help a newbie w/? on what to do next Hello everyone, First off thank you all for such a great board. Itâ??s has lots of good advice. I've spent the last two weeks just reading and making notes on what I should be doing. Now I'm a bit confused on how to proceed. Brief overview: - I filed for chap7 in 12/99 - All my orig creditors are not showing up as included in bkruptcy. - The debts are old and most are scheduled to go off reports in 2004 - The collection accts show up as included in bkruptcy. I've started disputing personal info i.e.: incorrect name/address, old addresses etc, and am now waiting for the updated reports to come back. Now what? Do I dispute with the OC or with the CRA that the accounts are "not mine" or do I ask the OC for validation? Do I ask the CA to validate the accts? I guess my biggest confusion is when to dispute vs. when to validate and with whom. As you can see I'm a bit confused. Just when I think I understand, I read another post similar to my situation and get all confused. ;-) If anyone can point me in the next step I'd greatly appreciate it.
Re: help a newbie w/? on what to do next I always feel its best to start out disputing with the CRA's. Sometimes they come right off your report that way and then its finished and there is no need to bother with anyone else. Keep in mind that OC's are not required to validate. If you've tried disputing with the CRA a couple of times and get no where like that, send them a procedural request. As a last resort, you might modify a validation letter asking them to send you proof of the debt, but in my opinion, this is always touchy because...and especially because if these accounts were included in bk, its likely they will be able to validate if push comes to shove. Then again...there is always a possibility they won't as the accounts are so old. Good luck! L
Re: help a newbie w/? on what to do next L - Thanx for the feedback. I am leaning to going that route (disputing w/CRA's 1st) None of the OC's listed the accounts in bkruptcy only the CA's did. I can't quite tell if that's a good thing for me in the long run. As valuable as all this information I read on this board is, it makes my head spin ;-) I'm trying to be real careful not to do more harm than good to any of my reports. So I'm going slow and trying to learn from everyones experience. If anyone else has advice or feedback please share, I'm open to any and every suggestion.
Re: help a newbie w/? on what to do next If the OC's are reporting any of these accounts as charge-offs or delinquent, then IMHO, it would be better if they had listed them as included in bankruptcy. Included in bankruptcy accounts are generally listed as "no status" which means they are not used when calculating FICO. Of course, the bankruptcy itself does enough damage to make up for the no status...lol, and they are still derogatory accounts, so either way its not good. Would be better if they all just go away. Good luck and let us know how it goes. L
Re: help a newbie w/? on what to do next Ok L, so now you got my wheels (tilting)spinning...lol...what's the best route to go: Get the OC's to list the accounts as "included in bkruptcy" or dispute the OC accts that are showing up on report w/CRA as "not mine"? I feel like I have one shot to get this all done. I understand there's no one way to work for everyone, but I think the more I understand the more I can anticipate the outcome of different approaches, then I may be able to make a decision I feel good about. I appreciate you being so helpful!
