Two years ago we fell behind. We called everyone with updates as work improved. We caught up and were thinking we were ok.Pmts being made untill Cap 1 quit sending bills.On contacting them we were automatically sent to what ever collection company had the account.Unknown to us we were charged off even tho we were making pmts. We finally found Investagative solutions to audit our account.They told us it would take some time to revue the accounts. Meanwhile other cc's quit sending bills and it took months of pleading to get an audit of our acct. Meanwhile they are reporting charged off on our cra's. One of these auditing cards is now suing us... This last week several more current accounts fell into this identical senario. Pmts made but not posted to ledger.On contacting the cust service they always imply (WTH) wow..It shows a stream of pmts made yet in various stages of trouble. THis is driving us nuts and are forced into a corner..We can not tap equity in home with low fico scores with this common thread of not posting..
There must be some more information somewhere, as I've never experienced this situation across many creditors. Did you write the issuers highlighting the issue? Technically, you go beyond a credit (report) situtation here. You are looking at direct credit card issues. First, you need to write the CC issuers a letter (send Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested) disputing the Charged Off statuts and debt; detailing your issue and the extent. Copy any records of payments (checks, e-receipts, etc.), and enclose. State what you believe the balance(s) to be(estimate). This sounds like you were entered into "hardship" programs somewhere. These arrangements "freeze" the account, and the payments accumulate to reach the "settlement" amount. The account often ends up as a Charge Off, but not always. You need to document your dispute with these CC issuers first. Await thier repsonse. Someone will know something. By law they have to be able to give you an accounting of your activity.
more We did receive a hardship case on one account. Because of the same MO we have concidered several possibilitys A Hackers attacking us (long story,could be) B Poor data stream from checks C Creditors and CRA"S "tag teaming " us D The possibilty that pmts made on charged off accts opened pandora's box for legal issues.(reaffirmed?) E possibly the accounts are being forced out of their systems as fico scores go down. Lastly we were waiting for each cc to audit our accts BEFORE attacking the big 3. We felt it was a waste of time to challenge the reports when the next cycle would again post incorrect derog's to our accts.Thus repeating the process all over! We have not had access to this great forum untill a few months a go. So we have fought with out much help up to now.. We are willing to entertain any thoughts you have. Thank you for your help
Sorry, I don't have time right now for a full reply, but a quick response: CC issuers are bound by regulations regarding disputes over activity, Usually this is related to "charged" activity, but payment activity is covered as well. Though the regulations require that you must make the dispute in writing, and detail what you believe the error to be. This is where many people fall short, the normal person would "call" and inquire, but this does not cover the regulation. Start off by reviewing the accounts, for your activity, document what you feel the issue(s) is/are, and further state what you believe to be the status/balance of the account. It is critical to send this Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested for the paper trail. Technically you have 60 days from "discovering" the anamoly, so keep this in mind, and track accordingly. More later...
A little background please; 1) How many accounts are having this issue? 2) Are they all CCs? 3) Issuers (if you don't mind) 4) What were the "terms" of the hardship case? 5) What was the aggrangement/terms of the other payment plans? 6)What is the timeline here? a)What date(s) did you start falling behind on payments (2 yrs ago) b)What dates did you start making payments? c)What are the dates of "charge off"? 7) Do you have records/receipts for your payments? This is a unique case, especially if it is across many cards. A few more details may help sort this out.
behind We fell behind Cap one Dec 05 jan 06 and were current April on. Bills quit coming Aug-Sept. 06. We have written so many letters and to no avail. The next acct slipped was A National Geografhic acct wich has become Chase. We have written and called often on these accounts and have been assured they were in audit. Cap one 5 accts, Nat Geo 1. Chase now suing . Just last week Aurora mortgage and 3 US bank accounts went into the abyss. Not sure if the LOC in US BAnk secured or not. All of these accounts are many years old and paper trail will be a challenge for "contracts". I have worked away from home and records are in disaray now.(4 yrs) Aurora started this several months ago kicking out a check drawn on another account?(WTH) By the time we received the call verifying the other acct we were by then "late". We voiced our concern that we have had several accts slip from an incident like this. We were assured we were fine as the pmt was well with in time limits to them. Two weeks later we got a collection call (i will be nice here its very hard-An overseas customer service representative with a very thick accent) ( the contempt they treat us with) calling on this acount? We called back to Aurora and again was assured we were not in collection. Aurora implied (WTH) is wrong here. You should not rec this call. Last week we gota notice we were 3 pmts late all stemming from this paper blunder...Yes we have current receits on this account.When Cust Serv pulled the acct he could see the pmt stream yet not posted? The next and last accts are US BANK. 3 accounts stemming from their inability to pull money from the checking acct on 3 accts. We spent much time last year attempting to stop these blunders. The records clearly show we all thought the electronic process was in place to pull the funds from the checking acct. Since this. last year it was going upside down. We have the latest cr in the mail for mon. We have not pulled cr's knowing we were in deep doo .Again were waiting for acct audits to reestablish accounts before attacking credit reports. Meanwhile our credit reports are shambles. Fico less than 500. WE will be in touch with Aurora and US BANK monday with followups. Due to the unusual nature of this mess it makes me wonder "outside the box" for reasons why? Thank you again for your insight and attention. PS next time you get a rude overseas collection call have a stateside customer service rep call and pretend to be you. calling overseas.. Give them permission to do so.they have all the pass words etc. They WILL BE AMAZED at what we go thru! This works wonders!!!!
Were all these accounts being paid electronically out of the same checking account? Did you change the checking account at some point? Do you pay these bills through your banking bill pay system, or directly with the issuers' websites? What baffles me is the range of this problem, one, maybe two accounts I could see an electronic transfer issue. But this many accounts makes me wonder. Is your checking account reconciled? Is the money actually coming out? Do the issuers state that they have your correct address for mailing? I suggest that you check with your bank, they should have records of where the payments went to, and when. They may charge a research fee for some of the older data.
We pay from our credit union check book.On close due dates we have filed electronic transfer from the same acct. Yes the funds are removed from our acct....Our credit union is installing a new program this week end. The last two years in a row Memorial day week end our accts were frozen. Many others as well..in this cu. THey have not offered and reason "why" but a new program speaks loud n clear. Maybe this senario has been corrected with the new program. Our checks are the common thread! The timing of the non posting has got to be controlled to cause random acct failure. Too bad we couldnt get a "electronic nerd" to read this post and give us possibilitys or things to look for! Again your input helps us begin to dig out from this storm.Thank you
Sounds as if Bankruptcy may be the solution here insofar as you're already being sued. Consult a bankrupcty attorney to see if you're eligible. Honestly, your credit scores would rise by virtue of it and it would eliminate a world of stress.
Using a commonality approach to this problem, the issue HAS to be with your credit union. Credit unions are not "officially banks", they do work differently than a commercial bank. Somewhere these "checks" ae getting kicked out somehow. The simplest thing I would check is the routing and account numbers on the physical checks. Perhaps you had a misprint when printed, this would cause a "lost in the system" issue. But this has to be centered with the credit union, there are too many creditors, across different types for the same problem to occur. If I am correct in understanding, you are sending the payment check in time, the payment is being recorded, but somehow not really credited to the account balance. Then somewhere it comes back as a payment. I would look into the credit union, cover the basics: *your checks routing/account numbers are correct, *all signatories are "authorized", with copy on hand at bank, *look at "clearing time" for checks, (this is a tell tale sign of how the check is handled) *make sure your correct address(and name spelling) are printed on checks. To me it seems that the actual funds are not transferring properly, which is the credit union issue. Credit union checks are technically "drafts", they behave a little different than checks. Credit unions also work under different clearing methods, and have different requirements. Go visit your credit union, explain the issue, have them review your account and verify all aspects are valid. They can tell you what happened each step with a "check", just press them a bit.
We have BK as an option and have it to fall back on...We have fought this ugly monster for two years...Stress is no where close to the proper word....FUSTRATION for lack of cooperation to resolve the issues. We are fighting an unknown anomaly that is trying to destroy our finicial world. If we prevail we will have gained strength in fighting adversary's and the knowledge how to hold our ground. It is our belief that BK will wash the unwanted debt we have and we will loose little that matters. However we dont want to hurt our local small business who have trusted us with credit or damage our reputation.. The mafia strong arm tactics that the cc's have developed to boost profits will be their undoing from lack of check and balance. Someday ....But for now.. A refi of our place is on the horizon with a little cooperation from some of these creditors ..Maybe just maybe we will make it.. Of coarse if these folks controlling our fuel prices would come back to reality we would could heal quickly.
We are in agreement that it has to be in the "draft" check data stream.. The one nagging thought is how does this anomily happen to 1 account at a time?Then move on to another acct then to another...And yet no problems with local pmts on ins,utilitys,local pmts....Just accts listed on CRA's? Your outside looking in at this really helps us out.We are so NUTS with this you can understand..Your questions validate our thoughts and how to proceed. The CU has been very good to us over the years. Our local bank leaves a smell we find out in the barn.. This weekend the CU are installing a major overhaul program that hopefully will illiminate this anomily.. We will have more info tommorow as do follow ups.. Again thank you.
I agree with Bizwiz--go talk to your credit union. Take all the records you can find, maybe call and schedule a time to go in, sit with someone, and go through everything in detail. They do seem to be the common thread here.
The problem would be less likely to happen locally because the checks would be handled locally rather than routed to one of the major regional check processing centers. It seems as though your CU poorly implemented "Check 21" requirements. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check_21_Act I have no idea whether the CU can be held liable for what happened to you or for how much, but you can bet that any members who were just hanging on by their financial fingernails are in the same boat. There aren't a lot of attorneys around who are in the business of suiing banks (and bank-like institutions) because there's an old legal maxim "the bank always wins." And the public at large really doesn't want it any other way. However, it does happen, and the little guy does win. I would see if I could track down a consumer lawyer on NACA.NET. This could be ripe for a class action (depends on how big the credit union is).
If you have paid these debts, (forgetting the posting issues), I wouldn't consider BK yet. I'm not sure why you would want to lose all the payments made. You will want to pull all of your three credit reports, you will need this data as "evidence" to match up with your payment history. The reports will also be "evidence of damages"" should you decide to pursue suit against someone. This described scenario makes me think your checks are somewhere being labeled like "bad checks", that get kicked out or returned for some reason. Again, it appears that your checks are not going through the normal routing and clearing process properly.
I have played the senario over and over in my head. How many others are effected and have not fought back to find the problem? The WORST aspect is guilty untill found innocent with your creditors. When you call in on this it seems to be which side of the ledger balance sheet ther are viewing. If they cross reconcile the data the apparent confict becomes clear. However many customer service reps are not willing to listen , implying you are a dead beat with a new scam. The credit cards are the worst to get any help from. We have done our own "redneck" letter in sheer fustration.. It actually opened some doors..They passed it around as a office joke untill a manager for kicks checked out the account number..He was deeply embarrassed and very aplogetic. He was upset we had to use such tactics to get help. This is typical of this industry and how we have been treated...All we wanted was to be allowed to pay our debts and forever hear no more from them. One of the upside down accounts was cleared of wrong doing today.. Another local bill as well was cleared....and we are waiting for a major audit that supposed to be calling today...wait n wait for call backs and try to accomplish these with work scheadule. The storms out west have interupted power and computers all week end. As well our CU was supposed to install a new program with all employees working all week end and today.. Mix a little ol power failure in there and OOOOOO boy! WE should have all 3 CR in the po box. WE are making progress and many thanks to all...We have a long way to go....
At least you're identifying issues and getting someone to listen. Once you get one or two to straighten it out, you'll have an idea how to attack the others. And if the credit union is at least partly at fault, have them give you a letter explaining things, which you can send to your creditors.
Another possibility To be honest, I'm still trying to figure this one out...never heard of anything quite like this situation. However, there is another possibility here. It's possible you've gotten caught in a "past due stream", IF, during your trouble period, you fell behind on payments with all these accounts. From there, if you never "caught up" and became current, during a six month period (let's say), your payments may have been going to oldest due payment, not getting credited to the time period you think they are, and this is why they are falling into other statuses. There must be other charges which accumulated on these accounts, and usually they are added to the next due payment. So, a possibility is that you "never became current", hence some accounts going to "Charge Off". Once the accounts did go to "Charge Off" status, they probably would stop sending statements, as they would go to the collection agency for full amount. Any payment received by the original creditor would most likely be forwarded to the collection agency. That is another scenario, where payments could get lost in the system. I've no idea if this hypothesis is applicable to your situation, but perhaps there is something here. You need to check your accounting for these potential traps.
Good point, Biz. I hadn't thought of that, but it's quite possible. If a payment were late once and fees applied, the account would probably never be current. In the beginning, there should have been statememts showing that. But if the OP were traveling and didn't pay attention to the statements, it could get out of whack. That's another very possible situation.
