bfarber

No contact from them after 30 days. I sent off letters to Experian and TU (got one of the green cards back) on Jan 17th. (In the mean time I got my car already at a 6.1% APR so I'm not as time-strapped to fight this now)

Quick update - I sent the letter off on Thursday, since it had reached the 5 day period (still no direct contact from the company). It's on TU and EX right now - for both section 809 violations there's only one instance I'd believe, but for § 807. [15 USC 1692e](8) since they're reporting to two now would it be two violations? I'm going to have to look at the FCRA again (it's been a while...) to see what they've mucked up there too, and what is actionable by the consumer (anything, or is it all the AG?). I'm thinking if I don't hear back from them what I want to hear, I'm just going to sue. Maybe one more final chance if they don't fix it on the first try, but I don't have time to play games with this company. I think with 3-6 violations, tallying up something like $3000-$6000, for a $171 debt that's not mine (and thus don't have any proof I owe), they likely won't want to handle this in court.

Yeah. I found an FDCPA opinion letter that states a summons from an attorney's office whose primary business is collections is considered the initial contact - but a summons is sent to a person directly. The first communication I received was an Experian alert stating changes were made to my credit report, which turned out to be this account. In my mind, that's the first communication I received regarding the debt. I probably wouldn't expect to hold a case up based on that argument, you're right.

Took Pryans and ladyran's suggestions in and have this as a final letter. I intend to wait until Wednesday to send this out, to ensure that 5 days have actually passed since the point it hit my credit report (which is the first communication of this debt to me) to ensure that violation is locked in. My actual address IS listed on all three of my credit reports as current. Look good?

I love the big red letters idea.

It's hard to walk the fine line between forceful enough to let them know you're not going to get pushed around, and long-winded and looking like a lunatic. Of course there was that lunatic letter series (Doc-something wrote as I recall) which worked well too. I've noticed multiple styles here: the short and sweet one (which I NORMALLY use), the one with all the legal references you can add, and anything in between. Generally I go for short and sweet (and it does normally work well). The problem is when you go short and sweet, they might think you are a pushover, and I do NOT want to be fighting this in two months still. I want to send a letter off, let them know from the start that I'm not playing around, and get this sorted out asap. I find that adding the appropriate "spacing" in a letter (line-breaks) makes it easier to read (just think about yourself trying to read one of these), so maybe I'll add a few more in between the points I'm trying to break up. If they fail to read it, they're not exempted from the laws, however.

I had my reports squeaky clean after a few years of fighting and working on everything. All was great. Then last night a debt that I had cleared off popped back up out of nowhere. No communication from the collector, nothing. This debt was completely false, as I never had a bank account with the bank they say I owe! I have the original dispute notices I sent to the original debt collector, to which they never responded and the account fell right off my reports. Then out of nowhere it pops back up. Needless to say I'm a little peeved right now. Anyways, here's the letter I drew up, which I've not sent yet. Opinions please? *sigh* - forgive any errors, I'm a bit rusty as I haven't had to send one of these off for a while, but I want this nipped in the bud asap, as I intend to get a car in 2-3 months and don't want to still be fighting this then.

I say "new" because I have no idea when this was changed (since I haven't pulled FICO reports in over a year), but I like their new layout. It's clear, attractive, and especially where it shows your accounts it looks great. I have the Experian CreditWatch through Amex and it's sometimes hard going account-by-account to see what's in the report. On the other hand, MyFICO is weird. I have essentially the exact same data on all three reports, yet I have scores just under 700 on two of the reports, while my Experian is 750. Right now the two biggest things hurting me is 1) Length of credit history - but yeah, what can I really do about that (I'm only 24, and it took many years cleaning up my credit after I destroyed it, so I've only had revolving accounts for about 3 years now - no late payments at all, and my report is squeaky clean now) 2) Amount of used vs available credit. I've got a decent amount of available credit for my age and income, but I also used a lot around last December to help my in laws out and because we had just bought a house (my high point was about 15,000 used credit). After I send the payment sitting in my bank account right now I'll be down to about $6200 (with $1500 having been recently charged up, and my in laws are paying that at about $400 a month - about $1200 left to go). Basically, I've got about $5000 I intend to get paid off by mid-November. By January after Christmas and everything else is over with, I intend to have $0 used credit (I also have a 401K account, and a savings account, total assets somewhere around $10K I'd say) at which point I want to get a SUV. Seems like credit is a never-ending cycle I've spent the last year working on paying off my credit cards (but you know what - I'd do it all over again to help family out - that's what family is for) and now I'm going to get a car loan in a few months. Only reason I'm getting a new vehicle is because baby #3 is on the way and quite frankly it's hard to fit 5 people in a standard-sized car. Anyways, just venting/ranting/complementing FICO's new look. It's been a while since I posted and wanted everyone to know I'm still alive.

Well, as an update - I was auto-approved for the last loan I mentioned, and that's what we're going with (think it's FHA). I asked her some of the questions I had, don't remember some of the responses. But the reason she said she needed an automated approval for the first loan was because it went through Fannie Mae and the entire process was automated? The interest rate changed because of the different programs she said. Closing scheduled for Thursday, so at this point I'm just glad it's all about to be done with.

The collection was $600, for a Target account years ago (charged of Dec 2002). I have no BK or foreclosure on my credit reports. The lady seems real nice, like she's trying to help me out. She spent half the day trying to get a waiver from VHDA for this loan, and was unsuccesful. She had me type up an explanation of what happened, and show proof that I had been disputing it. Apparently this loan type did not allow any collections, but she was hoping she could get an exception approved. Sooooo...she was moving me down the list to the next loan (which is an FHA loan I *believe*). THIS loan she told me I'd have a 6.175% interest rate (best APR of the three types she has tried for so far), BUT it has PMI. My payment ends up being $40 lower than the original loan she was trying for (80/20 Conventional). She said she already had an automated approval for this loan, so I shouldn't have to worry any more, but the appraisal needs to be changed to an FHA appraisal, as it's different. The GFE she emailed me showed much lower closing costs too (i.e. from $3500 down to $1200 or so, but I'm not sure if she took into account the $2000 seller's concessions for that or not - I didn't see it on there, but I only glanced at it briefly). Thanks for the info - it really makes me wonder now. I have no reason to distrust her, and two of my co-workers used their services in the past (and recommended them). We are so close to closing I would hate to start all over.

A LOT of apartments don't allow this - check the lease to be sure. I've lived in apartments for the last 6 years, and in 100% of the apartments I've lived in (which is a total of about 8), you had to give 30 days notice, AND pay 2 months rent (so, with 30 days notice, basically 3 month's rent). You didn't have to pay it up front, you could pay it month to month, but that gave the apartment complex a couple of months to market the apartment again. YMMV, but I thought that was relatively the norm, since it was that way everywhere I've lived.

Here, here. I'm the same way - I went to the doctor about 2 years ago for a checkup, and the doc said I was so healthy, he didn't recommend I come back for a checkup for 5 years (I'm 23 now). Blood pressure and cholesterol were fine. And I eat plenty of fat and grease (in fact, some days I strive to intake as much fat as possible, given my scrawny 135 weight). Ok dude seriously - that's ridiculous. If $3 is really that big a problem (forget principles, which I'm sure will be your response), perhaps you should be looking for a new line of work. Sure, it sucks to get your order messed up, but you're talking about 16 year olds making minimum wage - they're not bound to have the same care and attention you believe your single $1 burger deserves. If a restaurant messes up, I ask them to correct it. If they don't, I don't go back. It's that simple. Don't overburden the enter system of credit for your $3. They try, and have tried. McD's has a new chicken wrap that is supposed to be healthier, they almost all offer like applesauce and apple fritters for the kids meals now, etc. Problem is no one buys that crap When people go to McDonald's they just don't buy the healthy stuff, so the cost overhead is so high for them to carry it, they end up losing profit just to carry something very few people purchase anyways. Here, here.

Oh my god I entered the wrong thread

Well, it was going so smoothly... This week the mortgage broker contacts me and tells me that we basically hit a problem with financing. I have a mid-score of 698 (EQ) and she says that's perfect, the score is great. I have a couple of 'established' accounts (I'm only 23, but my student loans have been there since I was 18 basically, and I have a car loan paid off a few years old), and one collection on my reports. The charge off was in 2002/2003, but the CA shows it as opened Dec 2005. Well, for the conventional loan, she said she had two automated systems she could push it through, and it was denied on the first. The only reason she could see it would be denied is that one charge off. She told me she needed an automated approval for this type of loan. So she asked me for proof that it actually happened in 2002/2003 like I said (thus I sent her a copy of statements I just received, and an old credit report showing the date from the original creditor, which is no longer on my reports). EQ wouldn't change the account to show the account opened in 2002 or whatever like it should be, so she said we need to try another type of loan. Now, this type of loan typically wants no collections, however she said she got an override like a week or two ago for someone else juts on a whim (basically just giving it a shot to see if she could) and it went through, so she thinks she can do the same for me (of course I'll need to pay the collection if so). The new loan type is a VHDA (Virginia House Development Authority) - interest rate would be lowered from 7.25% to 6.75% and my payments would be about $100 less a month, which is good (100% financing still, and I *could* do an interest only option for 7 years, but I won't). There are income limits and I must be a first time home buyer, but I meet both of those requirements. I'm getting a bit worried now though - if this loan type comes back denied, not sure where we will go from there. We have to register my son for school Tuesday, and we were planning on registering him at the new school, but what happens if the loan doesn't go through properly? He's been to 3 different schools due to us moving from FL to VA, and he's only just now entering first grade. We can't have him keep switching schools. Besides that, we already put in our intent to vacate on our rental lease for Oct 1st (supposed to close Aug 31). We have a good month cushion, but I don't want to wait till the last minute if we don't get the loan. My wife is freaking out too. Makes it harder to deal with things at crunch time, but I'm determined. I got everything to the broker she needed Friday, and she was hoping to know about the collection waiver by Monday. Anyone experienced this before, or know anything about what is going on (and what my chances are of getting that waiver - my broker said she tried it just recently basically just to see if it would work and it did no problems)?

Yes, George. Yes. That's exactly what I was saying.