Best way to deal with ex-wife's med bills

[valley_man0505]

I have some good updates for everyone on this.  Shortly after my last post, which was a few months ago now, I found out about some extra money I would be getting from work which would have been almost enought to PIF all the accounts.  I called them back and asked if they would be willing to delete if I had everything paid by the end of November, which was only 2 months (a LOT sooner than if I completed the payment plan).  They actually agreed since they actually did feel bad for me and my situation since these were actually my ex-wife's bills.  I went there right at the end of November and handed them my check in person and the manager hand-wrote an entire note saying they would delete all accounts upon clearance of my check.  Well, as of yesterday, all 15 accounts were deleted from TU!!!  I am still waiting on EQ to update, but there were only 5 of them there to start with.  None of them ever reported to EX.

I only gained a couple FAKO points, which wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped, but I think that is primarily due to a recent judgment (which should also be deleted soon since it has been dismissed).  

[Anonymous]

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@valley_man0505 wrote:

I have some good updates for everyone on this.  Shortly after my last post, which was a few months ago now, I found out about some extra money I would be getting from work which would have been almost enought to PIF all the accounts.  I called them back and asked if they would be willing to delete if I had everything paid by the end of November, which was only 2 months (a LOT sooner than if I completed the payment plan).  They actually agreed since they actually did feel bad for me and my situation since these were actually my ex-wife's bills.  I went there right at the end of November and handed them my check in person and the manager hand-wrote an entire note saying they would delete all accounts upon clearance of my check.  Well, as of yesterday, all 15 accounts were deleted from TU!!!  I am still waiting on EQ to update, but there were only 5 of them there to start with.  None of them ever reported to EX.

I only gained a couple FAKO points, which wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped, but I think that is primarily due to a recent judgment (which should also be deleted soon since it has been dismissed).  

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Congrats, Valley!! Or as my DD would say "Wah-00t, Dooood!!"

I dunno, though ... your FAKOs aren't exactly the real deal, you know? DH's FICO scores went up nearly 200 points from when we first started -- but did his FAKOs change? Yeah ... by like 2 points.

So, I'd not put much stock in FAKOs. Unless you like being pranked. So I'd run over and pull your FICOs and see the real deal. I'll bet, that with 15 collections deleted, you'll see more than just a couple of points!!

Keep us posted!!

[valley_man0505]

Wonderin--I know, I never put too much faith in the FAKO's.  I am going to wait until my dismissed judgment disappears before pulling my real scores again.  Since that is so recent, I might have a pretty low ceiling on my scores until that is gone.  I have also seen people in the Understanding FICO Scoring" forums say that Fico is not concerned with how many collections you have and that the only factor in your score is how recent your most recent collection is.  That doesn't seem possible, but many people over there chimed in to say it is true when I posted that question a month or two ago.  If that is the case, the piddly little $200 collection from Pinnacle that just popped up a few months ago for a $200 debt from 5 years ago that I know I paid could be killing me.

[Junejer]

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valley_man0505 wrote:
Wonderin--I know, I never put too much faith in the FAKO's.  I am going to wait until my dismissed judgment disappears before pulling my real scores again.  Since that is so recent, I might have a pretty low ceiling on my scores until that is gone.  I have also seen people in the Understanding FICO Scoring" forums say that Fico is not concerned with how many collections you have and that the only factor in your score is how recent your most recent collection is.  That doesn't seem possible, but many people over there chimed in to say it is true when I posted that question a month or two ago.  If that is the case, the piddly little $200 collection from Pinnacle that just popped up a few months ago for a $200 debt from 5 years ago that I know I paid could be killing me.

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Murdering you, in fact. Only the most recent collection is scored, unfortunately.  Congrats on the deletions.

[valley_man0505]

ByrdMan--When you say "most recent" collection, is that related to when the debt actually occured or is it when the account was first opened (purchased) by the CA?  The Pinnacle collection was the most recent collection added to my reports and shows an account open date of 7/2008, but the debt that they allegedely purchased is from a utility bill that they claim I didn't pay almost 6 years ago.  When this account was first added, my score was actually at 682 and dropped to 680 with the addition of this Pinnacle collection.  About a month later, the med bills were added, and my score dropped 74 points.  This was all based on my EQ scores from SW.  Later, when I first disputed the Pinnacle account, I gained the 2 points back that I lost when it was added.  EQ was the only one that deleted.

Message Edited by valley_man0505 on 01-08-2009 02:03 PM

[Junejer]

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valley_man0505 wrote:
ByrdMan--When you say "most recent" collection, is that related to when the debt actually occured or is it when the account was first opened (purchased) by the CA?  The Pinnacle collection was the most recent collection added to my reports and shows an account open date of 7/2008, but the debt that they allegedely purchased is from a utility bill that they claim I didn't pay almost 6 years ago.  When this account was first added, my score was actually at 682 and dropped to 680 with the addition of this Pinnacle collection.  About a month later, the med bills were added, and my score dropped 74 points.  This was all based on my EQ scores from SW.  Later, when I first disputed the Pinnacle account, I gained the 2 points back that I lost when it was added.  EQ was the only one that deleted.

Message Edited by valley_man0505 on 01-08-2009 02:03 PM

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That's what I mean.  DOFD governs when it will fall off of your account, so the CA can't report for 7 years, if the DOFD is about 6 yrs old.

[valley_man0505]

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@Junejer wrote:

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@valley_man0505 wrote:
ByrdMan--When you say "most recent" collection, is that related to when the debt actually occured or is it when the account was first opened (purchased) by the CA?  The Pinnacle collection was the most recent collection added to my reports and shows an account open date of 7/2008, but the debt that they allegedely purchased is from a utility bill that they claim I didn't pay almost 6 years ago.  When this account was first added, my score was actually at 682 and dropped to 680 with the addition of this Pinnacle collection.  About a month later, the med bills were added, and my score dropped 74 points.  This was all based on my EQ scores from SW.  Later, when I first disputed the Pinnacle account, I gained the 2 points back that I lost when it was added.  EQ was the only one that deleted.

Message Edited by valley_man0505 on 01-08-2009 02:03 PM

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That's what I mean.  DOFD governs when it will fall off of your account, so the CA can't report for 7 years, if the DOFD is about 6 yrs old.

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I understand that DOFD goversn CRTP and that the CA has to follow the DOFD when it comes to reporting, but what determines how heavily the collection is weighed into the FICO score?  Does the "open date" make the collection look new in the FICO formula, or is it the DOFD that matters in the scoring.  If it is DOFD or DOLA, this would be one of my oldest collections.  However, if it is the date the CA opened/bought the collection or the date the CA was first added to my report, then it is one of my newest. 

[Junejer]

Sorry valleyman. The report date determines how badly you are getting hit.

[valley_man0505]

ByrdMan--based on what just happened on my report, I don't think that is the case.  There were 5 medical collections on my EQ report.  All 5 of them had the same report date and were all opened with the same CA on the same date.  If only the most recent collection is scored and if that is determined by the report date, then I would not have seen a score change when 4 out of the 5 were deleted since the one that remained had the same dates as the ones that were deleted.  However, my score increased by 50 points when those 4 were deleted.  On the other hand, the one account that remained was the "oldest" account in terms of when the actual medical service occured.

[Anonymous]

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@valley_man0505 wrote:

ByrdMan--based on what just happened on my report, I don't think that is the case.  There were 5 medical collections on my EQ report.  All 5 of them had the same report date and were all opened with the same CA on the same date.  If only the most recent collection is scored and if that is determined by the report date, then I would not have seen a score change when 4 out of the 5 were deleted since the one that remained had the same dates as the ones that were deleted.  However, my score increased by 50 points when those 4 were deleted.  On the other hand, the one account that remained was the "oldest" account in terms of when the actual medical service occured.

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Are you saying that you've checked your scores since the most recent deletion? Or is this what happened in the past?

I think (and I could be wrong) a saving grace for us all will be when FICO '08 debuts, since it'll weigh more heavily your current usage of credit (unless I AM wrong -- if so, someone, please holler!) and not pay as much attention to collections.

So, I think that if you have current good tradelines with low utilization, once FICO '08 rolls out, you'll be in even better shape. 

Off the actual topic of scores NOW, but I thought it might be worth mentioning -- anywho, that's what first came to mind.