Hello All, I'm a long time visitor to this forum and a first time poster starting with this message. I've been in college for a few years now, and a couple of years ago I started signing up for credit cards, computer loans, etc. Needless to say I was out of control with my spending and charging and have accumulated a debt totaling around $6000. I have been unable to make any payments on these debts for quite some time and as a result all of my accounts have been either charged off or sent to various collection agencies or collection agencies posing as lawyers. I have decided that I am going to try and clean up my credit as much as I possibly can before I graduate from college, which will be in 2 years. My primary reason for this is so that I am able to finance a car when the time comes, and more importantly, get a home loan. Tonight, I began the process as the FAQ suggests by ordering copies of my reports from all 3 credit bureaus by phone. I also got my E-Loan credit score which is 527. From my understanding of the credit scoring system, it's not good. According to E-Loan, I have 6 accounts that have either been charged off or sent to collections, so I know now that these are the accounts I will need to tackle. My questions are as follows. Because these accounts have been reported fairly recently, as in the last few months, should I even bother starting this process now or should I wait a while? Should I even bother validating the collection accounts or should I just dispute them with the CRA's first as "not mine"? These accounts are unpaid and I have neither the ability nor the incliniation to pay them off anytime soon. If I had the money, I would pay, but as I am sure anyone who has been to college will tell you, it's not easy supporting yourself through college. I'm sorry this is so long but any insight/advice anyone can give me would be appreciated.
1. dispute with CRA 2. Send validation to CA 3. Cease and desist CA 4. Estoppel CA 5. No proof, intent to sue and complaint CA and OC loose guidelines. depends on results
Hey, Liz I know what you mean. I have had that work, too. Once they pass it back to the OC, u dispute its gone.. thx for advice
It also is considered continuing collection activity if a collector verifies with a cra prior to validating, if they have already received the demand for validation. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/letters/cass.htm Another good reason to do it in the order LK suggests.
If I were to validate with the CA and they sent it back to the OC, would they just send the account to another collection agency or would they just give up on collecting the debt?
You are correct in that it could get bounced around from one collection agency to the other, thus each time being placed back on your credit report. But...You can request validation each and every time and they must provide it to you. I have attacked the original creditor personally by requesting validation "even though I know they aren't required under the FCRA" and letting them know I was in full dispute. They are required under the FCRA to investigate your dispute once you notify them of such. They are also required under the FCRA to communicate and notify the credit bureaus that you are in dispute over the account. I then contact the CRA and dispute the account with them. When they contact the OC the OC will verify the account as being accurate and forget or willfully not tell the CRA that you are in dispute. You then have the OC on an FCRA violation. I then contact the OC and tell them this and photocopy their tradeline from my CR showing this violation. I demand deletion and ceased collection in return for no filing suit against them. Now I must tell you most of my OC credit cards accounts that I tried this on were from $500.00 owed to $1200.00, so I didn't have much to lose if they countersued because I could easily proved damages in excess of what I owed them. In a sense it would be am equal exchange anyway. You will see several things happen when you demand an OC delete and notify them of their violations........ 1. They will send you a letter stating they will delete and cease collection. Only had this happen once. 2. They will completely ignore you and all of your correspondence. 3. They will turn your intent to sue letter and case over to their lawyer to try and scare you. DO NOT GIVE IN! Basically to get the deletion from the OC you will have to in fact sue them for the FCRA violation of not communicating the item is in dispute with you. Yes this may be costly, for me only $60.50 which isn't much for a deletion. But....You get what you wanted! If you settle with an OC or CA always make sure you get a signed General Release you supply them which outlines what you expect and what they must do. This also releases you from any liability or debt you owe them. Here is the general release I sent NCO which was made up by me and my attorney......You can change things to fit your needs, but always have your attorney review it before you send it out! *************************************** General Conditional Agreement and Release of Liability I,being or acting as the Authorized Agent for or on behalf of NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL agree to the following terms and conditions of this agreement and with respect to said agreement will follow such as prescribed herein reasonably and within 15 days of signing such. I, being or acting as the Authorized Agent for or on behalf of NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL will absolve and release from liability YOUR NAME HERE , any debts due, claims and or judgements owed to NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL or any of their agents or representatives who act in their behalf. I, NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL will make payable a check in the amount of $ADD YOUR AMOUNT, US dollars made out to YOUR NAME HERE, for full payment for any alleged violations or rights against YOUR NAME HERE, concerning the actions of or methods employed or used by NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL in the collection and/or reporting of said debt. Payment will be made and sent via regular US Mail or any other reasonable means and sent to 1234 Any town USA, 90210, before said agreement herein is signed by YOUR NAME , I will consider this to be full monetary settlement in regards to said civil action against NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL. I, being or acting as the Authorized Agent for or on behalf of NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL will contact any and all credit reporting agencies, namely (TransUnion, Equifax or Experian) that this alleged debt has been reported to and allegedly owed to NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, by YOUR NAME HERE, and clearly communicate to them either by phone, in person or writing that any reporting of said account or alleged debt is to be completely deleted and removed with no trace of activity or presence from any and all credit files in regards to YOUR NAME HERE, Social Security #123-45-6789, and further agree that this account will not be re-reported or re-appear at any date after this conditional agreement has been signed by NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL. I, being or acting as the Authorized Agent for or on behalf of NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL will agree to these following terms and conditions and will abide fully with this agreement. In return and exchange for complete compliance with this agreement, I, YOUR NAME HERE, will not hold liable NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, their attorney, agents or heirs for any and all manner of actions, causes of actions, suits, debts, dues, accounts, bonds, convenants, contracts, agreements, promises, warranties, guarantees, representations, liens, mechanics liens, judgements, claims, counterclaims, cross-claims, defenses and or demands whatsoever, including claims for contribution or indemnity, whether known or unknown, past or present, asserted or unasserted, contingent or liquidated, at law or in equity, or resulting from assignment, if any (collectively referred to as the claims) which YOUR NAME, ever had, have and/or hereinafter, shall or may claim to have against NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, Their attorney, agents or heirs, for or by reason of any cause, matter or thing whatsoever, arising from the beginning of time to the date of execution of this general release and condition of liability, including, without limitation, any matters arising from, related to or in connection with the subject matter and causes of action pleaded herein. I, NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, will not hold liable YOUR NAME , their attorney, agents or heirs for any and all manner of actions. causes of actions, suits, debts, dues, accounts, bonds, convenants, contracts, agreements, promises, warranties, guarantees, representations, liens, mechanics liens, judgements, claims, counterclaims, cross-claims, defenses and or demands whatsoever, including claims for contribution or indemnity, whether known or unknown, past or present, asserted or unasserted, contingent or liquidated, at law or in equity, or resulting from assignment, if any (collectively referred to as the claims) which NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, ever had, have and/or hereinafter, shall or may claim to have against YOUR NAME HERE, their attorney, agents or heirs, for or by reason of any cause, matter or thing whatsoever, arising from the beginning of time to the date of execution of this general release and condition of liability, including, without limitation, any matters arising from, related to or in connection with the subject matter and causes of action pleaded. This General conditional release of liability agreement is contingent upon NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, complying fully with the above conditions and only releases NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL from all liability if these requirements and conditions have been met. Furthermore, this agreement does not release from liablity NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, INC., aka MARLIN INTEGRATED CAPITAL, from any future legal actions for any new future violations of any state or federal laws against YOUR NAME HERE, for which are seperate from this agreement and the actions described herein for which this matter is being settled now by signing and agreeing to this general release. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, and intending to be legally bound hereby, the parties have caused this General conditional Release of liability to be executed on this day ___ of July, 2002. WITNESS: __________________________ _________________________ Authorized Agent or Attorney NCO Financial Systems Inc. aka Marlin Integrated Capital IN WITNESS WHEREOF, and intending to be legally bound hereby, the parties have caused this General conditional Release of liability to be executed on this day___ of July, 2002. WITNESS: __________________________ ___________________________ Your name here ___________________________ 2nd persons name here if applies ***************************************** I have used this release several times and just changed the name of the companies and amounts around to fit my specific needs. I have never had an attorney I've sent this to disagree with it or not sign it and send it back to me. Some signed immediately upon receiving and reviewing such and faxed it back to me that day. You will always need a signed agreement to protect yourself if something should happen. This agreement is to be used for those who wish to settle before going to court. I hope this helps you out!! Tac
Thank you for your reply Tac. Unfortunately I am in no position to offer any kind of settlement right now to any of my creditors. I guess my original plan was to just dispute the negative accounts on my credit reports as "not mine" and pray that they don't verify within the 30-day period. I was then going to send validation letters to any that did verify. The reason for doing this is because I have precious little money and certified mail costs can get excessive if I am sending out 6 validation letters + 3 dispute letters. I imagine that at least some of my creditors will not verify because the dollar amount is so small on some of them. My debts range from $600-$2000. My creditors include Providian, NextCard, Sears, Capital One, and MBNA. The collection agencies sending me letters are Nationwide Credit, Pacific Coast Collections, Delta Management Associates, and Arrow Financial. I won't actually know which collection agencies have reported until I get my credit reports.
I just my first call from Pacific Coast Collections just a few minutes ago. The guy on the phone gave me the standard "I was just calling to see if you'd like to resolve this before it goes to our legal department" sales pitch. I can't wait to get my credit reports so I can start tackling these bastards. At one point I was getting upwards of 20 calls a day from creditors and collection agencies, which sucks because I live with my parents and it's their phone not mine. Lately it hasn't been that bad though. I think that this is the first call I have gotten all week from a collection agency.
TAT, Would you/your parents be willing to place privacy line guard on your telephone? It's a service offered by your local phone company. Basically, anyone who calls your home whose number is blocked or out-of-area, gets routed to a voice system. They are required to leave their name (or say something at least) to the system, the system then rings your phone, and plays back the message left by the caller. At that point you have a few options. You can either accept it, deny it, auto-route it to your voice mail (if available), or have it play a message to call you back later (or something to that effect). In most cases the CA will hang up and not say their name or anything for that matter. In this case, your phone will never even ring. It costs about $5 a month.
I would be very willing to utilize something like that...the question is would my parents? They are old and set in their ways about a lot of things. Most of the CA's have been pretty good about leaving me alone lately. When I send out validation letters I also planned on including a cease and desist letter as well. A week ago a CA called and the only thing I said was "What's your fax number so I can fax you a cease and desist letter?" That was pretty much the end of the conversation and I have heard nothing from them since.
Tat, Sorry to hear about all the trouble you are having with those CA. But have faith you have found a great board and there are a ton of great people on here that can help you out. Also at the very least if your parents dont want to get the caller block then after you send out your C&D letters you and your parents should not be getting those calls anymore. Good luck
Thank you DOITMYSELF for your support. I agree with you, this board is fantastic. I know in the long run I will probably be forced to send out a bunch of validation letters and such, but how many people on this board have had success with just disputing a tradeline with the CRA's and having it deleted without having to go through the validation process or dealing with the OC. If you have had sucess, have the accounts ever been re-inserted? If I could just get 1 or 2 deleted in that way it would save me a lot of time.
I started with "easier" disputes on accounts that should be closed paid etc so there is not much trouble in getting the CA to send the info I need to get the account taken off or updated on my report but I also sent "dispute" letters to the CRA regarding these same accounts just in case the CA was too lazy to send me what I wanted. But I do have some accounts that are going to take some work. As far as re-insertion goes from what I hear this is VERY common and one reason that you have to always keep an eye on your CR. Good luck
Perhaps we have been through this before but I'll ask anyway. Does the above statement stand if you are not within initial 30 day period but are seeking validation at a later date? I just dont seem to get this.
None of my accounts are paid or are close to being paid. I'm thinking I will do as LKH suggested and try validating first in the hopes of getting the CA to screw up and get them on a FDCPA viotation. If I could get them on even 1 violation each it would be more than enough to cancel out my debts. In a couple cases they would owe me money. The only thing is that I'd rather not have to go to court because I don't have an attorney.
If you went to court I think you could take them to small claims court where you would not need an attorney
I am sure not ALL report but I would think MOST would. But I know some CA report only to one or two of the CRA not ALL then again some report to all it really depends on the CA.
If as you say you have limited resources and only wish to dispute with the CRA's over these accounts in the hope of them not replying back to the CRAs within the 30 days and by default you get the deletion, I would wait and start your CRA disputes via online with all "3" right around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Say start it the day before Thanksgiving which would be a Wednesday. They probably won't call or send out letters to the furnsihers until say that Friday byt probably not, then you have the whole weekend which you know nothing gets done and the furnsihers won't get the mail then.....Then December comes about and you have Christmas.....This is the busiest season to start a dispute and the best chance to have the account deleted. Quite frankly they will be too busy to respond. Good Luck! Tac
I remember reading about that strategy on another website and I definitely see why what strategy might work for me. I'm just basically looking for the best way to get these accounts deleted and stay deleted with a minimum of fuss.
