Okay, I am newbie and I have been reading all day long and still have a few unanswered....so if they are dumb....at least you will know I tried to find the answers before posting..... I posted that Equifax doesn't keep their own records, they send a letter stating the forwarded that to CSC credit services. Gave me an email URL which was not valid, and the address where they say they sent it to, isn't the one I found for them. I did find their correct URL by doing a Google search. It seems that they also sell credit report advice/repair, which seems to me to be a conflict of interest...Equifax reporting false info and then sending you to a site that corrects it. I do have one medical bill, the insurance of the drunk driver was suppose to have paid it, but wires got crossed. Anyway, I think it may be SOL. Kansas has 3 year on open accounts, 6 year on written. Is medical (since you sign tons of paper) a written contract? Even so, we are right at the SOL on 6 years and this is the most damaging on the reports, so hoping to get that taken care of this year. Someone mentioned Goodwill...I haven't accessed that, but would the fact that our son passed away the time they started trying to collect on this "bad bill" be candidate for a goodwill letter. Would the CA have enough heart to consider that? I don't recall getting any bills on this medical bill (have been trying to find it in the paper work). We are trying for a mortgage (we are currently living in the same house my son passed away in), and hubby's scores are low 600's currently but nothing else bad expect that one bill. I went to Lendingtree.com and got two lenders that I have been talking with. Is there any other suggestions out there? It seems the bank I visited, if you don't have at least 680, and 20% down payment, they aren't even willing to discuss it. I know that is a lot...but it's been festering all day. I do feel a little more hopeful after reading all the stories. And BTW, I had a cousin that worked for a CA and he was telling us "just send them letters and they will drop it", he really couldn't go into more than that, but the look he had on his face was like "poor stupid idiots that hand over money to us". WNL BUTTERFLY
CSC is an affiliate of Equifax, and you have to use them if you live in certain areas of the country. I have to go thru CSC, and I live in TX.
wow butterfly. so sorry to hear about your son. let me just clarify something for you regarding the goodwill approach. its usually used for original creditors who are reporting legitimate late payments that are at least a year old. I'm afraid you'll be wasting your time using it on a CA. Most of them couldnt care less how unbearable your personal life is. To them, you owe them money, no matter what. how large is the debt? Was the debt itself a hospital bill? wow, you're new and you already 'get it'.
Well, two of them are reporting this particular bill on the CRA as from a CA, but one is reporting as the OC. Yes, it's a medical, but it's not that high even, just $300, but it's really the only main issue on the CR, which is 576, 610, 615 FICO. Even the lending officer was confused why the low scores as we don't have much debt on there at all, less than a $1,000, and $479 was paid in full prior to that, just not reported. We came near bk in 1993, even went to a CCC and they basically said we don't make enough for them to help us (now that is a blow), and was hinting at bk, but we stuck it out, dropped the credit cards, and kept working at it. If nothing else we will have the medical dropped next year due to SOL, and right now the lending officer feels we will qualify for a loan (I expect we will just be paying a little more of course). I was just stunned at the errors on these CRA, I mean they get paid from all sources just to keep info and they can't even keep it accurate. None of them had husband's current employer, and he been there for 14 years. WNLBUTTERFLY
its amazing isnt it. have you disputed w CRAs on any of the mistakes yet? if not, thats the first thing you need to do. (you probably already gathered that from reading.) in the meantime, read up on SOL and figure out how to get the medical collection off your reports. I've heard those are pretty easy, as soon as you get them to violate HIPAA laws anyway. (not to mention, FCRA and FDCPA.) do a search on HIPAA (some people spell it HIPPA) and here's a link with some good HIPAA & SOL info: http://community-2.webtv.net/Y-chat/WhyChatsCredit/ I don't have any experience in getting medical collections deleted from my CR, but i did have an OBGYN try to collect for a missed appointment fee after making me wait 2 hours in her office. (long story) Anyway, she kept threatening to send a measly 40 bucks to collection, and after being nice to her in my letters a couple of times, I fired off a nasty letter threatening her with 'possible HIPAA violations' and never heard a peep from her again, lol. good luck with everything. someone w more medical collections experience please chime in for this nice person!!
CA Validate for med not billed.... I got back a "validation" from a CA, I don't think it has enough info to be called that, they basically sent a copy of the medical bill from the OC and that was it. However, what I did learn from that was the OC NEVER listed our insurance, it lists us as SELF-PAY. We had insurance at the time, and I have a copy of the card still on hand. What would be the best approach in this case....Laura
