Should I pay or wait? What else can I do?

[Anonymous]

Background:

My current house is via VA @ 3.5%.  I'm considering refi & purchasing a 2nd home in parallel and would need to close on 2nd NLT mid April.  Sooner the better.

My vantage 3.0 hovers in around 750, however that is currently accounting for above 30% CC usage.  I just paid them all down to 5%, so at the next cycle, I'd imagine that will be reflected.  I've got my Vantage and FICO 8 around 800 a few months back but am struggling to get my actual meaningful combined FICO up above 760.

I have a single negative account showing up on 2 of 3 agencies and am thinking this may be the issue.  It's an old dental bill I've tried to dispute several times.

Question:

-When does the 7yr clock start?  From the first day of delinquency from the original creditor or date sent to a collection agency?

The original account date = March 2014 (approaching 7yrs) whereas the date placed in collection was Jan 2018. 

*TU does indicate the estimated month that this item will be removed: 3/21 so perhaps that answers my own question.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can wait until March or April to see if it disappears and/or if things adjust in a positive direction so I'm considering viable options.

1. Obviously it would be to pay in full.  This is 3900 so I elected to use my spare coin to pay down 11k across 3 CC's to get under the 5% from 67% utilization over the past 3 months.  

2. Negotiate with collections.  Realistically, if I (and they) know I'm approaching the 7yr end.  I'm wondering if I could possibly throw them 10% for an immediate settlement and letter.  I don't know if the point difference would be worth it, but getting above 760 certainly helps.  This also assumes I can get the 2 agencies to remove it in a timely fashion.  This also assumes they accept a 10% offer.

3. Take the gamble and hope it gets removed in March, which is only 4 weeks... or end of March which is 8 weeks pushing my opportunity to close by end of April a close one.

I was also looking into boost methods, though Experian boost doesn't connect with NFCU so that was a dead end.

Any further recommendations welcomed.

Thank you in advance!

[OmarGB9]

I'd it falls off next month, you should be well within the early exclusion (EE) window for all 3 bureaus. Which 2 bureaus show the collection? TU is one, which is the other? TU allows EE up to 6 months before, so if you're only a month out, you're definitely within the range. All you have to do is call TU up and ask for a supervisor and request early exclusion of the collection. EX allows 3 months early exclusion, with the date shown on your reports already including 2 of the 3 months, therefore you could request a month before that. EQ allows one month early, so again you're good to go, though asking them is a bit risky as they tend to mess stuff up.

And the 7 year clock starts on the DOFD of the original account.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Background:

My current house is via VA @ 3.5%.  I'm considering refi & purchasing a 2nd home in parallel and would need to close on 2nd NLT mid April.  Sooner the better.

My vantage 3.0 hovers in around 750, however that is currently accounting for above 30% CC usage.  I just paid them all down to 5%, so at the next cycle, I'd imagine that will be reflected.  I've got my Vantage and FICO 8 around 800 a few months back but am struggling to get my actual meaningful combined FICO up above 760.

I have a single negative account showing up on 2 of 3 agencies and am thinking this may be the issue.  It's an old dental bill I've tried to dispute several times.

Question:

-When does the 7yr clock start?  From the first day of delinquency from the original creditor or date sent to a collection agency?

The original account date = March 2014 (approaching 7yrs) whereas the date placed in collection was Jan 2018. 

*TU does indicate the estimated month that this item will be removed: 3/21 so perhaps that answers my own question.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can wait until March or April to see if it disappears and/or if things adjust in a positive direction so I'm considering viable options.

1. Obviously it would be to pay in full.  This is 3900 so I elected to use my spare coin to pay down 11k across 3 CC's to get under the 5% from 67% utilization over the past 3 months.  

2. Negotiate with collections.  Realistically, if I (and they) know I'm approaching the 7yr end.  I'm wondering if I could possibly throw them 10% for an immediate settlement and letter.  I don't know if the point difference would be worth it, but getting above 760 certainly helps.  This also assumes I can get the 2 agencies to remove it in a timely fashion.  This also assumes they accept a 10% offer.

3. Take the gamble and hope it gets removed in March, which is only 4 weeks... or end of March which is 8 weeks pushing my opportunity to close by end of April a close one.

I was also looking into boost methods, though Experian boost doesn't connect with NFCU so that was a dead end.

Any further recommendations welcomed.

Thank you in advance!

---

+1 to what the poster above gave for advive. Just request EE from TU. It probabaly has already dropped of EX. Probably EQ any time this month it will drop on its own (towards end of the month if not already).

Also, you need to find out your mortgage scores. Boosted EX will not help your EX mortgage score. Your scores seem high enough already, but you really need to find out the mortgage ones as they could vary drastically from your Fico8s/9s and Vantage Scores. EX should give you your mortgage score with them on the app. 

You can curcle back ti paying that debt later after the refi, I would just work on getting it off TU niw and it should drop or have dropped off the other 2 already or soon.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Called TU:  Initial rep basically said in order to do Early Exclusion they had to file a dispute first and that could take up to 30 days.  I kindly asked to be escalated to a supervisor who told me, they don't do EE's but I could file a dispute.  I played a bit dumb and also asked to be escalated, where I was put on hold and then came back to what I think was the same person who said he was the supervisor who was clearly irritated and again told me TU doesn't do EE's but I could file a dispute.

The other agency is EQ.

[Anonymous]

This is very helpful, thanks.  Tried calling TU:  See reply in the thread.

I forgot to ask:  EX (online) via free account only shows FICO8. 

Any other cost-effective ways to view mortgage score(s)?  myFICO? lol

[OmarGB9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Called TU:  Initial rep basically said in order to do Early Exclusion they had to file a dispute first and that could take up to 30 days.  I kindly asked to be escalated to a supervisor who told me, they don't do EE's but I could file a dispute.  I played a bit dumb and also asked to be escalated, where I was put on hold and then came back to what I think was the same person who said he was the supervisor who was clearly irritated and again told me TU doesn't do EE's but I could file a dispute.

The other agency is EQ.

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Sometimes you have to HUCA (hang up, call again), possibly on a different day. They DO do EE, and they are still currently doing it (see threads on the rebuilding forum here for proof). Note that technically it is filed as a dispute, but it's a different "type" of dispute.

EQ I wouldn't mess with. As @Anonymous mentioned above, with them it should age off naturally within the next month anyway.

[Anonymous]

What's more interesting is:

@OmarGB9 

I pulled all 3 reports via annualreport (5hrs ago) where TU showed this Adverse Account, I printed the report.  When I just called they also referenced this account.  When going online directly to TU in order to attempt to file a dispute / obsolete, or printing my report this account is nowhere to be found.  

@Anonymous 

Regarding EQ:  Since I want to initiate the refi sooner than later would it be worth trying?  EDIT:  Just noticed the DOFD in Apr 15, 2014 so it's probably not worth trying now until Maybe March 16 eh.  That just squeezes my closing by end of April (hopefully)

You said to worry about paying the debt after the refi; dumb question but.... if it's past 7yrs old, not on the report other than being a good person what advantage does paying after it's been removed?  Will it come back?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What's more interesting is:

@OmarGB9 

I pulled all 3 reports via annualreport (5hrs ago) where TU showed this Adverse Account, I printed the report.  When I just called they also referenced this account.  When going online directly to TU in order to attempt to file a dispute / obsolete, or printing my report this account is nowhere to be found.  

@Anonymous 

Regarding EQ:  Since I want to initiate the refi sooner than later would it be worth trying?  EDIT:  Just noticed the DOFD in Apr 15, 2014 so it's probably not worth trying now until Maybe March 16 eh.  That just squeezes my closing by end of April (hopefully)

You said to worry about paying the debt after the refi; dumb question but.... if it's past 7yrs old, not on the report other than being a good person what advantage does paying after it's been removed?  Will it come back?

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That's too bad. That happened to another member here. They went to go the online route and the avcount is no longer visible to be selected, but was still on their CRs. You may just have to wait til March 1st for it to come off now. If it is on your credit report, and not the dispute list, you can check and pull from TU every 24 hours for free (no score), those reports should also list "estimated date of removal".

As far as EQ, that probably means it should age off in March, I would guess towards the end of Feb.

Just because rhe reporting period has passed and you cannot be sued for it, that does not mean you don't still owe the debt. Being outside of SOL and reporting window just means you can deal with it on your terms in the future when you are able to. The benefit is paying your debts back.

[OmarGB9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What's more interesting is:

@OmarGB9 

I pulled all 3 reports via annualreport (5hrs ago) where TU showed this Adverse Account, I printed the report.  When I just called they also referenced this account.  When going online directly to TU in order to attempt to file a dispute / obsolete, or printing my report this account is nowhere to be found.  

@Anonymous 

Regarding EQ:  Since I want to initiate the refi sooner than later would it be worth trying?  EDIT:  Just noticed the DOFD in Apr 15, 2014 so it's probably not worth trying now until Maybe March 16 eh.  That just squeezes my closing by end of April (hopefully)

You said to worry about paying the debt after the refi; dumb question but.... if it's past 7yrs old, not on the report other than being a good person what advantage does paying after it's been removed?  Will it come back?

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I'll bring in @Anonymous so he can recount his experience with TU. I believe what you just described happened to him.

[Anonymous]

@OmarGB9 is right, this is what happened to me as well. However I had been trying to dispute online as that had worked for many people recently. They were able to get deletions instantly but in my case it would go into a full-blown dispute (there was some error with my TU access and I wasn't getting to the same screen as others). After a couple of tries, I was given direct links to the proper page but at that point, the account was not visible. I'm assuming because I had disputed more than once, it flagged my disputes as frivolous and took away my ability to further dispute, so now I'm stuck waiting the last couple months for it to die on the vine naturally. And my phone experience mirrors yours - despite EE being granted to many, I always get the same guy regardless of the day or time I call and am told they don't grant EE.