Jayla Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 I have prayed and prayed about this because my situation seems hopeless. Something hit me on my drive home from work (ironically, while driving past Experian in Allen, TX). I will explain. . . I had a voluntary repossession in January. I think it was all done legally but I don't understand repossession laws 100%. In March I received a letter showing the deficiency balance remaining after the sale of the vehicle including repo fees and a credit on the extended warranty. The amount is waaaaayyyyyy more than I calculated it to be. It does not even tie with the pay-off quote I got the day before turning in the vehicle even with the fees. I received another letter the other day (with a different dollar amount) stating that I needed to make arrangements to pay the balance or be turned over to a collection agency or an attorney. The amount was $120 more. I asked for a complete accounting and after going back and forth, they agreed to send me a letter just like what I got before. It does not have payment details. Now, I know the same laws do not govern an OC as a CA, but don't they still have to provide me with a complete accounting at my request?Further, I asked how this would be reported on my credit. If I pay the payment arrangement in full, it will be reported as CHARGEOFF PAID IN FULL. If I go for settlement, it will be reported as SETTLEMENT with a $0 balance. I asked if there was any way to have this reported as PAID AS AGREED, NEVER LATE. When they stopped laughing at me, the answer was "No, the only way we will remove it is if it was reported incorrectly". That's when it hit me that I may be able to prove the numbers are funky. This is what I think I should do:1. Get my credit report. Circle the amount reported.2. Send a copy of one of the two letters they sent to me with the balance. I'll send whichever one does not match the reported amount.3. Send the above to the CRA as proof that the amount does not agree and beg them to remove it immediately.Will that work? Or should I:1. Dispute as "Not Mine" to buy some time and start the payments per the payment arrangement so as not to make the situation worse.2. When it comes back verified, dispute as "AMOUNT INCORRECT".Which way will give me the best chance of getting this completely off of my credit? If I send the CRA a copy of one of the letters, will this just allow them to manipulate the amount being reported? HELP! And can someone tell me where the Jackass meetings are being held because the people I have been dealing with act like they never miss a meeting.Would anyone have a sample letter on disputing an amount or dates?Thank you so much. You will all be invited to my first home when I finally can get one with my new good credit that I will eventually be blessed with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb9tbq Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 You definitely start out disputing all collections & charge offs as not yours 1st time around. Then if it comes back verified like you said hit them with incorrect balance; incorrect status; incorrect last activity date...So the letter you would send to the CRAs will be like this:NameAddressSS#DOBThen itemize the account which you are disputing:Name of creditor or collection agencyAccount numberOpen dateCredit limit or High BalanceCurrent BalanceStatusThen your statement:I have no knowledge of this account belonging to me, please remove from my credit report.***********That is it, nothing fancy is required for this part.Also note, if you have moved or since changed your name, it would be a good idea to first get copy of credit report; call the CRA and dispute over the phone all old addresses and name, just tell them this information is incorrect - no further explaination is needed.Once you have that done, then write in your dispute on the accounts you want removed. You can keep this up as long as it takes to get it bumped, and you can circle around through the various generic reasons for them to investigate. If you get hit with a frivolious letter from the CRA - saying they will no longer investigate the matter, then give it a rest for a month or so - then pick right back up.If you are in the SOL - statute of limitation; this means that the creditor still has the means to legally collect from you. You can check link above with the state you live in to see if you are past this amount of time yet. SOL goes from the time when you discontinued paying on this account.If you are out of the SOL, then the collection company can not legally make you pay, and if you find that to be the case, all you need to do - is grab a cease and desist letter from the link above called sample letters. Send this to them, to quite bothering you.Also there are special rules on repos - making the SOL shorter then what contract shows, I think 2 years is what they have to collect. But I am not totally sure. Here are some links I have saved on this subject - the first I have not read through but you may find something of assistance here:http://www.independentdealer.com/finance/finance9.aspalso check this second one out to see what may be of help here:http://debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=3719#3719Best of wishes with you case here, and welcome aboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayla Posted August 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 KB, if you have not heard it today, you are awesome. Thank you so much for your help. I'm copying and pasting the letter today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb9tbq Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Thank you so much, you have a good evening, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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