Hi all,
I'm in the process of purchasing a house from a friend. We've spent the last month and a half working the details of this transaction and the timeline for him to build his new house.
We're going to sign contract today and I'm hopefully submitting my mortgage application tomorrow.
Out of the blue on saturday I started receiving ROBO calls that hang up when I pick up. I googled the number and of course its a debt collector.
At this point, they have called twice and hung up on me. I'm quite nervous. I can't think of any debts I have outstanding but I know even if they throw garbage at my credit report it can put this deal in jeopardy.
I don't know if I should hold off any contact with them at this point or if I should blitz and call them with credit card in hand.
Any advice is appreciated on how I should handle this situation.
Thank you,
Starting Score: 565
I already have my report... it's fine there are no collections.
The problem is a potential collection being placed during the underwriting process...
When you have your credit pulled by a mortgage lender or mortgage broker the inq shows on your report.
Collection companies are notorius for buying lists meeting specific criteria. A very popular list is one that has a new mortgage inq. The CA will then match the SS and/or address and/or name with their database of outstanding accounts and if there is a match, they will start collection procedures. They do this because it results in paid accounts -EVEN IF YOU DO NOT OWE THE DEBT. 
They know that you will do anything to not mess up the mortgage application so they persue these debts.
If it is small consider PFD (pay for delete) - especially if it isn't on your report yet. You may not want to do a PFD - you may just want to ignore it if you are in the u/w process now. Talk with your LO to see what they suggest or go over to the Rebuilding Your Credit forum here to see the suggestions.
Also, sometimes creditors send written correspondence to old mailing addresses. In this case, if it is coming "out of the blue" it's likely related to your mortgage app so they'll have your updated address thanks to the nifty report on you they purchased from the CRAs. 
This happened to me on a 5 year-old AT&T bogus debt. I moved 3 years ago and suddenl--(within a month after applying for a mortgage--the creditor who bought the debt started sending me mail at my new address.
Anyway, you should brush up on your PFD and GW skills immediately. Because I didn't know that I should opt-out, I had 3 creditors come forward after applying for a mortgage. Fortunately, I had enough time to PFD and GW them and I turned this into a freakin science. You should, too—do not let past mistakes and failure to monitor your credit report prevent you from buying a home. In your case, since you don't have written correspondence, maybe research debt validation as you might be able to call them and find out what's going on without acknowledging or disputing the debt. But be careful: you could end up re-setting the DOL (date of last activity).
Also: pay for credit report monitoring AND mortgage scores on myfico.com. Immediately. I did the following:
1) created a spreadsheet with my 3 mortgage scores when one lender first pulled them,
2) PFD/GWd a number of items, making sure I had no lates/derogs within the last 2 years
3) paid for my mortgage scores on myfico and logged them next to the scores originally pulled (they were much higher 30 days later thanks to PFDs and GWs),
4) paid for fresh mortgage scores just before my lender re-pulled my credit; I entered the latest myfico mortgage scores in the 3rd column (so I could see if I was near the score he recommended). Not surprisingly, when he pulled them, my lenders scores were identical to my mortgage scores here.
Anyway, you have to be systematic and fiercely resourceful if you are to buy a home after having credit problems and/or being negligent about monitoring your credit. This is a near-Darwinian process: vague inquiries or fear without targeted action will land your app in the Reject pile. Your situation is odd since you have no written correspondence but I believe there are FCRA rules about that that others can better speak to.
@Anonymous wrote:Also, sometimes creditors send written correspondence to old mailing addresses. In this case, if it is coming "out of the blue" it's likely related to your mortgage app so they'll have your updated address thanks to the nifty report on you they purchased from the CRAs.
This happened to me on a 5 year-old AT&T bogus debt. I moved 3 years ago and suddenl--(within a month after applying for a mortgage--the creditor who bought the debt started sending me mail at my new address.
Anyway, you should brush up on your PFD and GW skills immediately. Because I didn't know that I should opt-out, I had 3 creditors come forward after applying for a mortgage. Fortunately, I had enough time to PFD and GW them and I turned this into a freakin science. You should, too—do not let past mistakes and failure to monitor your credit report prevent you from buying a home. In your case, since you don't have written correspondence, maybe research debt validation as you might be able to call them and find out what's going on without acknowledging or disputing the debt. But be careful: you could end up re-setting the DOL (date of last activity).
Also: pay for credit report monitoring AND mortgage scores on myfico.com. Immediately. I did the following:
1) created a spreadsheet with my 3 mortgage scores when one lender first pulled them,
2) PFD/GWd a number of items, making sure I had no lates/derogs within the last 2 years
3) paid for my mortgage scores on myfico and logged them next to the scores originally pulled (they were much higher 30 days later thanks to PFDs and GWs),
4) paid for fresh mortgage scores just before my lender re-pulled my credit; I entered the latest myfico mortgage scores in the 3rd column (so I could see if I was near the score he recommended). Not surprisingly, when he pulled them, my lenders scores were identical to my mortgage scores here.
Anyway, you have to be systematic and fiercely resourceful if you are to buy a home after having credit problems and/or being negligent about monitoring your credit. This is a near-Darwinian process: vague inquiries or fear without targeted action will land your app in the Reject pile. Your situation is odd since you have no written correspondence but I believe there are FCRA rules about that that others can better speak to.
Hi All, and thanks for the great and timely (for me) info velvetymoss.
A creditor for Comcast called me minutes ago about an old debt for $214 from 12/2011 that they bought in 2014 and have been reporting to the CRA since. It ws odd to get that call for two reasons, 1) I mailed a PFD to them (4/13), only two days ago and 2), she just wanted to verify a past address and amount. I admit I was not quick on my feet and verified the address 
Then I asked if this was about a letter they received. When she said no, I told her I sent a letter offering to PIF because I "just want you to get this thing off my credit report". She said they don't do PFD. I said I will wait for the response by mail and we parted ways. I was thinking, what and odd coincidence...
(face palm) It all makes sense now - I applied for a mortgage loan in February. Needless to say I was not approved but Oh Man, what a train wreck! I won't hijack OP's thread with everything I did wrong out of ignorance. Thank heavens the pre-myFico Community days are behind me!! I will go right now to the website and opt-out - see I learn something actionable every time 
I have learned so many other worthwhile and useful things since I've been here these past five days. Thanks to all of you who share your experience and information so selflessly. It is much appreciated 
@Anonymous wrote:EXACTLY.
I cannot believe loan officers and others do not instruct potential clients to immediately opt-out before pulling their credit. Creditors come out of the woodwork like roaches ready to feed and while it DOES have the effect of forcing you to take care of old items, there are sometimes erroneous derogs and you are stuck taking care of them in a very short period of time and under duress.
If you apply for a mortgage, opt the hell out. NOW!
...just to clarify, if you intend to apply for a mortgage, you should opt-out at least 30 days before the lender pull ...it can take that long for the CRAs to update your records even though they are supposed to be faster ...be safe, be early ...hth
