I have 15 charge off's that are from 8-12 months old. I get an occasional letter, but that's it. They don't have my new phone #. Would I be awakening them if I start disputing? Does it change the Fico score much if I get a few removed? Last of all is it too soon to start disputing? I'm new here.
Probably. But you can send out some validation letters to them. Search this site for "validation" and you should see some samples. We can't be too sure, but the answer I'm willing to give you on this is, MOST LIKELY. We don't know how big of a change you'll see, but we know that there will be a change. It's never too soon to start disputing. Just order copies of your reports and go to town. Welcome to the board.
If you're receiving the occasional letter from any of these 15 collection agencies, then there really wouldn't be any "awakenings" simply because they're still actively collecting (or at least attempting to collect) on these debts. When you send validation letters to the CA's, you do not include your phone number, nor do you sign the letters. As far as your scores are concerned, your score should rise each time a derog account is deleted, but this isn't always true (sometimes the score may remain unchanged when a derog is deleted). No, it is not too soon to start your validation process. Study up on what the validation process consists of, and you should have a much clearer view on what to do next.
