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Rebuild Thread And Some Questions


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Hello, I was a member here and 2016 and screwed everything up again, so I'm starting the rebuild process again. I'll share my journey here and also include some questions I have, so I don't clutter the forum.

 

Some context: NYS resident so I believe I'm subject to the 5 year drop offs for paid collections/chargeoffs (correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Current Report Status

 

Scores: EX 529, EQ 551, TU 532

 

Baddies:

 

BOA Secured Card ($110)

 

Charged off

- DOFD 08/2019

- Just paid in full (wanted to build my relationship with them again)

- Waiting for the change to be reflected on my report

- Plan to dispute if it doesn't drop off, since it's now 5 years from DOFD

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Discover Secured Card ($257)

 

- Charged off, went to Radius Global

- DOFD 07/2019

- Just PIF for same reason as BOA

- Waiting for change to be reflected

- Plan to dispute if it doesn't drop off, since it's now 5 years from DOFD

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Capital One Secured Card ($297)

 

- Collection, account was sold to Portfolio Recovery Associates

- DOFD unknown but has to be about the same time as the other 2 cards

- Just PIF, same reason; CA agreed to PFD, but even if they don't, will dispute based on the 5 year SOL

- Waiting for change to be reflected

- Side note: Cap One approved me for $1k secured card before I even paid this, lol. They really are forgiving.

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Penn Credit ($3,371)

 

- Status: Unpaid

- OC: PSEG (Utility)

- DOFD: Showing on EQ as 08/2021, but I have statements showing my last payment is 04/2020 ??

- Reporting to: All 3

- Actions taken: None yet

 

Transworld Systems ($952)

 

- Status: Unpaid

- OC: National Grid (Utility)

- DOFD: Showing on EQ as 08/2021, but I have statements showing my last payment is 04/2020

- Reporting to: All 3

- Actions taken: None yet

 

Positive TLs:

 

Capital One Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $10k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 9 years, 4 months

- Status: Open

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Chase Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $5k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 11 years, 2 months

- Status: Open

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Chase Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $3k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 10 years, 4 months

- Status: Closed

- Reporting to: All 3

 

New TLs:

 

Just got approved for $1k limit secured capital one, and $1k limit secured OpenSky (I know, but my options are limited so I'm ok with it)

 

Denied for Discover and BOA secured (probably need to wait longer since I just paid the chargeoffs, but wanted to try anyway. Will give it a few months and try again)

 

Next Steps

 

I need to handle the Penn Credit and Transworld Systems collections. This is where I'm a bit unsure what to do next.

 

From my records, my DOFD on both should be in 2020. Both of them show as 08/2021 on Equifax, which puts me inside the 3 year SOL if their records are somehow correct.

 

I'm not sure if there was some special stipulation where they can technically say that I wasn't "delinquent" for over another year due to not being able to shut off essential utility services in 2020 due to what was going on in the world?

 

If they are indeed correct, I should probably wait another month before I pursue any validation requests. I am willing and ready to pay both of these if needed, my main concern is that it isn't worth paying them unless either: They are willing to PFD (my research tells me that Transworld doesn't do this under any circumstances, but Penn Credit might), or: My records are correct about DOFD, in which case both of these would drop off in less than a year if I pay them (due to the 5 year NYS thing)

 

I also see a lot of conflicting info about requesting validation. These collections are way older than 30 days, so I'm not quite sure if the strategies I've read about are relevant. Isn't the CA not required to do anything if I took months/years to even contact them?

 

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

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Regarding the DOFD/SOL on the National Grid and PSEG TLs, this one is a bit tricky because I'm unsure if the utility memorandums in NYS during 2020-2021 give them some sort of leeway on what they can officially call the DOFD.

 

If these providers had an agreement with the government to not pursue any unpaid balances or shut off service during this time period, it seems possible that there might be some sort of legal loophole that allows them to claim the DOFD was after the memorandum was lifted. Which would put me inside the SOL for another month or 2.

 

Not much info online about this since it's a very specific scenario.

 

I'm thinking since they are both with a CA and not a JDB, trying the "Pay OC and not CA" thing might be the best approach.

 

Only the CA is reporting currently for both TLs. Neither one of the OCs is directly reporting anything.

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10 hours ago, WilbertSmithsonian said:

From my records, my DOFD on both should be in 2020. Both of them show as 08/2021 on Equifax, which puts me inside the 3 year SOL if their records are somehow correct.

 

This is probably the date they got the account from the utility.  It doesn't change the original DOFD.  Given the shutdowns you would definitely need to research if deferrals did delay the DOFD under NY state law which would extend the reporting SOL.

 

10 hours ago, WilbertSmithsonian said:

I also see a lot of conflicting info about requesting validation. These collections are way older than 30 days, so I'm not quite sure if the strategies I've read about are relevant. Isn't the CA not required to do anything if I took months/years to even contact them?

 

Under the FDCPA they are only required to respond to your validation request if it is done within 30 days of receiving their first collection notice to you.  Finding it on your credit reports does not trigger that right under the FDCPA so any validation request you send them can be ignored without their violating.  Most CAs these days respond anyway as they presume you are seeking new credit at some point and this can increase their chances of collecting on the debt.  Many of the old methods of getting things deleted without payment fell out of use years ago.  In the digital era there are much better records kept on debts and given the current economic climate with daily reports of impending conumer defaults similar to 2008 many creditors are taking the hard line approach of refusing PFD.  

 

10 hours ago, WilbertSmithsonian said:

Denied for Discover and BOA secured (probably need to wait longer since I just paid the chargeoffs, but wanted to try anyway. Will give it a few months and try again)

 

 

Both have long memories and it could be a year or more before they even consider it.  This would be especially true for BoA.  

 

6 hours ago, WilbertSmithsonian said:

I'm thinking since they are both with a CA and not a JDB, trying the "Pay OC and not CA" thing might be the best approach.

 

Maybe.  Due to consumers bypassing the CA and doing this many contracts now state that the OC cannot do this.  This is because many collection contracts are based on how much the CA actually collects.  They get paid by percentage of each account they successfully collect on and if they allow the consumer to bypass them and go back to the OC and pay they get nothing for the effort of mailing notices and reporting.  Something else to keep in mind about utilities is that if they are government run and not private entities while they originally farm it out to a CA, if that isn't successful a public utlility often doesn't need to sue to collect they can go straight to garnish much the same way the state/feds do for taxes.  They can also refuse to provide new services until the balance is cleared up or a HUGE deposit is paid even if it was IIB.  

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7 minutes ago, CreditSucksNot said:

Maybe.  Due to consumers bypassing the CA and doing this many contracts now state that the OC cannot do this.  This is because many collection contracts are based on how much the CA actually collects.  They get paid by percentage of each account they successfully collect on and if they allow the consumer to bypass them and go back to the OC and pay they get nothing for the effort of mailing notices and reporting.  Something else to keep in mind about utilities is that if they are government run and not private entities while they originally farm it out to a CA, if that isn't successful a public utlility often doesn't need to sue to collect they can go straight to garnish much the same way the state/feds do for taxes.  They can also refuse to provide new services until the balance is cleared up or a HUGE deposit is paid even if it was IIB.  

 

Appreciate you taking the time to write all this up.

 

The reported DOFD on those 2 collections are about 3 weeks into August 2021; so probably not even worth risking it. I'll likely wait out the next few weeks until I know for sure it's passed, and then see if I can get Penn Credit to settle for less than the full amount.

 

The National Grid one isn't quite as bad, it's under $1k and I don't mind paying it. At least if I get them both settled/PIF, worst case I have to wait ~2 years to get them dropped. With the possibility of getting them dropped sooner if I can successfully dispute the DOFD after they are paid.

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On 7/27/2024 at 8:56 PM, WilbertSmithsonian said:

Hello, I was a member here and 2016 and screwed everything up again, so I'm starting the rebuild process again. I'll share my journey here and also include some questions I have, so I don't clutter the forum.

 

Some context: NYS resident so I believe I'm subject to the 5 year drop offs for paid collections/chargeoffs (correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Current Report Status

 

Scores: EX 529, EQ 551, TU 532

 

Baddies:

 

BOA Secured Card ($110)

 

Charged off

- DOFD 08/2019

- Just paid in full (wanted to build my relationship with them again)

- Waiting for the change to be reflected on my report

- Plan to dispute if it doesn't drop off, since it's now 5 years from DOFD

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Discover Secured Card ($257)

 

- Charged off, went to Radius Global

- DOFD 07/2019

- Just PIF for same reason as BOA

- Waiting for change to be reflected

- Plan to dispute if it doesn't drop off, since it's now 5 years from DOFD

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Capital One Secured Card ($297)

 

- Collection, account was sold to Portfolio Recovery Associates

- DOFD unknown but has to be about the same time as the other 2 cards

- Just PIF, same reason; CA agreed to PFD, but even if they don't, will dispute based on the 5 year SOL

- Waiting for change to be reflected

- Side note: Cap One approved me for $1k secured card before I even paid this, lol. They really are forgiving.

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Penn Credit ($3,371)

 

- Status: Unpaid

- OC: PSEG (Utility)

- DOFD: Showing on EQ as 08/2021, but I have statements showing my last payment is 04/2020 ??

- Reporting to: All 3

- Actions taken: None yet

 

Transworld Systems ($952)

 

- Status: Unpaid

- OC: National Grid (Utility)

- DOFD: Showing on EQ as 08/2021, but I have statements showing my last payment is 04/2020

- Reporting to: All 3

- Actions taken: None yet

 

Positive TLs:

 

Capital One Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $10k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 9 years, 4 months

- Status: Open

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Chase Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $5k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 11 years, 2 months

- Status: Open

- Reporting to: All 3

 

Chase Card (Authorized User)

 

- Limit: $3k

- Lates: 0

- Age: 10 years, 4 months

- Status: Closed

- Reporting to: All 3

 

New TLs:

 

Just got approved for $1k limit secured capital one, and $1k limit secured OpenSky (I know, but my options are limited so I'm ok with it)

 

Denied for Discover and BOA secured (probably need to wait longer since I just paid the chargeoffs, but wanted to try anyway. Will give it a few months and try again)

 

Next Steps

 

I need to handle the Penn Credit and Transworld Systems collections. This is where I'm a bit unsure what to do next.

 

From my records, my DOFD on both should be in 2020. Both of them show as 08/2021 on Equifax, which puts me inside the 3 year SOL if their records are somehow correct.

 

I'm not sure if there was some special stipulation where they can technically say that I wasn't "delinquent" for over another year due to not being able to shut off essential utility services in 2020 due to what was going on in the world?

 

If they are indeed correct, I should probably wait another month before I pursue any validation requests. I am willing and ready to pay both of these if needed, my main concern is that it isn't worth paying them unless either: They are willing to PFD (my research tells me that Transworld doesn't do this under any circumstances, but Penn Credit might), or: My records are correct about DOFD, in which case both of these would drop off in less than a year if I pay them (due to the 5 year NYS thing)

 

I also see a lot of conflicting info about requesting validation. These collections are way older than 30 days, so I'm not quite sure if the strategies I've read about are relevant. Isn't the CA not required to do anything if I took months/years to even contact them?

 

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

I would offer both Penn credit and Transworld pay for delete.  If that doesn't work then offer them settlements.  Tell them you are broke and can only pay 20 or 40%.

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On 7/29/2024 at 2:04 AM, ShawnPY1972 said:

I would offer both Penn credit and Transworld pay for delete.  If that doesn't work then offer them settlements.  Tell them you are broke and can only pay 20 or 40%.

 

This is likely what I'll do. I'm going to wait until the end of August just to be safe and make sure I'm out of the SOL. I have seen reports suggesting that Penn Credit will PFD if you tell them it's the only way you'll PIF.

 

For Transworld, at least showing it as a paid collection might have some benefit if a manual review is ever done when I apply to finance something.

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Update (In case anyone cares)

 

My Experian and Equifax scores increased by a massive 1 point today (530 and 552 now). Guessing something to do with age, as it's the first of the month. Haven't been able to check TU yet.

 

I also paid off a gym membership that went to collections like 5 months ago - it was never reported to CRAs. Lady said I was lucky it hadn't gotten reported yet as they normally do it within 90 days. But I got her recorded saying that they won't report now that it's paid, so hopefully I dodged a bullet there.

 

Waiting for Discover Secured, Cap One Secured and BOA secured to update this month (hopefully) now that I paid all 3.

 

Once those are out of the way (and I actually get them all off my reports due to age of paid collections/chargeoffs), I plan to start disputing some addresses before I form a plan of attack for Penn Credit and Transworld.

 

Also, the Cap One Venture that I am an AU on - has a balance of nearly 9k and limit of 10k. I made a deal with the actual account holder to pay it down to 0 as a loan, in exchange for being able to use the card for some expenses for my new S Corp.

 

New OpenSky Secured with $1k limit just got shipped today. Hopefully new Cap One Secured with $1k limit will be shipping any day now (already got approved and they debited the funds from my account).

 

Discover and BOA chargeoffs both have 90d lates (probably not a huge impact as they are nearly 5 years old, but they are my only 2 accounts with lates). But between getting rid of those soon hopefully, getting rid of Cap One collection, zeroing out the ~85% util Venture card, getting 2 new secured cards... expecting to see a pretty significant score boost soon.

 

Then all that's left in terms of baddies is Penn Credit and Transworld. If I can manage to get rid of those soon, the only real issue I'll have is whatever "bucket" I am currently in. But finally some light showing at the end of the tunnel 🙏🏼

 

Also froze Chex like 8 years ago and lost the pin so I'm limited in terms of banks and credit unions. But that's a problem for another day.

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Posted (edited)

Pulled my weekly free reports from annualcreditreport again today.

 

Looks like Portfolio Recovery has dropped off of EQ report. Shows paid on EX and has not updated on TU yet. They did agree to PFD so I'm hoping EX showing it as paid is just a temporary thing - however, I've done an obsolete dispute anyway since it's showing removal date of 02/2026 (meaning it's likely past the 5 year reporting SOL for NYS paid collections)

 

Unfortunately I don't have a way of getting an updated EQ score for free just yet, so I'll just wait until something else triggers a score change on MyFico and see where I'm at.

 

The other 2 paid COs have not updated yet.

Edited by WilbertSmithsonian
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Posted (edited)

Oh and by the way, in case anyone is wondering. I did some more digging regarding the DOFD issue with National Grid and PSEG. From the CARES Act:
 

Quote

 

QUESTION 6: What must furnishers do in reporting the status of an account after a CARES Act accommodation ends?

 

ANSWER (UPDATED 6/16/2020): The consumer reporting protections of the CARES Act continue to apply to the time period that was covered by the accommodation after the accommodation ends. Assuming payments were not required or the consumer met any payment requirements of the accommodation, a furnisher cannot report a consumer that was reported as current pursuant to the CARES Act as delinquent based on the time period covered by the accommodation after the accommodation ends. A furnisher also cannot advance the delinquency of a consumer that was maintained pursuant to the CARES Act based on the time period covered by the accommodation after the accommodation ends.

 

 

Translation: You stopped paying in March 2020 but the creditor gets to report you for 1.5 years longer anyway, and you would've been better off going delinquent at the end of 2019.

 

Not sure how this is supposed to "help" anyone. What they should have done was provide the temporary relief if they wanted to, without screwing people's credit for an extra 1.5 years on the other end. I never even agreed to any "accommodation" either, seems like it was just a forced agreement.

Edited by WilbertSmithsonian
typo
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On 7/31/2024 at 6:06 AM, WilbertSmithsonian said:

 

This is likely what I'll do. I'm going to wait until the end of August just to be safe and make sure I'm out of the SOL. I have seen reports suggesting that Penn Credit will PFD if you tell them it's the only way you'll PIF.

 

For Transworld, at least showing it as a paid collection might have some benefit if a manual review is ever done when I apply to finance something.

 

The key factor is start getting positive credit accounts reporting.  There's several less than desirable cards out there that will grant you credit.  For myself I set me up an account with self.inc and I paid in full in six months.  At the end of the time period of the term or when you pay in full they will send you a check for everything you paid into the account.

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Quick update for the search engines in case anyone is looking for this in the future.

 

530-552 credit scores, ChexSystems frozen for the past 8 years. Approved for Chase Business Checking account.

 

Applied online on a Friday night, had a feeling I might get it because I didn't get the usual "instant rejection" saying they need me to unfreeze Chex. Email said they would review within 2 business days.

 

Monday morning, had the email in my inbox saying that I was good to go.

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On 8/4/2024 at 3:48 AM, WilbertSmithsonian said:

Translation: You stopped paying in March 2020 but the creditor gets to report you for 1.5 years longer anyway, and you would've been better off going delinquent at the end of 2019.


Did you request, or did they give you, an “accommodation” during this time?   Or did they just unilaterally decide to misreport the DOFD?
 

The latter, to me, seems inaccurate and possibly a violation of the FCRA.

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8 hours ago, SeekerOfWisdom said:


Did you request, or did they give you, an “accommodation” during this time?   Or did they just unilaterally decide to misreport the DOFD?
 

The latter, to me, seems inaccurate and possibly a violation of the FCRA.

 

I never spoke to anyone, I basically just saw on my bill that they wouldn't be shutting off utilities for a while, so I just rode it out until I moved.

 

So I definitely didn't request one, but I'm not sure if they can "give" me one that I didn't request.

 

It's a weird situation. The nice thing is that the SOL is up on both of those as of today. So I can start moving forward with them and sending letters / making calls.

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Wilbert - I think you may be confusing DOFD for credit reporting purposes with the SOL for suit purposes. The SOL is determined by State law. I don't know what NY's is, but you may be right with your assumptions. SOL does NOT affect your credit scores. DOFD is governed by Federal law (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and it is 7.5 years. DOFD does affect your credit score, but not collectability under SOL.

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4 hours ago, Flyingifr said:

Wilbert - I think you may be confusing DOFD for credit reporting purposes with the SOL for suit purposes. The SOL is determined by State law. I don't know what NY's is, but you may be right with your assumptions. SOL does NOT affect your credit scores. DOFD is governed by Federal law (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and it is 7.5 years. DOFD does affect your credit score, but not collectability under SOL.

 

Hi I'm referring to SOL on suing me, not reporting.

 

In NYS that's 3 years from DOFD. I believe DOFD is March 2020 on these, but the way they are reporting, it was 8/18/2021 and 8/19/2021 for these 2.

 

I didn't want to "poke the bear" before the 3 years was up and potentially get sued, but now I'm gonna pursue and see what I can do to try and get them removed.

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Quick update.

 

Got my Capital One Secured activated yesterday. Should report in a week or so I think (cycle ends 24th it says).

 

Woke up this morning and saw OpenSky had reported for the first time on Experian. Score went up 20 points to 550 now. Not able to check the other 2 yet, but MyFico hasn't changed so I'm guessing they haven't reported to EQ yet.

 

My overall utilization was over 80% prior to this card reporting, so I'm gonna guess that the move to below 80 had more impact than the new CL itself.

 

Paid chargeoffs from Discover and BOA both still haven't updated to paid. BOA usually reports on the 20th and Discover the 22nd, so should see a little boost from those this week too.

 

Now I'm gonna start smashing the secured Cap One card and paying in full for a few months so I can try to build up the limit over time.

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Why Chat said:

I think you will find that your paying charge offs will HURT your credit score rather than improve it as the  data will be more recent.

 

Would you say this is applicable if my chargeoffs both have 90+ day lates and are the only 2 accounts on my reports that have any lates... are both 5 years old, and I live in a state where the SOL for reporting paid chargeoffs is 5 years?

 

I do understand that my AAOA will be lower once I lose them though, but I do have 2 positive accounts that are ~10 years old so I think the overall impact here is positive.

 

Also for the record these chargeoffs have been reporting every month.

Edited by WilbertSmithsonian
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They will still be reporting as  a "derogatory" especially if you pay to a CA and not the OC and will have a current date.

 

I don't believe any State has any power to limit reporting by the CRAs It is 7 years for everyone

Edited by Why Chat
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38 minutes ago, Why Chat said:

They will still be reporting as  a "derogatory" especially if you pay to a CA and not the OC and will have a current date.

 

I don't believe any State has any power to limit reporting by the CRAs It is 7 years for everyone

 

The NYS 5 Year Purge Law is a legit thing, it's the only state that has it.

 

Most of my research leads me to think that Experian still gives difficulties and interprets it however they like, but EQ and TU follow it and remove after 5 years for paid chargeoffs and collections.

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Posted (edited)

It sounds like they are saying exactly what I mentioned, EQ and TU abide by the rule and EX likes to interpret things how they like.

 

Either way, all 3 of my chargeoffs have been paid for nearly a month now. One has already dropped off of EQ. The others haven't updated yet at all.

 

These were Cap One, BOA and Discover so part of the logic was also to re-establish relationships with them. Only time will tell if they will drop off. I will update regardless when I have more info.

Edited by WilbertSmithsonian
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MyFico finally updated since OpenSky reported to EQ. Between that and the paid Capital One collection dropping off my report, my EQ increased from 552 to 590!

 

Even being close to cracking 600 feels super exciting compared to where I started from 😂

 

Will have some more updates this upcoming week too, almost all my TLs should be updating.

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Posted (edited)

The paid BOA chargeoff dropped off EX automatically today, score bumped 6 points from 550 to 556.

 

I also fully paid off the Capital One that I'm an AU on. It's around 85% utilization right now and put my total util at almost 80% since it's the largest limit ($10k limit out of $16k total combined limits), so very curious to see what kind of impact that will have. It reports around the end of the month.

 

Between that card being zeroed out, new Capital One card reporting soon, total util going from ~80% to slightly over 20%, and only 1 card reporting a positive balance, should see a nice little boost. Although nothing too crazy since I still have some negatives to work on.

 

Once the paid Discover card either updates to 0 balance or drops off the reports, I'm going to try the pre approval thing again and see if I can get a secured with them. Then chill out for a year or so before I think about any more apps.

 

Edit: Wait what the hell, Penn Credit isn't on my EX today either. I did reach out to the OC recently and tell them I was willing to pay them directly but was concerned about the impact of the collections account on my credit report. I wonder if they recalled it from the CA, haven't heard back from them yet. Will update when I find out.

Edited by WilbertSmithsonian
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I tried calling PSEG to pay them directly instead of Penn Credit. The customer service rep told me it was out of their hands now and I need to call Penn Credit.

 

Not sure I believe much of what he said though, as he also told me that DOFD has nothing to do with when someone stops paying or goes past due. "All that matters is when someone has service from a creditor, so even if you stop paying in 2015 and are still receiving bills in 2025, then the DOFD is whenever you stopped receiving bills and closed the account."

 

Yeah, sure buddy...

 

Either way, going to try approaching it through Penn Credit next. PFD would be perfectly fine with me, since I was willing to pay PSEG in full anyway to get it off my report. I think I may try disputing first though with TU and/or EQ since the account seems to have dropped off my EX today.

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