Hello All, I am Tillman. First let me say, happy memorial day! As a younger VFW member, i certainly appreciate everything our men and women in the military have done for us, and the ultimate price some of our heroes pay. I have been researching around on these forums for a few days now, and just today decided to register and share my story. After the wealth of information i obtained in these threads, I feel obliged to help those that i can as well. Until today, I was afraid of my credit, and afraid of doing anything about it. So I went to a major online credit reporting agency to view my three scores. When I was in the Army about 10 years ago, I neglected some credit issues, and just ran away as long and as hard as i could. About 5 or 6 years ago, this resulted in a judgement against me in court (of course i was too scared/ashamed to show up). I will continue this thread as my credit rehab progresses if anyone has any interest, and want to help encourage those that were too scared to fix their credit like i was. To my surprise, I had only found about a combined $600 in debt, across four different accounts. As well as an account that has been "open" since 1997 $0 balance and current status. (This came from a tennis bracelet i bought for my mom in 1997, completely forgot about this). The judgement mentioned above does not show up on my report, however, in the resulting judgement, i have actually had my bank account drained three times, most recently in November of 2010. Here is where i ask for advice from the community... *Of those four accounts, should i just contact number the CRA has listed as the collections account? *Are the debt balances even close to correct? (I can and will pay the $600 i see, but if there is $10,000 in late fees and interest, I obviously dont want to contact them) *Should I update my address with the CRA's? (some addresses are 15 years old) *Should I care that experian has my birth year as "0"? I am sure i will have more questions eventually, but i would like to not over-question my first post ever. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any specifics. Even if i get no replies to my plea for advice, I still would like to thank this community for giving the the intestinal fortitude to actually do something about my credit score. If nothing else, finding out that my score is 651, and not 351 kind of made my day. Thanks again for any help you might be able to provide, Tillman
Welcome to Creditnet Tillman! We look forward to following your progress. Now, regarding the 4 debts and $600 in combined balances. Are these credit cards? How old are they? Have you received any communication from CAs regarding these debts? Also, it's impossible for us to tell if the balances are correct based upon the information we have here. However, if these accounts are with CAs, you can count on the balances including interest and other fees as well. I wouldn't worry too much about old addresses on your credit reports, as long as they are "correct" old addresses. If they're incorrect, dispute them through the CRAs. Likewise, dispute you birth date as incorrect. All 3 of your credit reports should definitely show your correct birth date.
Thank you for your speedy reply Joshua, I will see what i can do to clarify... Some of these debts I do not technically know what they are, but i was such a credit low-life, I am pretty sure they are mine. I have received no written correspondence from the CA's, nor have i ever talked to them on the phone. This is probably due to living at 10 different addresses in the last 10 years, across two states. I am just trying to be proactive to fix these problems before they become insurmountable. I am 34 years old, and want to buy a house in the next couple of years, and would like to stop running from my financial problems. These are not credit card accounts, (don't know if its for the better, or the worse, but I have avoided using credit cards for 10 years) And I failed to mention that my current state is Oregon. I have cash on hand to pay these accounts off in full, just looking for advice on how to proceed. These accounts below are lower on my priority due to the low monetary value, and my ability to just pay them off if need be. Just curious if i should call the # found on the CR and pay, or attempt to dispute via CRA for clarification? What perplexes me is the judgement against me (also about 10 years ago) does not show up on my report. I thought SOL might have come into play, but from what i have ready, SOL doesn't really apply to judgement's? Even though it does not show up on my report, they still can/will/and have drain my bank account... But I digress, that will be chapter two of Tillmans Credit Saga. The four open items are as follow: Acct 1.... Collection Dept / Agency / Atty (allied interstate inc) Balance: $86 Date open: 1/1/2009 Act Status: Closed Mo Payment: xxBlankxx Payment status: Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department High Balance: xxBlankxx Limit: xxBlankxx Terms: 1 Month Comments: xxBlankxx Acct 2.... Collection Dept / Agency / Atty (cr serv of or) Balance: $205 Date open: 11/1/2009 Act Status: Closed Mo Payment: xxBlankxx Past Due: $205 Payment status: Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department High Balance: xxBlankxx Limit: xxBlankxx Terms: 1 Month Comments: xxBlankxx Acct 3.... Collection Dept / Agency / Atty (west asset management) Balance: $322 Date open: 1/1/2010 Act Status: Closed Mo Payment: xxBlankxx Past Due: $322.00 Payment status: Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department High Balance: xxBlankxx Limit: xxBlankxx Terms: 1 Month Comments: xxBlankxx Acct 4.... Type: Collection Account Balance: $45 Date open: 12/1/2005 Act Status: xxBlankxx Mo Payment: xxBlankxx Past Due: xxBlankxx Payment status: Unpaid High Balance: xxBlankxx Limit: xxBlankxx Terms: 1 Month Comments: Medical Unpaid Thanks again to Joshua, and the creditnet.com community for the advice, and actually getting me motivated, and somewhat excited to repair my credit. Please let me know if there is anything more i can provide, or if i can help to motivate anyone else in a situation like mine. Tillman Starting Scores: 5/30/11 Experian: 651 Equifax: 597 TransUnion: 601
Just for some background info about the judgment that was perplexing me above.. The judgment was dated 2003, it was uncontested because i knew no better. The original debt was $6,553.11, and there was over $22,000 in "post adjudication interest" with all of the additional fees and interest, the total amount required to satisfy the debt in full is $32,405, this total is after the $1500 they have already successfully garnished from my bank account. This debt/judgment originated from a car repo, and obviously if i wasnt able to make payments on a $6.5k debt, surely $32,000 is entirely too much for me to handle even at a modest interest rate (which i wont get because of poor credit). I noticed that neither the judgment nor the original debt are on my credit report, however I was garnished as recently as March of this year (2011). I also noticed that on the court documents, they have the last number of my SSN wrong (they have a 0, mine ends with a 1). I am just a little confused as to proceed on this specific topic. I intend to settle the debts that do show up on my CRA listings, but how do i fix an unlisted judgment? Do i fix it? I think the best bet may be an attorney consult (which is scheduled for this Friday) but i figured another set of eyes from this community might shed some light on something i didn't notice. Again, thank you creditnet.com community, I am looking forward to regaining my credit worthiness! Tillman <edited to correct $$ mistakes>
Couple questions on the judgment: What state was the original judgment awarded? Who garnished you in November 2010? Who garnished you in March 2011? All judgments have SOL and a capped interest rate per year, if the judgment was issued in your current state there is a SOL of 10 years â?? BUT renewable @ 10 that = 20 years. But if youâ??re current state is not the state in which the judgment was issued the party holding the judgment can file a â??foreign judgmentâ? default in your current state and start collection per the laws of that state. If you were garnished in March 2011 then that sounds as that might have happen. The SOL I found on a â??foreign judgmentâ? in your current state was 10 years (I havenâ??t found a renewal cause yet). Because you were garnished in March that means the lawyer/CA holding that judgment has some of your current information so they want to collect and they have 2 years left if the default date is 2003 and 32K is more than worth pursuing. If you are seeing a lawyer on Friday then you might ask the following: I have a judgment in XX amount it was defaulted in the following state (fill in the blank) what is the SOL for judgments that state? If your judgment is a â??foreign judgmentâ? how do I find out if it was filed correctly? What funds are exemptible in your current state? The maximum garnishment in your current state is 25% of your wages. How do I find out the currently balance and how it got from 6.7K to 32K; without admitting fault? What are my options if judgment is filed/executed correctly? Based on what I have read you need to know who owns the judgments, if itâ??s foreign is/was it filed correctly in order to collect, and if they collected in November 2010 and March 2011 they wouldnâ??t stop anytime soon. Make sure you are honest with your lawyer, take all paperwork you have, itâ??s a short time till you meet but maybe you might be able to view/purchase some on-line prior to your meeting. The more information they have the more they can help you. The timeline as well as which state the judgment was issued seems to be the key, the lawyer can piece it together for you. Good luck
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond Desdemona! I will try to clarify all i can... What state was the original judgment awarded? Oregon (current state of residence) Who garnished you in November 2010? I can only assume Fairlane Credit (as this is only name mentioned in the writ or garnishment other than the 'attorney for creditor'; Hooper, England & Weil LLP) Who garnished you in March 2011? Same thing as above, the only thing i can add is both appeared as "NAS-COAL 07Mar112105" as the withdrawal. None of this is reflected on my credit report, so all i have to review is the court documents sent to me. I can only assume that this is the case because all of the documents i have seen have my incorrect social? (last digit incorrect) or are CRAs software smart enough to put the two together? My outstanding debts (other than this one) seem pretty easy to rectify, and my plan for improving my score is progressing, but I dont want to do anything until this massive weight is somehow resolved. As i just mentioned, the only paperwork i have (other than my CR) is what was sent to me from the attorneys, in what i assume are court records. You had mentioned: "Make sure you are honest with your lawyer, take all paperwork you have, itâ??s a short time till you meet but maybe you might be able to view/purchase some on-line prior to your meeting." What is it that i might be looking to view/purchase prior to my attorney meeting? Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your help, not only for me, but everyone else in the boards. I will continue to update this thread with progress, and what i learn. Thanks, Tillman
DV the CAs first to make sure you're paying the party that actually has the right to collect. Once you're satisfied that they have the right to collect, then negotiate removal of the collections for payment. You'll probably have to pay in full if you want to have a chance at getting them completely removed.
Joshua, Perfect! You had basically validated my thoughts on what should be done next. I will be sending DV letters to the CAs after the meeting i have scheduled with my lawyer on Friday. (i just want to make sure he has no issues with me doing so) I assume that after DV is returned with reasonable validation, PFD would be the route to go? The stuff on my credit report seems easy to rectify, and i was surprised at how decent my report looked for how much i felt like a dead-beat. It is what is not on my report that has me most worried. I will continue to keep this post updated with information as the process progresses. If i can help one person, it would have been well worth it. I didnt know that trying to remedy problems of my financial past could actually make me feel a little better about myself, and again, thank you for the wealth of knowledge in the community, i really do see it as a little self-help club.
I would definitely at least try the PFD route to see what type of response you get. Look forward to following your progress.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond Desdemona! I will try to clarify all i can... What state was the original judgment awarded? Oregon (current state of residence) (so the SOL is 10 but is renewal in the 10th year so that = the creditor has up to 20 years to attempt to collect. In some states a dormant judgment can not be renewed â?? but the garnishments in 2010 and 2011 prove this is not a dormant judgment. One of the questions I would ask the lawyer is what is the process in your state regarding the renewal; will you be re-served? Will you have to go back to court? Will you receive any notification?) Who garnished you in November 2010? I can only assume Fairlane Credit (as this is only name mentioned in the writ or garnishment other than the 'attorney for creditor'; Hooper, England & Weil LLP) (Fairlane Credit must be the original creditor and H,E&W are the attorneys, have they pulled your reports recently?) Who garnished you in March 2011? Same thing as above, the only thing i can add is both appeared as "NAS-COAL 07Mar112105" as the withdrawal. None of this is reflected on my credit report, so all i have to review is the court documents sent to me. I can only assume that this is the case because all of the documents i have seen have my incorrect social? (last digit incorrect) or are CRAs software smart enough to put the two together? (I know that having a clerical error on a final judgment will not stop any attempt for collection. As for not showing on the CR could it be due to this error â?? canâ??t answer that one. I can only assume that the courts submits to the CRA the original judgment after itâ??s signed/stamped/filed by the judge, IMO I doubt the clerk bother to check to see that it reports correctly or at all.) My outstanding debts (other than this one) seem pretty easy to rectify, and my plan for improving my score is progressing, but I dont want to do anything until this massive weight is somehow resolved. (I completely understand your need not to poke the sleeping bear but 32K is one big a$$ bear and while he might still be hibernating but he will awake and you will have to do something about him.) As i just mentioned, the only paperwork i have (other than my CR) is what was sent to me from the attorneys, in what i assume are court records. You had mentioned: "Make sure you are honest with your lawyer, take all paperwork you have, itâ??s a short time till you meet but maybe you might be able to view/purchase some on-line prior to your meeting." What is it that i might be looking to view/purchase prior to my attorney meeting? (yes I meant the judgment papers and any writ of garnishments. If you donâ??t have copies you can always request copies from the court that issued judgment. There of course is always a fee and sometime you can purchase them on-line and view them in PDF. The more information the lawyer knows the better they can assist you.) Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your help, not only for me, but everyone else in the boards. I will continue to update this thread with progress, and what i learn. The deadline to file a motion to vacate has long past and they only got a very small % of the total judgment in the bank garnishments IMHO they will try to go after wages and property next. The max in Oregon on wage garnishment is 25%, but your employer has to inform you that they received a writ of garnishment before taking the wages. I would discuss with the lawyer your options once any wage garnishments start, which I believe they will tell you unless you have the funds to pay it back a Chapter 7 BK, would be your best bet. IMHO I would do the following: do NOT keep large amounts of cash in any of your bank accounts â?? so keep any down payment money for a house some where else like a 401K account. Adjust your tax exemptions so that you donâ??t receive any large tax refunds (ask the lawyer if state refund checks can be taken to satisfy a judgment in your state). Educate yourself on exempt property so you know what they can not attach a lien to. And lastly I wouldnâ??t poke at this bear right now but letâ??s hope he doesnâ??t wake up anytime soon. Good luck with everything, and let me what the lawyer says.
