Credit Cards

[HouseHunter]

My credit was right on track and doing great.  Just got approved by Amex a few days ago and then two days after that - KABOOM - a collection now reporting.  It's my own fault.  It was a club that I joined.  Paid for the products I received but didn't fulfill my obligation to purchase X number of products within the specified time frame.  That was about 3-4 years ago and, quite honestly, I forgot all about it.  I've never received any correspondence from the OC or the CA.  They want to collect on an amount that I'm assuming they thought I should have spent under the club rules.

Anyhoo, I found a fax number for the CA on another forum and faxed a PFD letter (one Tuscani posted long ago).  I asked that they send the terms of the agreement back on their letterhead via fax to expedite the process and payment.

My question is...should I be concerned about this new collection and the new Amex CC?  I've read many times about AA's with Amex.  Should I dispute this account with the CRA in case Amex does another check of my report?  Should I put a statement on that CR until it's cleared up?  I don't know what to do.  I'm mortified because I really don't want to lose this card before I even physically get it because of a stupid oversight on my part.  Any guidance, comments, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[FretlessMayhem]

Well, there is the slight chance that the collection doesn't report on EX, which Amex seems to pull exclusively.

You could try calling and explaining, but you might awaken the sleeping giant. For instance, they didn't end up softing me for AR until 2 months after having the card. If that time frame holds true for you (it might or might not), you might have PFD'ed by then.

[smallfry]

Never put a statement on your reports.

[HouseHunter]

Well, as my luck would have it, EX is the ONLY CRA that this CA is reporting to.  They didn't fax me anything today but that payment will go out in the mail the day I get that agreement letter back from them.  I did a little research on the CA and it appears that they are okay with PFD's.  Hopefully, I'll be okay.  I'm not even going to activate the card until the PFD goes through and my EX CR is clear.

[fender]

curious, why never put a statment on your reports?

[CreditMizer]

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fender wrote:

curious, why never put a statment on your reports?

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My understanding is this. Most reviews of CR are done by computer which can't "read"/understand your statement so it ends up flagging it for manual review.

So lets say you apply for CC, or ask for CLI, or AMEX just does a soft pull. Everything looks good and you are about to get approved until BLAM. Flag goes up statement on report. Automatic Aproval stops and gets processed manually. You could end up getting rejected once a human looks at the report even on something the computer was going to ignore.

Virtually never does a statement help. Since anyone can put anything into a statement with absolutely no proof or verification they have almost no weight.

So likely the manual reviewer isn't going to be swayed by it. All it does is prevent an automatic approval and possibly alert the creditor to a reason NOT to approve you. Statement is a feel good thing added because consumers felt they should have their side heard. It doesn't really do anything beneficial (like most feel good measures).

Never put statement on you file and you a recon if you denied and have some unusual situation.

[fender]

Thanks for the heads up, i was considering putting a statement in my report, but didnt think it would do any good.  I didnt consider it actually doing bad!

[Timothy]

I would not stress it too baddly on this-

If you use your new card- BE SURE TO PIF - this will keep AMEX at bay long enough to get the CA corrected.

I had 2 CA's pop up a few months ago- Amex was softing me on a regular basis-  CA's were gone in 3 weeks - no AA from any creditor. 

[smallfry]

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HouseHunter wrote:

Well, as my luck would have it, EX is the ONLY CRA that this CA is reporting to. They didn't fax me anything today but that payment will go out in the mail the day I get that agreement letter back from them. I did a little research on the CA and it appears that they are okay with PFD's. Hopefully, I'll be okay. I'm not even going to activate the card until the PFD goes through and my EX CR is clear.

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Activating the card won't matter. The card issuer is going to report on their own timetable anyway.