First Premier Reporting/Advice

Anonymous · ‎09-01-2019

Hi,
First post here, hoping it’s in the right place. I had a very tough time in 2013, accepted a mail offer with First Premier—Highway robbery predators. Credit line back then was $500. Lost two jobs & was hospitalized through most of ‘14 & 15 after surgery. No bankruptcies. They eventually charged it off, but they’re now reporting my balance is $1100.

In my state the statute of limitations is 6 yrs. According to my credit reports, last payment to them was in Nov 2013. I have 2 questions—

1) Who do they sell their debts to for management? I’m willing to do a pay for delete with their agency. (Or)
2) Are they famous for suing people on small balances and adding interest after closing the account in their end?

I’ve gotten my scores to over 700 with lots of payoffs and hard work, but that one debt is hanging there and they keep adding interest to the balance per Credit Karma every month.

I think I got an offer to settle for less than the original credit amount from some collection agency about a year ago, but I’ve ripped the place apart and can’t find that offer letter for settlement.

From reading these forums they seem to be sharks who are hard to deal with. I don’t care to pay them a decent amount but not if they’ve added 150% of the original limit on a dead card.

Should I let it go and wait until November if this year and risk being sued? Has anyone been sued by them? Since I’ve gotten a decent score now and have several low interest cards I don’t want to risk a “public record” on my reports.

To be clear, I’ve gotten paper copies downloaded of my actual credit reports and they all say “charged off,” (not) “reassigned.”
Advice? Anyone know who buys FP’s charge-offs? Will they try to take me to court?

Again, this is my first post. Sorry so wordy & I don’t know the abbreviations yet. Thanks!

Remedios · ‎09-02-2019

Hi and welcome to the forums @Anonymous

First I'm going to answer your questions

1) Who do they sell their debts to for management? I’m willing to do a pay for delete with their agency. (Or)

Because after a certain period of time passes, they do not believe they will recover any money from the borrower. So, debt is sold to a CA for fraction of the amount, but something is better than nothing, right?

Original creditors wont do PFD. That is a practice reserved for collection agencies. Charged off account stays, but if you want to pay, you'd be paying collection agency if debt was truly sold. If debt was never sold, but collection agency is collecting on their behalf, you'd be paying collection agency again. If debt was sold to CA, you can try PFD with them, and if collection account is removed, charge off stays, but reflecting $0 balance. Hope that makes sense

2) Are they famous for suing people on small balances and adding interest after closing the account in their end?

Fees and interest can be added. That's unfortunate but legal. If by they, you mean FP, they are not "famous" for suing people for small amounts.

So, now we move on.

If SOL is 6 years, you're close to being out of it. If your last payment was in November of 2013, DOFD will be after that date. Usually it starts with first 30 day late, so in your case that will be December or January.

You'd need to grab a copy of free annual credit report and see what's being reported as date of first delinquency (DOFD). SOL would be expiring 6 years after that, and account should be removed from your credit report no longer than 7.5 years after that date, usually at 7 year mark.

However, just because you'll be out of SOL and eventually CO will be off your reports, that still does not mean that debt is erased. Collection agencies can and will attempt to collect on this indefinitely.

Your options are pay in full, settle for the amount less than owed or do nothing and see what happens.

You can call FP and find out who currently holds the authority to collect on this debt if you're inclined to do so. It's a bit hard to advise you hw to proceed if we dont know whether it's still with FP, collection agency that's only authorized to collect on their behalf or outright sold.

So, get a copy of annual credit report and find out who holds the debt.

Good luck

Anonymous · ‎09-02-2019

Thank you for the kind reply. I realize all of what you’re saying to be true. I have copies of all 3 major bureau reports, it’s just that none of them have a listing of “who” the debt was sold/assigned to — and all three only say “chargeoff.”

That’s why I was looking for anyone who might know which company they usually assign to—so that I could make a deal with them for deletion. I suppose I could call the company directly, to ask them who, but I’d have to word it carefully and not claim the debt.

I’m only interested in paying the original amount which was far under the limit) and be done with it. Otherwise, going from the 500’s into the 750’s and suddenly having a civil service warrant at the door isn’t my dream of a great 7 years. I’m mad I’ve let it go this long.

Thank you.

Remedios · ‎09-02-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for the kind reply. I realize all of what you’re saying to be true. I have copies of all 3 major bureau reports, it’s just that none of them have a listing of “who” the debt was sold/assigned to — and all three only say “chargeoff.”

That probably means they still own the debt. That also means you owe them money.

That’s why I was looking for anyone who might know which company they usually assign to—so that I could make a deal with them for deletion. I suppose I could call the company directly, to ask them who, but I’d have to word it carefully and not claim the debt.

It does not look like it's currently assigned to anyone. If they do decide to sell the debt, it might be sold to a collection agency that does not accept PFD. So, in addition to charge off, you end up a collection account also. Double whammy, lots of points lost

I’m only interested in paying the original amount which was far under the limit) and be done with it. Otherwise, going from the 500’s into the 750’s and suddenly having a civil service warrant at the door isn’t my dream of a great 7 years. I’m mad I’ve let it go this long.

Hopefully they allow you to negotiate settlement amount. If they are not willing, there is nothing you can do about it. The fees and interest that has been accruing was stated in terms of service when you got the card.
Ask them and see if they are willing to settle for amounts less than owed

Thank you.

siveriano · ‎09-02-2019

If this is First Premier Bank, I owed them money for a CC that was $500 balance and was charged off at almost $874, it went 30 days late on July 2013. I do recall getting mail from someone about this debt a while back but never really paid attention to it.

I started repairing my credit couple of months back and found an email and a sample letter I sent them which ended in my account being removed from the 3 agencies, I did some digging and found "errors" on my reports, basically information that didnt match each other and added it to the email.

I dont have much experience but again this is what worked for me. Make sure to edit it to your situation if you are going to use it.

presref@premierbankcard.com

"To Whom It May Concern: This is a Notice of Direct Dispute with you, under the provisions of FCRA 623(a)(8)(D), of the accuracy of information you have posted to my credit file. On a few separate occasions I have disputed with all three credit bureaus Equifax, Transunion, and Experian pertaining to a credit card with First Premier Bank acct# 517800XXXXXXXXXX for the date of last activity, payment history, status * and the dispute was returned verified. After some further investigation on my part, I am also concerned that these accounts may not belong to me, and/or the reporting to Equifax,Experian and Transunion may be inaccurate. In compliance with FCRA 623(a)(8)(D), and enacting regulations published at 74 Fed Reg 31484 (July 1, 2009), this Notice includes Identification of the specific information being disputed Transunion, Experian and Equifax reporting for Acct Number: acct# 517800XXXXXXXXXX Basis for the dispute: On Equifax Acct # 517800XXXXXXXXXX status is closed, but reports a 30+ days late on July 2013 then on time payments from August 2013 to June 2015 then Fail to pay from July 2015 to April 2016 when all the report ceases; However on Transunion is reporting as not reported and closed as charged off without a date of last activity, and on Experian it is reporting as date of last payment June 2013 30+ days late July 2013 and fail to pay on September 2013and November 2013 then not reported until April 2015, but with a good payment history up until June 2013. Supporting documentation: I have included the excerpts of my credit reports showing how these accounts are reporting Under the provisions of FCRA 623(a)(8)(E), you have the duty to review all of the information in this Notice of Dispute, to complete your investigation, and report back to me the results of your investigation, within 30-days of my Notice of Dispute. In addition, I humbly request that you provide me with complete transaction and payment history, a copy of any signed contracts or agreements, and total outstanding balance you believe I owe.

Thank You,

Your Name.

DOB: ##/##/####

Last 4 : ####"

RobertEG · ‎09-02-2019

They are not required to investigate a direct dispute that is substantially duplicative of a prior dispute filed with a CRA.

They can dismiss wthout any investigation any direct dispute that is substantially the same as a prior dispute filed with a CRA and verified.

See 16 CFR 660.4 et seq for the implementing rules for the direct dispute process, with the provision for dismissing a direct dispute provided for under subsection 16 CFR 660.4(f).

siveriano · ‎09-02-2019

I'm aware of it, heck i never actually dispute with any of the credit agencies, I just copy paste the sample i found online and totally missed that spot from it and forgot to removed it but some people mentioned this working for them and it did for me so i thought it was worth sharing.

They first reply to my email asking for a mailing address then few weeks later they sent this Letter.

Anonymous · ‎09-02-2019

Hi Siveriano,
Thank you very much. I’d like to give both of you kudos, but it won’t let me for some reason...

I did a double take on the paper copy to see if in fact there was any assignee or indicators of who had bought or was handling the debt—nothing there. Blank.

I too remember receiving a letter with a 50% settlement offer, but we were doing so much ripping out & remodeling I had to have tossed it. Maybe I’ll find it in a box in 10 years or something.

From what I’ve read, they’re not big on lawsuits for small amounts, and surely they wouldn’t spend $$ on an attorney across several states like that, but I’m loathe to be overconfident.

All I remember about the offer is that it had maybe 3 offers, one to make payments, one to pay the full amount of like $400’ish etc and that it was an Eastern seaboard state it came from (a 3rd party collection company).

I don’t want to wake a sleeping dog...I suppose I can look for irregularities or keep looking for the companies they assign to.

Thanks for the letter example, and congratulations on getting them to back off! They’ve made plenty of cash on the backs of struggling people. Sickening actually.