Hello All,
I have an account that I defaulted due to a voluntary repo in 2015. In 2019 I was sued for it. It was a vehicle that ended up being a lemon. I had an attorney and we tried to fight it because it was a lemon but because the dealership claimed to have fix the issue within 30 days (I got the car back on the 29th day), I lost the case even though the vehicle still had issues shortly after that. It was too costly to keep paying an attorney and I had to come to terms with paying for a the vehicle.
The case ended in 2019, and that's when I started to make payments. I haven't missed a payment at all since agreeing to the payment arrangement. The account is represented by the manufacturer's attorney so I can't contact the manufacturer at all to negotiate. I can only work through their attorneys, whom are debt collectors.
Long story short, on my credit report, the account is under the Negative Accounts section but the details of the account shows that I Pay as Agreed since the payment arragements. Should this account be in a different section rather than the Negative Accounts section? It's the one account that is hindering my credit and if I am going to be stuck paying this for the next 8-10 years at this rate ($352 per month) for a total of $35k, I'm concerned that I'll never be able to do anything positive with my credit because of that account lingering for that long until I pay it off.
Any suggestions/tips to getting back on track with this account. I'm already doing everything I can by making my payments, as agreed and haven't missed a single one and never late.
Thanks!
Starting Score: EX 501, EQ 508, TU 545 (Jan. 1st, 2015)
Negative remarks get deleted after 7yrs, and scores recover earlier than that. Don't give up, If I were in your shoes I'd keep moving forward doing what I know it's the best/right thing to do.
It's in the negative column because it's in default. Even if you're making payments it doesn't change the fact that the original contract was defaulted on. Good news is, it needs to be removed from your reports next year.
@Brian_Earl_Spilner so even if I'm making payments, the negative portion of it should be removed next year at least? It first reported negative in 2015 and stopped reporting negative in 2019 when I started making payments under the payment arrangements. I thought the clock for removal starts after the last time it reported negative, which in this case was in 2019 when I started making the payment arrangements not when it first reported negative, which was in 2015.
If you're saying that it's based from when it first reported negative, then that is great news! Can you confirm?
The exclusion timeline starts on date of first default. If the account isn't brought current it needs to be removed from your reports at a maximum of 7 years + 180 days. Was the account brought current in 2019? If not, it's not being reported correctly and it will stay on your reports like a currently reporting account which could be around 10 years from your final payment. That would be a bad thing because even if you're making payments on time the account needs to show worst payment history which would be 120+ days past due which would last 7 years from your last late payment. Once the final late falls off it would be a positive trade line. That would be in 2026.
You need to find out why they're reporting it the way they are. Did they move all the late fees to the end of loan so that you became current? Did they put you into a hardship program which made you current?
ETA: you said you had to start making payments after the case ended, was this a settlement to avoid a judgement?
@Brian_Earl_Spilner thanks for the details. Yes, in 2019, I started making payments when the case ended because we settled on that in order for me to avoid a judgement. Prior to 2019, I had not made any payments.
Here is what that entry looks like in my report for full transparency:
As you can see from that entry, it shows the last activity was 06/2021 because that's the last reported monthly payment. They haven't updated for July yet. So I am not sure if this is just going to stick around as a negative account until this debt is fully paid off. I was hoping that when I stopped paying in 2015 and it got reported, it would have been the date the clock starts for the negative account to fall off by next year. Interesting enough, it doesn't even show on my credit report that is when I stopped making payments so from a report standpoint, anyone who looks at it may not ever see when was the last time I was late.
I'm not certain if I should dispute anything here with Equifax and if so, what I would even be able to dispute. What I do know is that in 2015, I defaulted and it got reported but that doesn't even show up here after the case was settled with monthly payments.
@Brian_Earl_Spilner or @Yasselife any additional thoughts? Should I be disputing anything based on what I've shared? Will any negative remarks still fall off my report next year or am I looking at another 7-10 years before the negative remarks drop?
Thanks
Anyone have any insight on my last question? I'm still not sure if anything is suppose to drop off in the next year or if I should be disputing anything.
I don't own the car. I gave the car up as a voluntary repo back in 2014 or so because it was a lemon. I eventually got sued for the remaining balance and fees, etc. This was the agreement in order to avoid a judgement but I feel like maybe something is not being reported correctly on my report. I've been paying on time for the past two or more years and never late but don't know if when I started to pay it back, if that resets my late payments from the past back to 7 years from the date I started to make payments again.