Where are the "success stories"?

Not yet but working on it!

I was hesitant to post, I haven't felt like I am a real sucuess yet but I am getting there!

I first learned about credit scores and credit repair in January of 2006 when I decided to try to look into buying a home and getting my kids out of the run down ancient rent house we lived in. I applied at a local bank to see about getting a preapproval and was promptly denied and prob laughed at for days. I was totally dismayed when I pulled my scores and they were all in the low 500's. I had to file a Chapter 7 in 2002, I'm not proud of it but it was necessary at the time.

I felt sorry for myself for awhile then I decided to do something about it. I started reading & learning. I read until my eyeballs bled. Then I read more. I asked questions after questions & read even more. Finally I felt comfortable enough to start credit repair.

Over time I have managed to get about 25 accounts either deleted or updated correctly, my reports were a mess when I started! I still have a few that I am fighting with but overall my progress has been huge.

My scores are all now in the high 600's and I am hopefull to hit the 700 club by the end of this year.

I have learned a tremendous amount and am very indebted to many good people who have helped me along the way.

I have also learned of the importance of budgeting and credit rebuilding, both of which are as important as credit repair itself. The budgeting I had down already, living 3 years of cash only will do that, lol. Credit rebuilding was harder and I had a real prob with even applying for credit because I was so scared of it. But I have it in mind that I don't use credit unless I have the money to pay it off and avoid charges. So everything gets paid off every month. I have managed to get some fairly decent credit cards, not the big names yet, but I am working on it.

In 5/07 I bought a house! I got a good deal, a decent interest rate and now my kids aren't embarressed to invite thier friends over and we are tickled to death to be able to have ac!!! Anyone who has lived in a ancient crummy rent house knows what I mean!

Now I am saving for a car and getting ready to formulate a plan to pay for 3K in dental expenses we will have to occurr. I have a Carecredit account that will allow us to get the work done but I need to figure out how to pay it off. I have a sneaky suspicion that my tax return is now spent, lol. The car will have to wait till that is paid off but I'll get there!


Ok, I ramble alot, most of all I want to say if I can do it, anyone can & there are wonderful people here that help. No question is too dumb, beleive me I have tested this one!

Maybye I'm not a sucuess yet, but I am one in the making!

Tegleg

 

This morning, the Collection Agency settled the FDCPA suit I filed in Small Claims Court five months ago.

 

But, of course!

Just for the curious, I had my first dealings with the CA in January (2007). Went round-and-round with them until filing suit in April. Hearing date was set for Sept. We had the hearing today and reached a mutually agreeable solution. So as these things go, 6-9 months is not too bad of a time frame.

The good news is I'll get a check in 5 days (or go I'll go back to court in 6 , but the bad news is that this is just swept under the carpet with all the rest of the FDCPA violations that this and other CAs commit. For many, it's just the cost of doing business.

and so it goes.

If I were to do it again, what would I do differently?

1) my letters would be shorter. No more of this I want this and that document, blah, blah, blah. Just "I dispute this debt in its entirty and demand validation pursuant to 15 USC 1692." and "Do not call me about this debt. All future communications are to be by U.S. Mail." Much more than that is a waste of breath (obiously this isn't the entire letter, but, it's a good chunk of it). It's also not your job to read them the law that they should be complying with. If they can't figure out what constitutes validation, then too bad for them.

2) I wouldn't have given them "three strikes..." (i.e. sending them three letters over as many months.) After the first 30 days, if they signed the green card and still haven't responded, sending them any more letters is a waste of postage. The process is: They send you the 1st statement, you dispute, they verify and you go from there. If they don't verify (and they don't have to as long as they cease collection activities) then more letters aren't likely to move them. If they continue collection activities and they havent' validated, then your next letter should just be a summons.

You could say that I no longer have any patience for this. Part of my dragging it out three months was due to the fact I was still figuring out how all this worked. That gave me time to build a case and figure out how to package the case. Next time (if there ever is one) things will move much more quickly.

What I would do again, if necssary, is:

1) contact the Attorney General. They were very helpful.

2) file suit. You betcha. If you have a case, go for it! But make sure you have a case that you can prove. which leads me to...

3) keep detailed notes and document EVERYTHING. This is probably the hardest for most people (myself included). If you don't have documentation, then it didn't happen. First, don't talk on the phone except to say that you can't talk on the phone. If you do, record them. Again, if you don't have documentation, it didn't happen. If you don't talk on the phone then you'll have a written record automatically through your correspondance.

4) Small Claims v. Federal District Court. I'm on the fence on this one. On the one hand the Small Claims court makes it easier and cheaper to file. On the other hand it's harder to tell in advance what's going to work in the court and what isn't. Also my guess is that local district court judges don't hear a lot of FDCPA cases so your success in presenting the case might rest on how well you (as opposed to the defendant) educate them on the law. That, of course, can also happen at the Federal level, so I'm still not sure. While I was fully prepared to go to trial and even have the case removed to Federal court, I was really hoping to just settle and move on. In that case, I'm thinking that one court is as good as another but small claims court costs a lot less to file in.

In the end, it was a royal pain in the a$$. I don't know if the settlement fairly compensated me for the collosal waste of my time that resulted from this, but it's better than nothing (which is what I started with going into the hearing).