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The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

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Peazmom
Frequent Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Interesting...a post I read a few weeks back now makes sense.  The discussion revolved around applying for a Mortgage with a company you don't plan on going with shortly before apping with your preferred lender.  The theory was the initial application would flush any dormant collections/debts out of the woodwork.



 

Starting FICO 8 December 2017

FICO 8 as of 6/7/20



Sock Drawer:

Message 11 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

The link you posted was one of the sources I found out from and one of the best. The last paragraph explains how it works specifically for “collections”.
Message 12 of 40
itlm062
New Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Wow, I guess it happened to us too.

My wife had a bogus medical collection under her name, we missed it while in BK(2011-2016, collection was in 2013).

It only reported to EXP and we are just waiting for it to drop off...supposdely 2020.

We just fininshed a refinance, one of the condition was to pay off this collection of $993.

We stood our ground and said we will not pay this collectoin and if they force us too, we will not do the refinance with them.

We just closed on 7/17/19, and on the same day, the collection showed up on her TU report...

Now I am just mad, and will try to find documentation on this stupid thing and see if I can do a proper dispute.

(medical bill, took ins company 6 months to pay, by then, they had turned it over to collection agency.)

 

 

 

Message 13 of 40
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

This is probably a tool Barclays and Synchrony use to monitor cardholders, then shut them down after app sprees .
High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 14 of 40
Berk
Established Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)


@Anonymous wrote:
.......Just wanted everyone to know about this shady tactic

I fail to see how this tactic is shady.

Message 15 of 40
GApeachy
Super Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

It's shady in the fact that some bills, particularly medical, are known to fall through the cracks due to how Insurance handles/mishandles claims and also how medical billing companies miss their time frame for billing to the Ins. companies. (there are laws) These bits and pieces of info. is withheld from us and in the meantime, sold without our knowledge of said bills to a CA who then sits on it waiting for the right time to pounce.  All collection should be reported immediately (via cr's or snail mail, or both) giving the debtor a chance to pursue the right avenues to handle correct and incorrect bills in a timely manner. 

If CA can know all about us then we should be able to know All about us. 

If anything, when a collection is bought they should notify owner of debt.  Not all debt is our fault, look at like @Saeren said about incorrect handling of medical bills he's had to deal with.  Humans still make mistakes in the billing department and everything should be notated for all, not just a select (paying preying predatory)few.

My Take Home Pay Don't Take Me Home
Message 16 of 40
Berk
Established Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)


@GApeachy wrote:

It's shady in the fact that some bills, particularly medical, are known to fall through the cracks due to how Insurance handles/mishandles claims and also how medical billing companies miss their time frame for billing to the Ins. companies. (there are laws) These bits and pieces of info. is withheld from us and in the meantime, sold without our knowledge of said bills to a CA who then sits on it waiting for the right time to pounce.  All collection should be reported immediately (via cr's or snail mail, or both) giving the debtor a chance to persue the right avenues to handle correct and incorrect bills in a timely manner. 

If CA can know all about us then we should be able to know All about us. 

If anything, when a collection is bought they should notify owner of debt.  Not all debt is our fault, look at like @Saeren said about incorrect handling of medical bills he's had to deal with.  Humans still make mistakes in the billing department and everything should be notated for all, not just a select (paying preying predatory)few.


Oh, I agree that the CA's are being stealthy in their dealings with us. However, the trigger reports are not a shady practice of the CRA's. And, yes, I've had medical bills where I only got the "final bill before being sent to collections" bill. Yes, medical billing needs reform. Many a good person's credit has been ruined due to unknown medical bills. 

 

However, all the CA's are paying for is certain triggers in our credit reports - the same "triggers" that we can see in our own reports. It's not some conspiricy between the CRA's and CA's to ruin our credit. When I started rebuilding my credit, it took about 5 years before CA's once again started sending me collections notices. All had passed the statute of limitations so they didn't get anywhere but the collections started again because my financial situation had improved and the CA's thought they had a much better chance of bullying me into paying on zombie debt - some 30 years old. It's no different then one team scouting another to find weakness.

Message 17 of 40
GApeachy
Super Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)


@Berk wrote:

@GApeachy wrote:

 All collection should be reported immediately (via cr's or snail mail, or both) giving the debtor a chance to persue the right avenues to handle correct and incorrect bills in a timely manner. 

 

If anything, when a collection is bought they should notify owner of debt.


 

 

However, all the CA's are paying for is certain triggers in our credit reports - the same "triggers" that we can see in our own reports. 


That's just it, CA's are paying for a service in order to pounce on the "Uninformed" while withholding info ie. unknown, unreported debt. There needs to be some leveling of the playing field.  We should, like the CA's be able to subscribe somewhere to see if there is any outstanding debt. in our names.....but there are only limited avenues, while CA's get a lookie-looksie at your stuff to comtemplate a plan of attack.  

My Take Home Pay Don't Take Me Home
Message 18 of 40
Berk
Established Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

The CA’s get our debt info directly from the original creditor or from other CAs who sell our debt to them. They don’t have some super secret site provided by the CRAs that they can go to.

And, yes, medical debt is a huge mess right now and, we the consumer, end up paying a huge price because many times we are completely unaware of the debt until it is too late and it has gone to collections. That does need to be fixed.
Message 19 of 40
GApeachy
Super Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)


@Berk wrote:
The CA’s get our debt info directly from the original creditor or from other CAs who sell our debt to them. They don’t have some super secret site provided by the CRAs that they can go to.
.

But isn't that what we are talking about? (copy and paste) http://www.debthelp.com/kc/273-credit-triggers.html

 

'Credit trigger’ is a relatively new term in the financial world, but if you are not yet familiar with the concept then now is the time to learn. A quickly increasing trend fed by the three main consumer credit reporting agencies, credit triggers are alerts provided to paying lenders about the credit activities of their borrowers, or of potential future borrowers.

 

and....

Collections Assistance

Credit triggers labeled as collections assistance are provided to lenders or collections agencies based on your actions regarding other debts. If you begin paying off other debts, for example, then the collector or creditor will be informed that you have new funds with which to pay. Your lender will assume that if you can make payments on other debts, then it is a good time to press you for payments to him or her, as well.

My Take Home Pay Don't Take Me Home
Message 20 of 40
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