topic Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery in Rebuilding Your Credit

Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 03:02:56 GMT

Hi All, Long time lurker

In my young years I have had quite the disaster of credit and am now in a place to really fix everything. I got married at 18 and quickly had two children by 21 and my ex husband "handled" all the finances. I learned through our divorce (and a little before) several years later about joint cards opened, lines of credit that went unpaid- including my engagement ring, which I then sold back to the OC to satisfy the account and everyday household bills. I sold one of the cars he had obtained and wasn't able to make back the full loan amount so it was charged off, and the other car that remained in his ownership was charged off as they werent able to locate the lien to do a repo. Anyways long story short I had to wait to resolve alot of these issues until I was more financially independent. He did not and still has never paid a dime towards any of these accounts (including the ones that are solely in his name). These accounts occurred from 2011-2015 and I was able to pay many of them- and also got some removed a couple years back- some 30 collections at the time but was a college student, then now graduate student so could not throw much at them and many have fallen off since.

So whats left:

- 3 collections totalling about $1k from an emergency room visit under one CA

- 2 CCs charged off both DOFD April 2015, one in the amount of $900, another $1900

- 1 CO for $5k for the car I sold back to satisfy the debt

- 1 CO for the car he has that they never recovered $25k

Even worse: After this disaster I stayed away from all credit. Eveything down to my cell phones I have bought fully outright, no monthly payments for anything. So prior to today other than student loans, I had no open accounts. My util is zero, my debt says $1k (collections) as the charge offs are under "paid". 8 derog items as listed. All other accounts closed but positive totalling 14- 10 student loans, 4 credit cards that were paid and closed.

Positive side: My financial practices independently have been far better than could have ever been with my ex husband. I have saved over $35k- projected to save another $30k over the next year. I will be graduating from a top notch program in about a year and a half at which point my job prospects are excellent and I hope to be able to buy a home in about 2-3 years. Have had zero HPs in the last 5 years, no further baddies after the 2015 disaster.

FICO Scores today:

Transunion: 626 Experian: 591 Equifax: 589

So my plan:

- Today I opened 3 secured cards: BOA- $1000, Citi- $1000, Cap1 $1000 (deposit $849). Plan to utilize and pay in almost full each month (<5% util)

- I sent PFDs, and will continue to send to all emails and addresses I've collected for the medical collections, and the two CC companies.

Questions:

- What else should I do now? Anything I should change in the current plan?

- What near future next steps should I be aware of?

- The two auto loan COs have DOFD in May 2015 as well and currently I am thinking I will just wait for them to fall off in two years since I am in no rush? I don't need any credit and don't plan on applying for anything in the next couple years.

- Any other comments welcome!

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

gdale6 — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:34:09 GMT

On the autos, if you cannot settle them I would just leave them alone until you can, if they are updating monthly then they are keeping your Fico score depressed.The opening of those 3 new cards will give you a Fico boost as you had none open prior to them, keep the balance reported on one of them only and less than 9% of its CL to help maximize your Fico in the rebuild.

Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:

1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:45:32 GMT

Thank you so much for the response. I think I will have to go from Step 2 as I have insurance through my grad program which is subsidized by the state of California and these collections occured in Maryland when I was a resident there.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:54:54 GMT

Called the OC for the medical collections today. They said they can't recall the debt as it is 5 years old in collection. This is a small community hospital so I think repeated calls won't end in a different answer. They asked me to contact the CA directly and gave me a phone number. The CA is Transworld. I imagine it's no point calling and I should just pursue the PFD letters.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

gdale6 — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 17:37:48 GMT

@JustKeepSwmng wrote:
Called the OC for the medical collections today. They said they can't recall the debt as it is 5 years old in collection. This is a small community hospital so I think repeated calls won't end in a different answer. They asked me to contact the CA directly and gave me a phone number. The CA is Transworld. I imagine it's no point calling and I should just pursue the PFD letters.

You can check on their website to see if they have a stated policy for removal of the collection.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 15:42:38 GMT

So I searched Transworld/TSI website as well as every forum post I can find about them and can't seem to find any success with PFD letters. Will send a couple rounds anyway, then move on to #5

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 19:18:30 GMT

An Update:

Settled both CC CO's today for 43% of the $1900 balance and 53% of the $900 balance.

My utilization was at 129% with zero cards opened, and those two CC CO. it looks like just the $1900 one was being counted as it updates every month and it was 29% over limit. The $900 CO one had not been updated since 2017.

Now both CO's will reflect zero balances and I will have the 3 new open cards and will do the AZEO method.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

FireMedic1 — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 21:22:15 GMT

Congrats. Keep hammering at it. Youll be fine. And that will help your scores.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 04:42:47 GMT

@JustKeepSwmng wrote:
So I searched Transworld/TSI website as well as every forum post I can find about them and can't seem to find any success with PFD letters. Will send a couple rounds anyway, then move on to #5

i also have 2 medical accounts placed with this transworld/tsi CA.

I haven't been able to find anything on them either. I am just going to have to call (cannot go into the hospital billing department as I am clear across the country and my job will not allow me to travel outside the state I am working in, so job security, you know?) and try to see if they will recall for full payment. My insurance should have covered it, but it was 6 years ago and I no longer have that insurance plan, so I will just be stuck paying both. They are rather low amounts and would just like them off my CRs at this point.

I will let you know, but I am guessing it will vary greatly facility to facility what they are willing to do. Fingers crossed for both of us!

Congrats on all the movement you have made!

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:50:08 GMT

Yeah I don't see really anything successful with TSI. When I sent emails for the PFD one responded that it wasn't her department and she sent it to the right person. I'll send physical letters today.

I hope your hospital can still recall. Best of luck! Let me know how it goes.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 18:31:55 GMT

So I was a little eager at first last week and sent PFD's to my CC COs at first not realizing that those two well established institutions likely would not do that so then by the next day I called in and paid the COs as I mentioned before.

So today I received emails from both executive offices with direct contact (phone w/ extension) for a person in the executive office that was looking into my request. Since I already paid I responded to their emails basically saying I sent the first email first w/o info on the accounts, was able to speak to someone who explained the charges and then immediately offered payment (provided the confirmation numbers). In the rest of the email, I basically used it as GW letter. Not sure what to expect in response.

What do you guys think?

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Fri, 15 May 2020 22:47:26 GMT

So I have finally had some of the work I've been doing reflecting in my reports.

I paid a collection to Progressive but they did not delete. That reported to all three. The two paid CO's reported as zero today to Experian, 1 reported to Equifax, and neither reported to Transunion. I refreshed my scores hoping all three would have after I got an Experian alert. But whatever.

So transunion is only reflecting the paid collection.

The 3 new CC's, only one is reporting at 0% as it reported right at the statement cut before I even got the card haha. with the CO's, Exp is reporting 0% util, EQ at 50% util and Trans at 77% util

So new FICO scores w/ updates

Experian: 620 up 21

Equifax: 619 up 30

Transunion: 635 up 9

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

elixerin — Sat, 16 May 2020 01:39:02 GMT

following your rebuild, definitely some really nice progress so far!

Keep it up!

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Sat, 16 May 2020 20:42:32 GMT

Thank you!

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

Anonymous — Sun, 17 May 2020 06:22:17 GMT

@JustKeepSwmng wrote:
So I have finally had some of the work I've been doing reflecting in my reports.

I paid a collection to Progressive but they did not delete. That reported to all three. The two paid CO's reported as zero today to Experian, 1 reported to Equifax, and neither reported to Transunion. I refreshed my scores hoping all three would have after I got an Experian alert. But whatever.

So transunion is only reflecting the paid collection.
The 3 new CC's, only one is reporting at 0% as it reported right at the statement cut before I even got the card haha. with the CO's, Exp is reporting 0% util, EQ at 50% util and Trans at 77% util

So new FICO scores w/ updates
Experian: 620 up 21
Equifax: 619 up 30
Transunion: 635 up 9

who held the CA for Progressive? It wasn't Caine & Weiner, was it?

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Sun, 17 May 2020 19:43:46 GMT

Turns out it was, but unfortunately at the time I was contacting via free credit report which listed Progressive as the owner. So paid them directly & they didnt remove. Then Caine & weiner popped up on my reports after payment under CA but with $0 balance. I'm still deciding my strategy for contacting them/Progressive/disputing. Not sure what to do.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2020 01:07:36 GMT

@JustKeepSwmng wrote:
Turns out it was, but unfortunately at the time I was contacting via free credit report which listed Progressive as the owner. So paid them directly & they didnt remove. Then Caine & weiner popped up on my reports after payment under CA but with $0 balance. I'm still deciding my strategy for contacting them/Progressive/disputing. Not sure what to do.

sorry to hear that because Caine & Weiner definitely does PFD.

Maybe since you settled the account with Progressive directly before C&W got their hands on it, they could perhaps recall it? Because I would think they may not have any collecting/reporting power because you had already paid the account? You may have some luck with this.

My fingers are crossed for you!

Good luck!

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2020 01:38:11 GMT

On the large CO for the auto loan, look into SOL for Maryland. I think you said that the CO amount was around $25,000. The SOL might well be more than 7 years for auto loans. At least, it is in my state. This means that even though it drops from CR at 7 years, you can still be sued for the amount owed until Maryland's SOL runs out. With a large balance like that, I would not be surprised if they start legal proceedings before the SOL expires.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2020 01:41:48 GMT

Also, did your ex-husband open any of these CC or loans using your name but without your approval? If so, you might be able to dispute them as fraud. Your ex would not be legally allowed to open anything in your name without your permission. Identity theft is a crime, even when it is committed against a person's spouse.

Re: Help me plan my journey to recovery

JustKeepSwmng — Mon, 18 May 2020 03:08:02 GMT

SOL for MD is 4 years for auto loans so it has already expired, fortunately I am not concerned about that.

And to your other question, the CC's that I did not sign up for and didn't have knowledge of I disputed a couple years prior and they were removed. Just the two that I was a joint owner of but still didn't know how he was handling paying them-- those two I just paid to 0. I didn't speak to him about them, just want to take care of anythign without having to deal with him.