Restarting

[Anonymous]

I am rebuilding my life at present, and have just started to work on my credit.  I have sent for all three free credit reports, but only one has come back so far.  The one credit report that has come back has mostly old medical bills from 2002 and 2004.   Truthfully, my total debt is not that much, according to this report that I have, but my income is rather low, at present.   I do have 2 old phone bills on the report, and a couple of other debts, one of which, I just sent in the full payment for, today.   I need to get my credit in shape to get a loan to pay my father for the car he just bought me.  I need to get this loan before spring, if at all possible.

   What I plan on doing is offering the collections agencies that are handling my old phone bills a settlement deal.  I would like them to have the debts marked paid in full, and let things go at that.  Then I can start working on the old hospital bills, getting them paid off.  Any ideas?

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes--stop putting checks in the mail for now, and read the threads up at the top of each forum FIRST. For instance, there is a thing called PFD --pay for delete-- where you offer to pay all or a portion of the bill in exchange for them removing the late notices and other derogatory information from your reports. You need to get this on letterhead from the creditor, etc etc, so don't do this without researching here first. Once you have paid off the account, you're reduced to GW (goodwill), essentially begging them to please remove the derogs.

By the way, good for you for wanting to pay things off. This need to be done right, though, or your credit can get even more screwed up in certain situations.

Start by reading the Credit Scoring 101 thread (look at the top of the various forums) and then Frequently Requested Threads. Also, grit your teeth and post the details here of what is on the one report that you have. The experts here will go over it and give you an excellent plan for action.

Go read those threads!!!

[Anonymous]

I have sat and done my homework, reading those threads. I can give you what information that I have at present, but it is likely incomplete. I know full well that I have an ambulance bill (appox $700) floating around that is not on this report. Nor, do I think, is the urologist’s bill (appox $200), from that time. I also owe the VA money, from the time, oh so long ago, when I went to school, with their help, and failed several classes. The base amount that I owe them, I think, is about $900, but ........with interest charges, is likely much higher then that.

1. NCO FIN/22 opened 4/07 collection 6/07 amt: $121

NOTE: This creditor, I recently called, for information about this debt, as I did not recognise it, and was given a very hard time by the agent there, after I obtained the info. I had just received a letter from them, offering to settle, and called them, as I had just started work on fixing my financial life, and obtained this report. I sent them a letter, offering to settle, for a much lower amount, due to their agent’s attitude, after I talked to them. By the way, it turned out that this was an old phone bill.

2. MONEY RECOVERY NATIONWID

Account Number: xxxxxx Original Creditor: TAWAS ST JOSEPH HOSPITAL

Collection account. $290 past due as of Jul 2004. Date Opened: 07/2002

3. MONEY RECOVERY NATIONWID

Account Number: xxxxxx Original Creditor: TAWAS ST JOSEPH HOSPITAL

Collection account. $82 past due as of Jul 2004. Date Opened: 07/2002

4. MONEY RECOVERY NATIONWID

Account Number: xxxxxx Original Creditor: TAWAS ST JOSEPH HOSPITAL

Collection account. $225 past due as of Jul 2004. Date Opened: 06/2002

5. MIDLAND CREDIT MGMT

Account Number: xxxxxx.... Original Creditor: MCI COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

Collection account. $505 past due as of Sep 2007. Date Opened: 07/2006 NOTE: this one is an old phone bill, that i think had reams of interest added on.

6. FIGIS INC

Account Number: xxxxx.....

Collection account. $57 past due as of May 2007. Date Opened: 12/2006

7. CRED PROTECTIONS ASSOC

Account Number: xxxxxxxxxxx Original Creditor: CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS

Collection account. $112 past due as of Nov 2006. Date Opened: 06/2006 NOTE: this one is the one that i just paid off

8. CBM

Account Number: xxxxxx Original CreditorT JOSEPH HEALTH SYSTEM
Status: Collection account. $1,039 past due as of Apr 2007. Date Opened: 11/2004
9. CBM

Account Number:xxxxxx Original Creditor: ADI-ADVANCED DIAGONOSTIC IMAGING

Status: Collection account. $20 past due as of Oct 2004

10. CBM

Account Number: xxxxxx Original Creditor: ADI again, for $103 as of Oct 2004

11. CBM

Account Number: xxxxxx Original Creditor: ADI again, for $57 as of Oct 2004

Some of these old hospital bills, I may have paid, long ago. In the past, what I have done is go directly to the companies that I incurred the bill at, and disregarded whether they had sold the debt to another or not. I shall have to go down to that hospital and check their records for this information, if they will help me with this.

[haulingthescoreup]

Wow, I can see you've gone through the mill. I hope you're feeling better now. This is a bit OT, but are you eligible for VA healthcare? Unless you meet certain conditions, you probably would still have co-pays, but you might want to get registered with them as a back-up. If the backlog is bad at your local outpatient clinic, you can present to any VA hospital ER and get in the system that way. They will assign you to a local outpatient clinic that will oversee your healthcare. A lot of veterans use the VA for back-up and for affordable meds, while others get all their care there. I work in VA health information, so my guys (and ladies) are already in the pipeline, but I hear one side of a lot of phone calls from veterans trying to get in. (The Prez and Congress keep forgetting to vote adequate funding...) I don't know if your veterans' education benefits would pose a problem. You might want to call your VA eligibility and ask them about that, just in general. Check also with veterans' service organizations (DAV, American Legion, etc.)

Anyway, I know just enough about collections to tell people not to pay anything off until they know what's what. We have some great posters here who will help you figure out what to do next. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your concern, haulingthescoreup.  I am already in the VA system, thank gods, and have been getting most of my care there for years.  For a lot of my life, I didn't have any health care coverage whatsoever, so I went to the VA long ago.   These hospital bills are likely from long ago emergency room visits for either myself, or one of my stepchildren.   Hopefully, I will find that part of them has already been paid, but not registered thru the credit reporting system, due to my irregular method of paying the hospital directly, rather then going thru the collections agency.