Help! What should I do about this... Two of the deletions that Lexington got off my Trans Union report were separate accounts with the same collection agency. In today's mail I got two mailings from this agency saying: "We heard you were applying for credit. This derogatory information appears on your credit reports. Pay the amount owed now to clear this matter." Do you think these will get re-inserted if I ignore the notice? Should I send validation letters? I'm really at a loss for what to do here.
If it were me, I would send out a validation letter with a simple and clear reminder that they are not allowed to report derogatory remarks to the CRAs until you recieve proof of this debt. I think it's worded as "take no collection action" until validation is provided. Work em over!
What are the details of the collection accounts? How much? Do you really owe them? My whole thing is that if they are small amounts that you really do owe.....just pay it. They are likely to re-insert if it was already on there but gone. I could be wrong but your credit rating is too precious to be playing games over some b.s. amount. You can send validation but there are the what if's: What if they don't respond? What if they respond w/ valid proof? What if they re-insert after than? What if they don't respond and re-insert? What if they respond w/ proof that really isn't proof? What if they re-insert after that? And so on.... I guess that you should only do the validation if you know the answers to the what if's and you are fully preparted to take action. Or you can just write back and say, "I dispute the validity of your claim" and see what they say w/o threatening all sorts of law suits, etc.??? Just my thoughts...
They are both telephone bills from 1996. One I am sure I owe and is a little more than $200 with interest. The other they are claiming over $1,200 with interest and I can't believe it could be that much. I'd pay the $200 one if they'd go away, but if they see they have leverage I don't think they'll agree.
Dave, you need to check the statute of limitations (SOL) for Nevada. If it is like California (4 years), they legally cannot collect (but they may try, hoping you don't know the law)
At this point I'm more worried about the possibility of reinsertion. Can anyone tell me how long they have to do so? I know I can probably tell them to leave me alone or sue me, but since these entries were just deleted from TU I'd like to keep them off.
The problem Dave is that they probably wont negotiate with you. This is the truth in the amount that you stated. This leads me to the next question. What is are your objectives? Do you need clean credit right away? Are you trying to buy a home or some other large purchase. The more agressive you are the more risks involved it seems. If you need it cleaned up right away to take advantage of these mortgage rates I understand. I would send out validation letters right away. Another avenue that I have gone through is filing a complaint with my states utilities commisson. You will have to follow up with them but the time is worth it. Of course you would tell them that you do not believe you owe the debt in the first place. Tell them that you have asked for validation of this debt and that they are damaging your credit severely. This will initiate an ivestigation that will force the original creditor(phone company to provide proof of debt) They will probably never be able to come up with any real proof that you owe anything. Play as dumb as possible and dont ever admit to living at any of the previous addresses placed on your bill.
I agree with you for the most part, except it's hard for me to dispute ever living at the address where the service was if that address is reported on all three credit reports... I'd like to probably buy a house in the next year or two, but it's not urgent that I do so. Taxes are eating me alive though and I would be better off if I could itemize. I think the consensus is that I try validation with these guys. At least it should stop them from reinserting for at least 30 days. Then again, when the disputes for the other CRAs come up it might just spur them on to verify this time. Monday morning I will send them a validation letter.
By the way, short of taking them to court. I dont think there is anyway of getting them to not reinsert the information that a member is reporting. That is the reason why just disputing debts with cra's wont always work. Members do respond now a days unless the information is somehow not in their system. Computers and tape dont usually remove the information unless someone does it manually. Disputing over and over again is not always the most effective way to go.
Ive never disputed addresses before with a CRA. I would like to know if you could. If you could I would do that first. If they wont allow you to do that, I would still file a complaint with the utilities commision. They are not going to check your credit report, and you are still allowed to dispute a debt that you did not ever recieve a bill for. How can this be your bill if you never recieved notice of it. Call the uitlities commision it has worked for me when I have been in your same exact position.
CRA's just remove the address from your file if you say that it is incorrect. They don't question it or verify anything. breeze
