Let me just say right off that I realize the topic of back support is a hot one! Before I get burned at the stake, let me tell you that my husband's exgirlfriend told him the child was not his and REFUSED to set up support through the courts for a couple of years. My husband paid her directly for a while and then, finally took her to court to get his name on birth certificate and set up formal arrangements. The court did not allow the "informal support" to be credited and he had to make a choice of either accept back support or not be listed as the child's father. He chose to pay the back support. We pay FAITHFULLY for the back support and the regular support each month. Now, that said.....here is the problem. TU is the only CRA that is listing this debt. They were listing it twice. I disputed and one came off. The other one stayed. My husband called the CS agency and they told him that if he set up auto-pay, then they would remove it from this report. He did and they didn't (surprise). We wrote the nicest letter we could muster to the agency explaining everything to this point. I just got a letter today. It was basically a form letter signed by a paralegal. It said..."Your account is now paid as agreed. If you were late or missed payments in the past, your report will reflect that as we can not change your payment history." It went on to say we could dispute, blah, blah, blah. It is currently being listed as a collection account. It shows that he owes a balance of about $2000 LESS than he really does! It also says $0 passed due and $0 currently due. Any ideas on how to dispute this? No where on it does it show it is being paid as agreed. I was considering disputing is as "not a collection account....paid as agreed/never late". I am running out of ideas. We want to buy or build a house and this may stop us. I REALLY would appreciate any and all ideas!!! G
Does that letter have the CA or lawyers letterhead etc? Send a copy of it to TU stating it supposed to say, Paid as Agreed/Never Late.
yea, send the CRA your documenttaion. Did your husband make verbal or written agreements? get everything in writing...
Unfortunately, the letter does not say "never late", but it does say that it is paid as agreed. Maybe I will send it anyway. If it was just listed as a debt, it would be better than a collection debt! Thanks for the idea!!
G, I cannot really help you but am very interested in that child support payments can be placed on a credit report. My soon to be ex owes child support and I would love to be able to get this on his report. Do you or anyone, know how to go about this?
Might be a state by state discretionary decision. Is there a web site that list the state by state child support recovery methods, etc. Gillian what state do you live in?
The state of CO is the state where my stepson lives. I am not sure if states do it all differently or not. I also can't think of how it would be HELPFUL to have a cs payment listed on your credit report. I mean, yeah, you could show a good payment record, but you aren't going to be able to pay it off or pay it down at all.
Gillian, this doesn't make sense to me. Unless there is an order for child support in place, there should not be any back child support. Child support should run from the date of the court order, or actually, it is usually from the date the petition has been filed. I've never heard of back child support being ordered when there was no order for support in the first place. You might want to look into this further. L
This is done through the child support enforcement agency. They have different steps they take...i.e...the may garnish wages if the person is working, freeze their bank accounts (this happened to my ex and he had caught up and been current for a year before it happened!), suspend their driver's license, place the item on their credit report. Try your child support enforcement unit. L
It has been my experience in the state of CA that child support is only placed on an individual's report when they don't pay. It is a tactic used (along with denying all access to DMV for anything) to get a dead beat parent (notice how I said parent and not DAD...there are deadbeat MOMs out there believe it or not) to pay up. They also issue WARRANTS for not paying. I doubt they would place a positive pay history for child support on anyones report because it is an obligation to pay. It's not like someone extended you credit and you are paying them back.
Whyspers, I agree, it doesn't make sense to me either. At the time that it happened, my husband was so emotionally involved and could not separate himself to see the situation rationally (this was before I knew him). He would have agreed to ANYTHING just to be "named" the father. He had a completely incompetent lawyer, too!! We have gone to two lawyers here (on east coast) and neither would take us because they say that it is too difficult (and would be too costly) to do anything long distance. They both also told us that CO is a very difficult state to deal with for child support and custody issues. I think we will still keep looking for legal advice. Thanks!! G
MP$40, I think you are right and that is the avenue we tried going in the first place. We tried to agrue that because he was in fact never LATE or missed payments that is should not be reported. We were told that anytime there is a balance it is reported. G
I'm in CO...the DRIVER'S LICENSE place made me give SS#...(I ASKED THEM WHAT IS THE INTEREST RATE OF THE LOAN/CREDIT CARD I'M APPLYING FOR)~~~ They said it is for DEADBEAT MOMS AND DADS and INCOME TAX EVAIDERS (they can "hold" the license up)
George, I think it was really just so that they could check to see what card you have applied for now! ;-) G
