topic Re: Whoa! Dispute Result in Rebuilding Your Credit

Whoa! Dispute Result

kflo01 — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 23:14:17 GMT

I did not expect this!

So Freedom Debt Relief settled my Total card for me 491.00 out of 891.00. I was paid on 4/30/2020. Up until yesterday, it was never updated at all it was paid or anything. Now I had disputed this account in the past and it came back verified. So I tried to dispute online on the 8th and I got the message "You disputed this in the past you cant now unless you have new documents to upload. Well, I uploaded my PIF letter from Total card and my dispute read something like "This is settled for the full balance. Payment status should read: Settled for less than full balance. Please remove it from my report.

Well, The dispute came back today online and I checked.....Removed!!!! chargeoff from the original creditor removed. Another one down. I have had MAJOR success with this in the year I've been rebuilding my credit. Only once have I paid a charge-off OR collection and then wait about a week or 2 and dispute did it NOT come off and just update as paid.

myfico061220.GIF

Then I checked to see if I got a boost in points. I was shocked to see the following. I also noticed my collection with Trident was gone. I never disputed this......as least not lately. I am on payment 3 out of 5 for my settlement so I can only think they are goodwilling me without me having to ask since I am almost halfway done with paying them (Last payment in August). That was nice of them. Now I cant say if they are going to do the same for the other 2 reports but I am def disputing Total on my other 2 reports next month.

Almost at 700. I started this rebuild officially on July 20th (when I joined the Paid Experian and started working my credit) Now I am here.

One can only think how high my scores will be with 2 or 3 more charge offs falling off.

July 2019

myfico061220-2.GIF

June 2020

myfico061220-1.GIF

I have 4 more unpaid charge offs to go. One of them I just mailed my payment out today for, another will be paid in August. (both First Premier Bank). I am hoping the paid then wait 2 weeks and dispute tactic works for those also. Leaves only 2 more that need to be paid (hopefully by years end) and all my old bad debt will be paid and gone. Thank god!

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

FireMedic1 — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 23:58:29 GMT

@kflo01 wrote:
I did not expect this!
So Freedom Debt Relief settled my Total card for me 491.00 out of 891.00. I was paid on 4/30/2020. Up until yesterday, it was never updated at all it was paid or anything. Now I had disputed this account in the past and it came back verified. So I tried to dispute online on the 8th and I got the message "You disputed this in the past you cant now unless you have new documents to upload. Well, I uploaded my PIF letter ( You lucked out. It was settled for less as above but disputed it was PIF?)from Total card and my dispute read something like "This is settled for the full balance. Payment status should read: Settled for less than full balance. Please remove it from my report.
Well, The dispute came back today online and I checked.....Removed!!!! chargeoff from the original creditor removed. Another one down. I have had MAJOR success with this in the year I've been rebuilding my credit. Only once have I paid a charge-off OR collection and then wait about a week or 2 and dispute did it NOT come off and just update as paid.
myfico061220.GIF
Then I checked to see if I got a boost in points. I was shocked to see the following. I also noticed my collection with Trident was gone. I never disputed this......as least not lately. I am on payment 3 out of 5 for my settlement so I can only think they are goodwilling me without me having to ask since I am almost halfway done with paying them (Last payment in August). That was nice of them. Now I cant say if they are going to do the same for the other 2 reports but I am def disputing Total on my other 2 reports next month.
Almost at 700. I started this rebuild officially on July 20th (when I joined the Paid Experian and started working my credit) Now I am here.

One can only think how high my scores will be with 2 or 3 more charge offs falling off.

July 2019
myfico061220-2.GIF
June 2020
myfico061220-1.GIF

I have 4 more unpaid charge offs to go. One of them I just mailed my payment out today for, another will be paid in August. (both First Premier Bank). I am hoping the paid then wait 2 weeks and dispute tactic works for those also. Leaves only 2 more that need to be paid (hopefully by years end) and all my old bad debt will be paid and gone. Thank god!

Congrats I guess. FP wont be easy. They dont play. You got lucky on 1. May not be the same result on the other 4. But Good Luck either way.

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

TheKid2 — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 00:51:56 GMT

Maybe you can help me understand what is happening. You are settling a CO for less than the full balance, making the last payment, waiting a week or 2, and then disputing it while the processing of your last payment is "in progress"? How are you attaching a "paid in full letter" as part of the dispute, when you've settled it for less? Wouldn't the letter state that you settled for less? and to have that letter only 1-2 weeks after making the last payment (that seems awfully quick).

Frankly I'm not sure what exactly you are disputing. or are you trying to say there is some loophole here?

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

kflo01 — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 01:22:36 GMT

@TheKid2 wrote:
Maybe you can help me understand what is happening. You are settling a CO for less than the full balance, making the last payment, waiting a week or 2, and then disputing it while the processing of your last payment is "in progress"? How are you attaching a "paid in full letter" as part of the dispute, when you've settled it for less? Wouldn't the letter state that you settled for less? and to have that letter only 1-2 weeks after making the last payment (that seems awfully quick).

Frankly I'm not sure what exactly you are disputing. or are you trying to say there is some loophole here?

I am paying for the collection account OR the charge off if it is still with the orginial creditor. I make the last payment if a stuctured monthly settlement or I make the one time payment (settlement or Paid In Full). I wait for the payment to clear (which is about 2 weeks if sendnig a check). After the payment clears I dispute the account whereever it is listed with something along the lines of " Creditor agreed to delete once payment has been made."
I mail in my disputes so I include the PIF final letter from the creditor I paid. I always ask for one to be emailed, mailed or faxed to me after I finish paying. They normally will do that without having to ask but I ask anyhow. Yes the letters do say that " settled for less" but they still come off. Not going to look a gift horse in the mouth Im just going to keep doing it while it works. IDK if it is a loophole or if they just dont care at that point since they got paid and dont respond to the dispute.

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

TheKid2 — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 02:54:57 GMT

Interesting. I have never had luck with disputes.

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 16:42:29 GMT

One thing I learned when I was rebuilding is that while it is a violation of the contracts that debt collectors have with the bureaus to "pay to delete" (it makes lenders not trust the bureaus and FICO-- and losing their contracts takes away what little leverage the bureaus have to collect), a collector can have a standard policy of deleting paid debts. The one collector could have that policy in place.

I ALSO had a debt collector that followed the policy of whatever the provider (all were medical bills for me) practiced. I had one that had a debt with both SSM healthcare and BJC. SSM would not delete no matter what and BJC would. The agency deleted the BJC bill when I paid it. SSM would not-- I just waited a year or two after it was PIF and then disputed it again under the reason "creditor agreed to delete" and I guess since they already had their money for so long they let it time out and it was removed 2 years early because (if I remember correctly) I was told that it was deleted because they failed to respond. It's been gone another 2 years and so I know it isn't coming back.

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 01:30:23 GMT

I've had sort of similar successes mixing and matching what is being stated here with accounts that were paid/settled in full but CA stated they wouldn't pfd, I paid just wanting to get it behind me. And contested very shortly thereafter with the train of thought, well it hasn't aged yet what is there to lose. I'm not preaching dispute everything I know that's a violation of the rules. Just putting my personal experience out there .

I think a lot of it has to do with towing the company line when youre speaking to them, they probably have internal audits etc. But once it's paid/settled in full perhaps the accounts are closed in the databases/ systems the CAs use or no one monitors the accounts after being paid, or maybe they just don't care to put the resources in to replying to the thousands of disputes they get on closed accounts.

@Anonymous when you say your disputes timed out, just out of curiosity did the dispute take the full 30 days to receive a reply back on the dispute from the CB?

Re: Whoa! Dispute Result

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 14:42:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've had sort of similar successes mixing and matching what is being stated here with accounts that were paid/settled in full but CA stated they wouldn't pfd, I paid just wanting to get it behind me. And contested very shortly thereafter with the train of thought, well it hasn't aged yet what is there to lose. I'm not preaching dispute everything I know that's a violation of the rules. Just putting my personal experience out there .

I think a lot of it has to do with towing the company line when youre speaking to them, they probably have internal audits etc. But once it's paid/settled in full perhaps the accounts are closed in the databases/ systems the CAs use or no one monitors the accounts after being paid, or maybe they just don't care to put the resources in to replying to the thousands of disputes they get on closed accounts.

@Anonymouswhen you say your disputes timed out, just out of curiosity did the dispute take the full 30 days to receive a reply back on the dispute from the CB?

@Anonymous

Typically yes-- but it was closer to 45-60 days before it was removed. They have 30 days to respond to the dispute but then it takes time for the bureaus to address a lack of reply too. The only time I had one come back sooner it was only a few days and I have no proof, but I assume that the creditor replied in my favor.

I did have one instance with one of the SSM bills that I had where EQ took all but one off- they refused to remove, but the other three bureaus did and they removed another one I had 4 bills for the same amount for the same treatment-- two for the initial and two for the follow up a month later. Because of the way that SSM billed them, it looked like I only had one per.

It sucked too, because I ended up with TWO $105 collections that I would have otherwise paid, that we're JUST over the threshold for FICO to factor in (FICO 8 doesn't factor in collections under $100, as info. Vantage & FICO 9 do, but paid collections are less of a hit than open collections).

The bill was from 2016 and The one paid on EQ only was on there when we bought our house, so that score was in the 660s whereas EX at the time (June 2018) 750s and TU was 690s so we still got our mortgage. Inexplicably, just this January, EQ removed the collection though.

not going to try to figure that one out.

@Anonymous wrote:
I've had sort of similar successes mixing and matching what is being stated here with accounts that were paid/settled in full but CA stated they wouldn't pfd, I paid just wanting to get it behind me. And contested very shortly thereafter with the train of thought, well it hasn't aged yet what is there to lose. I'm not preaching dispute everything I know that's a violation of the rules. Just putting my personal experience out there .

I think a lot of it has to do with towing the company line when youre speaking to them, they probably have internal audits etc. But once it's paid/settled in full perhaps the accounts are closed in the databases/ systems the CAs use or no one monitors the accounts after being paid, or maybe they just don't care to put the resources in to replying to the thousands of disputes they get on closed accounts.

@Anonymouswhen you say your disputes timed out, just out of curiosity did the dispute take the full 30 days to receive a reply back on the dispute from the CB?