I've been reading around but I haven't managed to find the specific info that I'm looking for. I'm 23 and I just pulled my credit reports. The negative items on there are: NCO, Collections Account - $565 NCO, Collections Account - $45 Paramount Recovery System, Collections Account - $400 Recovery SVCS of America, Collections Account - $112 All of these accounts are 2-3 years old and I'm not sure where to start on getting them off of my credit report. I'd like to be able to get a house but these things are keeping me from even getting a credit card.
Have you been contacted yet by any of the CAs? Have you requested debt validation? What kind of funds do you have set aside to settle these debts?
I have $1000 dollars saved up specifically for resolving this. I have talked to NCO and they said they could settle for 65% of the original cost, but that they could not remove the account from my credit report, only that it would said it was paid. After reading a few things on here I'm sure that was not very smart of me to talk to them at all heh. The part Im not to familiar with is the debt validation and the overall steps to approach this. Do I send a letter of validation to each of the credit beaureaus about certain accounts on my credit report? If I do, then what? Or would I first send a letter disputing certain negative accounts and hope they get deleted? I haven't had any luck searching the forums for a good guide or atleast a step by step process as to how to get these negative items off my report.
Debt validation letters don't go to the CRAs. You should send them CMRRR to the CAs after their first contact to protect your rights under the FDCPA. If they properly validate the debt, then you can move onto the next step and negotiate a settlement. Push hard to get a PFD if you're paying in full...don't just give up after the first negative response you receive. If there's missing or inaccurate information on your credit reports, dispute that info. as well through each of the CRAs. You may get lucky and some will be deleted.
