Where do I begin? (Accounts in DMP)

[Anonymous]

I'm new here.  I've been reading in this forum all day and decided it would be a good idea to join and take advantage of the help being offered here.  I woke up one day after letting my wife handle our finances for years to find myself over $50K in debt and sinking fast.  I'm not blaming her - I should have been keeping track of things and I let myself be oblivious.  Instead of filing BK, we decided to take advantage of a CCCS and started a DMP program in October of 2005.  We have over half the debt paid off now and should be debt free mid-2009.

Recently I pulled my CR (October 20).  I was going to pull one from each agency every 4 months and, still not knowing what I was doing, got my EX report and paid for the 'score' which I am now finding out is not the FICO score, so I guess that was a waste.  Anyway, there are some things I need to work on.  I've read a lot of good information here, so I'll take one thing at a time.

One of the accounts is on the report as 'GEMB/WALMART'.  When we started the DMP, it was already in collections.  It shows the following information.

Status:  Account charged off/Past due 150 days. $760 written off.

Date Opened:  06/2004

Type:  Revolving

Date of Status:  03/2005

Reported Since:  06/2004

Recent Balance:  $0

Last Reported Date:  03/2007

Recent Payment:  $19

Creditor's Statement:  Purchased by another lender.

Account History:  Charge Off as of Mar 2007, Feb 2007, Jan 2007, Dec 2006, Nov 2006, Oct 2006,

Aug 2006, Apr 2006, Dec 2005, Nov 2005, Oct 2005, Feb 2005

150 days as of Feb 2005

120 days as of Jan 2005

90 days as of Dec 2005

60 days as of Nov 2004

30 days as of Oct 2004

Balance History:

02/2007  $0

01/2007  $0

12/2006  $0

11/2006  $0

10/2006  $0

08/2006  $0

04/2006  $611

12/2005  $649

11/2005  $668

10/2005  $687

This account was accepted into the DMP program and payments of $19 were being sent to NCO Financial Systems.  The payment stopped being accepted by NCO and were returned to our CCCS.  We then received a letter from Resurgent Capital Services, LP that stated that the account had been bought by LVNV Funding LLC from GE Capital and that they understood that the account was being paid through a CCCS  and that we should have it call them to set up payments and to make sure they were credited to the account correctly (which was done and they are receiving).

The EX CR also has this entry from LVNV FUNDING LLC for this account:

Original Creditor:  GE CAPITAL WAL-MART

Status:  Collection account.  $269 past due as of Sep 2007.

Date Opened:  05/2006

Type:  Installment

Date of Status:  06/2006

Terms:  1 Months

Reported Since:  06/2006

Monthly Payment:  $0

Recent Balance:  $269

Last Reported Date:  09/2007

Recent Payment:  $0

Account History:  Collection as of Feb 2007 to Sep 2007, Oct 2006 to Dec 2006, Jun 2006 to Aug 2006.

We were hoping to buy a house after our debts were paid off and we had some saved up, but it looks to me like it may be a long time before this stuff drops off our CR.   Since I am new to this and I'm still learning how all of this works, is there anything that anyone sees that doesn't look right about these two entries in our CR?  Does it look like it has been 're-aged'?  Since they accepted the DMP proposal, shouldn't LVNV be recording our monthly payments instead of the $269 past due?  Why does GEMB/WALMART keep showing entries that it is 'charged-off' all the way to March of 2007 when they sold it?  Can anyone tell me what I should be doing to straighten this out?  Resurgent is receiving our monthly $19 payments and the balance is coming down.  Thanks, in advance for any advice!!

Message Edited by OneDayOneDay on 12-03-2007 06:39 PM

[Anonymous]

I know this post is probably confusing and maybe why no one is responding to it.  The two accounts that I listed are one and the same.  After rereading my post I realized that I didn't make that clear.  Does anyone have a comment or is there anything else I can do to clarify what I am asking?

[SmartCookie]

Wow... bit of a mess.  I'm sorry but I'm not a pro at DMP's.  I suggest editing your original post (options menu on the left of that 1st post) so that the title mentions DMP problems... might get more attention from the members here who are familiar with problems that can result and what your best options and/or rights would be.

It does appear that it was re-aged.  I don't know why the OC sold this account to a CA when you had a DMP with them and were paying!  Crazy IMHO. 

If at all possible I would try to get the entire amount due to the CA together, have it removed from the DMP, and offer them a PFD agreement in writing so that you pay them off in full and they delete the collection entries from all CBRs.

NCO did not report anything and they were only collecting for the OC, correct?  If they have anything reported, GW letter every 60 days till they remove.

I would start writing GW letters to the OC immediately asking them to remove this account due to the circumstances.  They don't have to... and this letter is different from the PFD.  Just plead with them... you hit bad times... you were making good... and they sold the account while you were paying it off which means that it froze the snapshot of that bad time on your CBRs before you were able to make it good, which now you are doing with a CA they sold it to instead of them since for whatever reason they decided to sell it off.

[positronicshell]

i think smart cookie is right about you trying to get a PFD because if you stay on the dmp with this CA this item will eventually be a paid collection but the 7 years will start at your last payment.

but from what i am reading, this account went into collections before your dmp?
if that is the case then you might have a difficult time getting PFD or GWing them removed.

when my 5 student loans went into default they were sold to another lender before i consolidated them into one loan and began proper repayment. i did everything i could to try and have the 10 baddies removed but to no avail for 6 years. i was pretty sure i would have to wait the full 7 years for them to drop off, but i continued to send GW letters until the original lender felt sympathy and removed the 5 baddies a year early. after several more GW letters the 2nd lender removed the other 5 baddies a few months early as well.

the good thing is paid collections will not hurt your score so much after a couple of years, so by the time you have your dmp paid off + save up for your down payment, your score shoudl recover from this collection.

good luck with your plans.

xoxox jane

[SmartCookie]

Hmm I'm still staring at this. 

Yes, it looks like LVNV is not reporting any payments, at least on your EX report.  I hope the money that you are paying to the DMP is not getting 'lost'.

As far as how the OC is reporting... a charge off is just an accounting term.  Sometimes they don't change the status of the account favorably and really they don't have to if it was accurate at some point.  That's all a part of the GW letter and things to ask from them.  I guess that as you said, it had gone to collections (NCO) when the DMP started... so it was already at charge off at that point.

At some point, I think you will wind up disputing the amounts and dates on everything to the CRAs... at least with the OC if they won't oblige to a GW and possibly even a DV letter to LVNV if they don't take a PFD.  Usually you would DV a CA before a PFD but these circumstances with the DMP and your making payments already might reverse that.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for your input and advice.  I believe NCO was just collecting for the OC.  But now I'm confused.  I thought the CA account would drop off our CRs after 7 years from the DOFD of the OC account, even if it was in collections.

[positronicshell]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you both for your input and advice. I believe NCO was just collecting for the OC. But now I'm confused. I thought the CA account would drop off our CRs after 7 years from the DOFD of the OC account, even if it was in collections.

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the experts on this forum have stated that collections should drop after 7 years from DOFD, but I have read many posts from people saying their collections were reaged from DOLA.

perhaps the experts can chime in as i am obviously confused on this as well.

xoxox jane

[Anonymous]

I am not a big fan of DMP's because they are collecting a monthly fee to negotiate and distribute payments to the creditors on your behalf. 

Why can't someone save the "fees" and redirect that fee money to pay off the debt quicker?

Always deal with the originating creditor.  NEVER deal with a third party agency.   My personal feeling on that is that I contracted to do business with the orginal creditor, not with the agency.  Furthermore, I had horrendous experiences with 3rd party agencies.

I was a victim of ID theft and had well over $750,000 in unsecured debt.  I learned abou **bleep** when I was denied a refinance of some property.  There were 48 trade lines of companies I had never done business with.  Some of the questionable items was out-right fraud but about 1/2 was a mistake combining my file with that of other people.  One such 3rd party agency that had the wrong person attached my social to someone elses account and suddenly I was married to a man I never even knew.  Try proving you have never been married and getting legal documentation to establish something didn't happen. 

Always deal with creditors in writing.  If you have a phone conversation, create a log and keep track of the date, time, length of call, who you spoke to and the results of the call in as much detail as possible.  I like to memorialize every phone conversation with a follow up letter.  Always keep a paper-trail.

Bad things happen to good people.  Sometimes it's medical, loss of job, any number of reasons.  You can easily negotiate re-payment and part of the negotiation can be a more favorable reporting on your CRA.  Always ask for it, the worst they can say is no.

I don't know if it is true or not, but I read somewhere along the line that DMP's negatively effect your credit score and a perceived negatively like a bankruptcy.  Maybe someone else here can clarify that ruling.

If you are in a position to pay 70% of the total as payment in full, you are more likely to get a more favorable reporting as part of the negotiated repayment plan than you are if you are going to make payments.  Start the negotiations low at 50% and settle around 70%. 

It is in the best interest of the originating creditor to deal directly with you.  Collection services charge them up to 1/3 of the collected amount and attorney's up to 50%. 

Make sure you get a letter in writing confirming the repayment agreement and any CRA trade line agreements.  DO NOT send a negotiated settlement as payment in full unless you get that letter in writing.  If it isn't in writing, they will take the stance it did not happen and the whole issue could come back to haunt you.  Cover Your Back!

If you owe legitimately owe the money, by all means pay it.  But don't be afraid to negotiate.  The 30% that you are negotiating off as settlement is mostly accrued late fees, service charges, and increased interest that is usually at the maximum allowed by law at this stage of the game. 

[Anonymous]

I would like to 'bump' positronshell's post - anyone able to clarify for us?  Also, is a DMP as negative on your CR as a BK?  I pulled my EX report and all I see are the late pays, Collections, COs and creditor statements that it is being paid through a DMP.  I just see that in the creditor's comments - I don't see it as a negative anywhere from EX.  Do they score it in somehow?

[l-bug]

I copied the following info from a frequent poster on the MSN Ask A Credit Counselor Message Board posted on 12/3/07(Willby Evans). He appears as knowledgable as many of the NFCC reps in regards to credit scores. I'm sure he is registered here as many of his links refer back to myfico, and he often mentions myfico in his posts.

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The latest scoring model revisions from FICO no longer ding your score for this {DMP}. Please review the link in my last post directly from the Fair Isaacs website. This is a recent change, and the idea that it hurts your score (which was accurate up until recently) is still generally passed around.

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/WhatsNotInYourScore.aspx

I just learned about this change last week myself and I verified it through 2 other sources as well as directly through the Fair Isaacs Website. Their data tracking over the last decade has lead them to believe that people who voluntarily enter such an arrangement are not necessarily a higher credit risk.

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