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Well, I just got one of the better scam emails. An email direct from Paypal for an invoice I never authorized. And yet, it had my actual name and the originating address was paypal.com
 
Don't be fooled. Like the guy in this article, I called the number on the email after first logging in and verifying the phony invoice was pending. It became obvious the guy I was talking to was feeding a line of crap designed to scare me while he had little info other than the ph. no. I used to call him. Hung up.
 
So, a little searching and guess what. Found this:
 
This PayPal invoice scam almost got me. Here's how to spot it - Elliott Report
 
Pretty much an exact match! Annoying pieces of excrement.
 
 

Tried again for a CLI with Apple.  Here’s the Dear Jane email I received:
 
Goldman Sachs Bank USA could not approve your request for a credit limit increase because:
You have not used and paid enough of your Apple Card credit limit since your last credit limit increase  
Goldman Sachs Bank USA received your credit score from TransUnion Consumer Solutions.
Your credit score is a number that reflects the information in your consumer report. Your credit score can change, depending on how the information in your consumer report changes.
Your credit score (TransUnion FICO® Score 9) as of December 19, 2022:
825
Credit scores range from a low of 300 to a high of 850.
 
‘Have a decent line in excess of 20K, pay down every month before balance posts. It would seem odd if the algorithms think I’m not running anything through the card. Usual monthly spend is $1,200 or so. 
 
As an aside, TU FICO 8 is 817. 
 
Can’t figure out why I keep getting rejected. 

Long story short
 
I have $200,000+ in personal Loans and Credit Card Debt. I am about to stop paying and let them default in March. 
 
All the personal loans are new debt and are 6 months old. The credit card I have had for awhile. 
 
I got screwed trying to start a new business, and can't afford to pay these back. I make $78k a year. 

I have access to $150k cash
I don't own a home
 
Here are my debts
Wells Fargo Credit Card $15k
Wells Fargo Personal Loan $40k
Sofi Personal Loan $70k
Amex Personal Loan $9,500
Laurel Road Personal Loan $30k
Lightstream Personal Loan $20k
Discover Personal Loan $35k

I am trying to avoid chapter 13 bankruptcy. 
 
So my questions are..., based on your experiences, do you think I'll be able to settle all these debts with my $150,000? Or will they not budge since the debt is so new?
 
Will they just sue me right away and only take the full amount? 
 
Will they consider this fraud because the debt is only 6 months old? 
 
Please let me know what y'all think. Thanks!  
 
PS. Please don't judge, my life is ruined for awhile so I am looking for serious help. 

Happy Credit New Year!

Is there a way to get such alerts apart from signing up for paid services?
 
I'd love to get a text if any of the "big three" are thawed but haven't been able to figure out a way.  There's no such options at their websites and I don't think push notifications (from email) is available either.
 
Any ideas appreciated!

Good Lord! 2 new Inquiries plus 4 new accounts, and no change in Vantage 4.0 score. Man, I tell y'all.
 
 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/02/experian-people-with-perfect-credit-scores-have-3-things-in-common.html

Reading the article on "High FICO individuals" and hdporter response regarding the FICO scorecards or buckets, made me think about this question. 
Does FICO analyze utilization as a whole? Meaning does it looks at the total utilization % over the total balance of all accounts? Or does it analyze the utilization % account by account?
 
 
 

Hi All,

My Wife and I moved from Michigan to Florida for a job in 2017.

Shortly after moving my Wife lost her job and we stopped making payments on a vehicle and it was repossessed.

The last date of payment was July of 2017. We took the loan out in michigan.

The original creditor sent us a letter seeking payment or threatening to sue us if we do not respond in 7 days.

I am wondering which statute of limitations would apply...florida or michigan. Florida is 5 years and michigan is 6.
Thank you for your help!

I know there's a "master delurking thread" btw. I'm going to bump this thread each Friday.
 
We've had some great success stories recently from lurkers, so I thought we could see who is out there reading and maybe get some to become regular contributors here.

I have Sapphire Preferred, Freedom Flex, and Southwest Rapid Rewards (tho I might one day ax Chase to fold the CL from RR into my other cards so I can zotz the annual fee).
 
I haven't any plans to app Freedom Unlimited, but just out of curiosity, do you think they'd say no just cause I have the other three?  (Assuming otherwise gleaming creditworthiness, high income, low-to-zero util, etc...)
 
Similarly, I have BofA Platinum Plus Visa, Cash Rewards mastercard, y Unlimited Cash Rewards Visa.  I don’t have their Travel Rewards card (or whatever it's called).
 
(I admit I'm not as convinced of my disinterest in it as with the Chase card  : /   )
 
Same question; is it conceivable that BOA might one day (not before 2024) approve me for a fourth card?
 
(BofA, as best I can tell, really, reeeeeally likes me.  )

Hi everyone, this is a place for me to organize my thoughts and plans for trying to get my credit back on track. I am not terribly new at this,
 

can begin to build in earnest with more cards.
Get a secured card with a respectable limit and let it age. I have $5,000 earmarked for it, and have researched a few decent options that graduate. When I get the secured card, I'll pay off and close the Credit One card. I rarely use it, but I'd like to have the new backup in place before I do. 
 
Obviously I welcome advice, direction, and experience-based anecdotes. Or not, no pressure! 
 
Thx, Ag

You've Received a Virtual Prepaid Card!
$5.21
Per the terms of the Settlement, your pre-paid card is enclosed for your Equifax Data Breach Settlement Initial Claims Period claim payment of $5.21.
 
REDEMPTION INSTRUCTIONS 1. Click the Redeem Virtual Card button below or visit the redemption site by clicking this URL: https://www.myprepaidcenter.com/redee  
 
 
That's what both I and spouse got it. Wondering if this is legit?

Based on 'outstanding approval odds' notice from credit karma, I applied for two credit cards:  Ally bank and Upgrade.  Ally was 'guaranteed' approval or $50 from credit karma.  I did not receive a credit card or the promised $50.  Upgrade initially offered a $3,500 upgrade card, then overnight rescinded the offer and revoked my offer despite 'outstanding' approval odds.  I am so beyond frustrated with credit karma's recommendations that actually further hurt my credit situation - now I have 2 recent hard credit pulls - that I would not have, had I not followed your recommendations.  Credit Karma is full of empty promises.

Summary
I am attempting to roll over roughly $20K of 0% debt due on 11/11/2022.
 
Rather than using cash to repay this balance I would prefer to use a credit card balance transfer or better yet use a larger balance transfer to increase cash
 
Reported Income:
$150,000 - self employed
 
Current Debt:
Car Loan (Penfed 60 month low rate) $17,190.77 
Bank of America (0% until 11/11/2022) $20,007.74 of $38,000 limit - 54% Usage
AMEX (0% until 3/22/2023) $19,508.90 of $25,000 - 79% Usage
In September I paid off a 0% Chase Slate Card with a balance of $14,782.42
Other credit cards are spenders paid off each month.
Total credit card limits $159,200 (roughly 25% useage)
 
Credit Score
 
Credit Score 637
This score is with AMEX at $23,611 - 94% usage I am waiting for a payment that hit my bank on 10/17/22 to show up on my credit report (not sure how much this will move the needle)
I recently paid down the Bank of America card by $5,000 to increase the score from 636.
Before paying off the Chase Slate Card ($14,782.42) the score was 622. 
 
Cash and Tax Considerations
 
While I can take a 30 day loan from my ROTH IRA to pay down credit card balances my top priority would be to put this money back before the 30 days are up.
I already took the required minimum distribution from an inherited IRA in August.
After withdrawing $23,365 on 10/3/22 from an Inherited IRA account ( I could put this money back within 30 days 11/3/22 would be the deadline to do so) there is a remaining balance of roughly $99,000 that is fully invested in stocks.  Any sales would take three business days to clear before funds could be withdrawn.
In 2020 I took roughly $98,000 out of the inherited IRA which I could potentially put back as a Covid emergency loan.

I received an email today from this JDB, TrueAccord stating that there is an outstanding debt with LVNV Funding LLC from 2008. At the end of the email they stated the following.
 
"The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, LVNV Funding LLC cannot sue you for it, and LVNV Funding LLC cannot report it to any credit reporting agency."
 
The question is should i let it go because they can't do anything or should I go through the validation process?

How long do you think 16 digit card numbers will last until they need to add more digits? At the rate virtual card numbers and reissued card numbers are created for lost/stolen/fraud issues, plus new accounts, I think it will be sooner rather than later. It's like telephone numbers. There will come a time when the 10 digit North American area code and phone number will need another digit.  Social Security numbers may need to be lengthened too.
 

I've been here off and on for 12 years. I've been working on my credit the past 6. I began with a secured card and loan and now have a little over 30k in unsecured  cls. 
 
I'm here to ask for the list of the good credit unions. The ones with ccs that begin with higher limits than usual, get bigger (automatic) CLIs, etc. I know nfcu and Alliant were mentioned years ago (both included in my bk, so they're not options for me, unfortunately) and penfed (my best ccs are with them now). Who else?
 
(I did try to search, but couldn't find this specific info, sorry)

My latest chapter 7 discharge hit the bureaus yesterday. I figured I'd apply for Cap1 and get offered their secured card (which, by the way, I had for a couple years and closed 2 weeks prior to filing to BK in Aug so it wouldn't be IIB).
 
Nope, was approved for Quicksilver unsecured with CL of $7k, it was the high interest rate 26.99% I think. I'm not complaining, but it seems to me that an approval like this is a big difference from the last time I went through BK in 2011/12.
 
Does anyone know if this is typical, in 2022, of just discharged BKs or if perhaps I hit some sort of a good glitch lol.
 
Thanks

I guess my search skills are lacking, because I know we had a thread about the PayPal and other Suckrony product line slicing...but I cannot find it now.
 
Anyhow, to add a datapoint, I got a notice this AM that my line got chopped by 85%.  This comes after having been stuck at $10K for some time now (since pre-rona).  Logged in to the account and tried for a CLI and got an insta-denial. 
 
As of this AM, their Vantage 4.0 sKore is still showing me well North of 800, dinging me for a lack of real estate information (I have no mortgage) and the 'too high proportion of balances,' never mind that two accounts are reporting and make use of less than 1% of the total available lines.  One of the accounts has a balance of about $3K which represented less than 15% of that card.  I'm more inclined to believe Suckrony wants to cull the prime customers who don't have an absolute need to pay inflated interest rates and who only used the card for the occasional 0% offers.  

Hi Yall,
 
Years ago this forum helped me completely clear my CR's and I swore I would have perfect credit forever. Then COVID.
 
That said, I have been thru many many posts to try and refresh my memory on best steps but there are so.many.posts. It looks like since last I was here (2007 or so) not much has really changed but I'm getting confused on what my best approach is with PRA.
 
I am in California. Debt is outside of SOL. I disputed the tradelines (they have like 5 accounts of mine) with the CBs hoping for a lucky break. Yes that was a mistake.
 
Is my best approach the FOAD letter? Or is there another approach I might be missing?
 
Any help is much appreciated, thank you!

This Saturday morning, I applied for a $1000 loan from some site that I believe we could call subprime. I was just denied payments on a new phone device from my service provider in their application last night. I filled out the app and.. IF I sign it, I have not yet signed..
 
$200 loan to be Monday morning and I will have to pay back a grand total of $534.99 - in interest.
 
I'll post some of the information below but the part of me I'm thinking that I should take this just for the sole purpose of building up my credit report to show positive installments because I can afford to make the payments that they're talking about.
 
I have never encountered a loan that was issued by a financial institution in Canada and as far as I know all of this is in US dollars.
 
Here is some more of the info.
 
Would you sign and therefore accept the loan, or would you not sign and leave it be?
 
Your payment schedule will be:
 
Number Date Amount Due 1 10/07/2022 $30.62 2 10/14/2022 $30.62 3 10/21/2022 $30.62 4 10/28/2022 $30.62 5 11/04/2022 $30.62 6 11/10/2022 $30.62 7 11/18/2022 $30.62 8 11/25/2022 $30.62 9 12/02/2022 $30.62 10 12/09/2022 $30.62 11 12/16/2022 $30.62 12 12/23/2022 $30.62 13 12/30/2022 $30.62 14 01/06/2023 $30.62 15 01/13/2023 $30.62 16 01/20/2023 $30.62 17 01/27/2023 $30.62 18 02/03/2023 $30.62 19 02/10/2023 $30.62 20 02/17/2023 $30.62 21 02/24/2023 $30.62 22 03/03/2023 $30.62 23 03/10/2023 $30.62 24 03/17/2023 $30.03 Total Payments: $734.29  
Green Funds Group DBA GFX, 12 Simon Road, Kanesatake, QC, J0N-1E0
 
LENDER INFORMATION BORROWER INFORMATION Green Funds Group DBA GFX
12 Simon Road, Kanesatake, QC, J0N-1E0
Customer Service: 1-833-381-1202
Email: clientservices@greenfundsexpress.com
Website: www.GreenFundsExpress.com
 

I am in New York.  Two days ago I discovered a hold on a portion on funds in my Chase Business Checking account.  That same day I received a letter from Chase
advising me that they received a judgement filed/dated July 2018.  I called the agency and it was from anesthesiologist charge from 2013.  
I was never served, even though there is an accompanying affidavit of service (I was able to get both docs from the court via email).  That affidavit is a joke, as
has a description of me that is hideously off -- even my skin and hair color although I like that they also made me twenty years younger lol. I am not trying to get out of paying but I would like to work out a payment plan. A few questions :
1) Are they allowed to freeze my Business Account for non business related debt?  
2)I am in private practice (psychologist).  My bank, Chase, will not allow me to  deposit credit card payments (they are actually virtual credit card payments received from one of the insurance companies until switch to direct deposit is completed) .  I was under the impression that deposits are permitted and only withdrawals (beyond the amount available)would be a problem.  A bit confusing.  (Also, virtual credit card payments are really more like debit/cash card payments , so there would be no issue regarding enough  funds available in the acct to cover, for example, if the "card" or deposit was  "bad" or could not be collected for some reason.  I have deposited many virtual card payments in the past.
3) I  retained a lawyer -- only to vacate judgement and perhaps see if a payment plan could be worked out.
I would appreciate thoughts re questions above, if possible, and any other advice , recommendations anyone can share.
 
Many thanks in advance!
 
P.S.  My credit has been good for some time now.  I really hope this does not show up.!  Haven't checked yet..
 
 

I see a fantastic way to finance a new computer on Amazon for a ridiculously low rate, but I am worried that Affirm would make my credit profile look bad. I have scores around 760 on all 3 major bureaus. I have 3 cards, Cap One Quicksilver $4800 (Rebuilder, started at $500), Navy Federal Cash Rewards $25,000, and Navy Federal More Rewards $25,000.  I also have a new mortgage $144,000 from a few months ago plus $7900 in Student Loans. I just don't want to hurt my credit long term trying to get a great short term deal.  Thank you for your insight!

I didn’t think it would happen for a couple more years. Have a late from 2020 on a BMW card when it became an Elan card. Did the pay off most of an unsecured loan hack. Real FICOs popped up.  experian 794, equifax 809, and trans union 811. 
 
Couldn’t have happened without the advice from here (mostly lurching and reading, some under an old forgotten account).
 
Thanks.