DharmaDog

Thanks. I definitely appreciate the informed advice.

Well, that's a bummer! So their fabricated nonsense could show up at any time? That'll help me sleep at night...

Just wanted to post a followup since it's now well past the time that LVNV/Convergent/Triad is required to validate the debt. I sent the 5 DV letters to 5 addresses that I had for LVNV/Convergent. I received 4 return receipts back, but had to print the delivery confirmation for the 5th from the USPS site. I have been monitoring my credit through a free program with my employer, which covers one of the CRAs. And also monitoring through Credit Karma, which covers TU. No evidence of LVNV on my reports as of now.

Thank you VERY MUCH for your feedback and insight. It is truly appreciated. I intend to send the letter to 5 addresses. Three of which were on the letter. The other two are alternate addresses for Convergent and LVNV. Here is a new version incorporating your suggestions: Dear Convergent Outsourcing, Inc.: This is not a refusal to pay, but a notice that your claim is disputed. I received your attached letter dated xx/xx/xxxx and haven't the slightest idea what this debt is about. I've never had any accounts with Convergent Outsourcing, LVNV Funding LLC, or any company with the name Triad. I know that LVNV is not a creditor, but a debt collector. I have no record of having any account with Triad. Honestly, all online references that I could find relating to any company named Triad were for subprime auto loans (never had one), manufactured homes (never had one of these, either), or payday loans (also never had one of these.) I have never received any notice of assignment required by law from whoever the Original Creditor may be. Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) and North Carolina State laws, I have the right to request validation of the debt you say I owe you and/or your client. I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and there is some contractual obligation that is binding on me to pay this debt to LVNV Funding LLC or to Triad. Under North Carolina laws you must provide me (1) Valid documentation the debt buyer is the owner of the specific debt instrument or account at issue and; (2) Reasonable verification of the amount of the debt allegedly owed by the consumer. Reasonable verification includes: (a) documentation of the name of the original creditor; ( the name and address of the consumer as appearing in the original creditor's records; © the original consumer account number; (d) a copy of the contract or other document evidencing the consumer debt; and (e) an itemized accounting of the amount claimed to be owed, including all fees and charges. Also, it is considered an unfair practice under North Carolina laws for a debt buyer or collection agency on behalf of a debt buyer to bring suit, initiate arbitration, or otherwise attempt to collect a debt when the debt buyer or agency knows, or reasonably should know such collection is barred by the applicable statute of limitations. I don't believe that you have the right person. Please provide all past addresses associated with this account. Due to my (and the other inhabitants’) work and sleep schedule, I cannot take calls at home from 8 AM to 9 PM. My employer prohibits these types of calls at work, also. Please respond in writing. Sincerely,

How does this letter look? Dear Convergent Outsourcing, Inc: This is not a refusal to pay, but a notice that your claim is disputed. I received your attached letter dated XX/XX/XXXX and haven't the slightest idea what this debt is about. I've never had any accounts with Convergent Outsourcing, LVNV Funding LLC, or any company with the name Triad. I don't recognize this alleged debt, do you know if you have the correct person? Honestly, all online references that I could find relating to any company named Triad were for subprime auto loans (never had one), manufactured homes (never had one of these, either), or payday loans (also never had one of these.) Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), I have the right to request validation of the debt you say I owe you and/or your client. I am requesting proof that I am indeed the party you are asking to pay this debt, and there is some contractual obligation that is binding on me to pay this debt. Your legal staff will agree that compliance with this request is required under the laws of the State of Texas, the State of North Carolina and Federal Statutes. Any future correspondence with me regarding this matter should be through United States Postal Service mail only. Do not contact me, or any of my agents or assigns by phone. Debt Validation Information Request Account #: ____________________ Original Creditor's Name: _________________________________ Name of Debtor: ______________________________________ Address of Debtor: ___________________________________ Balance of Account: __________________________________ Date you acquired this debt: _________________________ This Debt was: assigned ___purchased___ This Debt is past the Statute of Limitations for legal action: yes_____ no_____ Please indicate any credit bureaus to which you have reported on this account: Experian ______Equifax ______TransUnion _____ Sincerely,

Or should I do nothing since nothing derogatory is on any of my reports? I'm recalling War Games where the WOPR concludes that they only way to win the game is not play at all.

Got a collections letter from Convergent Outsourcing, Inc out of Houston, TX. (I know it's really just LVNV) Creditor listed is LVNV Funding LLC. Original Creditor is listed as Triad. I have no idea who this is. My credit is excellent right now (in the 780s) and I just pulled my reports a week ago because I'm applying for a home loan, which was approved in the last couple of days. Not Convergent, LVNV, nor Triad or ANY derogatories are on ANY of my reports. Do I do a DV to all three companies listed? I want to be super aggressive with this. I don't have time to be dealing with it, so I feel I need to make every punch land where it hurts. I've read up on LVNV here, but want to know what is the latest, most effective way to get these scumbags to go away. Don't know if it makes a difference but I used to live in Texas, but 7 months ago I moved to North Carolina. I'm not a total newb at this, but it's been maybe 4 years since I seriously dealt with credit issues.

I just moved to the RAleigh, NC area an am buying a house. Actually, we are building a house. And we need an inspector to look at the house at each milestone in construction. How do I go about finding a good inspector for my needs? Thanks!

We got the builder to come down just under $438k and cover $5000 in closing. Looks like we are golden. AND I just got the results of the charge-off dispute from Equifax and the acknowledged it was incorrect and they have removed it! That dispute only took 2 days. I've never been successful with a credit bureau that quickly. My Equifax score went from 709 to 779! I haven't received an official response from Transunion, but I checked that score again and it went from 689 to 753 and the charge-off appears to be removed. I have to apply for the mortgage this week, so this is a HUGE relief.

I just called the Wells Fargo rep that this developer works with and was completely open and honest with her about my employment, the charge off, etc. She felt 95% would not be a problem. She did say that they will want to see reserves of 6 months payments, but that 401ks would satisfy that, so no problem there. Regarding the JUMBO loan, we will have to keep the house down to $438k (5% of $438k is $416,100) to avoid that issue, which I think is doable if I let my wife do the haggling - she's pretty ruthless.

Wife and I moved from Texas to Raleigh, NC last summer. She was recruited for a new job there, but I had to leave my job to move. I just landed another job. We have been renting since last July. We sold our home and had no late payments or other mortgage related problems. We had excellent credit 760+ each when we checked last August, but I just found out that an erroneous charge off for $95 is on two of my reports, I'm disputing it and will get it removed, but it may be too late to get this fixed before getting a mortgage - we need to move fast - so two of my reports are ~700, one is about 770. Wife's should still be 760+, but I need to verify that. With my new job, our HHI will be $205,300. We have 2 car loans totaling less than $20,000 and our payments are under $700 combined. I have no student loans, but wife has about $19k that we pay $160/mo. We are currently showing about $4k in credit card debt, but we mostly pay that off each month. We have no other debt. Other than my one erroneous baddie, we have no late payments at all. We are, however strapped for cash after moving across the country and me not working for the better part of a year. This was really by choice as I had to leave my job, and we had a baby last year that needed tending to. We are looking to build a house that should come in at about $445,000. We believe we could put 5% down, but perhaps not much more, I don't feel confident we could hit 10%. We want to make sure we have plenty of cash for closing, moving costs, miscellaneous moving expenses, etc. Is anyone doing 95% LTV, and based on the info above would we likely qualify?

Congrats. Who did you go to? Cory Kinney at RMC Vanguard out of Houston He did the original mortgage as well. Very professional, works quickly and is easily accessible and responsive via phone or email. My mortgage was with BofA and I had tried for about a year to deal with them directly trying to take advantage of the Making Home Affordable refi plan, but they were in no hurry to help unless I refi'd outside of that program and brought ~$30k to the table. I finally gave up and called RMC Vanguard, and about a month later it's done - not as part of Making Home Affordable, but it's only costing me ~$5k out of pocket vs. ~$30k at BofA. And lo and behold, when RMC contacted BofA to get the payoff amount, I suddenly start getting calls and mail from BofA asking me to give them another chance on the refi - no way, they had a year to make something work. Bye bye BofA. Now my mortgage will be with GMAC (didn't they change their name to Ally Bank).

Refi is completed! 30 fixed at 4.5% Breakeven on the refi will be just over a year. Saving almost $400/month.

We received full loan approval with one stipulation. My wife's employer, a large university, must provide a letter stating that she is paid over 12 months. She is, in fact, paid over 12 months and we could provide 2.5 years of monthly pay stubs to support that, but the university recently enacted a policy stating that they will no longer provide this type of verification. I have no idea why, and it has cost some professors to lose research grants that also required this verification, so I have little hope that she will be able to get them to make an exception for her for a personal matter. Why does it matter if she earns her salary over 12 months vs 9? And what other types of verification might work? Would pay stubs do the trick? I've posed the same questions to the Loan Coordinator. Waiting for a reply.

Don't know what it is, but it can't be FHA because they only go to about $270k in my area.