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The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

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Anonymous
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The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

I recently had 9 collections come up that I didn’t even know existed. None of these were on any of my credit reports, not yet at least. Some were a few years old, were all medical and truly had the right to be on my credit. I had not seen a bill for any of these or if I had, it had been years. So why out of the blue?
I just got a refinance and had a major increase in score right before. So here is what happened. All the reporting agencies have something called a “Trigger Report”. These are usually a monthly subscription with which they will let your creditors know about any changes to your profile. They can pay for things like change of address, increase or decrease in score, new credit, paying a collection and many more items.
My increase in score and refinance made this “trigger” that gave the appearance that I’m better off financially. It’s all legal, I was concerned about privacy laws but if you have a relationship with a creditor, they have legal right to the information.
I don’t agree with this practice and feel it’s an underhanded tactic by the CRA and creditor but can’t stop it.
In my case, this cost me a good chunk because now that the dragon had been woke, this was my warning that these collections were going to now appear on my reports. Luckily I was able to settle with all of them and they are paid in full and will not appear.
Just wanted everyone to know about this shady tactic
Message 1 of 40
39 REPLIES 39
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Wow! This is terrible! I wonder why the creditors wouldn't just put it on your CR beforehand? Perhaps they think you're more likely to pay because of your score increase? 




Message 2 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

The way this is setup they don’t have to pull your credit, the CRA gives them a constant “heads up” about us.
If I had not been able to settle these and they hit my credit before closing on my refinance, the deal wouldn’t have gone through. While we were in application and before closing, the lender told me to be sure nothing happened on my credit, especially no new credit. These would have been new collections.
So these collections agencies were just sitting on these, not pursuing or reporting but just waiting. They got the trigger and pounced.
Message 3 of 40
OmarR
Established Contributor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)


@Anonymous wrote:
I recently had 9 collections come up that I didn’t even know existed. Luckily I was able to settle with all of them and they are paid in full and will not appear.

 

So you got 9 PFD's?

 EQ=850   EX=845   TU=843       0/24       UTIL=$1    AZEO

Message 4 of 40
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

I am curious who told you about these "trigger reports"?

 

Not sure why they wouuld have to pay for anything. If you have a creditor or debt collector they can and usually do soft pulls on your reports and can see any activity on your profile. 

EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 5 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Yeah it doesn’t surprise me in the least that credit alerts aren’t just for consumers. Since they are already sending alerts to us, it makes perfect sense that the CAs can get alerts as well. 

Glad to hear that you were able to get it taken care of. I disagree that you can’t contest this activity though. Medical collections are the most likely to be debts that you are totally unaware of because of all of the different medical groups that are involved — sometimes insurance doesn’t get billed for one, sometimes insurance won’t cover one, sometimes the hospital neglects to send a bill, and sometimes they just flat out don’t bother using the legal route and just send everyone to collections (I’ve had this happen three times). Springing medical debt on someone out of nowhere should be illegal — you know you have that $2500 Verizon bill but you may not have known that you had a doctor that wasn’t included in the bill to the insurance company. 

Message 6 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

I did a quick Google and came up with this right away. Looks like this is not a new thing (article from 2007). 

http://www.debthelp.com/kc/273-credit-triggers.html

Message 7 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

No, the nine I paid we’re getting ready to start going on my report. They were just holding on to these debts and waiting.
I still have 14 medical collections on my report but they won’t PFD. Until they will delete, they will stay there
Message 8 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Message 9 of 40
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The secret Trigger Reports (Beware)

Interesting, learn something new everyday. Although I suspected something like this may happen, as no one wants to not get paid.

 

And I believe that I've had this happen to me, since I recently paid off a Loan. Got a letter for a judgement from an old Medical bill but listed no date. So it has to be from several years back, as I've been pretty proactive with my credit the last few years.

 

So they must have been sitting on this for a while, waiting for the right time. Nothing has hit my CR yet though.

I wonder if they're just fishing.

Message 10 of 40
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