topic Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection in Rebuilding Your Credit

Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 01:49:23 GMT

Hello I am trying to help my elderly neighbor who was in a bad rental situation until things blew up and now would like to obtain a credit card. I am going to try to explain this with as few details as possible while still giving enough for meaningful assistance. I have wanted to check her credit score for her for a while, but she did not want to give out her current personal information which made sense given the past sitaution. I recently found out that she had tried using affirm to pay on Amazon and could not get it to work. She has limited online proficiency so I don't really know what happened there. Discussing that situation led to the revelation that she had recently been denied at least one credit card - so she had applied for it. I reasoned that since she was applying for credit she may as well let me check her credit score since she had already shared her current information to apply for the card. She agreed.

I went to the Experian website and found she is currently unscorable. The only account showing at all is a collection which I first thought was the result of the person she used to live with taking out a loan in her name (very bad situation). However, I now am leaning toward the collection being a result of debt accrued under their rental agreement after she was kicked out. She was on the lease, however. There is no way she can pay or settle the debt and I don't really think it is technically her debt anyway. It is showing as originating summer of 2022 and entering collections in fall 2022. So now I have questions about both her privacy situation and attempting to repair her credit. She is low fixed income in subsidized housing.

First, I am now in a panic that either the individuals she used to live with or the collection agency are going to find her thanks to my putting in her information into experian. However, I did that after she applied for at least one cc and Affirm.

- petty question, but if she is "found" all of a sudden, is that my fault for pushing experian?

- important question, if this does allow the collection agency to find her, is there anything they can really do besides harass her? Any steps I should try to take here?

Second, I would like to help her improve her credit standing so long as it does not put her at risk in any way. I was reading in another thread people encouraging someone to get connected with NFCU in a similar situation and I know that membership there is an option for her. Unfortunately, the former housemate opened a checking account that is connected to my neighbor so she is currently unable to open a bank account. My first thought is an SSL as that helped my scores so much, but I don't know if that is even a possibility at this point.

What I plan to recommend at this point: (lol these wound up being just more questions)

- Have someone add her as an AU on an older card. I was thinking of doing this myself, but am not sure how much risk I would be placing myself in if I did it on a card with a low limit? I don't know if anyone else is a candidate for this.

- She was denied for a cap one card (don't know which card but she does not know what a secured card is). She was thinking about trying for one of the Amazon cards, but will she qualify for any non-secured card while she is unscorable? If she needs to start with a secured card, what would people recommend?

- Should I check her info on creditkarma just to see what the other bureaus have to say? Any risk assoicated with this at this point?

Basically, any help in terms of where to go from here would be very appreciated. And in case anyone jumps to this very real aspect of all this, she is refusing to move forward with an EA case at this time, financial or otherwise. Cheers.

ETA - Forgot to ask is there anything she should do while unscorable which might not be possible once she is scorable if the score is low?

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

Cowboys4Life — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 03:58:46 GMT

The first thing she needs to do is file a police report and a FACTA identity theft report so that if creditors start appearing she can defend herself from the criminal actions of the former roommate. That needs to be priority one. And no, not wanting to upset anyone is not a defense.

Once she has the potential credit problems iced she can look at a secured card to get a credit profile started. Unless she is an AU on a spouse or child's profile it won't really help her. The bureaus caught on to that game a LONG time ago.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 04:24:39 GMT

@Cowboys4Life Thank you so much for your response. I am way out of my depth on this one. Plus it upsets me to think about (I know, poor me...) and my thoughts scatter. Sounds like the next step I need to take is really a long heart to heart talk. Once I get her on board and get things filed with the proper agencies, then look into a secured card. I think concrete action steps are what we both need to start to tackle this so please know how appreciated your response is.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

ForwardLooking — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 19:29:47 GMT

@AC20 wrote:
...
However, I now am leaning toward the collection being a result of debt accrued under their rental agreement after she was kicked out. She was on the lease, however. There is no way she can pay or settle the debt and I don't really think it is technically her debt anyway. It is showing as originating summer of 2022 and entering collections in fall 2022. So now I have questions about both her privacy situation and attempting to repair her credit. She is low fixed income in subsidized housing.
...

You sound like a wonderful person wanting to help your neighbor, but I would probably ask if your neighbor really needs a credit card at this point in her life. She may want one, but does she really need one? She may very well already be judgement proof considering her age, low income, and having to live in subsidized housing. The good part about being judgement proof is no one can sue you and collect. The bad thing about being judgement proof is most lenders won't touch you unless they are shady. Getting a credit card is probably not going to help her right now, and could make things worse if she overextends herself with it. Best thing you could probably do for her is help her find a non-profit consumer credit advocicy group to help her understand and navigate the collection.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 19:59:08 GMT

Thank you @ForwardLooking. This is all very good advice.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

FicoMike0 — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 23:15:43 GMT

I'm guessing she has no bank account at all. If she does, that's the place to start. Less than two years ago, I was unscorable, I was credit retired. I had a checking account, a debit card and a long term relationship with the bank. When I decided I needed a credit card, I was surprised when turned down. I thought, I owe nothing, have money in the bank, what's up with that. My credit score was equal to my debt, nonexistent!

Luckily, the friendly banker at my long term bank local bank fixed me up with a mastercard with a low cl.

If no banking relationship, she might want to remedy that, credit or no credit. I'd suggest getting her free report from chexsystems and early warning systems. She may only be flagged by one. If so she may succeed with a bank that pulls the other. Which banks pull which can be found here,

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-account-reference-pages/

Or, post the info, someone here can sort it.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 08:10:24 GMT

@FicoMike0 wrote:
I'm guessing she has no bank account at all. If she does, that's the place to start. Less than two years ago, I was unscorable, I was credit retired. I had a checking account, a debit card and a long term relationship with the bank. When I decided I needed a credit card, I was surprised when turned down. I thought, I owe nothing, have money in the bank, what's up with that. My credit score was equal to my debt, nonexistent!
Luckily, the friendly banker at my long term bank local bank fixed me up with a mastercard with a low cl.
If no banking relationship, she might want to remedy that, credit or no credit. I'd suggest getting her free report from chexsystems and early warning systems. She may only be flagged by one. If so she may succeed with a bank that pulls the other. Which banks pull which can be found here,
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-account-reference-pages/
Or, post the info, someone here can sort it.

Thank you so much for this. I spoke with her again and you are correct in guessing that she has no bank account at all. And you need a bank account with your name on it to fund most (all?) secured credit cards. She is worried that if she opens a bank account, someone might be able to access that money to pay something like the collection, etc. which they can not do currently with her DirectExpress. I am going to research this further, but I doubt I will get enough information from her to make an informed decision or recommendation about a bank account. I have been meaning to get her chexsystems report, but had not heard of the EWS report. If granted permission, pulling those two reports is my next step (after working on police report and FACTA).

You all are really great and very helpful. Thanks so much.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

ForwardLooking — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 01:34:57 GMT

@AC20 wrote:
@FicoMike0 wrote:
I'm guessing she has no bank account at all. If she does, that's the place to start. Less than two years ago, I was unscorable, I was credit retired. I had a checking account, a debit card and a long term relationship with the bank. When I decided I needed a credit card, I was surprised when turned down. I thought, I owe nothing, have money in the bank, what's up with that. My credit score was equal to my debt, nonexistent!
Luckily, the friendly banker at my long term bank local bank fixed me up with a mastercard with a low cl.
If no banking relationship, she might want to remedy that, credit or no credit. I'd suggest getting her free report from chexsystems and early warning systems. She may only be flagged by one. If so she may succeed with a bank that pulls the other. Which banks pull which can be found here,
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-account-reference-pages/
Or, post the info, someone here can sort it.
Thank you so much for this. I spoke with her again and you are correct in guessing that she has no bank account at all. And you need a bank account with your name on it to fund most (all?) secured credit cards. She is worried that if she opens a bank account, someone might be able to access that money to pay something like the collection, etc. which they can not do currently with her DirectExpress. I am going to research this further, but I doubt I will get enough information from her to make an informed decision or recommendation about a bank account. I have been meaning to get her chexsystems report, but had not heard of the EWS report. If granted permission, pulling those two reports is my next step (after working on police report and FACTA).

You all are really great and very helpful. Thanks so much.

You really need to get with a credit advocicy group that is associated with free legal services. They will be able to guide her through this. There are a lot of protections on bank accounts that are receiving deposts from welfare and benefits programs. Each case is different based on the state you live in, source of the welfare or benefits, and type of debt owed. A credit advocicy group will help her better understand and she can make an informed decission after working with them.

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 01:43:07 GMT

You really need to get with a credit advocicy group that is associated with free legal services. They will be able to guide her through this. There are a lot of protections on bank accounts that are receiving deposts from welfare and benefits programs. Each case is different based on the state you live in, source of the welfare or benefits, and type of debt owed. A credit advocicy group will help her better understand and she can make an informed decission after working with them.

Awesome thanks!

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

Blender — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:44:49 GMT

@AC20 wrote:
Hello I am trying to help my elderly neighbor who was in a bad rental situation until things blew up and now would like to obtain a credit card. I am going to try to explain this with as few details as possible while still giving enough for meaningful assistance. I have wanted to check her credit score for her for a while, but she did not want to give out her current personal information which made sense given the past sitaution. I recently found out that she had tried using affirm to pay on Amazon and could not get it to work. She has limited online proficiency so I don't really know what happened there. Discussing that situation led to the revelation that she had recently been denied at least one credit card - so she had applied for it. I reasoned that since she was applying for credit she may as well let me check her credit score since she had already shared her current information to apply for the card. She agreed.

I went to the Experian website and found she is currently unscorable. The only account showing at all is a collection which I first thought was the result of the person she used to live with taking out a loan in her name (very bad situation). However, I now am leaning toward the collection being a result of debt accrued under their rental agreement after she was kicked out. She was on the lease, however. There is no way she can pay or settle the debt and I don't really think it is technically her debt anyway. It is showing as originating summer of 2022 and entering collections in fall 2022. So now I have questions about both her privacy situation and attempting to repair her credit. She is low fixed income in subsidized housing.

First, I am now in a panic that either the individuals she used to live with or the collection agency are going to find her thanks to my putting in her information into experian. However, I did that after she applied for at least one cc and Affirm.
- petty question, but if she is "found" all of a sudden, is that my fault for pushing experian?
- important question, if this does allow the collection agency to find her, is there anything they can really do besides harass her? Any steps I should try to take here?

Second, I would like to help her improve her credit standing so long as it does not put her at risk in any way. I was reading in another thread people encouraging someone to get connected with NFCU in a similar situation and I know that membership there is an option for her. Unfortunately, the former housemate opened a checking account that is connected to my neighbor so she is currently unable to open a bank account. My first thought is an SSL as that helped my scores so much, but I don't know if that is even a possibility at this point.

What I plan to recommend at this point: (lol these wound up being just more questions)
- Have someone add her as an AU on an older card. I was thinking of doing this myself, but am not sure how much risk I would be placing myself in if I did it on a card with a low limit? I don't know if anyone else is a candidate for this.
- She was denied for a cap one card (don't know which card but she does not know what a secured card is). She was thinking about trying for one of the Amazon cards, but will she qualify for any non-secured card while she is unscorable? If she needs to start with a secured card, what would people recommend?
- Should I check her info on creditkarma just to see what the other bureaus have to say? Any risk assoicated with this at this point?

Basically, any help in terms of where to go from here would be very appreciated. And in case anyone jumps to this very real aspect of all this, she is refusing to move forward with an EA case at this time, financial or otherwise. Cheers.

ETA - Forgot to ask is there anything she should do while unscorable which might not be possible once she is scorable if the score is low?

Experian or the debt collector arent head hunters, theyre not gonna come for her lol. If the landlord sold the debt to an agency they cant open a court claim and it will cost the debt collector more money to bring it to small claims court.

Seeking legal help was great advice to verify that the debt is hers or not. If she has only the ONE account and it is negatively reporting thats very likely why she isnt scorable. She is not likely to get approved for any thing that isnt secured, and that still might be a hurdle.

Keep us in the loop

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 01:07:34 GMT

Thanks @Blender Will do!

Re: Help for Elderly Neighbor - Unscorable with 1 collection

AC20 — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 01:39:04 GMT

Update - Good news is she was able to get a Chime account. I don't really know much about those, but I guess it reports to the bureaus so that will get her into the scorable range. She is not interested in doing anything else at this point. I am still pushing her to file reports on what has happened and will continue to do so when it does not feel like oversteping.

Thanks everyone for all the help!