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First post here - fantastic forum!
After being really dumb for a really long time, I finally stopped hiding from my creditors and started paying them. Only problem is that every account was closed, charged off, and placed with a CA. (all are about 5-6 yrs old)
I didn't have the foresight to PFD, and I felt a moral obligation to pay the debts, so I've settled all the accounts. I did find some duplicate collections, which I've had removed, but now I'm wondering if there's anything I can do, in the form of a dispute, to request the deletion of these charge offs and "paid as agreed" or "paid in full" collections.
To the best of my knowledge - they are largely accurate and still within the SOL. That said, I'm still hoping there may be a validation request that I can attempt, or another strategy to have these entries deleted.
One exception is an old Sprint account, which I requested to have closed, only to find out 3 months later that they were still billing me - but alas, I settled with the CA on that as well for a relatively small amount in the hopes of moving forward. I have no proof of the request to close the account as that was originally made via phone, but I wonder if that one may be the low hanging fruit here.
I only have 5 accounts reporting now - but all are derogatory - so every removal helps.
In the meantime, I've started opening secured cards and secured loans with automated payments, which I believe will get me on the right track - but I welcome any 'moving forward' advice as well.
Cheers ~
Hi there, sounds like me all over. I started my credit clean-up in January by just lurking this board. These people have helped me tremendously, and if i could, i would send them all fruit baskets!! :-)
Anywhooo, I did the same thing you did, paid all my accounts without taking any of the recommended steps on this board, so I had to basically go backwards. I can sound real convincing on the phone, must be, because I had seperate Sprint and Nextel collections, paid them both on settlement, called them up and viola, they removed them, no problem (and for them to be merged, they still do business seperately!) I also had collections with HSBC, Capital One and ICSystems, paid them all, got them all to delete the accounts. Same for two med collections. So if just calling them isn't effective for you, then send some GW (goodwill) letters. You'll find examples all over this place, just search for them. Good luck to you, it'll take some work on your part, but if i can do it, i know anyone can.
Read this:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=rebuildingcredit&thread.id=28996
And do a forum search for GW letters. (good will)
I did my credit fix bass-ackwards too. You're not alone!