I am back to work on my credit repair after taking a break to move. I have some baddies that I am hitting a brick wall on and was hoping to get a little insight on please? I have an old account from Verizon that I can't seem to shake. It is present on all 3 reports, has a balance of 135 and is listed as a collection/charge off. Date opened 8/02 And a last reported date of 6/2007 (!!!!) This was a cell phone that I had prior to my Chap 7 in 2002. It was included in my Chap 7 and I had heard no more from them. I initially disputed this with all 3 CRA's about 3 months ago stating it was a Chap 7 debt as I had filed a Chapter 7 in 8/02. It came back verified on all three with no changes except a statement that "Consumer disputes this debt". I sent a letter to Verizon CMRR in 3/07 stating this was a Chap 7 debt and included a copy of my bk papers. I received the green card back but have had no reponse or changes on the tradeline. Any idea on what to do next? I also have a utility bill from TXU: It is on TU & Exp, shows a balance of 120, is listed as a collection/CO. Shows opened 4/2001 and date reported of 01/06. I had utility service with TXU from 4/01 till 7/04. I had filed a Chapter 7 in 8/02. After I moved in 7/04 I received a bill from them assumed it was my final bill after moving and made small payments till it was payed off. I thought I was through with them till I began credit repair and saw the account there. I initially disputed it with the CRA's and it was removed by Equifax but was verified by Exp & TU and lists the "consumer disputes this account" verbage. I then sent a letter 3/07 CMRR asking when did this debt occur (since I filed a Chap 7 in 2002) & that I had payed off the last bill they sent me and did not understand whhere this debt was coming from. I received the green card back but have had no reponse or any updates on my report. I am throughly disgusted with these two debts, I thought for sure sending the letters would get me some kind of response but I have received nada. Although these are old debts they still appear as unresolved. And I have been trying to get all my accts reporting correctly. I would like to eventually be able to qualify for a decent credit card to have in case of emergency. Other than those two my reports are pretty clean except for 2 med ca accts that are being disputed because they were paid by insurance and 3 old Chap 7 debts that are not reporting as included in BK. They state transferred to another lender and have no balances listed. I don't think those are hurting me and according to my figures will prob die off in 2009, so I am debating just leaving those alone. I would appreciate any advice on these. Very sorry for the length! Thanks very much! Tegleg
Well, you're down to the "toughies" now....... Verizon Wireless is very difficult to deal with, they do not remove any TLs as a rule but.......with enough "PITA" (Pain In The A..) activity you may make some progress. First, send a request to Verizon for full verification of the information (Date of 1st deliquency, C/O date, etc.) furnished to the CRAs, and dispute the account "as reported". Include that Verizon has "verified" inaccurate information to the CRAs, noting this is a violation. Await response for 30 days or so, you most likely will not get one. If no resposne within 45 days, write and request again, stating violation for lack of response. Then start "talking" to someone at Verizon Wireless, and start working your way up the ladder of authority. Don't be afraid to request full removal, but be ready to "offer" marking the account "suppressed". Suppressed is where the account is "there", but only visible to you and the CRAs, it does not register for FICO scoring, or show in any report pulls (hard or soft). The account appears old enough to "ride out" if you succeed in getting it marked suppressed. As for the utility bill, follow up with another verification request, stating lack of response to first request. Detail requested information (i.e. payment history, DOFMD, DOLA, etc.). Give it about two weeks, and then start calling, and work up the ladder again. Given the age of this account, there is a good chance they will just remove. The good news that these may take some time to work, but you probably do not have a need to apply for credit in the near future. Use the time to work step by step.
Seems to me that you may have a cause of action for illegal reaging of the debt. Logically, you would have had to open the account in early 02 and almost immediately defaulted in order to list it in a BK filed 08/02. So when did you actually default? If you have proof of when you made your last payment or can obtain it from the creditor you may have a good case against the reporter of any false information or the bureaus themselves. I'd call the creditor, taping the call and ask when you made your last payment. They will probably tell you over the phone and if they do ask them if they would send you a letter to that effect. If they do then you won't have to transcribe the recording for court. If you have to sue then do it in federal court.
Thank you both for the responses! Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees, lol Cap1 to answer you I defaulted on the cell phone about 2 monthes before the Chap 7 was filed in 2002. It is listed on my BK papers but I have no proof of the last payment as I don't keep records that old. (Yikes) It does look like they reaged the acct I have no clue how the date of 6/07 got listed as the date of last activity. I honestly thought that sending a copy of the bk papers would do it but evidently not. I know the bk papers are legal proof. If I can't get this one fixed I may consider consulting an attorny, not for the amount but for the principal of it. Bizwiz, thank you, I always appreciate your advice. I will send out new letters and if that gets no response I will start calling (yikes!) Seems simple now that I have read it! But danged if I could have figured it out myself, lol. It's funny, I don't care to erase everything bad off my report, I have a history which included a very rough time. I just want whats on there to be correct. And you are right, I am in no need for credit right now, since I have my house I am happy. So I will wait it out, however long it takes. But I am weird I know, lol Thanks again! Tegleg
More questions lol!!! Ok, I have sent out letters CMRR to both Verizon and TU as suggested. So now I wait. I have letters sent out about the 2 medical accts that should have been covered by insurance. As I mentioned above I have 3 debts from 2002 that are listed as chargeoffs/transferred to another lender, have no balances listed, and were included in my 2002 bk but do not show as IIB on my reports. My question is are these hurting me? Will having them reporting as IIB be beneficial? or not? I think they will prob fall off and die in 2009. Should I just let them sleep? Thank you! As always I am very appreciative! Tegleg
I would still dispute these tradelines, you never know until you try. If the data furnishers did not bother to report the updated information, then they may not bother to verify either. You will need to dispute as to a specific reason that is inaacurate/incomplete, so as to avoid a "yes, this is them" verification. Anything back yet from round two of requests?
No word on the letters sent. Got another surprise today...ugggghhhh. In hindsight I have to say I figured it would happen I just didn't know when. Back when I first started credit repair I disputed old names and addys. I was shellshocked when TU not only removed the old names/addys but all the TL's associated with them too. Immediatley, from what I have learned, I thought my file with TU was split. I got on the phone and asked them to check, they did and said no, I didn't have a split file and that I only had one file showing under my social. I was wary, watched it awhile and it remained the same for about 6 monthes now. Imagine my surprise when I pulled it today and every account is back along with the wrong names and addys. Geezz I guess I have to start all over with that one, redispute names/addys, the whole nine yards. At least it waited till after my mortgage was done. I just hope this will be the last time I have to do this. Gonna be alot of paperwork, yet again. Oh well, it can always be worse, always Tegleg
I would simply write them inquiring reason for "reinsertion" of this information, per the FCRA they must notify you ofany negative information that is reinserted into your file. You may have to go only a few yards on this one!
Thank you! I did just that, wrote a letter, listed the inaccuracies, asked why they were reinserted on my report. Now I wait tick tock tick tock....lol Thanks for excellant advice! Hopefully I'll have good news to report soon. Tegleg
Finally got a response from TXU on the utility charge off, they sent me a statement showing all the payments and charges to the account. It does show a balance of 120 despite what I had paid. Evidently I only thought it was paid off because they never sent another bill to me. Oh well, I am just going to pay that one off and be done with it, it's the only post bk debt I have except for a couple of med ca's being disputed as paid by insurance. It will be worth it to have it settled. I wrote a letter to send with my first 40.00 installment asking if they would please delete the tradeline when it is paid since I was not aware till now there was a valid balance on the account. And why did they not notify me of that? No word from Verizon yet, the dawgs...... I recently got a new TU report after settling an inaccurate acct. Lo and behold I had two files sent to me. One is in my current name with my current tl's, np there. The other is in my previous name and has all the prebk nasty tl's that had previously dissappeared, it also had my misspelled names on it too. There are 3 duplicate accounts showing on both reports. I have disputed the 2nd file and all it's contents as recommended above. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. Whats scary to me is that split file had to be hanging around all this time just waiting to pop up. Glad I won't be applying for any credit anytime soon! All in all I beleive that once I get these cleared up it will pop my scores up to the 700 club, I am hovering in the high 600's right now. Plus I beleive my mortgage will start reporting soon. I don't know if that will help or hinder me. More waiting.....lol Tegleg
Just got a canned response from TU concerning the letter I sent disputing the 2nd file contents. They requested a copy of my Chap 7 papers, nothing stated about the accounts I stated no knowledge of. So I guess I will send in a copy of the BK papers along with a note that my Chapter 7 was a no asset case, therefore all debts in effect at the time were discharged. Why do I get the feeling they are going to be difficult? Ggggrrr....I have a nice paper trail started... At this point I am not sure if it would be feasible to hack away at these 2002 inaccurrate debts? They should fall off within a year or two I hope. I think as long as my current credit is good since the bk I'll be ok. The Verizon account is a pre bk account and continues to report to this day. The dawgs will not answer my letters so if I get no response from this last one I'm gonna call em up. Concerning post bk debts all I have left is: 1. TXU is going to be paid. Now that it has been clarified. 2. The two post bk medical ca's are pending dispute results. Thats it.....wow, still have all the inaccurate stuff from 2002 on there but are those really counting that much againest me now? Debating pulling my FICO's...Equifax is 679 per scorewatch, I have to wonder what is holding it down, the post bk TXU & med ca's? Or are the 2002 inaccurate debts doing it? The world may never know lol Tegleg
Well, now you've come full circle in the credit repair process! Remember the advice for when you start, about reading the FCRA and FDCPA? This is wher they come back into play. TU is stonewalling you because they screwed up, stay on them with both letters (CMRRR) and phone calls. The "split file" should go away, the violations are numerous here for the reappearance of these accounts in a separate file. Be ready to threaten (and take) legal action, the file will go away! With TXU, I would start sending letters and calling to inquire why this went to a collections status, and then start asking the questions of when the written notice was sent to you that this account would be reported to the CRAs as a negative account, etc. Ask where they sent the last bill for this amount, etc. My bet is that with enough "PITA" activity, and throwing all the requirements of the FCRA and FDCPA at them, someone will decide to just remove it. Utilities mostly handle their own collections, but they are not "in the business" so they do make mistakes. Re: Verizon, I would keep up the battle for IIB, keep making the documented demands for verification of the reported status, again use the requirements of the FCRA and FDCPA to your advantage. You're at the point where the aggressive actions are needed, and this means possible legal action. Take it step by step, document well each of the violations of the FCRA and FDCPA, and start looking for an attorney in your area that specializes in this field. Your state's Bar Association will have a service for this, the cost is minimal, and only is charged if you use the attorney. Welcome to the next level!
I have a hunch that the two credit files did not happen by accident. Whomever handled your previous dispute created a new file, and moved the so-called deleted material over to it. I wonder if they do this to everyone, it just only catches up with a few. I would want to know on what date was the second file created. This is just my two-cents
OUCH! When you pay them that quite often gets it reported as recent collection activity and that can end up (although not legally) running the tradeline for another 7 years. If that happens it would be illegal reaging of the debt but you will probably be very lucky if it don't happen. Further more, by sending them a partial you just reaffirmed the debt even if it was in BK and that starts a whole new case complete with the new SOL during which time they can sue you just like it was a new debt. Think it can't happen? Don't count on it. Depends on your state laws. Never pay a debt collector a crying dime.
Actually I tore that letter up (I had'nt mailed it yet thank goodness) after reading Bizwiz's response to throw questions and violations at them instead. I was glad I hadn't mailed that yet as his response made me reconsider my best course of action. And thank you Cap for the info about reaffirming & reaging. Sometimes I think I can be dumber than dirt and I nearly nailed myself there. So I wrote another letter asking when did the account become delinquent, was there a letter sent to notify me of negative reporting to the CRA's and when was the account charged off and when was the last bill sent etc etc. I'll be interested to see what response, if any, I get. init2winit, your post I find very interesting.... Quote: " I would want to know on what date was the second file created." I checked the report they sent me and it shows my current credit report first then there is a blank page that says "The following is an additional credit report for this consumer" then the old report is listed. Both reports have the same file # & date. Would I have to write or call to find out when it was created? Is there something I can use that information for to get rid of the old file? Thanks for the responses! Tegleg
I would call, and write (CMRRR!) inquiring about the "additional credit report for this consumer". If the additional report contains the accounts previously deleted, then per the FCRA they were required to notify you in writing of reinsertion (within 5 business days of reinsertion). Also, if these deleted accounts were merely "moved" to another report, then that is also a violation of the FCRA. Perhaps TU has to be reminded of this aspect of the FCRA! But, before you unleash the legal dogs of war, inquire if the "additonal credit report" is visible to anyone besides yourself and TU. There is a difference between a "credit file" and a "credit report". If somehow you received your full "credit file", it may contain the "additonal information" of all activity. SO, do a bit of investigating here, but be ready to take action if an error that is not corrected.
Thank you Bizwiz! I had already sent a copy of the bk papers TU requested so now I am in waiting mode again till I get some responses back from all the stuff I have mailed lol. Your last response will be my next course of action with TU. I currently have out: 1. Copy of bk papers to TU per thier request concerning the addition of the old file to my credit report. 2. Letter to TXU requesting further information listed above. 3. Letter to Verizon per the IIB account reporting inaccuratly. 4. Letters to Discount Tires, Roomstore and Compusa concerning IIB accounts not reporting as IIB. 5. Letter to OC per two medical accounts covered by insurance but not reporting correctly. Will update when have more information. Hopefully an end will be in sight soon. Tegleg
Well some progress has been made Some of it is good, some I'm not so sure bout.... 1. Copy of bk papers to TU per thier request concerning the addition of the old file to my credit report. Received an updated report today. I still have 2 files, one in my current name & one in my previous name. On the old name report they deleted quite a few old accts that had been reinserted and updated the rest as IIB. The current name report appears the same as previously. I am debating leaving this alone as it appears accurate at this time. ________________________________________________________ 2. Letter to TXU requesting further information listed above. I have not recieved any response from TXU per the 2nd letter I sent but on checking my tri report it is now only present on Experian. I am considering redisputing this one with Experian as it is the only CRA reporting it now. ___________________________________________________________ 3. Letter to Verizon per the IIB account reporting inaccuratly. Still no response. I think I will need to get on the phone with these guys. It is still present on all 3 CRA's. GGGGrrrrrr!! ______________________________________________________ 4. Letters to Discount Tires, Roomstore and Compusa concerning IIB accounts not reporting as IIB. Discount tires is only showing 180 days late on Exp now & is now not adverse on TU & Equifax. I am considering leaving this one alone as it will prob fall off next year. Roomstore & Compusa are now only showing adverse on Experian, TU & Equifax are reporting correctly as IIB. I think I will redispute with Experian to get it IIB. These two should fall off next year too. _________________________________________________________ 5. Letter to OC per two medical accounts covered by insurance but not reporting correctly. These two are now only showing on Experian. They are gone from the other two. I am doing the HIPPA process on these, the letters are out to the OC and in about 2 weeks I will do the final step on those. ___________________________________________________________ According to Scorewatch my Equifax FICO is 684. Thats without my mortgage showing yet. If I had extra funds I would check the other two but I am too cheap. Also my new tradelines (Target, Crown Jewelers, Orchard MC & Care credit are all only about 3 monthes old. Does it take awhile before they positivly affect your scores? I feel like combined with the good reporting mortgage coming I hope to see my scores increase to 700 over a period of time. Thats my goal anyhow. Anyhow thats where I stand now. Sound llike a good plan? Thank you! Tegleg
