topic Re: I need help.... in Rebuilding Your Credit

I need help....

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:15:33 GMT

Hello all! I am new to this, and soooo glad that I found it. My credit was worse than I thought!! My Equifax is 469, TU ? Ex?. I need help!! There are a lot of late payments, a few charge off's and a few collections that seem to be doubled. Where do I start? I am so lost! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! I see some many great stories here & I would love to be one of them.

Thanks

Re: I need help....

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:36:06 GMT

I just found out my other scores TU 481 and EX 511. UGH! There are things reported on one report but not the other. Where do I start?

Re: I need help....

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:42:27 GMT

Dispute the duplicate tradelines....send a GW letter for the late payments...pay the COs if possible...and try to get the negative notations removed...DV the collections...if they validate...send a PFD letter...

Things to keep in mind are....SOL....and...DOFD...

Re: I need help....

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:02:48 GMT

Hi again.. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I'm still not sure what to do.. With the CO should I DV them first or try to PFD? If I post my reports, would that help?

Thanks

Re: I need help....

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:30:26 GMT

When you say duplicate accounts, do you mean accounts reported by more than one CA or accounts reported by an OC and a CA? The OC and one CA can report the same account, that is not a duplicate account.

I would not start by disputing anything, IMO save disputing as a last resort.

You need to know the most important information first, the DOFD for each account, the DOLA(usually date of last payment), and your state's SOL.

If you haven't already, I would get your free annual reports, as these reports come directly from the CRA and provide much more information that reports you'll get elsewhere, like on myFICO or TrueCredit.

Check out the links in my signature, very helpful information there.

For medical debts, you want to follow the HIPAA process. You can read about that by click on the link titled "medical collections" below.

For any account with a CA, you always want to DV before PFD'ing.....but you never want to DV before knowing the above information.

For questions on specific accounts list back the specifics of the account

1) Original Creditor

2)Who is reporting-- the OC or a CA

3) Name of CA

4) Is the OC reporting a balance

5) DOFD

6) DOLA

7) SOL for your state

8) Can you PIF

If you provide those 8 things for specific accounts in question, we can advise you better on how to proceed.

Re: I need help....

RobertEG — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:19:17 GMT

LadyOne, you cannot DV a CO, A charge off is made by the OC as a tax benefit to them. A DV only applies, under the FDCPA, to third-party collection agents, and not to an OC.

Try to prevent the accounts from going into collection, for then you will have a CA on top of the CO.

The first question is, do you agree that the debt is legitimate, or do you dispute it?

If legit, try for a PFD offer to the OC. That is the first step. Pay for delete will not only pay up on the account, but get it off of your CR.

As for the collections, did they send you a dunning letter? That is the first step in the collection process. If they did send a timely dunning letter, and you did not respond within 30-days, their collection activities can continue. But you can still offer PFD to them.

Then, make sure you know the real DOFD on the account. That governs how long it will remain in your CR, and is also the initial date for running of the SOL on collection of the debt. However, in some states, offers to pay of later payments by you can reset this SOL. So you have to know your state law.

You have both credit reporting and lawsuit considerations, both of which are very different.

Re: I need help....

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:11:26 GMT

RobertEG wrote:
LadyOne, you cannot DV a CO, A charge off is made by the OC as a tax benefit to them. A DV only applies, under the FDCPA, to third-party collection agents, and not to an OC.
Try to prevent the accounts from going into collection, for then you will have a CA on top of the CO.
The first question is, do you agree that the debt is legitimate, or do you dispute it?
If legit, try for a PFD offer to the OC. That is the first step. Pay for delete will not only pay up on the account, but get it off of your CR.

If you offer a PFD to an OC and they accept, it could do more harm to your score than good. Even bad accounts count against age when being reported as a TL by the OC. The older negative information is, the less it effects score, the older a TL is, the more it helps score.

As for the collections, did they send you a dunning letter? That is the first step in the collection process. If they did send a timely dunning letter, and you did not respond within 30-days, their collection activities can continue.

Have to consider state law that doesn't require DV'ing within 30 days, like Texas.

But you can still offer PFD to them.
Then, make sure you know the real DOFD on the account. That governs how long it will remain in your CR, and is also the initial date for running of the SOL on collection of the debt. However, in some states, offers to pay of later payments by you can reset this SOL. So you have to know your state law.
You have both credit reporting and lawsuit considerations, both of which are very different.