Should I add my mom as an AU?

[GApeachy]

@FireMedic1 should she or shouldn't she have been notified of a collection acct? Particularly a "new" collection?

Would debt validation get her from point A to point B quicker?  

@Anonymous like Firemedic1 asked, what is SOL in Mom's state? That's as important to know as DOFD. From there you can go different routes but which?  Get those dates.

[Anonymous]

@FireMedic1 and @GApeachy 

I'm not sure about the SOL. The first site that pops up on Google says 6 but everything else I see says 4. She lives in Pa.

I don't know if this has anything to do with anything but there was a post on this site from I think 2019 ( I've been reading a lot lol) that synchrony had deleted their trade lines. There were several other people saying the same thing and that it wasn't due to drop off yet and felt like synchrony had purged their systems. I think all the people that posted had paid their charge offs but it could it be possible they deleted my mom's too since they no longer owned the debt? Whether or not that's the case either way it's no longer listed that I can find. I also read that I can ask the collection agency but that worries me. I don't want to give them any reason to do anything that they haven't done yet.

I'm fine leaving the whole collection thing alone for a while and see if it ever drops off. If not in a year or so when it should definitely be past the 7 years then I'll ask if my mom wants to see about getting it off. Again I'm just worried about triggering something and it's been this long and I'm more concerned than she is about it all. 

I've never added or been an AU before so I'm not 100% on the ins and outs of it. If I added her it wouldn't effect me in any way, correct? The worst it would do for my mom is nothing but could potentially help her score, correct? Even though that alone might have no affect on anything.

Like I said I've been reading a lot and I'm starting to get more confused about things than I was before I started. I do want to thank the both of you for trying to help me though.

Edited to add- it wasn't the fact that I didn't answer the questions correctly to try and see her equifax report. The question had nothing to do with her. At first I was worried someone had stole her identity because the questions asked things like which bank has your home equity loan and another was how much is the monthly payment. She doesn't now nor has she ever had a home equity loan. I read that other people also have a hard time getting into that too. 

[FireMedic1]

I know we got away from saving money on insurance. The SOL for PA is 4 yrs. Its true Sync has been purging their reporting lately and that may have happened here. So PRS first got the account 09/23/2015. Its past the SOL so they cant sue. But the part that doesnt look right. They updated it 10/21 like they are trying to restart the SOL. Did you or Mom communicate in any way with PRS for them to restart the SOL clock with an update? Seems like some funny business going on.

On the other hand. Adding her as AU will help her util % if the card has a low util %. The balance chased card as you said is trashing her score. The AU may help a little by off setting that.

I'm going to call in @gdale6 and have him go over this thread about the collections. Its not passing the smell test. There was a thread last week PRS sued someone for $45. But try one those insurance comparision sites. I cant post the one i used.

[GApeachy]

@Anonymous something has come to mind.  If you can find her old bills with an acct. number that would be great.  Why?  

1. She didn't see where her cash pymts. were being applied to her Synch/Walmart balance.

2. Synchrony purging accts. from credit reports which leaves you no acct. number(s) to trace.

3. PRA updating recently...the acct. number listed, is it the same as the acct. number she had that you know of?

So if you can find any acct. number then you can determine and exclude the possibility (hopefully) that Mom may have had more than one Walmart acct.  I mean could she have had a store card (or a pymt plan like lay away she was paying on and got confused?) and then a Walmart credit card as well?  

Could her pymts. she thought she was paying actually had been going to a different acct.-  Another acct. in her name?

Ask her if she's ever applied for credit with them twice...over the years and maybe forgotten about doing so.  Also, see if she kept any receipts or if she has an online acct. to view and view pymt methods, dates, how purchases were paid through the Walmart website.

[GApeachy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Edited to add- it wasn't the fact that I didn't answer the questions correctly to try and see her equifax report. The question had nothing to do with her. At first I was worried someone had stole her identity because the questions asked things like which bank has your home equity loan and another was how much is the monthly payment. She doesn't now nor has she ever had a home equity loan. I read that other people also have a hard time getting into that too. 

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Those are typical questions to throw off someone who's trying to obtain info. on someone's acct. illegally.  It's a safeguard, doesn't mean someone stole her identity.

Edit to add:  sign her up for Wallethub.  Their timeline is amazing.  

[Anonymous]

@FireMedic1 

I just made her the credit karma and looked at her annual credit report for the first time. Before that we didn't even know she had a collection against her. She was always afraid someone had used her information without her knowledge, which was highly possible with her exes but thankfully? it's just her mess on her reports. I know I haven't contacted anyone about the collection and I don't believe she has. I know she hasn't over the phone or through mail but would they ever try over email? I can check her emails later and see if there's anything from them. Could it be possible they've been reporting it every month since 2015? Like I said she's never looked at her reports before and I just did for the first time a few days ago.

As far as her car insurance, she was paying almost 120 a month for basic coverage on a 2006 honda civic. She recently got a new (used) car and I told her to check other places for a better deal. She did but she's still paying around the same for the new car.

@GApeachy 

You weren't able to pay on a layaway at a regular register and that's where she'd pay her credit card, so even if she did have a layaway that wouldn't be it. She definitely only had the 1 card too, she applied in-store and never thought she'd even get that one.

She may have an old bill, she does keep some old paper work but it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I did sign up for wallethub and the only 2 accounts I see are her current JCP and the collection. The only info I see for the collection was it was added way back in Sept 2015.

To add a little more info, I know I know I write too much, but this might be helpful or maybe make things even more confusing. About a month ago I had gotten a couple calls saying they were dept collectors. I didn't answer, they left voice mails. I knew I didn't have any dept so I instantly deleted them thinking they were scammers. It could be possible it was for my mom but at the time we didn't know she had the collection. I just looked the number up and it's tied to a harris and harris dept collection. Anyone know anything about them? I blocked the number after the second time they called. 

Edited to add- I went through her email and she's never sent anything to any sort of debt collector or really anything at all besides people she knows. I also didn't see anything in her inbox from any sort of debt collector. So I'm pretty positive no one has done anything to reset the SOL.

I did think of another question though, I know I'm sorry. Can't I just ask the credit bureaus to delete it? Doesn't at least one of them delete I think I read 6 months early if you ask? What's the worst that could happen? It would go into dispute and I couldn't do anything else for 30 days right? But could that make the collection agency do anything? Oh and I'm assuming it's odd for something this old to still be reporting and is that why it smells fishy?

[GApeachy]

@Anonymous what's weird is that Wallethub did not even show when she opened the Walmart card....and not even have it listed or closed or anything.  Correct?  All it shows is the collection?  Did it show the name of the CA?

*First, did you click on the "credit timeline" (not full credit report) and scroll all the way down?  Keep scrolling as it populated to go way back in time?

[Anonymous]

@GApeachy  Correct, the only thing besides things like change of name and address that's listed are these 2.

A collections account from Portfolio Recovery Associates was added to your credit report on Sep 23, 2015.

And

Account Added - JCPenney Credit Card

A JCPenney Credit Card was opened on Jun 27, 1996.

[GApeachy]

@FireMedic1 do you think this should be disputed being OP's Mom resides in PA and sol there is 4 (?) years? 

[FireMedic1]

@GApeachyIts all too weird. I'd say yes. Wish we knew the actual DoFD. But it seems its served its time. The CRA's must monitor the period from reported DOFD and exclude the collection from normal credit reports it issues after a max period of 7 years plus 180 days from the reported DOFD.