ml73 Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 First time poster.. Hi to all ...My wife had an unpaid medical bill that went to collection. Not knowing about this site, we settled with the collection company with the termsthat we pay 50% of the 168 debt and they delete the record from her report.Unfortunately, this deal took place over the phone and they only marked the account as a PAID COLLECTION..The bright spot is that We paid the 50% using a credit card instead of sending off a check.I am looking at the TransUnion credit reportIt says the following:Collection RecordUpdated: 02/2002Placed: 09/2001Paid Off: 01/2002Balance: 0Most Owed: 168Status as of 01/2002: Paid CollectionHer credit report is excellent if it was not for this.I have spent a good bit of time on this site today but with all the info here I am confusing myself Do I request an investigation using the provided Form that came with the Report?Do I send a debt validation letter to the CRADo I contact the collection agency and tell them I will pay the other half of the debt even if they already stateit is paid in exchange for them deleting the record completely? (Send them something in writing and get it back signed of course).Just want to know the steps and in what order I must do them so I don't screw up again...Sorry if this info was already posted but I did quite a few searches and couldn't come up with the scenario... Thank you much!
kimber6337 Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 Hello and Welcome!!!Do I request an investigation using the provided Form that came with the Report? which ever, doesn't really matterDo I send a debt validation letter to the CRAYou can't DV a CRA, only a CA. CRA's only get disputes.Do I contact the collection agency and tell them I will pay the other half of the debt even if they already state it is paid in exchange for them deleting the record completely? They don't care what they told you..its not in writing, prove they said it. Good Will on their part to update it per your agreement - I DOUBT IT! Don't contact them and let them know your coming.FIRST Dispute with the CRA's with NO KNOWLEDGE OF ACCOUNT Let us know how that goes.[Edit by kimber6337 on [TIME]1057630442[/TIME]]
kb9tbq Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 Since the server was moved recently the search option is not pulling in all the relevent material sry to say.Do I request an investigation using the provided Form that came with the Report?You can if you want, but I think most people write their own dispute letters for this part. Also if you dispute with the CRAs send it CRRR so you know when your 30 day period starts.Do I send a debt validation letter to the CRACRA = Credit Reporting AgencyCA = Collection Agency - This is the one you send the DV letter to.Do I contact the collection agency and tell them I will pay the other half of the debt even if they already state it is paid in exchange for them deleting the record completely? (Send them something in writing and get it back signed of course).Try them in the order which you listed them, dispute with CRAs 1st, if that don't work, then try DV letter to the CA & redispute with the CRAs at the same time. If you can get them to validate and show proof of ownership as well as payment history on this, the third one is the way to go, pay in exchange for deletion. But only after trying the 1st 2 options, cause you might just get lucky and bump this thing off first - saving a lot of money & time.Best of Wishes, & welcome aboard,
Highrisk Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 When asking for deletion in return for payment, what sort of documentation serves as a legal document? I have two unpaid collection that I think would put my score above 680 if I could get them removed.
kb9tbq Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 Has to be the companys own letterhead on the document; and it must have a signature of a person working there. It don't matter if you have them mail or fax it, just as long as it says something to the affect that the account is considered paid in full and that they will be updating all 3 of the credit reporting agencies (also the 4th Innovis) to remove the tradeline.So if they don't you can forward copy of this to the CRAs yourself and accomplish removal yourself.
Highrisk Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 So my initial letter to them (after disputes, of course) should say "please send me a letter stating that upon receipt of payment you will delete record from the CRA's" and if it is on letterhead and signed that is sufficient? Cool!I am going to do a debt validation in the mean time, even though I have disputed it twice with no luck. Hey, what is a good minimum score when shopping for a mortgage?
kb9tbq Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 Check out the mortgage section; there are so many programs out there, some can start as low as 540 I think, (well anyone with enough money down) I imagine can dictate this part. Just the scores determine your interest rates though.Kristy posted some info; and Charles over there can explain some of the different programs available.
ml73 Posted July 8, 2003 Author Report Posted July 8, 2003 Thanks, kimber6337 & kb9tbq for responding so quickly...Another thing I realized is that we settled the collection with NCO Financialbut it is MEDClear that is on the report?Is this relevant?Nonetheless, I typed up a dispute letter that we will send off tomorrow CRRR. One thing I am confused on is that kb9tbq states that if it doesn't come of after the first dispute to the CRA then to redispute at the same time of validating with the CA.Is the redispute letter written exactly like the first? When do I send that one out?Thanks again.
kb9tbq Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 Yes; dispute with the CRA again coming up with an excuse like incorrect status; incorrect last activity date, just something to get it going with the CRA.This way when you DV the collection agency they will see the dispute come in from the CRAs; and it is their responsibility to report back to the CRAs that the account is currently in dispute by the consumer, if they don't that is a violation you have them on, in case later things should take a turn for the worse, you can use this against them.Like chess; back and forth, playing things out just right to catch them one way or another.
ml73 Posted July 8, 2003 Author Report Posted July 8, 2003 ahh... ok I am seeing how this works now... Well I'm going to order my other two credit reports 2nite and send out the disputes tomorrow. Thanks for all the help.
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