Removing Derogs

[Anonymous]

I disputed all the accounts that were negative on my reports.The 7 newest accounts were deleted. The remaining 6 accounts have SOL dates of March through July of this year. These 6 accounts total over $9000 with more than half of that being one debt owed to a property company which is the last to fall off in July. The rest are medical bills which I attempted to get removed with the HIPAA(HIPPA?) letters. They won't remove them because on the paperwork I signed at the hospital it specifically states they can give information for purposes of collecting debt.

I had a brief conversation over the phone telling them I was going to file for bankruptcy if they were not able to recall from the CA and accept a payment because there was no way I would be able to make enough to pay it back as the interest is too high. They didn't bite and said it had been at the CA for almost 6 years so they couldn't do anything about it (Liars!). Anyhow, I am not sure what to do at this point. 

I recently opened a $300 secured card through US Bank. It reported to EQ the other day. Not sure what it did to my EQ score as my score is down 43 points to 557 from the disputes recently. I got a denial for a credit card in the mail the other day which stated my score was 607. I don't remember which agency that was though. TU is significantly higher than the EX and EQ scores.

I have two old student loans that are being paid off as agreed with no lates the past 9 months since I started paying them and getting my credit in order. These two loans show up three times each as they were transferred twice. One shows closed/transferred and the other shows $0 balance and pays as agreed so I probably shouldn't touch it since it is a "Positive account" and my oldest at 6 years old this month.

No tax liens, judgements, etc. Just bad debt that is in collections and student loans that are in good standing now. I am receiving another $3K in student loans this Friday so they should report as new loans soon.

What should I do? Any tips, tricks or opinions!? That would be fantastic! 

[RobertEG]

If the OC still owns the debt, I dont see how termination of the collection authority assigned to the debt collector will remove the obligation to pay interest that has accrued on the debt.  The interest, while payable through the debt collector, is legally due to the creditor, and the debt collector is only thier agent.

Is the reason for requesting termination of the assignment to the debt collector related only to getting the collection deleted from your credit report?

Notifyingthe creditor that you want termination of the collection because of the interest accrued seems to be a disconnect.....?

[Anonymous]

Hi dfeldt91,

The rest are medical bills which I attempted to get removed with the HIPAA(HIPPA?) letters. They won't remove them because on the paperwork I signed at the hospital it specifically states they can give information for purposes of collecting debt.

I am assuming that the accounts you mentioned above are collection accounts? If so what collections agency are they with since they are medical related? I ask because there is a good chance you can settle the account for 35%+ of the collection balances and get a promise to delete letter. This just depends on the collection agency and there guidelines and situations.

[Anonymous]

Apologies for my poor communication. 

I spoke with the OC and asked them to recall the debt and settle for less. I then added that if they were not able to do so that I would be forced to file bankruptcy to avoid the interest that was piling up to quickly, therefore the debt would never be paid down and would just continue to grow. 

[Anonymous]

Hi Robert!

GREAT points! Also I would like to add to your point that if he has already done this or going to this is too risky. When you dispute in such a way you could forfeit your options to negotiate the debit after your road runs out. As long as you have not called and have made or previously made any commitments there is good leverage to negotiate depending on the collection agency.

[Anonymous]

I would strongly suggest how you throw the word BK up to creditors and collection agencies. They are less prone to work with you and will make it difficult to negotiate. Many people out there are willing to help in many ways as long as you are showing you take responsibility and take an action and stick with your commitment. I know you dont want to hear this but this can go a long way.

[gdale6]

Welcome to myFico OP

I just want to let you know that discussion of the HIPAA Process is taboo on this board. If you need help with it I would suggest you contact its creator.

[Anonymous]

Man, I feel you. I think a lot of us can relate in being so excited/anxious/frustrated about building our score. In my opinion, it is best to handle the collections that are with in state collection limitations 1st and then work on adding or growing positive credit. I say that because if you have debt you are trying to settle for less, sometimes CAs will do a soft credit pull to see if you are seeking out other credit. If they see you have new lines of credit or a bunch of inquiries they may be less likely to settle for less.

*Something to think about*
collection agents are in sales and get paid off of commission. Don't be a butt when you call and try calling to negotiate at the end of the month.

My wife did this for me and it worked out well. She called PRA that had bought a cc charge off in November 2014 with a balance of $697. PRA will not do pay for deletion but the did settle for $350. My wife called in multiple times over 2 months until she got a number we could pay in full. My judgment was with LVN funding and with interest it was $4500 but they settled for right under $2000. LVNV funding actually told my wife they were going to pull my credit and email her a response the next day about accepting our settlement offer. After we received a letter from LVNV funding stating our debt had been settled my wife actually called thanked the guy she had worked with (I don't recommend going that far) and he was the one that told her to call collection agencies at the end of the month. He said they have quotas to meet and collection agents will be more willing to accept less.