Another set back

[Anonymous]

I have posted a few times already. I had some success getting collections accounts off of my credit report, but now I am at a stand still.

I sent out direct disputes to First Premier Bank, Usbank, Westlake Financial, and fingerhut.

All, except Usbank, came back as "reporting accurately" if information is incorrect dispute with the CRA's as they choose how to report the information we provide. 

I am going to just pay off Usbank and First premier, which will at least help my utilization. 

I entered into a payment arrangement with Account Control Technologies the moment they contacted me about an old Strayer University account, with the promise they wouldn't report to the CRA's. Well they did report on 04/29 and lowered my fico by 20 points and my mortgage fico by 19 (599-580). 

Now, after the first payment, they reported the collection again and my fico dropped another 6 points, and my mortgage fico went to 537!! It now lists "recent missed payment" which wasn't there before. 

I checked all 3 bureaus and ACT lowered the collection amount, then raised it back to the original, then listed it as closed unpaid. I disputed this (waiting on results) in early May with Experian. Now I have disputed with Transunion and Equifax. I also have the letter they mailed me detailing the payment arrangements. 

I have worked so hard to raise my mortgage and Regular Fico scores with the hopes of applying for a mortgage in June. Now with this it just feels pointless. 

Aside from the ACT collection, the only barrier I had keeping me from a pre approval with M&T bank ( according to the loan officer) was a large collection (3,455) for an old rental agency. I found my payment history from them listed as paid as agreed for all 8 months of my contract and submitted it to them by mail. The property management company fell into legal problems in 2018 and now is listed as permanently closed. Shortly after is when the CA popped up. 

I just needed to vent. I hope that when all of this clears my scores will bounce back. 

[FireMedic1]

First question is where are you getting your scores. Vantage products? The collection may have updated on your reports since you paid it off. there's a ding for a new entry.

[Anonymous]

I am getting my Fico scores from myfico and experian. My vantage scores from credit karma only went down by 3 points for equifax and 1 point for TU. 

my current scores:

Fico -

experian: 622

equifax: 589

transunion: 612

mortgage middle: 537 (Experian)

Vantage:

tu: 591

equifax: 593

Prior to ACT CA issue:

fico: 

equifax: 644

experian: 648

Transunion: 632

 
Mortgage middle: 599 ( Experian) 

My vantage scores were roughly the same.

At the beginning of this year I had over 13,000 in collections. I disputed several items ( truly incorrect/not mine) and my Collections got down to just over 4,000. I paid two in full one for 464 and one for 148 and they both dropped off. I was left with premier debt for 3455, which I submitted the dispute to earlier this month. 

[Anonymous]

I also forgot to mention, Transunion is my least affected collection wise. Premier debt does not report to them, and ACT is the only collection along with a 100$ Utility bill from 2014 that is set to fall off this year.  For some reason I have more inquires on TU than the other 2 bureaus. 

I believe my signature fico scores were added after the first hit from ACT so Transunion wasn't affected by the balance change.

[FireMedic1]

Unfortunately collection balances dont figure into scores. Kinda of blessing in a good way. Its the collection itself that hurts. To keep having the deal with the CRA's with disputes can hurt more each time you file a dispute. It updates your scores as a new entry. Try to deal with the CA only. Play lets make a deal and see if they will agreee the PFD if you paid them off. TU may have more HP's because whoever you applied with pulls just them. Its not like Cap1 who pulls all three. Call the CA's. Money talks and you know what walks.

[Anonymous]

I will try and call them tomorrow and see what I can work out. The total balance now is only 1017, which isn't much. I just wanted to pay 200 bi-weekly as to not dig too much into my budget. If they delete that way it will be faster than waiting for the dispute. 

[Anonymous]

Most of the time if a collector is willing to PFD, they'll do it on lump sum or payments as long as you're paying in full. A few will PFD a settled offer but for others, the terms of repayment for deletion depend more on paying the full amount rather than whether you do it at once or over a period of time.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for replying. I haven't called ACT yet because I am not confident that they would honor a pfd. 

They mailed me a copy of the payment arrangement made prior to them reporting to the CRA's, and our agreement was that it would not be reported as long as the payments cleared. The representative said if the payment was canceled or didn't clear then there was little they could do to help. 

They reported the correct balance after the first payment. Then updated the balance to the original amount, and reported the account as closed with a recent missed payment. 

I do not understand why this was done as I have the agreement they sent me, and my bank statement showing the payment cleared. 

I am worried that if I call to do a pif/pfd they would agree to it, but not follow through. 

I also just got a letter from Credence for an old T-Mobile account, it was from 2017. I contacted them and paid in full so it wouldn't hit my credit. They were extremely easy to deal with.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

If you have a written contract and you fulfilled your end of the agreement, you can sue them for breach of contract.

[Anonymous]

Yes I do. It has the dates, amounts, and terms exactly as it was during the first phone conversation and the payment cleared my account with no problem. 

My DH wonders if they misreported, tried to fix that which is what resulted in the "closed account" remark. I don't know though.