polarbeardad Tracker

Re: Hoping I'm not the only bad person out there ...

polarbeardad — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:21:10 GMT

Bullseye, it sounds like maybe you had some reservations about combining accounts in the first place. If your gut told you there would be problems you need to listen to it. Suze Orman calls it a gut check and I have to agree with her that its usually right on if you listen to it. There is nothing wrong with having a joint account where the money to pay the bills gets deposited by each of you in an equitable fashion. I get the sense (not knowing the full story and coming from a marriage with a wife that took money) that your wife pushed for the joint account and the access it brings for a reason. I would watch my back. I see nothing wrong with having your own account and your own credit cards for each of you. If she chooses not to have one for herself that's her decision. And for god sake don't do any joint credit accounts, they just spell problems down the road if something back should happen. Best of luck.

Re: How do you handle the Ex.'s collection calls....

polarbeardad — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 17:06:29 GMT

My practice wife left me with all the bills too. I filed bankruptcy to get out from under the burden, but the collection agencies keep looking for her on our old joint accounts. I put her address, phone number and employment information on them and send them back to the collection agencies. Dont hear back from them after that. Figure I might have to send in a small payment once they drop off my reports from the bankruptcy to start the SOL running again for her. Could be fun...lol

Target Blacklists

polarbeardad — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:02:46 GMT

Just thought other people in the same situation would like to know. If you included Target in your bankruptcy don't waste your time applying for a new account. I put in an application and called to check the status, the team member told me due to the way the previous account was handled (discharged in chapter 7) they could not open a new account. The good news they didn't even pull a credit report so didn't get hit with the inquiry at least. When I inquired as to a time frame when I might be able to apply and be approved she said never at this time under their policies. I only had 500 on the account in my bankruptcy. Thought others would like to know but then again your mileage may vary.

Re: How to get your updated credit reports free every day!!!!

polarbeardad — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 02:15:48 GMT

I think a number of people are missing a key point of Roberts argument, you have limited access to information that has a profound affect on your life and your financial life in particular. You apply for credit and get denied, only then do you get to look inside your file without charge. Sounds kinda suspicious to me. Be akin to failing a test an only then getting to see the material it would cover. There is something very big brother in the credit industry. There are all sorts of freedom of information rules for access to information not personally associated with the requester yet the monitoring agencies get to decide how , when and at what cost consumers get access to their own personal information. Kind of like having the prisoners in charge of the prison. The laws wont change useless we discuss them including why the CRA feel it is so important to limit access. Why only one free report a year?? Just food for thought. When you hand over the keys to the kingdom willingly you cant complain about loosing the kingdom.

Re: first premier cc

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:52:27 GMT

In their defense getting a card provided by First Premier does help to start the rebuilding process. If you pay in full each month you negate the ridiculous interest charges. I look at the fees as part of the cost to rebuild after the the big bankruptcy. Best of luck.

Re: 1099-C issues and charge off,Please help!!

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:41:52 GMT

Golo did I read correctly that you just now recieved the 1099? By any chance did you keep the envelop and did it have an actual postmark? By law all 1099's and W2's must be mailed by January 31st of the year after they apply, so January 31st 2012 for tax year 2011. If you can prove Sears just now sent it to you waaayyy after the deadline you might avoid any penalties for failing to include in an your return. Let me know what ypu have and I'll comment further.

Re: Medical Collection Guidance needed

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:18:18 GMT

Make sure you do it all in writing so you have proof of what they agree to do regarding delete. If its small enough you can pay it off or a reasonable percentage I would see it the CA wont agree to a PFD. The OC got its pennies on the dollar back when the CA bought the debt. So anything the CA can get will be profit to them. In response to your question, I don't think any of these places care about the impact on peoples credit scores. Best of luck.

Re: Credit Builder CD Account from Bank???

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:09:44 GMT

That was an older method people used to build credit frequently called a secured loan. In today's economy most banks are interested in certificates of deposit (CD) for the small amounts you would be looking for. A bank here does sort of the reverse in that you get a loan where the payments get posted to a savings account so at the end of six months to two years you have a brand new installment loan reporting along with a savings account full of money, sort of a forced savings plan. You might check with a small local bank or credit union as the rates and fee will be lower. Good luck.

Re: 1099-C issues and charge off,Please help!!

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:04:54 GMT

CC40 makes a good point, if the 1099 C is dated for January of 2011 you should have included on the tax return you filed this year. The insolvency rules may help you if you ca demonstrate that. If you didn't include it on your return you can be proactive since it just would have been filed a few months ago, go to a local IRS office and get a 1040 for to file amended return, then correct the mistake and refile. The people there can assist you in getting the forms and instructions to complete an amended return.

Did you settle the debt for less than the full amount? My ex wife did that on a lot of her accounts thinking she would be free and save some money until she got a big tax bill. Uncle Sam will come knocking, collections on unpaid taxes are being escalated to help the federal budget. Best of luck.

Re: can anything be done about charge off reporting by OC?

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:56:53 GMT

Dave offers some great advice, with the bankruptcy on your report and high utilization the new charge offs suggest you didn't learn your lesson with credit the first time around to potential creditors. I got some extra check book registers from my bank and made one for each of my cards, I keep it in an envelop along with the receipts for the months purchases to reconcile when the bill comes in. On the front I write the due date, payment address, closing date and online log in information so I always have it handy. Try the goodwill letters it might work, try to get your utilization down to 10% or less and then wait for the baddies to fall off. Your score will start to improve. Best of luck. And get that record keeping system started you will be glad you did.

Re: WHAT SHOULD I DO???

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:50:20 GMT

There is a thread on here, believe its over in student loans that Nelnet and other student loan lenders are not goodwill friendly, especially when the account was in truth paid late. Your posts says your utilization is 25% which I understand you only have two cards with small limits but that is a high percentage, under ten is the best. You should check out a tread by SoulMaster , how to get a 700 fica in under 24 moths its got some good advice on cleaning up baddies and how o build good scores quickly. I tried some of his suggestions and was approved for 4 out of 5 accounts I applied for in my little spree 18 months post bankruptcy. YMMV but its worth a look. Best of luck, keep us posted.

Re: Capitol One - Excellent Credit?

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:35:42 GMT

Congrats on your bankruptcy falling off!!!! That's great news only 8 years and 6 years to go for me. I hate how these places never give you a straight answer, its like they intentionally want you to apply so they can reject you while hitting your report with an inquiry. I filed on my cap one card and just got approved for a new one so you should be good to go in a few months if you choose to wait. Good luck and keep us posted, always good to hear a success story.

Re: Non-traditional student loan - Is it dischareable?

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:31:42 GMT

This one is interesting the article states student may use the money to cover tuition, books supplies and purchase a computer plus living expenses similar to a traditional student loan. I have never heard of this particular company nor Microsoft being in the private student loan market. They are undoubtedly going to argue its a student loan and therefore not discharged by your bankruptcy. Do you have schedule F from your bankruptcy listing them as an unsecured creditor? I'd suggest sending a copy of that schedule showing the loan as included along with the bankruptcy discharge to Experian, Equifax and Transunion by certified mail to dispute the debt and attempt to collect as being in violation of the bankruptcy discharge. Or you could contact your attorney and have him send the creditor a letter stating it was discharged and to remove it before he files a motion to charge them with attempting to collect a discharged debt.

I know you want to get this off your report and avoid waking the sleeping giant. You could send a copy of the discharge to the court that ordered the summary judgment post bankruptcy to dispute the judgment asking it be set aside. Good luck to you, student loans are terrible to deal with, I wish I had never taken mine out.

Kohl's Wont Recon

polarbeardad — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:01:13 GMT

Good Evening everyone,

Been a year since my bankruptcy was doing well with few starter cards so decided to try a little app spree for July before heading into the garden. With four kids thought it would be nice to get a new kohl's account, claimed them in chapter 7. Figured since they changed from Chase to Cap One for underwriting might stand a chance. (Side note once chase took over from the store as account owner my old delinquent account doesn't even show up anymore on CR, YEAH!!!) Anyway got the old 7-10 day message at the store. Got the letter today, at a post office box I maintain not my street address I might add. Kinda pissed as all the reasons except bankruptcy on the letter made no sense, i.e. no installment accounts Have two large student loans paid on time, never late never defaulted. Available credit too low, I have less than 7% utilization. So I called for a recon and to find out the "true" reason for denial.

Was told Kohl's do not recon, so strike that idea. Was passed to a nice supervisor that tried to shed light on the strange letter to little avail. Asked if there was a CRA listed I said yes, she said might contact them, read the letter to her where it states the agency below played no part in denial and cannot offer any information. Stumped, her. Told me they rely in information in the reports when you apply so couldn't tell me a good time to wait before retrying. Bummed I didn't get it for the discounts but can still use my Cap one MC...LOL

Re: Capitol One - Excellent Credit?

polarbeardad — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 01:14:33 GMT

I think after the ten years and it has fallen off the report you qualify for the excellent credit rating, you paid your dues so to speak. Its a question of semantics, Since my marriage was annulled I have no problem saying never be married or single when asked. Done your ten years . Just my thoughts. Ask yourself what you feel comfortable with. Or for a straight up honest opinion email or tweet Suzy Orman, she'll tell it straight up. :smileywink:

Does GERMB Blacklist

polarbeardad — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:26:54 GMT

Does anyone know or does anyone have any experience with GE and if it blacklists after you include accounts with them in bankruptcy? I know Amex blacklists with a long memory. If GE blacklists any idea on how long until you can get approved again?

Re: The long road back

polarbeardad — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:22:06 GMT

In regards to Capital One, if they are one of the accounts that was charged off make sure you are outside of the statute of limitations for the state where you live. Otherwise you could reawaken a sleeping lion and cause new problems.

Re: Macy's Amex and New Cards WITHOUT AMEX!!

polarbeardad — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 22:17:29 GMT

Macys is very funny about the extra credit line with the Amex/Visa logo, My store account account had a limit of 25K but only 2K on the VISA, only thing I could ever figure was the store card they can control better if you try to exceed the limit since it was only good in-house. Were as the VISA/Amex could be used anywhere without as much control. They will give generous credit lines for use on the store cards. The only bad part is the number of times they list on your credit report, the store, visa/amex, furniture accounts are all listed separately so it looks like a lot of trade lines but only one account.

Re: Macy's Amex and New Cards WITHOUT AMEX!!

polarbeardad — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 02:34:24 GMT

Macy's pulls an updated CR on renewal of cards with the Amex/Visa logo. If your score is low they will replace with a standard Macy's store card without the added features of Amex/Visa. And they won't budge no matter how much you spent in the store last year. Just my experience.

Wal Mart Card post bankruptcy

polarbeardad — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:40:10 GMT

Hello all, I seem to recall reading several posts from people mentioning Wal Mart was prior bankruptcy friendly. I filed in 2011 and included a walmart account. I recently got back in with WFNNB and figured I would give GE a shot through walmart. Be nice to have as an emergency backup card since they sell practically everything. Applied online and was denied, letter states pulled TU and bankruptcy reason for denial.

Does GE blacklist? How long does GE make you set out before approving you for new accounts with them? Since GE now issue so many store cards I'd like to start rebuilding that relationship,

Thanks for any advice.