A little bit of background:
Around 8 years ago I turned 18 and Bank of America had given me a $2000 credit card. Not having any sense of responsibility or knowledge on managing my credit, I went wreckless, maxed out the card when I was in college, and worst of all I decided not to pay seeing how I was getting drowned with $175 minimum payments.
Fast forward to 2007, the account was sold to Credit America (never reported to my CR), then re-sold to Midland Funding for collection.
At first in 2008, Midland Funding started reporting the collection in Equifax. I started the dispute and had success, and it was succesfully deleted.
In 2010, it returned, but this time they were reporting to Experian. Last year I began the dispute process again, and lucky me....DELETED after 30 days.
Now, I guess they had only one way to go...Transunion. I began the same process 6 months ago with the disputes. No dice. Transunion kept coming back with "Verified". Multiple tries, and it came back with the same answer. I almost gave up, and thought "I must face my consequences, and pay up....it's the only way to get rid of Midland Funding". Then I grew suspicious, as I was getting my disputes answered within a week. This made me think they werent disputing AT ALL.
I took the advice found on this forum, and decided to send Midland Funding a debt validation letter, certified by mail and all. This was 14 days ago, and when I picked up the mail yesterday....there it was. Midland Funding had sent me a letter, and quickly after opening it I found this answer:
"Dear Mr. XXXXXX XXXXXX
Based on the information provided to us, we have instructed the three major credit reporting agencies to delete the above referenced MCM account from your credit file.
Please be advised, our credit reporting does not affect any credit reporting of this account by the original creditor."
I think its pretty clear......the battle seems to be over.
A $4,896 collection from the original $2,090 seems to be finally gone forever.
I learned from my mistakes, and now I'am a more responsbile person with my lines of credit.
Never EVER, will I let this happen again.
Around 8 years ago I turned 18 and Bank of America had given me a $2000 credit card. Not having any sense of responsibility or knowledge on managing my credit, I went wreckless, maxed out the card when I was in college, and worst of all I decided not to pay seeing how I was getting drowned with $175 minimum payments.
Fast forward to 2007, the account was sold to Credit America (never reported to my CR), then re-sold to Midland Funding for collection.
At first in 2008, Midland Funding started reporting the collection in Equifax. I started the dispute and had success, and it was succesfully deleted.
In 2010, it returned, but this time they were reporting to Experian. Last year I began the dispute process again, and lucky me....DELETED after 30 days.
Now, I guess they had only one way to go...Transunion. I began the same process 6 months ago with the disputes. No dice. Transunion kept coming back with "Verified". Multiple tries, and it came back with the same answer. I almost gave up, and thought "I must face my consequences, and pay up....it's the only way to get rid of Midland Funding". Then I grew suspicious, as I was getting my disputes answered within a week. This made me think they werent disputing AT ALL.
I took the advice found on this forum, and decided to send Midland Funding a debt validation letter, certified by mail and all. This was 14 days ago, and when I picked up the mail yesterday....there it was. Midland Funding had sent me a letter, and quickly after opening it I found this answer:
"Dear Mr. XXXXXX XXXXXX
Based on the information provided to us, we have instructed the three major credit reporting agencies to delete the above referenced MCM account from your credit file.
Please be advised, our credit reporting does not affect any credit reporting of this account by the original creditor."
I think its pretty clear......the battle seems to be over.
A $4,896 collection from the original $2,090 seems to be finally gone forever.
I learned from my mistakes, and now I'am a more responsbile person with my lines of credit.
Never EVER, will I let this happen again.
In the garden until June 2014
@DaBears wrote:Word of advise!!! Unpaid debt never goes away. It will continue to follow you until it's paid. It's past the CRTP for being listed on your credit report. If you ever apply for a mortgage of $150K+ or a job of $75K+ it can come back and bite you as it could be pulled by a factual credit report. It doesn't happen often but it can happen. Best of luck.
Community Leader,
DaBears
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind, and hopefully this things does leave me alone forever.