Hi All, I have spent the majority of today reading this board and already found it to be VERY helpful. I do have some questions/situations I'd love to get an opinion on as to how to handle it, as I will completely admit, I am overwhelmed and have no idea about credit/credit scores. I graduated college 2 years ago- where I messed up my credit immensely (or so I keep hearing.) I was getting calls from collection agencies, stuffing bills in my drawers, and not wanting to deal with it - looking back at it, I know what a bad idea it was, but I had no way to pay with it and didn't want to deal with it. I now have a job where I can absolutely begin to pay back these debts- but I have no idea where to start. I owe $1400 to what was originally a $500 credit to Bank of America. I finally started opening bills, and saw one of the collection agencies offering me to settle for almost $900 below what I owe. However, it was past the due date at that point and once I called the collection agency, it said my account had been passed off to another collection agency. I also owe a little bit over $400 to my old apartment complex- which has also been passed off to a collection agency. Finally, I recently learned that I owed a mere $26 to Victoria's Secret from nearly a year and a half ago, which I already went ahead and paid off last week. Other than that, I have had student loans which I have been paying on time for well over a year now and are in good standing. But don't have any other lines of credit. What I would like to know is if your debt is passed on to another collection agency, will they typically agree to the settled amount with the previous company? As well, what is the difference between paying the settled amount and paying in full? Will doing one vs. the other improve my credit score or does it not matter? Another question, which debt should I pay off first? The old bank of america debt or the one to my old apartment? Finally, where can I start to improve my credit? Would a secured card be a good idea, if so from which companies? Is there a way to remove any of these charges from the report? Any help is greatly appreciated !
How much are you debt? I am a firm believer in bankruptcy. If you qualify for a Chapter 7 - all your debts will/might get discharged
Bankruptcy can also come back to bite you in the butt years later. If you can avoid it, you should. Is the BoA debt with a collection agency or still with BoA? Before you pay anyone ANYTHING, you first make them prove that the debt belongs to you (it may not, or they may not be able to prove it), prove how they computed the balance (not all charges are legal in all states) and that they are legally entitled to collect the debt. You don't want to pay a collection agency only to find out that it had already been sold to someone else, who now has the legal authority to collect. For each account, you should also try to determine when it went delinquent, meaning that it went past due and was never again brought current, even though you may have paid on it. You also need to find out the statute of limitations (SOL) for your state.
As of right now, im really only in about $2000 worth of debt. the $409 towards my old lease, and then $1500 to Bank of America. The BoA debt has already been passed around to several collection agencies and is the one that I was offered to settle for a little bit less than $500. Both of these debts are absolutely mine- but how would I even go about having them prove that the debt is mine? The money owed to my old apt. was from August 2006. The BoA card went delinquent around June 2006. So this is all nearly two years in the works now unfortunately.
Just because you owed BoA money doesn't mean you owe this collection agency money. They need to prove that the debt they are trying to collect is in fact what you owe, by proving the underlying account. Suppose I said you owe me $5K for a BoA account you had. You know you owed BoA some money, so you pay me. Next week, someone else comes up to you and says you owe them $5K for a BoA account. Is it yours? Was the one I collected yours? Who has the real proof of the account? Remember that when it's a collection agency, you never owe THEM money. You owed someone money in the past and they're saying you owe them. That's why you want them to prove that the debt is in fact yours. How long has it been since your first contact with the collection agency that has it now? Are you sure they are a collection agency and not internal collections of BoA?
Bank of America gave me the appropriate CollectioN Agency to call regarding my account - which is the most recent one who is collected my debt at this point. At this point, I am really just trying to get this debt paid off as soon as possible. Now that i am financially stable- have a job where I make more than enough to pay these debts off within the next week. However, I am just completely lost as to which is best for my credit score (if it even matters.) Would agreeing on the settle amount and paying it be best or would be paying the full amount due be a better idea? Does it matter which I pay, as long as the account gets paid? - Its showing up on my credit report as this: Account Name: BANK OF AMERICA Account Number: XXXX Account Type: Credit Card - Revolving Terms Type of Business: Bank Credit Cards Terms: Revolving Account Status: Closed Monthly Payment: $0 Date Open: Aug, 2004 Balance: $1,332 Balance Date: Oct 27, 2007 High Balance: Not reported Credit Limit/Orig. Amt.: $500 Past Due: $916 Remarks: Not reported Payment Status: Charge-off Any suggestions on the best way to handle this? As well, looking into improving my credit score. Which unsecured credit card would someone suggest as being a good one to get? I've been reading a lot of reviews, and it seems a lot of people have problems getting back the initial deposit for Orchard Bank. Is that a typical problem for that?
Getting the deposit back from them is never easy. I would recommend looking into First Premier Bank as well, they have a good credit rebuilding card. As for your above listed debt I would call in and tell them that while you cannot afford the $1,332 at this time you'd be happy to pay them $700 if they'd be willing to settle on it today. I think you'll be surprised at the response you might get and the money you'll save.
You can read about cards such as the Orchard Bank and First Premier cards in the credit cards section of our site. Thanks, Creditnet
Paying off Victoria's secret is going to cue the others that you're in a settling mood (they can see your reports). So either you settle quickly before the VS settlement shows up, or you need to be prepared to wait out a period when the creditors will be pressing for payment in full. Do you know whether the apparent CA you're dealing with is actually a JDB? There are nuances in how you deal with the two. Do you know what the SOL is on each debt? Not that you necessarily are going to let either of them go that long, but knowing every aspect of your situation helps you to be in control. CAs and JDBs typically know more than you do, and that enables them to out-negotiate you. Whatever you do with the BofA one, make sure that the settlement is in writing and is full and final and that it provides that no 1099-c form will be issued (unless you have already accounted for its effects by lowering your settlement amount as much as possible). Don't be in a hurry. They're in no hurry. The party that is in a hurry is the party that loses.
If you do settle make sure they agree to delete and get it in writing. search in the payment for deletion section.
I agree with unlv. Unless you get an agreement from the collection agency that your payment is contingent upon their agreement to delete the record from your credit report, it will still on there, whether you pay it or not. They will most probably agree, but dont offer them the full amount.
First of all, thanks so much for everyone's replies... Its all very helpful! I also posted my questions on another site, and someone who said they were from 1-800badcredit gave me an entirely different answer. So now I am confused. If someone can possibly explain it to me, I'd be very appreciated! She responded to the fact that my BoA debt and my debt from the apartment which i owe are both written as "charge-off" on my credit report. Her response was: "If any of the collection agencies ARE NOT listed on your report then tell them to go fly a kite the next time they call. State that you will not pay the debt. You know they can't hit your credit and that you do not want them to call any more. Then if they call again threaten to report them for illegal harrassment. Don't listen to anything they say. Some will threaten you and say you're credit is going to get hit, or that they can put a lein against something you own. THEY CAN'T.The charge-offs will hurt your credit for a few years, but if you make regular payments with all the other lenders then the "good" behavior will add up over time and you'll also put distance between you and the "bad period." So basically what she is telling me is to not pay my past debt since they are already written off as chargeoffs? Is this true, if so, should i just scratch the idea of trying to pay back old debts and just try to re-establish my credit?
That sounds like really, really bad advice. A collection agency CAN put a collection account on your credit report. Just because they haven't done it yet doesn't mean that they can't. And it doesn't appear that these accounts are beyond the SOL, so they CAN sue you. You can't just ignore them.
Just because it's charged off doesn't mean they can't collect on it. A charge-off is an accounting treatment to write it off their books as a bad debt. If it's every collected, they can write it back on. The collection agency doesn't charge off debts, the original creditor does. The collection agency collects. They CAN put it on your reports. That's not the worst part. They can bring suit against you, and if you don't respond they will get a default judgment against you. Go back to the advice you were given here. Flacorps has given you some good guidance, and asked you some appropriate questions. Be careful just telling a collector to leave you alone.
I have no idea whether it is a CA or actually a JDB - how would I go about finding out which it is? I am from New Jersey, and what I am finding out is the SOL in this state is 6 years for Oral, Written, and Promissory debts, and 4 years on Open-Ended Accounts. So all these debts are still completely within the SOL. And I have another question. I am assuming the BoA debt I won't be able to get removed from my credit reports. Does anyone know what it is typically like to get past debt from a landlord/property management group removed? Would I need to do this by contacting the property management group, or the collection agency which now has my debt? On my credit report it shows as: Account Name: NCC BUSINESS SVCS INC Account Number: 124XXXX Account Type: Collection Department / Agency / Attorney Type of Business: Other Collection Agencies Terms: 1 Month Account Status: Closed Monthly Payment: $0 Date Open: Nov, 2006 Balance: $409 Balance Date: Feb 21, 2008 High Balance: Not reported Credit Limit/Orig. Amt.: $409 Past Due: $409 Remarks: Not reported Payment Status: Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department Thanks again to everyone for their input, opinion, and answers!
You want to find out everything you can about NCC ... officers, directors, ownership (stuff you can find to a certain extent on the Secretary of State's website for NJ). The nightmare scenario would be if they were in any way connected with Pressler & Pressler (owned by, or a client of). You can find that out by looking at court filings ... online if possible. You would also rather not be sued in Special Civil ... and if they do that to folks, you need to take 'em very seriously.
I spoke with a representative at BoA today. Since my debt was in the process of being sold to another collection agency, it was technically in their hands once again. The rep that I spoke to said I can settle with them for 666.47 instead of the original 1332.85 (half of the amt due.) The rep said this offer will only be valid until Friday- do I go ahead and settle with BoA instead of another collection agency? She said I can go ahead and pay over the phone. Is this a good idea?
Get something in writing regarding exactly what they're offering you. No writing, no payment (and have us here check out the writing before you pay anything). Don't provide any payment over the phone. You can't trust 'em. You don't even know who you're really dealing with ... for all you know, your call is transferred by BofA's phone system to their CA in a seamless fashion. The best you can do for them in payment is certified funds (cashier's check) by overnite. If they'll go for that, do it for them. The settlement agreement should allow for no resale of the balance, and no issuance of a 1099-c. It's a full and final settlement. Deletion of the TL is probably too much to hope. You might see if you can get them to agree not to communicate further with any CRA regarding the TL. That would allow you to knock it off with a dispute to each CRA.
Yea, you tell them that, kite will be made with your summons, as thats the only way they can communicate with you. Bad #1 Bad #2, of course they can report. Bad #3 - ahh I guess you could, but I doubt it has any teeth. OK, the poster got this one about 1/2 right. That is correct.
