note of that fact. It seems you should only pay when you can negotiate a deletion or a positive be put on your CR. Thanks.
You're just NOW seeing the light, eh? I've got an even better approach: How about if people only accept a lender's offer to extend credit when they can pay it back "AS AGREED"? That way, they don't have to hassle with fixing your credit, they don't look like a deadbeat in the eyes of lenders, and everybody is happy as a clam ...
Wait a minute. I totally don't expect to be praised for finally paying an account that went bad. However, we DID have a lot of accounts that were also never late and kept current through the entire length of the loan. Those are the ones I'm talking about. They aren't reporting that the accounts were "PAID AS AGREED", but if I had slipped up once, it would be on there pretty quick, as evidenced by my report.
Are you saying that you, personally, paid certain accounts yourself, while others were being paid thru the CCCS? Or were ALL of them being paid through the CCCS?
They were all being paid through CCCS, but not all were in default when we began using their services. There are accounts we paid through them that weren't negotiated at a lower interest rate, monthly payment, etc. My ex's credit report reflects ALL accounts paid through them and his credit is good enough to get a prime rate mortgage. My original question was, if I was co-owner or authorized on these accounts, shouldn't they be showing up on my report? The only ones that have cared to report are the ones that had derogative info. Have I confused everyone into oblivion yet?
Just a quick note I'm sure you're probably aware of, not all creditors will cooperate with CCCS. They will take a payment from them for your account, but not necessarily change the terms of repayment for them.
Lenders and creditors are NOT obligated to report ANYTHING -- good, bad, or indifferent. The law does NOT require them TO report -- it only requires them to report ACCURATE information *IF* they CHOOSE to report (at all). Remember: lenders are in the business of making money, not making people's credit report look pretty. They don't usually do someone unless there is something in it for them. Logically, WHY would they expend the time and effort to add some positive tradelines to "ficofiasco's" credit history when it won't mean one difference to their bottom line?
That's EXACTLY what I was getting at. Just because you pay a CCCS on time, and just because they pay a creditor, it does NOT mean that you "PAID AS AGREED". Techincally, your contractual obligation with the OC did NOT include a CCCS, and that means - technically - you did NOT "PAY AS AGREED".
I don't understand. Are you saying that if I utilize an online "bill pay" service that takes care of my bills for me, I haven't "paid as agreed"? Or if I get my sister to send a check on my behalf because I'm away, I haven't "paid as agreed"? What's the difference? In the end "I" got the money do them. They don't care how. Also, I think their bottom line IS effected if consumers find out they don't report to the credit bureau. Have you noticed the line of people rushing out to get credit somewhere simply because they "report to all three major credit bureaus"? Someone is indeed profiting by reporting.
It would be quite interesting to see what would happen to one of the major prime credit card companies if they decided to stop reporting.
If you don't understand the difference between "online bill pay" (e.g., that your bank offers) and a Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS), there's not much I can say. If all they (CCCS) did was send a payment, a FULL payment, made it on time EVERY month, satisfied the entire amount of the loan/credit, and NEVER contacted the creditor to try to negotiate ANYTHING, then I agree - everything would be fine. But that's generally NOT how a CCCS operates, yet that IS what a bank ("online bill pay") does. I disagree. The ONLY people I know who "rush out to get credit somewhere simply because they report to all three major credit bureaus" are people who have screwed up their credit and are trying to 'fix' their scores. The VAST majority of the borrowing public will NEVER find this place, will NEVER participate in a CCCS, will NEVER have a need to "fix" their credit, and have no blooming idea what a CRA is, let alone worry about "rushing out to get credit" from a lender who "reports to all three major credit bureaus" ...
Very simply, it costs money to report to CRAs, and unless there is some value to the data furnisher, they may elect to not report. Then there is the legal aspect of "correct reporting", again it is a huge expense that some companies feel can be completely avoided. There are pros and cons to this scenario, I don't think any of us would complain if a creditor did not report a negative history, or high utilization. But, please be aware that often a creditor WILL report if requested. Many companies have this policy and procedure. I have done this with some accounts that I have closed. I simply requested (in writing) to please report this to the CRAs you normally do business with. They did. So, give it a try, ask them to report the good history if you have it.
Profiting by reporting? Are you implying that, if Chase decided to NOT report repayment activity that everybody would close their Chase accounts and go open them elsewhere? That's almost laughable. On the contrary - if people know they would NOT report, people would be more LIKELY to apply there, because they would know that they could screw everything up and it would NOT be reported. Again, the vast majority of the borrowing public has no blooming idea what a CRA is or who reports to whom. All they care about is borrowing money at an agreed upon legitimate rate under legitimate terms and paying back said loan "AS AGREED". The PRIMARY reason a lender reports your payment history to one or more CRA is because ALL lenders need that ACCURATE information to determine their risk when considering lending your MORE money. And if you think their goal with credit reporting is to give them an excuse to charge you higher interest rates (for bad credit risks), then I have a rock-solid solution for that problem: pay your bills on time and you'll never have to worry about it.
CCCS does not negotiate with every creditor. Incidentally, I've yet to hear of someone's credit being marred with a "attempted to make other payment arrangements" statement, nor have I seen any credit terms that state you may not ask to make payment arrangements. Whether they will abide by your request is another matter. Suppose you were to apply for a mortgage knowing full well that you've paid your prime rate super platinum atomic supernova card with the 30 grand credit limit on time for the last 10 years only to have the lender frown and say "I'm sorry Mr. Jshimmer, you don't have enough credit history for us to approve this loan." Would it then not matter if they didn't report?
While, no, they don't necessarily negotiate with EVERY creditor, most situations require it. Beyond that, MILLIONS of credit histories have been negatively affected with "CCCS" plastered all over the accounts. To say that you've yet to hear of a single person's credit being hurt by their working with a CCCS only tells me that you're pretty new to this whole thing, ficofiasco. For starters, NO credit history is MUCH better than a NEGATIVE credit history and much easier to work with. Beyond that, you're only bringing up one side of the issue. If they did not report, and I had had SIXTY-TWO LATE PAYMENTS over the last 10 years, the new mortgage lender would not know the TRUE risk of extending me credit. All the (future) lenders would be HURT by giving me loans that (eventually) didn't get paid. So ... NOT reporting HURTS lenders in the long run because they DO choose to do busines with me (give me credit when I am a bad risk), NOT because (as you state) they LOSE my "business".
In short, the key to both personal, and national, financial health is the prudence jshimmer speaks of. At the very heart of it, any "debt" is a "good faith instrument". Both the credit transactions of individuals, and nations in a global economy, work on this fundamental approach. If all parties "behaved" in good faith, all problems solved. Trying to tie this thread back to the forum intent, a crucial aspect of "true" credit repair is a fundamental approach to credit and debt management. This means tying them to a "value system" where you value a personal integrity higher than a materialistic reward. You must come to a mindset where "it is NOT ok to pay a bill late, where you take it as a reflection of your character and self image. In my credit repair "journey" I have come to appreciate this mindset. Perhaps to the extreme a bit. I now have anxiety over returning books late to the library, solely because I promised to return them by a certain date. There is an incredible mix of people, stories, situations and personalities in this forum. I have found that your personality, views and perceptions change as you evolve through this process. True credit repair is more than just removing negatives from a credit report, or trying for a higher score. This may sound paradoxical, but it is the journey towards becoming that kind of person that the FICO alogorithm tries so hard to calculate. That is why credit scores are used for so many purposes, insurance, employment, etc.. To truly repair your credit (forever), you have to repair something in yourself that was the root cause of the problems. Sorry for the long winded essay, but this thread does relate to something very much at the core of credit repair.
