And I'll tell you why... I am currently in the process of fixing my credit - and in a hurry. My credit card debts has been in collections for about 4 years now. I've been working for half a year putting in roughly 80 hours a week in order to save enough money to pay off ALL my debts. And now I've finally accomplished it. I have yet to call the collection agencies to tell them that I have the money and that I want to pay off all my debt. And this is why you guys are scaring me: I don't want to make any mistakes. I thought I could just call the collection agency and get advice from them. Now I feel like I can't trust them anymore. Can you guys offer advice to these questions? 1) Because it's been a few years since my debt has been in collections, one collection company sold my debt to another and so on and so forth. Now can I request the collection agency to delete all the different companies from my credit report? Or would only the last collection company be able to delete only themselves. 2) And how do I make SURE that they do in fact delete the information on my report? 3) Or is there a better way to go about this??? Thank you SO MUCH FOR THIS SITE!!!!!!!!!!!
We're not trying to scare you, just let you know what the facts of life are. Now that you sepnt a year and a half busting your butt to save the bucks needed to settle with your creditors doesn't mean you have to use it ALL to settle. Debts lose value as they age, so why pay more than it's really worth? Now for some answers: 1: Each company can only remove its own trade line. BUT, the only ones that should show up are the OC (with a $0 balance and the notation "debts sold") and the CURRENT owner of the debt. All others are duplicates and should be removed by the CRA when you point out that they are duplications. 2: GET IT IN WRITING THAT THEY WILL DELETE BEFORE YOU GIVE THEM A DIME. That way, if they don't you can sue them for Breach of Contract. 3: Yes. Go to www.artofcredit.com and look in "Essentials" for my post on Settling a Debt.
Why not request validation and dispute first? If they've been sold and transferred numerous times, they just might not be able to validate - end up being deleted - and you've saved some hard earned bucks.
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... What do you mean "validate?" I figured that since it was my credit card debt that was sold it can be easily transferred back to me. Maybe I am misunderstanding the term "validate?" Also, Flyingifr I feel like I should pay you for your great advice. I need some more time to read the rest of your posts and others on these two sites to best strategize how to repair my credit and to save my money. Please keep the good advice coming - I'm still need of some more help. Thanks guys!!!
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... One more thing is that my credit report still shows that Providian has my account which has been in their collection department. However, I now have found out that Unifund has my account - according to Providian. And has had it for many years. I called the number provided by Providian, but I can't seem to get a hold of a single LIVING person. The best I can do is leave a voice message. How do I go about this? Should i just leave a message with Unifund and leave my phone number? Or should i report it to the credit bureas and have them figure it out? Has anybody here dealt with Unifund before? Thanks guys.
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Hey empire, Validation means they gotta prove you owe them. You write the creditor and request proof that you owe the debt to them. There's lots of sample letters around to give you an idea of how to word yuor letter. If they have no proof (like a signed contract) then they have to remove the account from your credit reports. If they've sold the debt then they probably can't prove you owe them. Get it?
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Also something for flyingifr... you said, (and I'm quoting from another message board that you referred me to) "NEVER try to negotiate a settlement if SOLC has not expired, ESPECIALLY if the creditor is not actively dunning you. Let the sleeping dog lie until it has no teeth left to bite you with." Now since my credit report states that my account has been open for less than seven years (originally opened in '98 with MBNA then sold to AMEX in '99 then to Asset Acceptance in '02) should i NOT contact them? I'm a little bit confused... Also, it shows on my credit repot that my MBNA account was first opened in '98 and now with Asset Accpetance the "Date Last Active & Date Opened" is 7/02 and 5/02 respectively... Now I remember reading on here that these collection agencies will illegally report to the credit agencies concerning an "Active Date." By my brief description of wat's going on with my MNBA account... is this what's happening here? OR am I getting two things mixed up? Is Asset Acceptance supposed to put 5/02 as the last date opened because that's the date that they bought my collection? Some claification would be greatly appreciated.
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Once I get some more studying done about these collection agencies, I'll have a better plan for what I will do... but so far as my MNBA account is concerned, I'll call Asset Acceptance and tell them "Payment for deletion of trade line. No agreement to that, no agreement at all" (flyingifr) and I will get that in writing before they see a cent. Then I guess I will have to negotiate with them to see how much money they will settle for... As far as my Providian account goes... I'm still lost as to how I will be clearing that up in my credit report.
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... What state do you live in? Most if not all of your debt MAY be out of the Statute of Limitations for the OC/CA to sue you. Which means, they can really only report the debt on your CR and TRY and collect. If they try and sue you, you can answer the suit by saying " This debt is past SOL, and therefore legally un-collectible" They can't win the suit. Debts that are post SOL are definitely not worth a whole lot, and if you do settle, you can settle for a small percentage of the original debt. Tell us which State you live in and if you have moved since the CC debts were opened (when you first applied/received for the CC.) If you have remained in the same state for at least the last 8 years or so, you probably won';t have to worry about tolling in regards to the SOL . 3day
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... ohhhhh! ding ding ding! So since on my CR it shows that Providian is the only company that I owe money to - then if I ask them to validate that and they can't because they've sold my account to Unifund that means they legally will have to delete it from my CR! And then I've found the loop because Unifund is nowhere on my CR then my credit gets better?????? how long does this process usually take? I'll search this site and get a sample letter and i'll send it to Providian!!!!
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... I live in California. And I've lived here the entire time my credit's been started.
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... I'd probably start with an online blanket dispute of all your accts, assuming they're past the SOL. It's cheap and will likely end up with quite a few removals of negative TLs since they seem to be quite old. After the first round, then I'd start sending DV letters out CMRRR. That can be costly - which is why I did my first round online. Me and many others have had success that way. Save your $$ til the later rounds.
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Can you provide me the website so i can read more about it? Thanks.
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... You can dispute online with TU by going to www.transunion.com. Look for the small print that says "dispute and item". You do not need a copy of your credit report for this. You can dispute online with EX at www.experian.com. You will need some type of credit report to do this. Click where it says something like "to dispute". As for EQ, I'm not sure about California. Wander around the website and see if you can find anything there. For some of us, it is CSC credit services. I agree with doing it online for the first round. Save the $ for later. Whether or not they are your accounts is not the question. The question is "can they prove they are your accounts?"
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... I had the same-debt transferred and sold. ABSOLUTELY make sure trade line deletion is part of the deal. For the ones reporting debt sold, I have had good success with multiple nutcase letters (there are sample letters in this site). Here is a quick story that should re-inforce what you are getting from this site. I had a fitness club that I had a debt with. It went to collections, my original debt was $650, they were trying to collect $900+. I contacted the original creditor and they had FIRED the collection agency. I paid them then called the collection agency to get it removed. The told me that since I did nothing for them, they weren't going to do anything for me. They were RUDE and NASTY and told me to dispute it with the credit agency, then they would fix it. They did not own the debt but were still reporting. These are generally NOT nice people. They are used to dealing with people who don't fulfill obligations, have sob stories, etc. They only care about what they collect--and I believe some are commission based, so that is why they don't care about you, just your money. Now, I had an AWESOME woman I worked with (at a collection agency) for three years getting my private student loans out of default. They are not all evil, but I think my woman was the exception rather than the rule. And you know what? If you spend time on this board, you will probably know more about your rights than they do. Knowledge is power my friend. Good Luck.
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Empire - a word of advice... Stay off the phone! CA's will lie, cheat, swindle, and promise to name their baby after you if you pay the bill. Read, read, read here, and with the money you have stashed work your deals thru written correspondence only, to come out with a squeaky clean credit report. If you just pay these debts, you will end up with a bunch of paid collections/chargeoffs on your credit report that don't do a darn thing for you. Good luck, and welcome to the board!
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... Another point if these have been in collections for 4 years the SOL may be past.
Re: Re: Re: You guys made me scared... --> What Is Validation? http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42188 ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <>
Re: Re: You guys made me scared... I figured that since it was my credit card debt that was sold it can be easily transferred back to me. empire ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> ><- <>- ><- <> ~~~ ><- <>- ><- <> That's not the idea: The point is 95 to 99 % of the time CAs can't validate. This means 2 things to you .1 you don't have to pay and 2 the listing has to be deleted from your reports.
