My boyfriend has A-1 credit with absolutely no late pays EVER since 1979 to date. But bare with me, he has an interesting problem! All 3 of his reports show: 2 car loans thru Ford Credit PAID AS AGREED/NEVER LATE 2 student loans (totalling about $100,000) PAID AS AGREED/NEVER LATE 2 mortgages PAID AS AGREED/NEVER LATE Citibank VISA CLOSED/NEVER LATE American Express (Green) CLOSED/NEVER LATE Household, Chase, Providian CLOSED/NEVER LATE Here's what's open: Mortgage (10 months to go) PAYS AS AGREED/NEVER LATE First USA VISA PAYS AS AGREED/NEVER LATE Fleet MasterCard PAYS AS AGREED/NEVER LATE Ford Credit PAYS AS AGREED/NEVER LATE So what's the problem you ask??? Well, his Beacon is only 674!!!! Hell, mine is 649 and I have a bankruptcy, 3 collections, several late payments and a judgement!!! I was stunned when he pulled his report! But I think I know the problem. He was divorced 2 years ago (quite amicable, but ironically it was the constant arguments about her spending and charging habits), and he and his ex mutually agreed that he would take half of her credit card debt (all in her name or jointly held; and for the record, all charged up by her.) His share amounted to $17,000 over 2 credit cards. So his credit report also shows 5 credit cards "CLOSED BY CONSUMER" and with a total of $34,000 in balances. Since discovering this forum, we now realize that closing the accounts may not have been the best course of action, but at the time he was desparate to stop her spending binge once they started divorce proceedings. The pain of it is that he's very agressive about paying all credit card bills in full every month (again maybe not the best techniqe for getting cl increases), while his ex pays the bare minimum each month on every card!! We went to Smartmoney.com and calculated that, at this rate, these accounts will be on his CR for the rest of his natural life (he's 43). My question is, what success has anyone had in this predicament with maybe presenting the official court-certified divorce decree to the credit card merchants and/or CRAs and requesting that the accounts confered on her by the courts be removed from his CR??? Without those balances that the court says he isn't responsible for, he'd be back in the 800s by year end. This is just too devastating for someone who's been so religious about properly handling his debt and finances. As a newbie, I realize that Junum and Lexington can't help him because all the accounts are "golden" and there's really nothing for them to dispute. So where do we start?? What do we do next??? Please help and advise somebody. I'll consider any and all advise!! Hope
MY F.I.C.O. IS 685... NO BK NO LATE NO OVER-LIMIT NO COLLECTIONS OLDEST CREDIT CARD 1978 PERFECT CREDIT...ALL-BE-IT...TOO MUCH THEY SAY...(BALANCE TO LIMITS) NO DIVORCE... NOTE***MAYBE WHEN MY DISCOVERCARD BILL STARTS SHOWING $0 ON EQUIFAX...MAYBE I WILL BE IN THE MID 700'S...(I OVER PAID LAST MONTH...CREDIT BALANCE)...SHOULD HELP MY F.I.C.O. ~~~EVEN IF IT KILLS THE FLOAT~~~ I PAY IN FULL EVERY MONTH BUT THEY SEND TO THE CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES THE BILLED AMOUNT...
Hope: Here is the logic the CC companies use. They extended credit to two people on the joint accounts. Both people owe the money. It does not matter what they agree to between themselves about the distribution of the debt and who will pay. Nor does it matter to them what the divorce court says about who will pay the debt. Their contract is with the two people who agreed to pay the debt. Having said that, here are some ideas. If it is not too late, have the ex assume responsibility for the debts in her name. He pays nothing on those. Have him agree to pay only on the accounts held jointly. Next, have the ex pay her share on the joint accounts, whether it is by a consolidation loan or by getting a new card with a balance transfer option. These are ideas that may work. I don't know enough of yur situation to know if they will work.
Hope, I am in a situation similar. My ex husband had a CC charged off. I did not know he wasn't paying the $10 min. payment. It was charged off for $91. Junum disputed this and it said that I was jointly liable. My only other recourse now is to sue him for payment and I'll have to work with the CRAs to have it removed. It's in my divorce decree that he was supposed to pay it also. He might want to try to pay them off and sue his ex for reimbursement and THEN fight the CRAs for removal. Sorry, but there is really not a whole lot else that can be done.
