Why aren't creditors removing negative late remarks for people who were impacted by Katrina? My credit was fine before Katrina and now there are several remarks that have decreased my score! After speaking to several creditors and basically begging them to remove the comments, I got nowhere. I finally decided to write letters explaining, in detail, my situation. If anyone has advice on this, please let me know. Thanks.
In some cases, banks don't care - they want their money. I wasn't here for Katrina, but when I got back, I was shocked at how many people'd lost their homes to foreclosure here, and it's getting worse. The odd part is where we lived didn't get a drop of flooding! Stay offa the phone, cause they can promise ya the world, and unless you got it in writing - you can get suckered. Those letters - remember, ya gotta be careful with what ya write, cause you're confirming the account is yours, and if ya ever try to dispute it as not being yours, you're kinda stuck in a way, cause creditors keep notes. I wish ya luck, and I'm glad you and yer family are okay
disputes I've already disputed the accounts with experian and equifax. My explanation for the dispute was the truth... I lost my job because of the hurricane, had to move, and was currently up to date on the accounts. Unfortunately, this wasn't good enough for 3 out of the 4 accounts. MBNA was the only creditor that actually deleted the 30 days late. I love them! I haven't mailed the letters yet, but does it really matter, beacuse I've already admitted to owning the accounts in my dispute. Could I try to dispute again with 'not mine'? Or just try the sad, sob-story letters about how they're keeping me from getting med school loans? I still have to dispute with Trans Union but I'm having problems logging on. When I fix that, should I dispute negative account with TU as 'not mine', since it would be my first dispute with them?
I know the experts here can step in, but I can tell ya what I'd do.... I'd sit back for a little while (can't say how long, but long enough fer stuff to quiet down), and let the dust settle. You've done a couple of things, and your letters and stuff are still new in the system, and when they bring your accounts up, they're probably gonna see the fresh notes. Ya said that your explanation for the dispute was the truth..next time, do a simple dispute (can't tell ya what to say , but ya don't need to go into great detail exactly about why you're disputing. I'm glad that you got MBNA to work with ya, but sadly, most banks don't care. I found out the hard way years ago..
hope you didn't get hit too bad by the storm, we survived with some roof damage but no flooding. did you contact your creditors right after the storm? i contacted mine right after katrina, and every single one of them gave me at least a 5 month hiatus from paying bills, and my mortgage co gave me a 6 month break as well. two of my cards even suspended charging interest! i find that in the last four or so months that a lot of creditors are not allowing you to use the "katrina card" anymore. i guess everyone is burnt out on hearing so much of it in the media, which is a shame, because there is still so many neighborhoods that are still messed up. if you are persistent and just call them everyday (or even every few minutes for a bigger company), you should be able to get it removed. sometimes you get a nicer customer rep than other times. good luck
Katrina I actually fared out well with Katrina. The problem was that I lost my job as a result and my school closed as well. So I had to move to Monroe, LA to finish up my last semester. And thank goodness I still graduated! So basically, at that time my bills were the last thing that was on my mind. Mail wasn't being delivered, the forwarding service out of New Orleans wasn't working properly either. I went over 30 days on two bills and 120 days on another. The 120 day late bill was a credit card that had a $40 balance on it and I totally forgot that I even owned the card! Today I have a great job and am caught up financially. I just want my credit to be as good as it was before Katrina. I wish they would take my past credit into consideration! My credit score dropped tremendously and two creditors have still not updated my report. It still states that I have an overdue balance, and I've called them several times to clear it up. Their response is that it will be updated on such and such date, but the bills were paid months ago! And Verizon! I hate them!! After 3 months, they took it upon themselves to turn my cell phone back on! I had no idea about this until I was in collections for a $400 bill. Now my credit report shows that it was a 'charge off'. I'm screwed!
i don't think you are screwed. it's too bad you didn't call them back then, because their sympathy would have been with you, but that is ancient history. i can't believe that they aren't cutting you some slack. if katrina is not a reason to fall behind, i don't know what is. just call all of your creditors on a daily basis and let them know you were a victim of katrina and that you were never late before, and plead for them to delete the negs. maybe add in "in case you haven't heard that this was the worst natural disaster in the US in the last 300 years." ask to speak to a manager, call the corporate office. don't give up, they will eventually give in. worse case scenario, you could file a complaint with your local bbb and atty general, but i would try the other avenues first. also contact all of your local media (radio, print, tv) and tell them about your plight, they always love a good sob story.
damn katrina! Thanks for the advice. My next step will be BBB. And I never thought to tell them to look at my payment history. It's completely up to par!
"And Verizon! I hate them!! After 3 months, they took it upon themselves to turn my cell phone back on! I had no idea about this until I was in collections for a $400 bill. Now my credit report shows that it was a 'charge off'." If you had closed your account, then their bills are erroneous. Did they fail to terminate your account, or was there a gap with service turned off, and then they reactivated it, with a new bill several months after you terminated your account? Did you send them a dispute? Have you filed complaints with your state AG? In your other calls to get negative account info removed, emphasize that mail delivery and forwarding was disrupted. If you have a good consumer reporter with your local paper or tv or radio station, you might send a complaint thru them. Companies probably do not want to be publicly known for causing additional problems for people trying to recover from Katrina.
verizon The problem was when Katrina hit I moved 400 miles north, where Verizon phones didn't have service, so I cancelled my service. In January '06 I got a bill from collections stating that I owed Verizon $300! I called Verizon and they explained that service that's cancelled automatically gets turned back on after 90 days due to contractual reasons. However, I no longer had a contract with Verizon, so they had no reason to resume service! I finally got them to remove the charges for those 90 days and I was left with a $157 balance for charges prior to canceling service. I paid the $157 because I actually used those services. I explained that I was late due to Katrina, no job, moving, etc... Currently, Verizon has listed on my credit report that I was 30 days late and that the account was a 'charge off'. I had no idea what a charge off was, so I called Verizon and was explained that it meant that they took a loss due to me. I don't understand how they took a loss! I paid for the services used! Where was the loss? Do they actually think the loss was from the unused services when I did not give them permission to re-activate? I wrote two letters, which they should get this week and I'm going to call the recovery department first thing tomorrow. I just hate calling the people in recovery because the last three times that I've called, they were so rude to me and made me feel like sh*t! I really appreciate your advice. One more... How bad is a charge off? Does it significantly lower your score?
They are basically reporting that you didn't pay your bill for several months, that they charged it off since they had no expectation of ever getting paid, that they had to send it to collection, and that only after that did you pay. That is how your other creditors will look at what they are reporting. Of course, their own screw-up is not mentioned. You are the consumer, so you must be the deadbeat. "service that's cancelled automatically gets turned back on after 90 days" Was this cancelled by them due to no ability to provide service, or did you specifically contact them and request that they cancel? Clearly they have acknowledged some act of "cancelling", by indicating it was then later turned back on. Were you within the terms of a 1 or 2 year contract, with a termination fee if cancelled before it ended, and you just put the contract on hold?
verizon When I called them about the $300 bill that's when I found out that the phone was reactivated and yes, I had them terminate service. They're argument was that I never initially asked them to TERMINATE. I used the words 'turn off' instead. Sorry Verizon... I don't know cell phone provider lingo! So how bad is the charge off on your score? Do you think I have a good, solid case?
Pull your scores and see. You should know anyway. So you "turned off" your account, and they reactivated it even though it had a late unpaid balance about to be sent to collection? That would be a cute trick to inflate the value of a collection account, possibly even enough to recover the legitimate debt in sale to a JDB, while sweetening the account with bogus charges enough to interest the JDB. They wouldn't even need to provide any real "services", since having requested that it be turned off, you wouldn't be using it. Or was the "unpaid balance" partly or mostly due to charges from when they had turned it on without your authorization? If you didn't authorize turning it on, you should be paying NO charges for services you never requested or received. Confronted with the error, what did they reverse, and what did they insist in collecting?
Finally! Some progress... Thank goodness! I finally got Volkswagen Credit to remove the negative 30 day late charge. However, Verizon Wireless won't budge. I argued with a rep for 1 hour yesterday and finally just hung up on him. Man, Verizon's reps are brutal! Since calling everyday is getting me nowhere, I filed a complaint with the BBB. So let's see what happens. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.
