I have some ITS letters ready to send to the CRAs after a ton of back and forth "please delete" "already verified" "please delete" "already verified" "please delete" "already verified" "please delete" "already verified" "please delete" "already verified" "please delete" "already verified" letters that we're all sick of. My question is, should I send mine and my hubby's at the same time? I realize that I should send them in separate envelopes, but will is seem suspicious if they both arrive CRRR on the same day at the same time? What are the chances that the same person will sign for/read them at the same time? I'm getting so impatient and I hate to waste any more time. I played around with Lexington Law Firm for a year (the didn't do much of ANYTHING for me), and I've been playing the "please delete" "already verified" game for about a year now. My hubby's scores have gone up from the upper 400's to the mid 500's, but mine have stayed in the mid 500's. I would LOVE to see some of the movement that others on this board have experienced. Thanks for the input, debtchoked
have you tried going thru the Furnishers of the Information (OCs, CAs, etc)? what are the circumstances of these TLs youre disputing? are they not yours? paid chargeoffs? unpaid legitimate debts? sorry, but a little more info is needed before good solid advice can be given. as far as ITS letters are concerned, whether you send them together or separate, are you willing to sue for real if it comes down to it? if this was me, and these were bona-fide mistakes, and I'd tried everything else (including disputing directly with DFs) and I had provable damages caused by the CRAs and/or DFs actions (or inaction) I'd send a big bold ITS from both you and your spouse, to both the DFs and CRAs, at the same time, in the same envelope. however, if youre doing credit repair on valid TLs, and youre hoping to send an ITS to 'scare' them into deleting, you might be in for a let-down. They've seen it all by now. it might do you some good to attack these thru the Data Furnishers first before you ITS the CRAs. (i dont know, maybe you already have) If people keep firing off ITS before they've exhausted all other options, the CRAs will continue taking ITS letters less and less seriously. (not saying you've done this...and not coming down on you in particular...its just that all you seem to have done is dispute thru CRAs over and over.) Fill in some blanks for us readers and you'll get great advice. Hope it all works out for you! ETA: you might wanna send the ITS to the agent of service for each CRA instead of directly to the CRAs. (someone pointed that out to me, thank god, lol) good luck!
Thanks crowmom. Yes, they are, for the most part legitimate debts. Heck, I've even been paying them. That's why I've been sticking with the disputes only with the CRA's. I've disputed online and with progressively nastier "No Knowlege of Account/Account Not Mine" letters. I'm really not even trying to get away with not paying. I want to qualify for a decent mortgage, but the problem is that our utilization is high (not really new debt, just finally catching up with the old) and there are a lot of lates. The lates pretty much stopped last summer with the exception of a new late reporting (1/04) with an MBNA credit card account that we've FAITHFULLY been paying a CA for the past 1+ year. The CA has never reported, but MBNA has stayed on there and not budged. My hubby's scores have risen a bit, but mine have stayed about the same (both of us in the 550's to 570's). We make enough to pay our bills and we'll have a decent downpayment for a house, but I know that our scores will probably give us a terrible interest rate. (we're currently paying 7.5% which was conventional at the time we got it) If we don't get 6% or below, my hubby will be VERY upset with me. I'm the one who screwed everything up by trusting a debt neg co who screwed us royally. That was about 2 years ago. I've spent the past 2 years trying to fix things. I wasted one year with Lexington Law Firm and I've been working the past year myself. But as I said earlier, we don't seem to be going anywhere. Any advice would be appreciated--debtchoked
You didnt screw anything up. they did. you couldn't have known they would do that. Have you requested validation of these accounts youre paying on? How much are they for? are you sure the amounts are correct? how about fees and interest? are they adding fees they may not be able to legally? are these CAs licensed/bonded in their & your state? there may be a way to settle for deletion on some of them....have you considered trying that? How hard was it to save for your down payment? could you possibly wait to get this home loan and use some of this saved money to pay down your debts so that you get a better rate, ultimately paying a lot less in the long run? if this was me, and i was willing to wait, I'd write the CAs and say something like "I'm not so sure these amounts are correct. A friend told me I have the right to request that you validate these debts to me. Please prove the validity of these debts as soon as possible." and then see what sort of response you get. If you get no response, send an offer to settle in one lump sum in exchange for deletion from your reports. you never know, it could work. i think its worth a try. getting a couple collections and/or chargeoffs off your reports could raise your scores significantly. it just may take a while to accomplish. (i know you dont wanna hear that.) i think you need to face facts and realize the choice is this: wait and pay down debt and get a better rate, paying less in the long run, or try to get a loan now and get screwed royally again. (i didnt mean for that to sound harsh.) I really hope it all works out for you.
No, I don't think it sounds harsh--just realistic. The problem is that my husband has been transferred out of state. He has already left. I'm waiting out the school year with our 4 children. We don't have any choice but to sell our current home and by a new one (since we're moving 800 miles away!) Our new downpayment will come from the sale our our current home and from some retirement money that I'm cashing in (please don't anyone lecture me about why I shouldn't do that--I've read everything and I'm still going to do it). It's the least I can do considering I'm the one who screwed up our credit. My husband has excellent retirement with his current company and with another company he was with for 10 years. When we move, I'll still be able to easily put in another 25 years on a new job. So, even if he leaves me (which I doubt will happen), I still be able to take care of myself in my retirement years. Anyway, we weren't expecting to have to move and sell our house and with 4 kids, I have been putting any extra money I can (and there isn't much!) into catching up our debt rather than saving anything. So, from where I stand, I'm in a catch 22. We won't have access to any large sums of money until 1) we sell our house (we don't expect to make much from it) and 2) I cash in my retirement which I can't do until May. We need to buy a new house in June or July. We DO NOT want to rent. I'm a little afraid to write to Wolpoff & Abramson (the big bad CA that I'm scared too death of) because the last time I dealt with them, they sent very official "we're going to sue you if you don't cooperate with us and the NAF" letters via Airbourne Express. Also, they haven't reported anything at all to the CRAs. All our lates are listed under the MBNA accounts (even the new one that popped up 1/04)
welp, that answers the question of whether or not you can wait. sheesh, i have 4 kids too, so i know how it is. ok, first of all be glad...be VERY GLAD the MBNA CA is not listing this on your reports. Not sure, but it could be because youre 'working with them'. I have a CA (Sherman Acquisition) who sent an attorney after me for a very legitimate debt, and I was scared to death too. I simply sent them a very nice validation letter and I havent heard from Sherman or the attorney since. However, they DID go ahead and list it on my reports--before validating--so now i have them on a violation. but, it lowered my score by 50 pts. so you have to sort of weigh this. write down the pros & cons, so to speak. (there arent really any pros, i'm afraid, lol) you could stop paying and request validation. by law, they must validate before further collection attempts. (this includes listing it on your reports) requesting validation will either: a) get them off your back temporarily, or b) make them mad and list it on your reports or c)validate and really screw things up, and the worst, d) sue you. (can they sue without validating? i think thats up for debate around here.) Someone help me out here...is the fact that she signed something agreeing to payment terms validation in itself? (<--i read that from your other thread) Have you requested they validate this account ever? have you checked the licensing/bonding laws for yours and their state? that could be a very good tool. Please look into this. I would say, in your situation, you need to do as much as you can with your credit in the next few months, and then just do what you gotta do, which is buy a house at a higher interest rate than you'd like. (duh, great advice, huh.) you can always do the best you can to be PERFECT with your payments after you buy the house and then when your scores go up, refinance. and for hubby: shes doin her best! give her a break! (besides knowing about the 4 kids thing, i also know how hubbies are, lol) again, good luck. ETA: here'a a link for the licensing thing: http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26763
Thanks for the support crowmom. Since my last post, I'm in deeper doodoo. I just got a call from my hubby. He was denied for a visa check card from the credit union where he opened a new account in the city where we're moving. I don't get it. I know our scores are in the 550-570 range, but he opened the account with 4k and we just got a new American Express card in December. I don't understand why they turned down his request for a visa check card!?! He wasn't even asking for a regular visa. Now he's really upset with me--800 miles away.
the visa card your DH applied for might be a MBNA card, so there is ZERO chance of being approved. you can always get a debit card at the CU. if all the CU has is MBNA cards you might consider another bank and check what company they use for their cards. MBNA is the 800-pound gorilla in the CC industry so they are everywhere.
Jumping in here - do you have anything in the chex or telecheck system? Or, did he open the account with an DL/ID from your current state or the new state? I've found that if you move to a new state and open with a new id/DL, there usually is no problem. But if you open with your past state id/dl and have any negative connection to it, you get denied. Just a thought. GL to you! I have 4 kids also and have done several state to state job moves.
Debtchoked's husband applied for a debit card - I think Shanyl is right to see what is in the Telecheck & Chex Systems
Additional thought, if he used the old state id/dl, have him open another new account at a different bank/cu with id/dl from the new state. It's the id/dl that they run, not the ssn.
