This is my first post, sorry if I don't follow proper "procedure". If I don't give enough info or don't ask the right questions please let me know. . . I've been working on my credit for the last three or four months using the information i've found on this forum. I had a few minor amounts sent to CA's and several large amounts that have dropped off due to the seven year SOL bit. (I didn't know about the SOL until I started reading this forum, that was the best news i've gotten all year!) I have made good progress so far. My goal was to get all those nasty collections gremlins cleared up by the first of the year so I can buy a house in the spring. My plans changed about a month ago when my brother offered to sell me a $4000 honda civic for $2500. My kid brother is a mechanic, so that car is in immaculate condition, It's the exact car I want and considering the fact that I haven't had a vehicle since my truck died in December, it's too good a deal to pass up. The only catch is that he and his wife need the money by the beginning of August so they can use it as the down payment for her new car. If I don't have that money he is going to sell the car. In order to make sure I had the money by the beginning of August I tried applying for a $2500 auto loan at a local Credit Union. I assumed I would be turned down because I was still several months away from reaching my goal of having the collections taken care of, but several of my co-workers told me that the CU was very good about working with people, so I gave it a try. Of course they turned me down, but the loan agent told me that if I could pay off all the collections they could work with me. To make a long story short, I decided to try to pay everything off By Aug. 1st. I have made payment arrangements or paid off completely all the things that were left. It has taken all the overtime I could get over the last few weeks and almost every spare dime, but, everything is looking good for me to get the loan. Buuuuuuuuuut . . . . several days ago I realized that I might have made a grave error. . . This has kept me awake the last two nights so I thought I would put up a post and ask for some advise. The biggest problem spot on my credit report was a Sears card that I had racked up a balance on in my intemperate youth and have been playing the "stick my head in the sand and hope it goes away" game or the "I'll fix it someday to infinity" game with for some years. When I first pulled my credit report in January and learned about the SOL I realized that The Sears card would be gone from my credit report in November. This worked out well because I wasn't planning on buying a house until spring anyway. By the time I was ready to do the mortgage jump through the hoops the Sears thing would disappear. But I had this great opportunity fall into my lap and I needed to get the Sears card gone by the beginning of August instead of waiting until November. Plus. paying it off now would allow me to talk to a mortgage person a few months sooner instead of waiting for that negative to fall off. I called RMA and spoke to one of their reps on the phone. I told him I wanted to make a settlement arrangement on my account with them. He gave me a balance that was several hundred more than the original amount of the card and told me they would need an amount that was still more than the original amount in order to settle. . . . I explained that that was still too much and suggested a figure that was about half the total amount After "conferring" with his supervisor (or putting me on hold for a few seconds while he twiddled his thumbs) he got back on and told me that they would settle for that amount. When I asked about getting some kind of paperwork showing the settlement amount and stating that the account was all payed for he informed me that they could not give me anything until the payment had cleared. One of my friends from work had cleared up his credit a year or two ago and he had told me that most of the places he had dealt with had been the same way so this response is what I expected. I set up a check by phone transaction to pay for it. When his supervisor got on to confirm my information I made sure to ask about the paper work and when I should expect it. She told me I should have it in about four weeks and gave me a transaction number. Well, it's been exactly four weeks since my payment cleared and I haven't recieved any paperwork yet. I'm not panicking about that yet because I know that it may take a little longer than four weeks. What's freaking me out is that I pulled my credit report a again few days ago and found that the listing for the sears card has changed from a "charge-off" to "120+ days late" and now shows a balance that is equal to the original balance minus my settlement payment. Plus, my credit score has dropped about 15 points. Correct me if i'm mistaken, but shouldn' the listing now say something like, settlement payment received, account paid? the listing has obviously been updated since my payment cleared Why is it still showing a balance? I've been doing some more reading on the forums the last two nights and have read some REALLY nasty stuff about RMA and it is really starting to scare me. Please tell me I haven't gotten jacked because I trusted them to send me the paperwork after the payment cleared . . . And, if I have gotten jacked, is there anything I can do to salvage the situation? Or have I just lost the chance to buy my dream car? Any advice would be much appreciated . . .
I know you don't want to hear this and I wish you would have waited until November but you had to get the car. Here is what probably happened. The sharks were circling and you tossed them a meal - the payment. They are not going away now. They had no intentions of accepting your offer in return for a clear balance. You now owe them the remainder of the original balance! You got nothing in writing. Big mistake. The way I understand it from a few of the members here - that item will still fall off your report in November.
1*Well, it's been exactly four weeks since my payment cleared and I haven't received any paperwork yet. 2*I'm not panicking about that yet because I know that it may take a little longer than four weeks. 3*I've been doing some more reading on the forums the last two nights and have read some REALLY nasty stuff about RMA and it is really starting to scare me. 4*Please tell me I haven't gotten jacked because I trusted them to send me the paperwork after the payment cleared . . 5*Dark Fire ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1*And you won't either. 2*You should because you aren't going to get the paper work. 3*It should.Why didn't you do the reading before you made the deal with R M A ? You sorta closed the barn door after the horse escaped so to speak. 4*You always get jacked when you trust a CA. They're master jackers! What ever you paid them you paid it for nothing. Looks like it's turning out to be a pretty expensive 2500 dollar car you're not getting. 5* Good name choice fits the situation.
Darkfire, *Ouch* Hard lesson. Ah phooey,,,the Honda Civic is probably going to turn out to be a lemon. :-| Giving you this much trouble now imagine the trouble it would have given you in the future. Make certain to post your plans before taking action next time. And then post them again just to make double certain no one else comes up with an objection. Also keep us updated. We are kinda all in this together, you know?
Wahoo! I called the loan rep. at my credit union first thing Monday morning and explained what was going on. She called RMA and requested the settlement paper work because I haven't received anything yet. She had to talk to 3 different people before they finally gave her their fax #. That kind of ticked her off. . . which was exactly what I hoped for. If they were going to jack me I wanted someone from the credit union to talk to them so they would see first hand what I was dealing with. It's Thursday and she informed me this afternoon that they faxed the settlement paperwork too her this morning. (after she called them requesting the information again) I don't know for sure what just happened but I thought I was going to be in a world of hurt over this . . . It seems like the situation has been fixed. She must have known just what to say! They were reprocessing the loan this afternoon and I should have a yea or nay tomorrow. (I think i'll have to send my loan rep. some flowers!) =) Thanks for breaking the bad news too me gently everyone. . . (note to self . . . make sure to check with the creditnet folks before doing anything . . .)
