Hey all - I've been a silent observer for a while, and have gained alot of useful info from you all, so I must start out by saying thank you. In the past two months, my FICO score has rised by 58 points, without doing too much. I am starting my big push to clean up my reports, and have some questions for you all. I know they are probably pretty stupid, but I appreciate all your help. 1) Federal student loans - any way to get rid of past late payments? I have seen several threads about dealing with private student loan companies, but what about the feds? can I request an investigation re: the late pays? would that be successful? 2) Can only certain limited info be requested for investigation? If, for instance, I request an investigation with CRA for the late pays only, and the feds don't reply, will only the late pays be deleted? or will the whole account? 3) I had a credit card account that went into collection. For a while, it was listed both in the credit section of my credit report, as well as the collection section. Recently, it disappeared from the credit section, and now is only being shown in the collection section, by way of the collection agency it was assigned to. Any chance it will come back? if it does, can i dispute it? Thanks again everyone for your help :-D
I don't have any experience with student loans, but since no one has responded I'll tell you what I do know and bump this for you... First, I don't see why a federal student loan would be any different than any other tradeline on your credit report. You should be able to dispute the late payments just like you would any other account. When you do dispute information you need to specify what you are disputing, so in this case, just tell them 'according to my records I was never late on this account' or something along those lines. It is possible that if you only dispute late payments the whole tradeline may get deleted. I recently disputed late payments on several accounts on my report, and they deleted the entire tradeline for one account, they changed one account to 'never late' and they removed some of the late payments, but not all of them on another account. I don't think it's like that your credit card will re-appear in the 'credit section', but if it does you can probably just dispute it as 'not mine' and hopefully it will go away again. HTH, Brett
I know my views are not popular but they work! If you are not in a hurry, and your credit is screwed up almost beyond repair (repo's, defaulted student loans & credit cards) If you don't have a bankruptcy on your file and you don't owe debt in excess of $150,000 - then the passage of time is the best way to clean up your credit report. Forget about paying creditors off if they have turned you over to a collection agency. I know this is drastic - but move to a different address, get your home phone turned on in someone elses name, change jobs if you have to - but do NOT apply for credit again until your 7 years is up. Creditors periodically pull your credit report if you have an account with them and if you apply for credit - all your new info will be updated on all 3 credit reports. That is how they find you. IF they can't find you, then they can't serve you. The federal law states most information, whether positive or negative, remains on your credit report for 7 years from the date it is first reported. Most people agree to start paying back creditors after the negative item has been on their report for 3-4 years! Once you agree to terms to pay debts back, the negative item will stay on your report - as long as it's active. LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE.
IF they can't find you, then they can't serve you. That's not true. Every state has alternative service available for people who can't be personally served. If someone really wishes to sue you, they don't need to serve you personally.
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... You missed my point entirely. So what if they sue - if they can't find you, then what? I have had every kind of defaulted debt you can imagine. I am sure I was sued - a few times. I was never served because they never found me. Oh sure, quite a few 'servers' showed up at my old address according to the person who moved in after I left. Even if I was sued - federal law says public records information such as monetary judgments are removed after 7 years. Well it's 7+ years later and my credit is perfect now. =)
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Well now, surprise, that's just bad information, and is NOT what the FCRA says.
Re: Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Yep, and some of the SOL's are as high as 10 yrs for cc debt. (Don't move to Rhode Island) So, yr 7 your CO falls off your report, Creditor then sues and obtains a judgment. Thats another 7 yrs = 14 yrs of bad credit.
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Your "views" are not popular because they are WRONG. You have given nothing but BAD advice to people on several different topics.
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Brett, JLynn, et. al. - thank you for your words of wisdom - I do appreciate all of your help. SoParkDiva - sure, I guess I could put my life on hold for 7 years, move from my house, have all my utilities put in someone else's name, sponge off my friends and family every time i needed a credit card for something, never answer the phone, never put anything in my name, change my job, etc., but does that really sound like the best idea for anything to anybody? I didn't steal nuclear secrets to sell to the russians, I missed a few credit card payments. And yes, after 7 years, the stuff will drop off on its own, but waiting 7 years for that to happen isn't really advice on what to do, it is just something that will happen if I do nothing. At any rate, has anyone delt with the fed government on student loans? are they willing to budge/help you out, or is getting help like going to the DMV? Thanks
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Tard, you are empowered! You are good to go! There is some good advice on the thread "student loan nightmare" about some contacts. Skip over the childish comments from me and some others and look at the link for ombudsman and some of the other meaty advice. I know nothing about student loans, but have seen this link referenced before. Hopefully, marci, or someone else might chime in as well.
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Upon reflection, I just wanted to point out to everyone too that, in my opinion, advise to "do nothing" is perhaps some of the worst advise for people on this board. The reason alot of people have credit problems, me included, was because we did nothing when it was time to act. In most (if not all) cases, you really have nothing to lose by trying to make things better, and if you don't make the effort, no one else will. With regard to dodging service, again I strongly disagree. Avoid personal service does not avoid the suit that follows, it just delays it at best. Plus, default judgments are the worst - you have no say in them. They can ask for the moon, including all the fees they wasted on trying to serve you, and they will be included in the judgment. Further, trying to vacate a judgment once it is entered is alot harder, and alot more expensive, than settling.
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... The federal law states most information, whether positive or negative, remains on your credit report for 7 years from the date it is first reported. SoParkDiva ================================== What Bunk! Where n the ell did you dig that up?? THE END ** *** ** LB 59
Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... default judgments are the worst - you have no say in them. tardboy =========== That's why they should be out lawed. THE END ** *** ** LB 59 """""""""```~~~```'"""""""""
All I can say for the student loans is DISPUTE, DISPUTE, DISPUTE. I had 5 individual student loans (subsidized) that defaulted and they showed as the dreaded I9 on my reports. They have all been consolidated since then, and look lovely on the CRA report. Nonetheless, I disputed them all, and they disappeared. The same would hold true for late pays. Whatever you do, donâ??t sit by and do nothing. If you go into a default status on a federal loan, the IRS is required to send your tax returns to the loan servicing center, as well as all other sorts of nasty stuff.
If you go into a default status on a federal loan, the IRS is required to send your tax returns to the loan servicing center, as well as all other sorts of nasty stuff. tiger00 ============That's why you don't do them THE END """""""""```~~ You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it'. A lot of money is tainted. 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.
I'm not an expert on student loans, but I understand they can be rehabilitated. That means if you can make 12 on time payments, then the late payments will be removed. After this is done, you can refinance them at a really low rate. Yes. If you feel it's incorrect, you can dispute it. If you were to get it relisted in the credit section, it still wouldn't be a good reference. Let this one go.
Re: Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Did I say, put your life on hold for 7 years? No I did not. Why does everyone continue to focus on 7 years? The 7 year law was originally drafted for people - like myself - who had reached their wits end after several years of trying to do the right thing. Most people try to come to terms with the CA's only to hear, We want our damn money now! We don't care if your kids need braces! We don't care if your husband has to work 2 jobs to pay us and still can't make ends meet!" I am not advocating sitting on your hands for 7 whole years. I am saying this law is for those who have battled the CA's and lost. Now they have 2-3 more years to wait until the debts drop off. All I'm saying is let the debts drop off. I am not saying do anything illegal. This is the law! In this case the government is our saviour. Why did the government put this law on the books if it wasn't to protect good people from bad debt?
Re: Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Now, if we could just get the 7 year thing to count for student loans..... But, that's a different story.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Couple of quick questions.... Why doesn't it count for student loans? I had student loans.... they're gone off my report now.
