ether93

Wow, that's so great. I'm glad it worked for you. I might try enclosing a gift card with some of my letters to OCs now.

Can anyone answer the question in my last message? And if they are required, whay wording should I use to get them to delete it?

To be totally honest with you, I don't really care weather or not midland keeps trying to collect from me. They haven't called me, they just send me a letter every few months. The main thing I'm trying to do is get this thing off my reports. Is midland legally required to remove this from my reports if they can't validate the debt?

Thanks for your responses, they're very helpful. To answer one question, the SOL in CA is four years, so this past it. I'd like to provide some more background info and maybe I can get a few more reponses before I mail this. I'm trying to do two things with this letter: 1. Request that they validate this debt, and if they can't 2. Demand that they remove this entry from my credit reports And for clarification, the OC (Aspire) didn't put anything on my reports, the CA (Midland) did. I was running into some trouble with the wording of the letter because most of the sample letters I've seen are letters that were written to the CA before they put anything on a credit report. But in this case they already did. So I'd like to know: does the Fair Debt Collecting Practicing Act require that the CA remove something that they put on a credit report if they can't validate it? If so, what wording should I use to request that they remove it? any other tips?

I got a letter in the mail a few days ago from Midland. It's an old credit card debt from 2004. The card was Aspire--they were one of the worst sub-prime cards and there was even a class-action suit against them years ago. They basically just scammed everyone by having charges that they didin't disclose, etc. Isn't Midland one of the worst CAs' around? Do they pay attention to these letters? Here it is: Greetings: I am responding to a letter that you recently sent to me, which is dated July 23, 2009, and which I have enclosed. I am not refusing to pay you, but rather, I am requesting validation of this debt, pursuent to Federal law (The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). I respectfully request that you provide me with evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you. I have also noticed that your company has placed this account on all three of my credit reports. If you are unable to validate this debt then it is your legal obligation to remove this item from my reports. Since you placed this item on my credit reports, you have all the information you need in order to investigate and correct this error. I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and that there is some contractual obligation which is binding on me to pay this debt. Please also be aware that a sworn affidavit from your compliance officer does not constitute a validation. I'm sure your legal staff will agree that non-compliance with this request could put your company in serious legal trouble with the FTC and other Federal and State agencies. According to federal law you have 30 days to provide me with the following information, and if you cannot then you are required to cease all collection activity and remove this item from all three of my credit reports: The agreement with your client that grants you the authority to collect on this alleged debt, or proof of acquisition by purchase or assignment. The Agreement that bears the signature of the alleged debtor wherein he agreed to pay the creditor. In the event of noncompliance, I reserve the right to file charges and/or complaints with appropriate County, State & Federal authorities ,the BBB and State Bar associations for violations of the FDCPA, FCRA, and Federal and State statutes on fraudulent extortion . I also hereby reserve my right to take private civil action against you to recover damages.

I also applied on the 3rd and I haven't heard anything yet!

I can't figure out how to edit my origanol message, so I'll clarify something here. The report says that this account was 30 days past due as of Nov. of 2002. So this leads me to believe that the account first became delinquent in October of 2002. and therefore it should be removed seven years after October 2002, which is in about three months. Is this right?

I'm looking at my Experian report now and there is an entry for CAP ONE. I'm trying to figure out when thing will drop off of my report and I just can figure it out. There are a few other bad accounts on this report and there is always something that tells me when the account will drop off (the wording is as follows, "This account is scheduled to continue on record until...month and year). But this account doesn't tell me when it's going to drop off. This is what the report does say: "Date opened: Mar 2002" "Reported since: Mar 2002" "Date of status: Aug 2006" "Last reported: Aug 2006" There is nothing that has the date of last activity. It also says that t he account was "30 days past due as of Nov 2002". So can I assume that it will drop off around Sept. of 2009, since that seems to be when it became past due?

I just finished reading this thread about five minutes ago. When I was done I applied and I got a Wallmart credit card with a limit of $300! I guess I didn't qualify for the Discover one (they see if you qualify for that one first, and if not, they see if you qualify for the regular Wallmart card). My FICOs are: Equifax, 640 (as of today) Experian, 643 (as of Feb. '09) Transunion, 671 (as of today)

I used to have an account at Bank of America and it was closed by them because the account became overdrawn. So this account is on my CS report. On the report is says the account was closed for "Non-sufficient funds activity" and "Account abuse". I don't really understand what they mean by the abuse thing, but it any case here's my question. CS says that they delete things after five years, and it will be five years at the end of June. I'd like to open an account at a credit union where I live but i know that they check CS. So will they really delete it after 5 years or will I have to get on their case and make them do it?

My credit is pretty bad. The highest score I have is Experian, 630. So I went to the "credit pulls" section of this site and did a search for everyone who pulls Experian only and who doesn't require a very good score. One of the companies was Zale, so I applied and was approved for 4k! I did a forum search for Zales but didn't find too much, so iIll ask my question here. What do people think of this card? I assume it works like Crown Jewelers, which I also have. And also, do they report to to all three credit reporting companies? Their site doesn't say anything about this.

I guess they just pulled my credit report. Can't any credit card company or bank do that if they want?

Thanks guys. You're the best.

I just got a really interesting credit card offer in the mail from Monterey County Bank. I've never heard of this type of offer before so I hope that some of you can give your opinion. The letter says that once I'm approved for this card, they take one of the charged-off accounts on my credit report (they do mention one specific charge off) and report it as paid to all the credit bureaus. My credit limit will be the amount of the charge off, plus $100. Should I do this? Is it possible for anyone other that the original creditor to report that charge off as paid, and can this bank really take it off my credit report? Is this fishy or legit?

I don't really like to copy & paste dispute letters, so here's mine, in my own words. I tried to make it official sounding but not too much so. ==================== To Whom It May Concern: I recently reviewed my credit report and noticed the following errors. Please correct these errors and mail me a new credit report when these corrections have been made: 1. I was not born in 1962. I was born in 1965. 2. I currently live in San Francisco, CA, and this my only residence. I do not live in Ronks, PA. I have never lived there in the past, and I have never even been there. 3. I have never lived in Visalia, CA. My dad used to live there before he died about ten years ago. 4. I have three credit inquiries on my credit report that should be removed because they are all over two years old. The dates of those inquiries are: Feb. 24th 2003, June 6th 2003and June 30th 2003. 5. I have never had an account with Genesis Financial. I can’t tell if they are a credit card company, a collection agency or something else, but I’ve never had any type of contact with them at all. This must be a mistake, so please delete this. 6. I did owe some money to collection agency called ER Solutions, but I paid the full amount the first time they contacted me, which was at least a year ago. My report says there is a balance of $300, so please delete this. If you cannot verify the accuracy of these items on my credit report, then please make the necessary changes and deletions within 30 days and mail me another credit report. Thank you. ======================= Now here's my question: Even if I get lucky and they do make all of these changes/deletions, will it make my score go up by more that 10 points or so? Thanks!