Newbie trying to fix a wreck!

[Anonymous]

Hello all!

I've been lurking in these forums for months and finally decided to post!  Everyone seems so helpful, I thought I'd take a shot at getting some grade A advice from the experts here.  So here is my situation:

Basically my only good active accounts are student loans, one auto loan, and 2 credit cards that I'm listed as an AU.  Counting the closed accounts, which consist of a few other auto loans, some paid off student loans, and a few credit cards I paid and closed years ago, I have 16 accounts with no lates.  Now for the bad news....

After getting a few account that weren't mine removed, I still have *cringe* 13 negative accounts.

• 1st Financial Bank CO - $1200 2009
• Capital One CO - $515 2004, Purchased by another lender
• Credit First/Firestone CO - $483 2009
• 2 HSBC CO's - Balance not given, 2009, Purchased by another lender
• Oregon Credit Collections - 2008, Paid
• 4 Professional Credit Service Collections - $838/$1,298/$1,409/$982, 2009 (Medical bills from a hospital stay)
• Receivables Performance Collections- $397, 2011 (This was through Sprint who said NOT to pay the balance if I didn't want the phone, but to wait for the collection notice and then pay, after they assured me it wouldn't affect my credit.  *sigh*)
• RJM ACQ Collections- $33, 2006
• UMB QuikTrip CO - $424, 2005

So there you have it.  The 2 HSBC's and the Cap1 don't have any balance, so I think I'm just stuck with them?  The RJM account was for a DVD I guess I never paid for, I didn't find out about it until I checked my report.  It's a small balance and pretty old, but I was thinking of trying to send a PFD since I'm going to pay it anyway.  Next on the list are Receivables Performance and Credit First.  I have the money to pay all 3 in full and I'm planning to do so regardless if they delete or not, but that's the route I'm trying first.  Am I headed in the right direction?  Any advice?

[Booner72]

Hi and congrats on your work so far.

You need to send DV letters to each and then PFD if you agree. 

Good Luck!

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

What Steps Do I Take - great for learning the repair process.

and Example letters - PFDs, GWs, DVs, etc.

You'd send DV letters to the CAs only which would be the medical collections and RJM. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD. RJM is very open to PFDs and it should be easy to get them off.

Oregon Credit Collections is paid. You can't send them a DV. Send a GW letter asking for deletion instead.

The rest are charge-offs and you can't send a DV letter to an OC. If reporting a balance, send a PFD letter. If showing as paid, which would be indicative of them selling it if you didn't pay, then all you can do is send a GW asking them to either delete or remove the baddie references (e.g. the lates, CO mention, etc.).

As always, keep your state's SOL in mind. If inside SOL, make sure you have 100% saved to the side before sending or doing anything with any given baddie. You wouldn't want to send a DV, for example, and have them sue without having the ability to pay it off.

[RobertEG]

Welcome, Captain!

The first thing I recommend on any charge-off or collection is to know the DOFD on the OC account.  That date clearly establishes the mandatory CR exclusion date at 7 years plus 180 days thereafter, and in most cases, also establishes the date of running of the SOL on the debt.  Then, your state SOL period for the type of debt.  With those two items known, you know when the CO/CA will die of its own old age, and how long you might still be in peril of legal action.

Since none of the debts are substantial, I would venture a guess that legal action is not a real peril.  So PFD offers dont run much risk.

Send PFD offers for those unpaid that are outside of SOL, as the creditor/debt collector has lost the ability to recover in court.  Best chance for success is to offer the full amount, and not a settlement for less.  To do a PFD, you will have to know whether the OC still owns the debt.  If they dont, a PFD would only be appropriate if sent to the debt collector, if there is one.  Then you would have to send GWs to the OC after paying the debt.

[Anonymous]

I knew I could count on you guys!  Thank you all for the quick responses.  I didn't even realize I could send GW letter for a closed account, but I'll definitely give it a shot! 

I only have enough spare cash to pay off the 3 accounts I mentioned, and I'm in OR, so the SOL is 6 years.  My girlfriend recently was sued over a $900 medical bill (from the same hospital my bills are from-yikes!), so I'm trying to make sure I have the money in the bank before I go poking at the beast for all these accounts.  The ones I picked were the most recent (except for the tiny RJM, crossing my fingers on the PFD!) and fit into my current budget.

For the medical bills, they total about $4500, so I know I can't pay them all at once.  I was thinking I would try to call and set up a payment plan, will this adversely affect anything?  Also, I know you can usually get medical bills reduced before they go to collections, does it work the same way for medical collections?