Hi All, A mess..

[Whoslookinout]

Hello all, I just stumpled across this wonderful site and unfortunally for me it's about a month or two to late. I'm pretty sure now after reading for the past week here that I totally went wrong on how I went to about to resolve my debt.

Just to give you an idea of how I got in this situation.

About 3 years ago I bought a home so as expected finances were about to get tight. Being I had a car payment, motorcycle payment and the house payment really tight. Well the house needed a ton of work before it really could be lived in. Being a tradesmen all I needed was the material so I decicded to go ahead and use my Citibank card that I have been using on and off for the past year or so. Always paid it off and never had an problems with them. So with my reseaonable interest rate I decided to charge what I needed to fix up the house, nearly $10K. All is good for the next 6 months, struggling finacially but making it. Well about another 6 months pass or so and I knotice that my balance on my citi card actually seemed to go up. So naturally I look at the percentage rate and it was nearly 30%. I called immeditaly knowing that I was never late on this card. I told them that and they agreed, what they said was I was late on another card and they reserve the right to raise the % because I'm high risk. High risk? I prided myself on good credit and the last thing I was ever late on was a department store credit card some 8 years before when I was 18. So anyways, I didn't get anywhere with them, I was extended and couldn't pull a loan to consoladate so I ignored the situation. I went on a credit card bing and it was a downward sprial since.

So, present day. I have 4 CAs after me, hounding me like sharks that have sensed blood. The preveous balances have sky rocketed to astronomical amounts to what they had been with the original creditors. Being in a depression and a funk I decided to seek the help of my folks for a consolidation loan and start talking to these thugs. Citi card(well their CA) actually sparked the idea in a letter for a 50% payoff in full, which was what I owed orginally on the citicard, fair enough. So I decided to track down the other orginally creditors which they all ended up selling to CAs. I contact the CAs by telephone and workout deals with them, have them fax me the settlement papers and had them take what we agreed of out of the account.

Now, they all said it would take 45-60 days to clear, and anything can be done on my credit report. I'm suspose to contact the CA back and they'll report back to the orginal creditor that it has been paid. It hasn't been that long yet but one has reported early.

LVNV, which bought a account, which both the orginal creditor and LVNV(which actually hired another party NES to get the money) are reporting on my credit report. I thought the CA couldn't do that and out of the 4 they are the only ones? Anyways I got a notice that a change was on my credit report, so I check and LVNV dispite the agreement with NES on a settlement updated my credit report with the remainder of the money. Not to mention LVNV reports differently on easck of the 3 credit agencies.

Ok, so I've been bullied by these thugs and as it shows I'm a complete mess. I reacted through ignorance without researching the proper steps. I don't know what to do next with any of them.

[LadynRed]

First.. what state are you in ?

Second, when was the last time you paid the ORIGINAL CREDITORS directly on any of these debts ??

Now, they all said it would take 45-60 days to clear, and anything can be done on my credit report. I'm suspose to contact the CA back and they'll report back to the orginal creditor that it has been paid. It hasn't been that long yet but one has reported early.

45-60 days for what to clear, the settlement ?? WHO told you that ?

If these debts have been SOLD, then these CA's are lying about 'reporting back' to the original creditors.

LVNV = Sherman Acquisitions, decidedly very bad actors in the collection industry. Unless you have a settlement agreement that is SIGNED by someone with the AUTHORITY to make such a settlement, then your 'agreement' won't be honored anyway. LVNV can and will continue to collect on the unpaid balance or they'll sell it off and you'll have to deal with some other CA.

What's the status on these other debts ??

[codename_fortyseven]

Has the money actually been taken out of your accounts? What exactly do the settlements say about credit reporting? How much of this is documented, and how much of this is over the phone with no documentation?

[Whoslookinout]

Hi, thanks for the replys.

I'm from Michigan. Yes the money has been withdrawn.

Looking at my credit report it looks to me that I just stopped paying on everything in mid 04'(except for house, car)

Every collection agency told me that it gets reported back to the orginal creditor. I undersatnd that they'll just feed you rubbish. So what am I missing(very ignorant about this sorry)? I only see one CA reporting on my credit report, which is LVNV, which has NES collecting. I have NES fax me a signed settlement, so it is signed and they said they will contact LVNV.

No other CA show up on my credit report. Just the orginal creditors.

ARS is the CA that bought my citibank account. Again I got a settlement bill. This being my largest debt I had ARS actually call the bank over a 3 way for the bank new what this tranaction was for. Between the faxed settlement and the 3 way with back be considered documentation?>

There's alsoa CA called Alliance One which bought the Bank One account. I have a settlement faxed with a signed signature.

All the settlements match with all my banking statements.

So what do I look for? What actually happens in a legitment settlement case? If they don't report back the the original lendor, whats the point in even dealing with CA(or is that the point)?

I appreciate the help, thankyou.