i hope you figure something out!
i hope you figure something out!
Last edited by blondi553; 04-15-2008 at 08:02 AM.
Be VERY leary of those debt consolidation/debt management companies. I had one wreck my credit score in 6 months. It went from over 700 to 400. They basically took my money and just held it and took their fees and didn't do squat.
Hate to threadjack, but...
I just got divorced. I have a repo (thanks to my ex-husband) on my credit report, about $5,000 in unsecured debt (CCs, old bills, etc.) and about $10,000 in unpaid medical bills. I have a credit score in the upper 400s/lower 500s, depending on the bureau.
I have been told that it would be better for my credit score to file BK. Part of my problem is that I don't have a lot of $$$ tied up in it, but I have a LOT of small (under $500) accounts, and since my credit score takes a ding for each and every one of those little accounts, it gets a LOT of dings. In my situation, would it be better to file BK, or to try to work something out with all my old creditors? One of the problems is that a lot of those old debts are 4-5 years old, and I worry that paying on them would just make them look more recent and thus hurt my credit score even more.
I don't know what to do... At this point, my credit score is my big concern, but I don't know how I can get it raised without BK. I pay all my bills on time NOW, but I don't know what to do about those old bills, and even being current on my bills isn't helping my credit score any.
I know one thing. If a debt is from 2002 paying it in 2008 doesnt make it newer. Its still a debt from 2002 and will fall off your CR in 2009. All that will change is it will say 'Paid Collection' and 'Closed' rather than 'Open' and 'Collection' Its better than owing it. And it will fall off in 2009 either way...
If you CAN pay them off... take one at a time. Start with the smallest debt and go from there working your way up to the highest one.
A bankruptcy will stay for 7-10 years. If you pay or dont pay these they will fall off in 7 years... paying is better for the short term - if youre going long term theyll go anyway.
Id advise against bk if you can afford to take $200-500 or whatever to start paying them down.
I was told that an account will stay on your credit report for seven years from the LAST action on that account. So, for example, if I had a $1,000 debt incurred in 2000, and then the account went to collections in 2003 but I never paid on it, it should fall off my report in 2010 (seven years from the last action in 2003). However, if I paid on the same account in 2008 and had it paid off by 2009, the account would remain on my credit report until 2016.
Is that wrong?
wrong. its 7 years from when the debt incurred. i had one that i got in 2001. I paid it off in 2005 and it just dropped from my CRAs even tho my report was saying 2005 because thats when it was last updated.
^^^Ahhhh... Then I need to call my credit bureaus to dispute a LOT of stuff!
I have a lot of stuff on my CR's that is OLD--like 1999-2000. But what would usually happen is that the debt would be listed as "written off" by the original company, say Verizon, for example, and it would be written off for $200 in 1999. Then in 2001, it would be picked up by, let's say, NCO Financial. With their "collection fees", it looked like I incurred a BRAND NEW debt with them for $300 in 2001. So I'd make payments on it, and by the time it was done, I'd paid $300 and they STILL said I owed $100. Then in 2003, it would be picked up by CPS or something for $150, and so my CR shows a debt from 2001 (paid $300, wrote off $100), AND a debt from 2003 (written off $150), all for a debt I INCURRED in 1999.
And while I'm using company names as an example, I have probably seven or eight things on my CR that are like that. An account that has been picked up by one collection agency after another for YEARS. Is that something I need to dispute?
You need to dispute ALL these items where the original debt was over 7 years old... im serious... it can be sold for 50 years if that were the case. Its not. Its when the original debt was occured.
Just call the companies - dispute - say, original debt was from 1999, according to the law it has to be removed after 7 years. Please remove.
I got a few things taken off this way that were reporting from when they were sold and not the original date.
What you need is a current report - annualcreditreport.com is free but a pain in the ass. Freecreditreport.com its 34.95 for all 3 companies. With freecreditreport. Click the link "Dispute Items" You can dispute Experian online.
You will need your report number which with Freecreditreport is on the Dispute page.
Equifaxs number is 800-846-5279 -- theyre really easy just be really nice to them...
TransUnions phone number is 800-916-8800 or 1-800-888-4213. If those dont work let me know, I have others.
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