Need Advice..woke up sleeping giant

That was so long ago, that I personally would ignore it. If the SOL has run out in your state, and they can no longer sue you, AND if you can live with it on your CR until it comes off in 2003, I would let it go.

Or, you can try to pay for deletion from your report. You can contact the CA, and work out a plan to pay them, only if they remove the derog from your report, BUT-make sure you get it in writing first!!

Or, you can start the validation process--which is probably your best bet. Send them the validation letter, followed by the estoppel, and then the intent to sue. It was so long ago that odds are good that they no longer have too much information on file.

Of course, I'm a newbie at this, so I could be missing something.

Good luck!

Tracy

 

I'd do the validation process but the SOL has to be out...check on that...and if so, relax. It'll be gone, worse case, next year.

 

What state? Was it a credit card, or installment contract?

 

I agree, I doubt if they will validate.

 

My suggestion would be to find out if the Statute of limitations has run its' course. If so, I would send a cease and desist and be done with it.

 

Re: Need Advice..woke up sleeping g

These two facts are unrelated: 1) you ordered your credit report, and 2) you suddenly have an old creditor knocking at your door. Although it may seem unbelievable at first glance, this really is a coincidence. When you order a credit report, your creditors are not notified. (If they were, the report supplier would be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act which spells out the reasons -- i.e., "permissable purpose" -- under which a CRA can communicate material and specific facts of your credit history with creditors.)

That said, sleeping giants occasionally do wake up. The bad news is, ack, they're awake and asking for money! The good news, though, is this: When giants awake, they often break a couple of federal laws while pursuing you. I hate advice that essentially is homework, but this really is my best advice...

1) If you haven't already (and this is something you may have already done, I certainly recognize), become VERY familiar with the FCRA and FDCPA.

2) Don't speak with the CA on the phone for any reason -- not even if they are being friendly and seem to be expressing their genuine concern for your situation. Their job is to prepare for battle collecting a bad debt, and they are serious about the task. Anything you say can be used against you later. Insist that all communication be done by letter and hang up. If they get angry, you'll wish that you had read advice point #3 below first, lol.

3) Consider buying a cheap cassette tape recorder and a Radioshack phone taping device. Ok, this will sound VERY paranoid to many newcomers who are reading this, LOL, but I'm here to tell you that you AREN'T being overly paranoid in this circumstance. Collectors are famous for saying things which violate the FDCPA, and if you get them on tape you will probably be able to use it later to nail them. (I say "probably," because a very few states require that you inform the other party that you are about to tape a call. If you live in one of those states, then your strategy changes a bit. There's more on this board about that if you search.)

4) Approach an awakened giant as if you are preparing to go to court right from the beginning. That doesn't mean you have to fire off nasty letters and threaten them before slamming down a phone. To the contrary, YOU be polite. (Even the "nutcase" letter is polite.) What I mean by "preparing to go to court" is really an extension of advice point #1 above: Carefully watch their EVERY move and their EVERY word, within the context of the FCRA dn FDCPA, take notes, and let them make most of the noise -- especially initially.

Hope this helps here at the start. While the giant awakens, you have some time to learn some new tools.

Doc

 

Do you mean that the SOL has to be up before you can send the validation letter? Sorry to hijack the thread, but I never heard this before, and am ready to send my first validation letter to a CA. Thanks a lot!


Maureen

 

No, but they can't sue you anymore if the SOL is up.

On that note, my husband has a lot of things in collections, and the SOL isn't up on any of them. Should I still go the validation route to start w/ , or should I just try to pay for deletion? This is where I get confused!

 

so you have more leverage in working with them for what its worth.

 

well I am going to tiptoe out on a limb here...to refute one little thing psychdoc said...please forgive me because I come nowhere near his experience...but I ordered my credit report (a tri-merged one, then experian, then transunion) in early june...and out of the blue I got a collection notice from RMA that had bought a providian charge-off from '96 in 11/01...RMA could have only gotten my new address from the credit reports. So I do think starting this process when you've been under the radar wakes up some sleepers.

Fortunately the charge-off was in '96 and the thing is beyond my state's sol plus in another year they have to drop it off my credit report and I filed a chp 13....so it is no prob to me....this is just MY experience and in no way reflects the more vast experience of the "old timers" here.

clc

 

I think a bunch of old Sears debt must have just been resold. I had an old Sears charge-off from around the 1995--1996 timeframe and I got a telephone call in April from a new CA. They called twice and each time I told them they were free to send me information about the account in writing but I would not speak to them on the telephone.

They sent me a notice in the mail the following week. I sent them a validation letter and they vanished.

 

I will jump in with a few things too.

I opened a bank of america account. i did not know I owed them 200 from an account 3 years prior. I payed them. All of a sudden I get 3 hits on each CRA from a collection agency for BofA!!!! Now my report was empty until I paid the debt. When I paid it, low and behold, I get 3 collections on my reports. I immediately filed intent to sue papers. How is this possible??? blew my mind, the kicker is the collections posted 2 months after the account was paid in full. and on top of that telecheck had the account too. these jerks are terrible. they still have not sent me a validation, or an account printout. whew

 

As I have said repeatedly,whenever anyone wants to "pay off" old accounts. BACK ON YOUR REPORTS IT GOES! If you are tempted to pay any old accounts that are either off your reports, or soon to fall off-- send your $$ to your local Humane Society,help the puppies and kittens, instead of the vultures.

 

these were never on my report. I never had any info on my report from BofA. I had a checking account with BofA and a month later they said I owed them 200.00. They showed me in the computer.(I had my checking account tied to an internet account and some charges posted towards it)

I just paid it or I had to close my account. Prior to this, no info was on my account.

Don't get me wrong, I won't pay anyone for a collection account. They have to sign deletion letter before I will ever speak to them.

 

Re: Need Advice..woke up sleeping g

I have to disagree with it being coincidence. Same thing happened to my wife, and her name and address had changed. Up until she had checked her report from EQ, there hadn't been any contact with the creditor in 5 years.

Gib

 

Re: Need Advice..woke up sleeping g

Sorry, as the statistical mavens love to point out, correlation doesn't always imply causation. Translation: sleeping giants eventually awaken irrespective of whether you pull your own credit. Others can surely point to other giants who woke up when a credit report wasn't pulled.

Doc

 

Re: Need Advice..woke up sleeping g

validate
validate
validate

check your statute of limitations in your state

never talk on the phone with them

basically everything everyone else said once or twice...

As a person that has made many a credit/money blunder - 150 is not "F**Ked up"...

If you have questions - do not hesitate to ask

Parul

PS - does a program named Decal mean anything to you?

 

Re: Need Advice..woke up sleeping g

I honestly think this is a small problem in light of the kinds of situations here and, because of the facts surrounding it (age of debt, etc.), it'll be a fairly simple fix!

So, not really a giant, more like a cockroach.......squash it!

Ewwwwwwwwwww

 

Psychdoc mentioned earlier:

Although it may seem unbelievable at first glance, this really is a coincidence. When you order a credit report, your creditors are not notified. (If they were, the report supplier would be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act...

That might well be true (with original creditors), however, just like we as debtors can purchase the right from a CRB to have any activity reported to us on our CR, can't/might not the CA also purchase that right (I think that is what cibomatto was referring to in the initial thread)? If that is illegal, they probably can access our report occasionally to see if there has been any new info recorded on our CR. From the article below, it appears that they (the CA at least) "have a legal right" to do that.

Read this excerpt from - "How debt collectors and creditors find you and avoiding it."

"Credit Reports

Collection agencies often run your credit report to find you. This is a double whammy because not only do they have a legal right to look at it but it results in a very negative hard inquiry on your credit reports. If you feel a collector has accessed your file inappropriately, contact the credit bureaus. Inappropriate access may be repeated inquiries or inquiries knowing the debt is legally expired. A collector may also try to re-report an expired debt back into a credit file to get you to call."

For entire article, click below:

http://www.carreonandassociates.com/avoidingdebtcollectors.htm