kcadams1980

I DV'd them a year ago and got no response. I'm not sure what you mean about them reporting a collection on my report - the collection already shows up on all 3 reports, but b/c of the age of the debt and all the good history I've had since, my credit score has recovered pretty well. Do you mean that there could be a new action reported if I send a letter? If that's the case then I'll just wait it out...

Hi everyone, I have an old CO from 2006 (an HSBC card, $478 charged off), the only negative on my reports. I've worked pretty diligently over the past few years to build up new good credit, and just bought a house a month ago (FHA 4.75% I am stoked!). The CA holding this old debt is Midland Credit Mgmt and they have really ramped up their collection efforts since I started the mortgage process. They call me at least 3 times a day, every day, on my cell and I just want it to stop. I hang up on them every time, but of course they keep calling. I'm not going to pay the debt or try and do anything with it b/c my scores are in the high 600's and I've already bought a house so I don't need to qualify for anything... BTW, I *believe* the SOL on this debt is past (SOL is 4 years in TX, where I live) - the date of first delinquency on the HSBC card was Aug. 2006. I want to send a cease and desist letter, but I'm a little worried that will agitate the CA and get them to sell off the debt to someone else. Any advice on how I can word this letter just to get the harrassment to stop? My understanding is that if the SOL is past, then they cannot sue me for the old debt - but I want to make sure before I go off and send a letter. Thanks! Kelly

Hi everyone, With CB's help, I've managed to get my FICO score up to 680 from 625 last year, and still going well - thanks! I also spent months "snowballing" my husband's 3 high interest CC's (all maxxed out), and got them ALL down to zero balance about a year ago. I read (on CB and other places) that you should leave these revolving accounts open - so I did - but we did not use those cards and, well, the banks closed the accounts for non-use. Honestly, I'm not too upset about it, as it's just nice to have that monkey off our backs. I can't recall the exact number of lates he had, but there was a flurry of them on all 3 cards in 2009 - quite a few. Here's the kicker - the CapOne card he had (a measly $400 limit card) - after we paid off the balance in 2010, charged an annual fee in Jan 2011 and since we went paperless, we did not realize that they were charging us a late fee every month until we got a 5 months late notice in the mail. WTF! I know it was my fault for not continuing to monitor that account, but damn, that was frustrating. Anyhow, my husband called Cap1 and they said they recognized that we had paid off the balance and the $200 or so delinquency was just from that annual fee + late fees, so they said they would just waive the balance and close the account. I made sure that he asked them to stop reporting that TL as deliquent and they agreed. Perhaps it wasn't the BEST way to resolve the issue, but now that he's got no outstanding CC debt, I want to know how to move forward on repairing the past negatives. BTW, he also has a car loan (good history there) that will be paid in full in July. Any advice on this? I am pretty frustrated that the banks closed the accounts we worked so hard to get paid off... so is there any way now to get the creditors to stop reporting those lates? His fico as of today is 540, and I'd like to see it up to my level (high 600's) in a year... possible? Thanks - Kelly

He has a 401k that has a few million in it (but not a defined benefit pension, and I'm not sure he's drawing out of the 401k yet). He has been a self-employed consultant for over 2 years. He'll work several jobs a year, usually 3-6 months at a time, then he's also got plenty of capital gains as well. NO. Our loan officer DID NOT even ADDRESS the question of qualifying income with us. We were supposed to close next week and this is the first I'm hearing of it. When we first found out that my husband couldn't be listed on the loan, she "pre-approved" me for a the loan amound with my dad as the co-borrower. I don't understand why she did this, as we were obviously NOT pre-approved for anything. Everything was all sunshine and rainbows while my husband and I plunked down the earnest money, option money, inspection fee and appraisal fee - $2300 of which we will only get back $1500 if the deal goes down. Needless to say, I am pretty upset about that, $800 is not exactly a small chunk of change for us. Apparently now (so I've heard from our realtor, who seems to be the only person capable of communicating with the broker) the underwriter has a new "list" of documents he needs from my dad - so perhaps you're correct about the UW not understanding the returns. I imagine they're pretty complicated. Is it possible to fire a broker in the middle of this process? The idea of her making commission off this (if it goes through) pisses me off.

Thanks for the quick reply Brian. I believe it's been 2 years (at least) since he retired from full-time work at BP. The one time I got our lender on the phone she said something about the deductions he's taken on his business, and that his income was less this year than it was last year. Well, he took more jobs last year because they were good jobs to take. But even if he were to just take one 3 month job a year, well, he'd still be making more than I make in a year. What income is "ineligible?" Thanks.

So... My husband and I are first-time buyers and saved enough for an FHA loan DP. My credit is pretty decent (697 fico), but his is not (550 or something). My credit qualifies, but my income alone does not (I make just over $40k/yr and my husband makes about $50k). Because his credit is so shoddy (series of lates on credit cards, now all paid off), we can't use his income in the loan. BTW, the house in question is aprx $155k, monthly payments would be no higher than what we currently pay in rent. My father - who is pretty well-off and has a near perfect credit score - generously offered to be a co-borrower on the loan. He recently retired from full-time work as an oil exec and now works as a consultant making major bucks on various projects. His net worth is in the millions. BUT the mortgage broker is taking her sweet time getting us approved, and I've deduced that the hang-up is that my dad is self-employed. He's given them tax returns, the tax info on his consulting firm, bank statements from the last 2 years - what more do they need for god's sake?? How is it that a guy who has a few million in his 401k, plus a ton of capital gains, plus a lucrative (albeit part-time) business not easily qualify for a measly $155k loan? Furthermore, our broker has been incommunicado (not returning phone calls, emails, texts) for over 3 wks now and we're pretty pissed. Isn't it the JOB of the broker to keep their clients abreast of any pitfalls and/or alternate solutions during the underwriting process? I'm on the verge of firing her and looking elsewhere, but I thought some of the mortgage lending gurus here might provide some insight into why we're in this mess (since OUR lender is not explaining anything). Thanks - Kelly

Perfect! That sounds great, thanks.

Thanks, we will do that... As for the goodwill letters - is there a reasonable amount of time you should wait before sending those? It seems logical that you might want to get some space between the lates and your good history before those would be taken seriously... But I could be wrong.

Recently I found out that DH had a string of high interest credit cards that he consistently paid late... We're talking a TON of late payments, not just one or two. The most recent lates were in Feb. In Feb/March, when I discovered this (I've been pretty "hands off" about his finances in the past, my mistake) I really took control and started aggressively paying down the debt. He had 5 smaller limit cards, all with default int rates and near maxed out - now he is down to $200 left on ONE card after a few months, zero balances on the rest. What's the best way for him to reestablish good history? The vast majority of his lates are 30 day lates, I think I counted one or two 60 day lates and nothing over that. Thank god he does not have any CO's or CA's after him. He has a car payment that we'll continue to pay on (I'm taking over that one as well) for another 1.5 yrs till its paid off. No other loans or debts. Does it help his score over time just to keep the open CC accounts at zero balance? Or should he maybe pick one of them, spend $40 a month on it and pay it off every month? Thanks!

I ended up having to have my wife's paychecks deposited into my account and doling her an allowance every month (I got 7k of collections and 100k in student loan debt along with her as part of our marriage). She is very intelligent and reliable, but there is something about managing money and debt that triggers a defensive responsive in her. I put together a spreadsheet to show her how much interest and principle get paid on her student loans given a payment of $800 a month, $1600 a month, etc so we could plan long term and get rid of the debt. She didn't even want to look at it. I think it was a combination of shame and guilt that a decision she made to go to an expensive school as a naive 18 year old is going to cost both of us a sizable amount of money every month for a decade (or two). Maybe she thought if she didn't look at it, it would go away? At any rate, I decided that I can't be bitter about something like this if we want our relationship to be healthy. And she shouldn't have to feel guilty. I think growing together as a couple means that sometimes your SO will learn something that you learned years ago. You guys are right, I know... All of this is for the cause of buying a home in a few years, so really both of our financial houses need to be in order, and right now his debts cost us more than mine. I OWE more money from student loans, but they are in good standing and have low interest rates, comparatively. I suppose what frustrates me the most is that I feel like I'm putting all this work and discipline into paying off our debt, trying to figure out how to fix BOTH our credit scores, and he wants no part in it. I think it would be easier for me to "give up" my down payment starter sum if I felt like he was working on his end as well! Oh well, I guess it all comes from the same place in the end anyway! Thanks for the advice.

FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON TEXAS LAW since you appear to be in Texas... Short timelines on a PFD just illustrate that one was not serious about the offer...and yes, fifteen days when you have recognized holidays in the middle is a SHORT timeline. Remember that you actually have to dispute something. The dispute needs be in writing to protect your rights under TFC and needs to indicate what the inaccuracy in reporting consists of... It is not illegal for Midland to conduct business in Texas. They have the required bond. Further, if the OC has sold the claim, they won't get involved even on a PFD. To HSBC, you don't owe HSBC anything as the matter has been zeroed with them due to the sale. What would I be disputing with MCM? That I owe them money? I *did* actually incur the debt and let it CO with HSBC, but I never signed or agreed to anything with Midland, obviously... Would that be the fact I'm disputing? I have received conflicting information on CB's then re: the legality of Midland collecting in Texas (I live in Houston). I have received msg's from several folks here saying they do not have the required licensure... If I *did* somehow succeed in getting the CA TL removed from my CR's before 2013, is there anything that can be done about the OC's CO TL? If not, what's the point of even talking to Midland at all? Perhaps I should just go back to being silent...

Okay... so the consensus is more towards paying off the car loan I take it... Can you set up a money market account to receive automatic payments like a regular checking account? Or maybe an automatic transfer of $300/mo. from our checking acct to this money market? We currently bank with Chase, I assume they offer these... would you just close the regular savings acct and switch our payroll deductions to the MM acct? So this is kind of petty, but I figure these boards are anonymous so I might as well say what's on my mind... The vast majority of CC debt we've been aggressively paying off has been my husband's - I owe about $1000 on ONE CC with a low interest rate, no lates, etc. but he got into trouble with a million low balance cards that he maxed out, paid late frequently, etc and they all have super high default APRs. I have taken chunks of MY money that was saved awhile back from grandparents to pay off a few of his cards. We're now down to just my "good" card and ONE of his high interest cards, balance is now under $400 after careful and aggressive payments on my part. So now we're coming into $5K as a reward for paying of CC's and again, using it to pay off HIS car loan? I have two student loans from grad school - one stafford with a balance of $23K (6.5%), one smaller state loan with a balance of $5400 (5.25%)... Even though I have a perfect payment history for 30 months on both, it is still a lot of debt to carry for someone who makes $40K/yr (oh, how you are rewarded for becoming a social worker!). I know that it makes *more* sense to pay off his higher interest car loan (12%), but it still kind of irks me...

Another tidbit I forgot to mention... Midland addresses me by my maiden name in their letters to me - strange b/c I didn't incur that debt until after I was married and had changed my name... I assume that should factor into my disputes with the CRA's?? Eg, Midland is trying to collect a debt for "so-and-so" but MY name is "so-and-so."

New ideas on my saga with MCM in TX... I have read, read, and read some more (the newbie threads, psychdoc's seminar, TFC stuff and the MCM/TX stuff) and I *think* I have a couple of ideas on how to proceed, but naturally I still have some questions. First, can I just get it off my chest that this CO/CA is the biggest clusterf*$k EVER and completely confusing? It makes me sick that all this is over a stupid $500 debt that I just want to pay off and get behind me. Anyway, enough venting... The 15 day limit I gave MCM on my PFD offer (see my initial post) - which I now understand was probably out of order - is just about up and I've received no response from the CA (in writing anyway, I WON'T answer their calls). I've talked to several TX folks who have told me that MCM is not licensed or bonded to collect debts in our state, hence what they're doing to me is illegal and I SHOULD NOT PAY THEM ANYTHING. Even if this wasn't the case, it seems like a losing proposition for the consumer MOST of the time when paying off a CA... Everyone on CB seems to think that MCM doesn't do PFD's, so I probably get absolutely nothing out of paying them money. Plus they are Flower Pots and don't deserve it. Here is my plan (please critique): - send MCM a DV letter, stress that they prove they are licensed/bonded to collect ANYONE'S debt in Texas. Also cite the TFC chapter that addresses consumers' rights to validate past the 30 day period. Limited cease and desist, only communicate in writing. BTW, my SOL is up next Feb, so they don't have a ton of time to jack with me. - dispute MCM TL with all 3 CRA's (I'm assuming writing a letter here is the correct way to go). - contact the OC (HSBC) in writing. Tell them that it is illegal for MCM to collect debt from me in TX, and ask them to PFD. I can scrounge up the $500 to pay them in a lump sum if it means I can get this CO off my CR's. My thnking on this is that if DH and I try to get a mortgage in 2012 instead of 2013 (that's the 7 yr mark when this all goes off my CR's), we will need to show lenders that their are no old unpaid debts lying around, and paying the CA still leaves the OC TL intact on reports. Whew. Thoughts??? I appreciate everyone's advice, I really, really do! Kelly

I have sort of a general question that I just can't find via the google... I've been paying on two student loans after finishing graduate school in May 2007. 1 - Fed Stafford Loan, orig balance was about $37K and a generous graduation gift from my parents knocked it down to $27K (current balance aprx $23K) 2 - State of Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Loan, orig balance $6200 (current balance aprx $5400) I've been on the standard repayment plan (10 years) for the stafford and whatever the standard repayment plan is for the State loan... I've been paying these payments on time every month for nearly 3 years now (no deferments, forberences, etc) but it seems like I haven't made much progress on the principal - especially with the smaller loan. How do they determine what % of my monthly payment goes to interest vs. principal? Do they front-end load the interest payments, and that's what it seems like I haven't paid it down much? I just want to know what my payment progression should look like and what I might do to pay principal down faster. Thanks!