I sent letters regarding three negative items - Universal Card - $184.00 pay to delete offer - response - can not locate account number contact credit bureau Pacific Gas and Electric - pay to delete on a $210.00 item listed as a collection item - no response at all Collection Item related to Verizon for $43.00 - pay to delete letter to collection agency - no response at all. I set myself up on auto pay for my other three cards. Only one of these has any past dues - last Dec/Jan 60-days. How long does one need to pay on time to see some improvemen in credit score? Should I write to the credit bureau instead of the OCs? - dispute letters? Or validations? I get a little confused on that validation issue? I am in California. My CC debt is less than 15%, I have no other debt so my low FAKO of 640 is mostly due to these few collection items and spotty history with GE/Credit Care just due to being careless ($85.00 a month vet bill) for a $5K broken cat leg..... Would love to get a few point lifts someday....
Would it help on the late payment credit/care GE debt to make a large payment or pay it off? Would that have any impact on the fact that I have about 4 instance of late payment? I only owe $1800 at this point out of $3M and could pay it off if I though it was worth while?
Each of the collection items is old. Universal closed my card in 2007 due to the $184.00 past due item. This $184.00 was the accumulation of $6.95 per month in "Credit Watch" services and late fees for 120 days. I stupidly paid the card to zero, decided not to use it - but had no idea I had signed up for "Credit Watch". I do not have my full number at this point and Universal could not find it with my name and SSN. I sent out the pay or delete letters about 30 days ago. Should I go to the CRAs and dispute these items since the OC and/or CA's don't seem to be responsive? If I dispute them with the CRAs will they try to validate - or is it still up to me to prove they should be deleted? Of the three items only one seems to have actually ended up at a CA (the $43.00).
I would personally try to dispute. Disputing isn't directly related to validation (except that if you dispute timely, it is continued collection activity to verify the CRA dispute). Really, it's never up to you to prove that it should be deleted (the CRAs will disregard most evidence you provide - and any evidence that you provide can be used to verify the trade line as being yours in the future), the data furnisher has to prove that the trade line is complete, accurate and verifiable.
So I should send dispute letters requesting that the three mentioned tradelines be deleted. I should send this letter to all three CRAs? Do I just state that I do not recognize the items and believe they are errors? As in Dear Sirs - upon review of my credit report I noted the following three items which appear to be in error. I dispute these items and ask that they be immediately removed from my credit report? I know this is covered and often on the board, but it seems like most people get responses back from their pay to delete requests? Maybe mine are just too old 4-5 years back....
Me again. Do I need to include my SSN in my letter to the CRA. And For the intial dispute do I need to mail with a return receipt requested?
