Where to begin...? HELP!

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone!

I need a little help.  I filed BK in 10/10 - now I would like to try to get some of the accounts deleted.  I want to PFD and GW them and see if the companies will cooperate.  

One question I have - if both the CA and the OC are reporting - who should I go to first to ask for the deletion/PFD?  If one agrees to delete  -what do I do with the other one?

Thanks!  

[JM-AM]

You would have to first know who owns the debt. Does the OC still own it? Does the CA own it? Are both the OC and the CA reporting?

If the account was sold to the CA then you will be required to pay and make agreement with the CA. If the CA agrees to a PFD you would still have to GW the OC as the Ca can not remove the OC reporting.

If the account is still owned by the OC then you can pay either the OC or the CA, but IMO it is best to pay the OC. Once again the OC may agree to a PFD but they can not remove the CA reporting. You would have to try other avenues with the CA if pay the OC such as dispute with the CA directly. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you!  How do I go about finding out who owns the account?  I am attempting to PFD after BK to improve my credit... what do you think?

[JM-AM]

You would probably need older reports before BK to determine who owns the debt or just call the OC up and ask them since once included in BK they are suppose to report a 0 balance. 

If you have older reports then you would have to see if both the OC and CA are reporting a balance or if just the CA is reporting a balance. Keep in mind coming to an agreement with the OC will not remove the CA reporting and vice versa. 

While it is commendable to own up to your debts I am very unsure if paying them off will have much of an impact in your FICO scores since the BK is very new. On a manual review it will look good that you have owned up to your responsibility even after BK. 

Hopefully some one else will chime in with some better news since I am unsure if this will be beneficial for you.

You do not have to explain yourself to me or anyone else here but I do have a question. You do not have to answer if you do not want to which is okay. 

Why would you file BK if with-in a few months you are going to pay them off?

[RobertEG]

+1

Just a few clarifying comments  on debts vs collections.

When an OC reports on their original account with you, and does a referral for collection, they can do that in one of two ways

They can choose to retain ownership of the debt itself, and merely assign a debt collector to collect on their behalf.

Or, they can sell the debt to a deb collector, and thus remove themselves from any further collection matters.

If the OC merely assigns collection authority to a debt collector, then the debt collector can post a CA to your CR.  With reporting of that CA, the debt collector will report a balance being collected,  Since the OC still owns the debt, they will still show the balance of the debt in their reporting.  This may look like "double reporting" of the same debt, but it is not.  Even though they can, and initially are usually, for the same amount, the OC is reporting the debt owed to them, and the CA is reporting the amount of debt they are authorized to collect.  You could offer a PFD to either the OC or the debt collector.  But if one accepts the PFD, they can only agree to deletion of their OWN prior reporting, and not to deletion by the other.  You would PFD one, and if they accept, then GW the other.

If the OC sells the debt to a debt collector, the debt collector will then make the same reporting to a CRA that they would have made if the account was merely for collection.  Tbey use the identical reporting code for the balance.  But the unreported distinction is that they own this balance that they are collecting.  A simple review of the CA account wont tell you this.  However, if the OC sold the debt, then they no longer own it, and must update the balance owed to them under the OC account to $0.

Then the "debt" appears only in the CA reporting.  So, as has been said, without actually talking to them, that is the way you can determine debt ownership. .Is the OC now reporting a $0 balance?

If the debt collector owns the debt, you cant offer PFD to the OC because they no longer have ownership of, and thus any authoriity to accept payment of, the debt,

You would then be limited to a PFD offer to only the CA.  If they accept, you would have to go back to the OC and separately request a GW deletion from them of their separate reporting.

[Anonymous]

Hi JM-AM,

Thanks for your advice.

To answer your question, I filed in October (before I found this site)... I can't undo it, but I'm hoping to be able to make a fresh start and clean up what I can of the mess I made, build new payment history with a secured loan turned into a secured cc, and let time heal the rest...

I understand that it may not make a different on my FICO score immediately, but in a few years, after paying new TLs on time and having positive TLs, I'm hoping it will help then.  What do you think?  Should I post my accounts here for a better answer?  Thanks!

[BungalowMo]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Should I post my accounts here for a better answer?  Thanks!

---

That would help.  Post everything except your actual acct #'s

We expecially need to know what the posted balance is & what is the DOFD.  If you can tell that a certain OC has sent that debt to a CA, post the CA data imediately following the OC data.  Makes it easier.

You've come to the right place for help.  This site got me to the 700 club across the board!  I owe them a lot!!!!

[Anonymous]

OK... here are the accounts.  All of them should be reporting IIB, but not all of them are.  They are mostly showing a 0 balance - except for my student loans - which I hope to GW  b/c they only have one derrog item on them each.

The other issue I have is my mortgage was sold twice from OHio Savings to Amtrust to Saxon and Ohio and Amtrust are now closed companies and I can't contact hem to dispute not reporting as IIB.

I made 10 years of poor choices - not realizing how much damage I was doing... I'm hoping I can at least.

[Creditaddict]

I'm pretty sure you can not pay accounts that have been included in Bankruptcy once the BK is finalized.

[Tazman81]

---

@Creditaddict wrote:

I'm pretty sure you can not pay accounts that have been included in Bankruptcy once the BK is finalized.

---

Actually you can pay restitution to any company you choose even if they are included in bankruptcy.

Now, my only question is why would you want to start making payments to debts that were discharged instead of paying on debts that you still owe?  Most likely, your student loans were not included in your bankruptcy (as they rarely ever are).  Why not go ahead and start making payments on those with the funds that you have so that you can jump start the repair process.  Then you should go ahead and get yourself an emergency fund.  Normally they say 6-8months of living expenses, but in these times, I would go 12-14months of living expenses in savings.

If you are looking at cleaning up your report, the first thing I would do is contact the CRAs and any account that should be listed as "Included in Bankruptcy" I would make sure that it shows as that.  It should also be changed to reflect a 0 balance as well.

As others have said, I do think it's admirable to try to pay debts after bankruptcy, but you need to first get yourself in a situation financially where you will never have to go through a bankruptcy again.