What's the deal?

[Anonymous]

I've heard these stories before but now I'm personally experiencing it. I'm looking to get a mortgage by the end of the year. For the last 5-6 years, my credit was it the 500s. Now, it's in the 700s. I haven't had any recent lates or missed payments in a few years. All of the baddies were from 2016 or early 2017.

The thing is when my credit was bad, I was NEVER contacted by any of the OCs or collection agencies.  Now that my credit score has gone up and I'm months away from applying for a mortgage, all these small time collection agencies and debts are coming out of the woodwork.

Is the timing just a coincidence or is there some type of monitoring being used by CAs to see that my credit is getting better and that I might be in a better financial position?

[DollyLama]

The latter. Too often they soft pull your files to see if improving, they do this to encourage you to pay. 

Go by the Date of First Deliquency, because some may be getting close to aging often. Many are workable for a pay for delete - google the CA and pay for delete. It will most likely lead you to some threads back here on the forums. 

As far as mortgage, make sure you are using your mortgage scores, and not FICO 8 scores, and differences can vary a great deal. The only place I know to get those are here. 

[coreysw12]

I have a slightly different, but similar story.

When I was home shopping in 2010, I had a bunch of old unpaid collections that were about 6.5 years old. Mostly I hadn't heard a peep from any of them for years. Suddenly, when the accounts were due to fall off my report in a couple months, they aggressively started trying to collect. Or, at the very least, get me to verbally make a mistake that would reset the statute of limitations.

For about 3 months, I was answering DAILY phone calls from creditors, and saying "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Suddenly, on literally THE day that the statute of limitations was up and the accounts were due to fall off my reports, low and behold, the calls stopped.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've heard these stories before but now I'm personally experiencing it. I'm looking to get a mortgage by the end of the year. For the last 5-6 years, my credit was it the 500s. Now, it's in the 700s. I haven't had any recent lates or missed payments in a few years. All of the baddies were from 2016 or early 2017.

The thing is when my credit was bad, I was NEVER contacted by any of the OCs or collection agencies.  Now that my credit score has gone up and I'm months away from applying for a mortgage, all these small time collection agencies and debts are coming out of the woodwork.

Is the timing just a coincidence or is there some type of monitoring being used by CAs to see that my credit is getting better and that I might be in a better financial position?

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Yes as other posted mentioned they do. A lot of agencies have a "trigger" that alerts them when you apply for a new auto loan, new mortgage/refi on mortgage, even if you once had a lien or judgment and that was satisfied.  If there is "data" out there it is being utilized.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the input. The good thing is that most of these little bills have been for relatively small amounts. I've been paying them off with the OCs and circumventing the CAs. 

[Queen_Etherea]

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@coreysw12 wrote:

I have a slightly different, but similar story.

When I was home shopping in 2010, I had a bunch of old unpaid collections that were about 6.5 years old. Mostly I hadn't heard a peep from any of them for years. Suddenly, when the accounts were due to fall off my report in a couple months, they aggressively started trying to collect. Or, at the very least, get me to verbally make a mistake that would reset the statute of limitations.

For about 3 months, I was answering DAILY phone calls from creditors, and saying "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Suddenly, on literally THE day that the statute of limitations was up and the accounts were due to fall off my reports, low and behold, the calls stopped.

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only thing that can reset the SOL is making an actual payment. There's nothing you can say to a collector that will allow them to reset that clock. 

[coreysw12]

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@Queen_Etherea wrote:

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@coreysw12 wrote:

I have a slightly different, but similar story.

When I was home shopping in 2010, I had a bunch of old unpaid collections that were about 6.5 years old. Mostly I hadn't heard a peep from any of them for years. Suddenly, when the accounts were due to fall off my report in a couple months, they aggressively started trying to collect. Or, at the very least, get me to verbally make a mistake that would reset the statute of limitations.

For about 3 months, I was answering DAILY phone calls from creditors, and saying "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Suddenly, on literally THE day that the statute of limitations was up and the accounts were due to fall off my reports, low and behold, the calls stopped.

---

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only thing that can reset the SOL is making an actual payment. There's nothing you can say to a collector that will allow them to reset that clock. 

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You may be right, but my understanding at the time was that even simply acknowledging that the debt is yours is enough to reset the SOL. I'm sure the laws vary from state to state, as well. The advice I was given at the time was to do anything in my power to avoid acknowledging the debt was legitimate and mine.