Hi everyone, I try to read here as much as possible, unfortunately life is just too busy at times it seems. I've been "working" on my credit for the last few months, but haven't had a chance to actually get any real work done due to lack of time to figure out what exactly to do. I've been so nervous I'd do the wrong thing that I instead have just been sitting doing nothing. I wish I had more time to read and learn, but instead I'm going to post my situation here to hopefully give me a boost to get started. The things I am hoping to remove are below: BENEFICIAL/HFC Account charged off/Past due 180 days. $676 written off. Date Opened: 06/1999 Reported Since: 06/1999 Date of Status: 12/2000 Last Reported: 12/2000 --This account has been passed around to various collection agencies, and is now at Coldata who sends me a letter every month with a settlement offer anywhere from 50-80% of the total debt. I don't mind paying the money, as long as it would be deleted completely. This account is listed twice on EQ, one from the OC saying I owe them money, and one from the collection agency. All the other's are just showing a $0 balance charge off from the OC. CAPITAL ONE BANK Paid in settlement/Account charged off. $1,766 written off. Date Opened: 05/1999 Reported Since: 05/1999 Date of Status: 03/2002 Last Reported: 03/2002 --I paid about 60% to settle this account thinking it would help my credit (whoops!) a while back. I contacted Mr. Cooke through PFB a while ago explaining the situation and to see if there was anything we could do to change the status of this account (anything at all!), to which he replied via email "While we understand your concerns, it is Capital One's responsibility to accurately reflect the performance of the account. Respectfully, Capital One will not be able to honor your request." I tried one of the credit repair firms for a few months, and nothing really changed (I have no clue what's going on there even now with it all). Prior to that, I had gone to all the CRA's at various times and reported some as "not mine" to which a few accounts got deleted. These two are the two biggest things on my reports now (I also have about 5 accounts with lates from 4 years ago though), and they always come back verified - even the duplicate account listing which I disputed as duplicate. Basically I'm wanting to go to the next step and start a paper trail with at least the Beneficial/Coldata account since I haven't paid anything on that yet. Do I basically send the "debt validation" letter CRRR to Coldata? What exactly am I looking for from them in return? From what I've heard I probably won't hear back from them (they are notorious for ignoring people), to which I then send the estoppel letter, and then an intent to sue. Is that about right? My scores have jumped from the mid-500's to 575EX, 625TU, and 657EQ which is a great start in my eyes (just from disputing online at the CRA's). Once I get this Beneficial settled somehow I should hopefully be in line for a home loan next spring. If anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear if I'm on the right track. Email or a post here works fine. Sorry for the book of a post, I guess I just wanted to make sure I'm going in the right direction here as I don't have as much time as I'd like to learn the whole process 100% on my own. Anyone who'd like to mentor, feel free to email me as well ;-)
OK. For Household, they must report it as zero balance if their ca is reporting it with a balance due. Cap 1, if it was settled, I believe, although I could be wrong, but that should also reflect a zero balance if a settlement was agreed on to close out the acct. You aren't going to like this, but before you send anything to anybody, you need to go t the faq post, 2nd thread from the top, and read it. You also need to read the FCRA and FDCPA. This is so you will understand what and why you do what you do. Sure, we could tell you "send the validation" but in 4 weeks you'll be saying now what do I do. Seriously, read up and then ask.
