Ok, maybe it's not as bad as some other people but I screwed up big time. Back in October I lost my job. Before losing my job I had been approved for a Providian card for $5000 and I used it to pay some of my other cards and to fix my car, well right after I did that I lost my job. I got really behind on my payments. I finally got a job and started paying the cards that I owed. I paid one off completely, I'm about to pay the other one off, and I sent the providian card the minimum I had to which was $281. A week after I payed them I got a letter from them saying that they had passed my account to a collection agency. I called them and they told me to ignore the letter because I had started paying again. Well, yesterday I got a letter from Providian saying, "We have concluded our revie of your account status with us and have found our records to be correct. For this reason we cannot change any of the information we are reporting to the credit reporting agencies." What does that mean??? I am also paying for a car, luckily I always paid the car on time and never got behind on that. What can I do to fix my credit? Any help is appreciated, thank you.
Well, it sounds like you're on the right track. Everyone screws up every once in awhile, but you're on the way to making it right. As to what to do about your credit, you'll need copies of all three of your credit reports first. It could be that Providian reported you with substantial late payment history over the past few months and won't be changing it. It could be they've listed the account as charged off, or sent to collection. Either way, you need to find out what they've done--and the best way to do that is to pull your reports. After you know what's in there, it's easier to figure out what to do next. -- cnswift
Do a search for Transunion, Experian, and Equifax. Those are 3 CRA's. You'll find phone numbers and websites listed. Contact them to order the reports. As to the other stuf. Your credit will start to improve. Paying off 2 credit card accounts and never late on the auto loan means you have some positive trade lines. Just see how it's reported and go from there. Hang in there and pay 'em down with the goal of paying 'em off!
Providain are jerks. Keep all records, phone conversations ect. when dealing with them. They pulled something similar with me. They lie big time.
One more thing. Is there anyway for me to get some of these taken off my credit report? How would I go about doing it?
You don't have to lie. If Providian told you that the account was in good standing and then later sent it to collections even though you were paying the minimum due, it may be rated as an R5 (collection account). Dispute it as a a paid as agreed - not late as reported account. You may have some luck. Providian have seemingly downsized the credit reporting dept and the trade may disappear altogether. You should pull all three of your reports to make sure of how it is being reported.
