Hello all, Brand new to the forums, and working at rebuilding my credit, so I am very excited to be here and get some advice from people who have been in my situation before. So basically, I pulled my TU yesterday, and figured I would work on that first. I have a few charge offs that arent mine (belong to my dad, who has the same name as me) and I disputed them promptly. Also, there were a few old accounts dating back several years that I disputed because I just plain dont remember what they are. Oh, and I have some Sallie Mae stuff... For now, I really have 2 major questions. First, I have an AMEX that is reporting as charged off. I called them, and it is with a 3rd party CA that I am not seeing on the CR (so they must have just recently sold it). The balance on the AMEX was only $500, so nothing too huge, but I would like to get AMEX to remove the "charge off" status from my CR, but they said there is nothing they can do when I talked to them. If I send a GW to AMEX, (which I think may be my only option) should I request them to remove the entry all together? Or should I just ask them if they could change the status? Secondly, I have an account with GE Capital(CareCredit) with a balance of about $3000 that has been charged off. I have a few Q's about this one. It is currently in GE's collections (so no 3rd party yet) so I talked to a lady and tried to get the account brought current and setup a payment plan, to no avail. She told me I would either have to send the full balance OR wait for GE to sell it to a 3rd party....This makes no sense to me, as I am offering to pay the full balance on a payment plan, and a third party is going to buy it from them for pennies on the $. Another interesting point is that, for some reason, GE had me listed as DECEASED!! I called them and had them update the status. I don't know any laws concerning responsibility of debt once you are deceased, but I am thinking that if I have to send off a GW to them, I can use it as leverage, (i.e. "Even though your company said I was deceased, which would waive responsibility of debt, I chose to have this corrected..." or something) Let me know what you guys think, and sorry for the long post. I'm sure I will be posting much much more.
Dispute the AMEX account with the CRA first. It may come off with a simple dispute. If that does not work, then use the GW letter. They are not open to second chances, since they feel they were burned the first go 'round. However, if you sent a payment, I doubt they would refuse it. There is a possibility that the payment will be caught in the OC/CA transfer and give you reason to dispute the balance as incorrect, hopefully giving you ammunition to have the entire tradeline deleted if you play your cards right. If they refuse your payment, make weekly contact with the OC to get the CA contact info as soon as they transfer the account to them. Contact the CA asap i.e. before they add their tradeline to your reports, and hopefully you can prevent them doing so if you pay or settle the debt before they report.
How should I dispute this? As a "not mine" validation? Or as a "verify debt" validation? May be a dumb question, but like I said, I'm new to this. Thanks for the help!!!
To dispute as "not mine" is the only thing that will get it deleted. Disputing for any other reason calls for the account to remain on the report but its details to be modified. Validation requests are sent to creditors and collectors, not credit bureaus.
Welcome to Creditnet! Here are a few of my thoughts on your questions: 1.) The goodwill letter probably isn't going to do the trick. I would try disputing something that's inaccurate through the CRAs first. If that doesn't work and you end up paying the account off with the CA, then you might want to try a GW letter to the OC afterwards. 2.) I would try again with GE and push your way up the ladder to an account supervisor. Sometimes all you need is to be dealing with the right person, and it's worth trying a few times. I would definitely really try to get this taken care of before it falls into the hands of a CA though. That will just complicate the process, and likely hurt your credit, even more.
I took Josh's advice, and after speaking with about 4 alleged supervisors, I got one to offer me 2 options: 1.) Pay the full amount TODAY and get the charge off changed to Paid in Full. OR 2.) Accept a settlement for more than half the amount $1,280. Since I don't just have $3000 lying around, I had to accept the settlement, which is more conveniently broken into 3 payments. After these payments are made (in a 70 day period) the status will be changed from charge off to "settled for less than original amount". Man I wish I had $3k lying around.... Anyways, I want to make sure I went about this the right way. The first payment of $425 is due in 9 days. As I have just started my new job, I don't even know if I will be able to come up with that money in 9 days. However, I decided to accept the settlement anyways because: 1.)The account was charged off at the end of May, so it is bound for a 3rd party CA very soon. 2.)My account is already on my CR as charged off. So, if something happens and I CANT make the initial payment in 9 days and I default on the settlement, I don't think it will make too big of a difference on my score or situation. (at least I hope not!) The supervisor did say that if I defaulted, it would be reported to the credit bureau as unpaid debt or something like that. I should note, I have "verbally" agreed to the settlement and the supervisor documented it as such. I told him I was at work and that I didn't have any bank account info with me, so I still have to call back to give him that info (now I can get your guys' advice first) So, did I go about this the right way? Am I right to think that if I default on the settlement, I won't be any worse off than I am now? Thanks all!
Congrats on getting someone that was willing to work with you! Get the settlement agreement in writing, just in case things get bumpy down the road, and you have to "remind" GE of what they agreed to. If you default on the agreement, GE probably will forward the account to the CA as they had planned in the beginning.
Okay, so I shouldn't give them any bank information until I recieve the settlement agreement in writing? Also, a quick question about another matter. If I have disputed CA information with TransUnion, can I still send a DV letter to the CA's, or should I wait until TU's investigation is done? Thanks again for all of the help guys! First day here and I'm already making progress!
That would be the safest thing to do in case they do not keep their word, and they or the CA sue you for the entire balance. You would have nothing in writing to defend yourself in front of the judge regarding their breach of agreement with you and they would already have your bank account information for the garnishment. To dispute with the CRA and send a DV to the CA simultaneously is what some recommend. The way this is supposed to work is that the CA cannot continue collection activity (verify the account with the CRA) until they respond satisfactorily to your DV letter. Get the other half of this process in the mail asap!
If you can track down the CAs FAX number, I would fax it, ASAP. If they've verified it already, it may not help, but it can't hurt.
Thanks Jam, I wish I would've gotten your post before I went to the post office! Either way, I sent certified letters with return receipts out to 2 different CA's yesterday for DV. Hopefully, they get there fast! Just out of curiousity, what is the advantage to sending a DV to a CA and disputing with the CA at the same time? I just ask because I don't have much experience with this stuff, and you guys make it seem like I should get my DV there TODAY! Thanks again
The whole idea is that the CA needs to appropriately respond to your DV letter before they can continue collection activity. Verifying your debt with the CRAs could be considered collection activity, so if they do that before responding to your DV request then you've got them on an FDCPA violation.
Hmm..interesting. So, how will I now know whether or not they verified my debt with the CRA before or after receiving my letters? I sent the letter yesterday certified mail, but I did the dispute online. So they have probably already started on it
I do not think it would hurt to send the DV letter via fax as well, as long as it is an identical copy of what was sent via snail mail. That will help close the gap, and since you are not sending "additional information", they cannot use that excuse to extend their response time window.
