Hello all, I have a couple quick questions about a charge off. I was irresponsible a few years back and HSBC charged-off some debt to a company. I just pulled my credit reports and the charge-off is showing from HSBC, but luckily whatever company it was charged-off to is not showing on my credit report. I'm in a position to pay the entire thing off, as I'm going to be relocating in a few months and will be having a house built with my partner. I don't know who the debt was charged-off to, so should I call HSBC and find out who it was sent to so I can contact them and arrange payment? Also, since the CA is not showing on my credit report, will I be able to get HSBC to report it as "paid"? Ultimately I'd like a pay for deletion, but I'm not sure how since HSBC has charged-off the debt... Thanks in advance. Ben
Well, I did get a letter from the company a while back but never responded to it... so I know some other company has it. Ben
OK then, you might have to contact HSBC and see if they can tell you. It also could have been temporarily assigned to someone. Is HSBC reporting a balance due on your report, or is it reporting as sold/transferred?
Here's an honest answer for you. HSBC is reporting -0- balance sold/transferred , yes? No one else is reporting the account. As far as a mortgage company is concerned, you have no outstanding unpaid chargeoff. Disclaimer - Used to be, but I am out of touch, so don't hold me to this, if you start going mortgage shopping, with related inquiries on your reports, you will wake up whomever is the owner of the account now. They will come calling. You can try to contact Household and see if they will tell you who owns it now, but junk debt is bought and sold daily - there is no guarantees that whomever they sold it to now owns it, and there are no guarantees that the person who SAYS they own it really does own it. There is a possibility that some shady CA will take your money and run, only to have another CA tell you that they are the rightful owner. You are between a rock and a hard place right now. One other thing you might check is the inquiries section of your report. Are there any CA's that have pulled your report?
Thanks for the information. I don't mean to question what you are telling me, but back in July I bought a new car and the dealership came to me and asked what the charge-off was, and I explained. So I think they can definitely see it as a "charge-off". TU and EQ show it as a charge-off, Experian doesn't. Here's what it says from the Experian report I pulled: Account Name: HSBC NV Account Number: 100315XXXX Acct Type: Credit Card - Revolving Terms Acct Status: Closed Monthly Payment: Date Open: 2/1/2003 Balance: Terms: Revolving High Balance: Limit: $0.00 Past Due: Payment Status: Account transferred to another office Comments: Transferred to another lender or claim purchased As far as inquiries go, the only one I see around the time frame it was charged off is: ATLANTIC CRE Collection services I guess it's worth a shot to call HSBC and see. Any other words of advice to try and track down who may have my debt since the collection is not on my report? Thanks, Ben
Oh, and I guess if I contact a CA (say Midland) and they claim to have my debt, is there a way for them to provide proof of this before I send them payment? Ben
Why would you consider paying Midland? They pay absolute cents on the dollar. I know that you're probably new to this game but, it's called debt purchasing. Request validation, dispute it off your credit reports, and be done with them.
I guess it's because I'm not sure what to do at this point. Request validation from Midland or HSBC? I did an electronic dispute with the HSBC on my credit report and it came back in 3 days being validated. Since Midland (or whoever bought the debt) isn't on my credit report, I guess I'm afraid of them trying to garnish my wages. I've done a lot of reading and researching on this board, but can't seem to find a situation similar to mine. So if anyone knows of one please feel free to point me in the right direction.
You request validation from the debt collector which owns it. My guess is that it's Midland insofar as they purchase virtually all bad debts from Orchard Bank/Household Bank. I would verify that this is so and then, request validation from whoever owns it. You cannot request validation from HSBC. You can request verification under the FACTA amendments to the FCRA. However, that provides no private cause of action and thus, it is largely a waste. No one can garnish your wages without obtaining a judgment first. You would get a Summons before a judgment was entered unless they don't properly serve you. As earlier stated, you may as well leave the HSBC tradeline alone. They will verify it until Kingdom come. Disputing this through the credit reporting agencies is different than requesting validation from whoever owns it. If Midland isn't on your reports, it may be best to let sleeping dogs lie.
It also could be that Midland has re-sold the paper to someone else. This would explain their absence from your reports.
Thanks Apex. Yes, Midland or whatever CA has the debt is *not* on my credit report. Only the HSBC derog charge-off, and that's what I need to get removed. Anyone have any luck getting a mortgage with a charge-off? That's the only derog on my report, and I have 7 years of otherwise good credit.
Shouldn't be a problem so long as your scores are over a 620 which they most certainly should be. I can give you some referrals if you like. You will have to call, email, or PM for those though insofar as I can't post names and numbers on this forum. Honestly, don't waste your time with HSBC. It won't come off and you can still get a mortgage with acceptable rates with it there. It's not as if its unpaid.
It's about 585 right now, but according to the score simulator, that's only because I have a high debt-to-income ratio. That debt will be paid off by March when I get my yearly bonus, and it's estimating when that is gone, it will bump my score to high 600's, low 700's, so it sounds like the charge-off isn't hurting me too bad at this point. I guess what I'll need to do is just send in certified mail to EQ, TU and EX to try and get it removed by the time I apply for a mortgage. But, the charge-off has not been paid at this point. I'm concerned the mortgage broker will want that paid and show paid on my credit report.
