Attempting to clean up my credit report so I can purchase a home in about 2 years. >>Live in Ohio. FICO: 621-650ish NEGATIVES 1. Hsbc: $0 *Account transferred or sold *Charged off account 2. Midlandmcm: $420 *Collection account -- use to belong to Hsbc^ 3. Cap One: $0 *Paid charge off *Account closed by credit grantor 4. Public Record: *capital one^ took me to court and won. Money was garnished from my savings account. 5. Time Warner Cab: $143 *Collection agency : 682YC04711 (not sure what that means) 6. And the one I seriously DISPUTE a library BOOK!! Unique Ntl C: $176 *Placed for collection #1. I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done for this, since it has been charged off. #2. Start with a Debit validation letter ? #3. I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done for this, since it has been charged off. #4. Its a public record. Nothing but time will make this blood stain go away. #5. I do owe them. Should I go with a pay for delete ? #6. The one I'm angriest about: a library book! Start with a Debit validation letter? Any help would be great. I'm just starting out.
(1) The account since it's been sold to (2) would still be able to be there. If there are any errors in the trade line you could dispute those, and hope that it comes off. (2) I would always request validation of any debt, #1, it proves that I am the correct party, #2, it proves that they are trying to collect the correct amount, #3, it proves that they have some relationship to the OC. (3) the PCO would remain, but if there are any errors, I would dispute those errors. (4) Is the PR updated as being satisfied (if they have finished collecting the entire amount of the judgement?) (5) It may be some internal code, is there a matching CA showing for that account? If not, you may have to contact the OC to find out who the CA is. (6) Again, validation proves that you are the right debtor, and that the amount of the debt is correct. $176 for a library book may be a hard one to swallow, unless it was an EXPENSIVE book.
#4. From what I can tell the original creditor says: Paid charge off Account closed by credit grantor Payment after charge off/collection I do believe they took what was owed. So I can assume they are done with it. ? #5 I checked my other CR and it has the CA information. #6 I haven't used that library in over 7 years. I moved from that area ages ago. Thats why its a shock that this even popped up. I can only assume I returned all books to them. They have a desk you can just sit your returned books on. Looking back on it, it probably wasn't smart, because anyone could just come by and pick up a book out of the stack. But why would they wait over 7yrs later to put this on a credit report of all things?! Thanks for the advice!
4) if the judgement is satisfied it should say so on the report. If I was sure they've been satisfied, I would dispute it. 6) If its been over 7 years, I would dispute it as incorrect Date of First Delinquency, account is more than 7 years old, after I send the validation letter to the CA.
#4 Ok, so I need to go back through my paper work to see if the numbers are identical. If the numbers don't match up and it looks like I owe more, do I just leave it alone, or start a dispute? #6 They dont even show a Date of First Delinquency. It has: Date assigned Dec 18, 2009. Which was the date they gave it to the collection agency. That's the only date on that trade line. So it looks like your saying do a validation letter and then if necessary a dispute about the first delinquency? Thanks for the advice!
DoFD may not show on the physical report, depends on the CRA, and medium. Some may display "This item is expected to be removed xx/xxxx." or similar.
UPDATE: Started working on #6 -the library book. First, I did some research on the creditor who had my account; ]Unique National Collections. Here is the info I found for those in a similar boat with this particular creditor (collectionagencydebt.blogspot.com/2010/08/unique-national-collections) Long story short, you cant pay them. They make you contact the library and pay the library-- weird I know. Anyhoo. I called said library and got a hold of the person in charge of handling fines. I wanted to pay the fine in full, and return the books, in exchange for a complete deletion. Which all of a sudden made her "busy" and to call later. But, In the mean-time I could "pay my fines on the library's website." Well, no I couldn't, because: A)I no longer had the library card with my account number on it. B)This is just setting me up to pay the library, and the creditor getting to keep my account on my CR So off to the library I go to do a little recon work. Lucky for me I got a hold of "Jr Library clerk" (he was surrounded by old-lady seasoned vets, but lucky for me they were too busy to help). He gladly did ALL my research for me. I kept sending him back trying to pretend like I need this or that. Finally in frustration he printed out my whole report. Which is what I wanted! I knew the SOL was running close to being up, but of course I couldn't tell them that. But once he printed out my full report it had my overdue books due date of April 1, 2006! Im in Ohio and our SOL is 7yrs. So now the question Im sitting on is should I wait it out, or just pay it and be done with it?
Good work in getting the proof! First off -- Unique National Collections is not the OC, and they are not above the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). It sounds like you may have either just got the info online or maybe called them, but did not send a validation LTR to them. If the SOL in your state is 7 years, I would wait this out. You're less than 2.5 months away from this becoming time-barred. Then, go ahead and send your validation LTR (it would be gold if in their attempt to validate, they listed DoFD as 4/1/06 and still tried to collect on the debt -- that's a no-no). You might get lucky and they'll just delete. Or you could go for the PFD option, however considering that in just 8.5 months this will be deleted from your reports I wouldn't suggest spending your money unless you're in the process of buying a home and need this wiped from your reports ASAP.
Thanks for the advice. I am in the process of buying a home, but we are still in the beginning stages. And we have almost 2 years to go before we start searching for lenders etc. I think you are right. Im going to wait for the SOL to run out and then validate and force them to take it off. Because if I pay its going to sit on my CR for a year before the CA will take it off.
