My scores are all in the low 400s following quite a few years of, honestly, just being stupid about my bills. I've got through all 3 bureaus and I have a comprehensive list of what I owe and I'm ready to start tackling it. Anyone care to suggest a plan of attack for each of the following categories of debt? I've ranked these in the order that I think they're hurting my score: 1) Capital One, judgment for $3822, 10/02 (I didn't think they'd actually sue me!) ---My idea here is to offer them something to settle and, following settlement, file a motion to vacate based on nonexistent service. 2) Closed, but not charged off credit cards: a) AFBA Bank, balance 6600, they want 188/mo for the next 3 mos to show as current. Was 90 3 times. b) Credit Union, balance 1000, they want 25/mo for the next 3 mos, or one time payment of 218 to show as current. Was 120 2 times. ---I'm thinking just bring them current, although keeping that 90/120 history sucks. 3) Open Collections: a) Firstpoint Collections, 2 collections totalling 870 for unpaid auto insurance balances. (These piss me off, I guarantee had I filed a claim, they'd tell me to go somewhere b/c my premiums weren't paid, yet they want to collect the same premiums!) b) Pierce Hamilton, Stern, 1 collection for 575. c) Tulsa Adjustment (medical), 1 collection for $166 d) Providian Visa - unknown coll agency, balance $2488 e) Wachovia Bank - deposit related chargeoff, balance $6339 4) Paid Collections a) 3 separate accounts with LJ Ross (was $120, $144, $223) b) Doctor's Emergency Service, VA (was $150) 5) Loans currently open: a) Mercedes Benz Credit, was 60, currently 30. b) Plains Commerce Bank Visa, $300 limit, on time. Thanks in advance!!
Yes, it was 60 past due and now it's 30. I'll have it caught up this month but I'm sure the past history on the account is going to hurt.
I got my car in 4/2000 before my situation was this bad. I was told by the dealer that all he needed was one bureau over 600 and my TU was 602 at the time. I'd sell it but I'm pretty upside down.
Re: Beginning the process, apprec h Yes actually about all of these were in late 2000, although the Cap 1 judgment was this year and so was the PHS collection.
Do a search on the board about invalid/no service and vacating judgments. Did you really not get served? I don't know anything about them, but from what I remember reading, I believe your theory is backwards. ie Vacate, then settle. Closed cards - I can only offer my .02 after being in similar. I had several that closed, I was able to negotiate settle for deletion on a couple of small ones, but the biggies I just decided to bite the bullet. My hope is to goodwill them after a few months of on time payments. It all depends on the OC though. Others may offer better advice, or have experience with your particular OC's. This is only a hope for me, not anything proven! Open collections - Are they calling, mailing, driving you insane, etc. Or did they just quietly appear?
As far as the judgment thing goes, I've actually did this successfully for a friend while I was back in law school in DC. He had an open judgement to an apt complex so I called them and negotiated 50% to settle it. He took over the payment in person and I gave him a letter, addressed from them to the court, saying that all amounts they were owed were settled and that they would not oppose his motion to vacate. He then filed the motion and then the judge took one look at the letter and vacated the thing. 3 Faxes later and it was off all of his bureaus. I guess I included Cap1 b/c I'm interested in hearing from those who have successfully negotiated with them as to what type of settlement % they are willing to go to. I know some creditors want it all or nothing at all and some can be whittled down to 25%. As far as the closed cards go, all have promised to reopen the cards for me after a certain period of repayment and to list themselves as current following 3 consecutive payments. I'm debating whether I really want that or, b/c of the history on them, whether I'm better off just working to get them deleted. Also I understand that coming current on them again will recycle the date of last activity clock. If that's not true, please let me know. The collections people have no idea how to get a hold of me. The only people who know my true home address are the utility companies...I use a mail drop for everything else. I only give my home # out to family, a cell # is used for credit related things and if that # were to get into the wrong hands, it can be changed in 10 min by calling sprint. finally, i really really didn't get served with the cap one suit. I got an email this morning from creditexpert saying something had changed and when i checked, the judgment showed up. Of course, the last address Cap1 had for me was a VA address and I live in CA now. <G>
patentatty I am not trying to be flippant, but have you read the first three posts at the top of the board? They contain a tremendous amount of information and can assist you in your trek to better credit. In addition, by studying both the FCRA and FDCPA you can develop an arsenal to use against both the CA's and the OC's. This will also help you to develop a game plan that you will feel comfortable with. Good luck with your journey. fla-tan
That's a fair question - I actually have read those posts twice each and I did a legal research paper on the FCRA in school - I'm very familiar with both. I guess I just wanted to post the names of my creditors and the amounts to get responses from people who've successfully dealt with them. At this stage of the game, I'm more amenable to paying 50% of the balance for a deletion than I am to try and catch a FCRA/FDCPA violation, but I also know that some collection agencies, especially, somehow develop morals when it comes to deleting things, even if you're settling with them. From my reading on the site, the paid collections, which are also starting to age, are best handled with a "nutcase" letter, is that correct?
Many around here have said that Cap One is not very cooperative in settlement for deletion type deals. I think I read the best anyone did was move to an R5. They have just recently charged-off hubby before I could get to them. I think it would be interesting to see how they claimed they served you.
VA is a "nail and mail" state. For default judgment purposes, all they are required to do is send the sheriff out to tape a copy of the warrant in debt to your door (which in my case hasn't been my door for like 2 yrs) and then send a copy via first class mail to the same address. This is sufficient service for a default judgment. That's why, with VA anyway, I think it helps your cause a lot to have a statement from the plaintiff in hand saying that you've satisfied your obligation and that they won't oppose your motion to vacate. If a judge called me on it, I'd argue that Capital One had an obligation to go through more trouble to find my actual address, particularly given the fact that their letters had been coming back in the mail for 2 yrs and that they, in fact, had a more recent address for me due to the 3 or 4 times they've pulled my bureau recently. I'd probably lose that argument since the law specifically states that it should be the "last known address".
I should add that as far as Cap 1 goes, I'm pretty sure I can get the judgment vacated (and therefore, the entry on my CR deleted) once I settle, I'd just like to know how many cents on the dollar they've been known to go down to when settling.
Well if they pulled your bureaus wouldn't that be the last address they would have known? And the inquiries themselves being your proof. We just moved back, and I didn't notify anybody (put in a forwarding order though), within 6 weeks bills came magically addressed to my new address.
Well, as my wise old Grandpa used to tell me, You can always go up, but not down. Why not offer them something insultingly low, until you get them talking, and then as they move up cents wise, add the vacate issue? Thats just a thought. Its might be awfully new for them to be willing to crater too soon. Are you in a rush? Ooh - are they threatening you with garnishment or something? I always forget that one, TX won't let you do that.
I've had the same thing happen since I've moved to Cali - bills going to VA have started to pop up here once I updated my car loan with the new address. I'm not sure if they have to actually pull your credit to get the address and manually update it or if its automated somehow. But yeah, as far as Cap1 goes, I agree that their inquiry might be enough to establish that I wasn't served at my last known address. I'm just thinking that if I can manage to settle and get them not to oppose my motion, I won't even have to go into that.
Well you won't know until you try, and you sound like you have pretty much decided which way you want to go...you can always use the invalid service address as another argument as to why they should accept your "most generous" settlement terms. What's the cost for them to do it all over again, right?
