New member; need advice (and maybe a little moral support)

[ConvexLes]

I’m new to this site, but wish I would have found it sooner. I’ve been working towards fixing errors on my credit for the past few months… but I’m having some trouble and need some moral support and advice. My credit took a major beating around the time I became disabled. (I have Narcolepsy) Most of the damaging stuff was over medical bills that were later paid by insurance. (Disability date was in 2001, but I didn't actually get any help from Social Security until 2004… talk about trauma!) It took several years to put my life back together after this fiasco, and I was finally in the process of fixing my credit… when my landlord tells me she needs to sell the house I’m renting sooner than expected. Now I’m under some real time pressure. I was planning to buy this place anyway, just not this soon. So, I find myself trying to qualify for a special low-interest mortgage about 6 months ahead of schedule. Obviously, before I can qualify, I must fix the many errors on my CR's to bring my scores up. I have about $1000 set aside to pay off any bad debts that turn out to be my responsibility.

The medical bills were extra confusing; while I was waiting for Social Security to approve my disability claim... these were all being sent to collections. (I had no income or insurance for almost 3 years) In 2004, I was retroactively approved for SSDI, Medicare and Medicaid… that is, suddenly I had insurance coverage for the previous years, for medical bills that had already landed in collections. So, in 2004, all my medical bills from 2001 and forward had to be re-submitted to the insurance. (at least, that’s how it was supposed to work.) Instead, most apparently were never taken out of collections, or they were put back into collections as insurance payments went out directly to OC. Anyway… a confusing mess to figure out who actually paid what, and when… but 95% of my medical collections were paid years ago, and I’m trying to get them removed. When I started, there were 11 medical collections being reported, and I wasn’t sure what any of them were for… the biggest was less than $400; the smallest was $67. Some of these have since been deleted by one or more of the Big 3. Some I expect to be removed by mid-July, as I’ve called the OC and they verified that these debts were paid off years ago, and I’ve disputed them with the big 3. I still have concerns about 3 medical accounts that I may have to pay even though I’m still not sure if they are valid; but what is left adds up to less than $400 total… so I’ve made progress. But, there are some other snags that I can’t decide how to deal with. (at least, in a way that will have the most positive impact to my credit scores) I’ll focus on the most upsetting one…

Most Upsetting Credit Problem #1... There is an old collection item on my CR. "Western Wireless Corporation" is listed as the OC, the debt is more than $1,000… but most importantly, THIS IS NOT MY BILL! I’ve never had an account of any kind with Western Wireless in my whole life. There is no way to attach a cell phone bill to me which is this enormous. For instance, I hate talking on the phone; $1000 phone bill would literally add up to more than a years worth of phone bills in my case. It’s like a bad joke really; like charging someone for a year supply of shrimp, when that person is allergic to shellfish. Anyway, this has been on my CR since 2004, it’s only being reported by EX, but it’s been reported as 'key derogatory' every single month for years. Wow. (Btw, I don't know exactly what 'key derogatory' means... but its lots of bright red boxes in a long line, and looks ugly.) I wouldn’t have enough money to pay this bill anyway, but frankly … I resent the idea that I should pay any bill that’s not mine. (I have plenty of my own bills to pay, and I make sacrifices to pay them on time the way it is… but I do it anyway. However, I must draw the line when it comes to paying stuff that that isn’t mine.)

Here is what I do know: I vaguely remember being harassed by this collection agency whose initials are ‘PRC’ about this debt, way back when I was really sick and waiting for Social Security to process my claim. From the start, I told the PRC that this was not my bill; they actually expected me to provide documentation to them to PROVE this was not my account! (How can you prove an account is not yours, if you have no knowledge that the supposed account ever existed?) According to them, unless I could show them the proof, I would be forced to pay the dumb thing. Back then, I was in no shape physically or mentally to deal well with any of this; I honestly suspected this was either some sort of a scam, or a simple mistake…that it would eventually get straightened out and go away. After several address changes, a move out of state last year, PRC apparently lost track of me because I never heard from them again… not since maybe 2003?

But this huge phone bill has never gone away; it’s still on my EX CR and I'm not sure what to do. I'm actually afraid to contact PRC by phone, at least until I fully understand my rights; I remember the way they harassed me before… I don’t want that to start up all over again. I felt like they were trying to trap me into paying it before, asking me all sorts of personal questions, (For instance, what cell phone providers I DID use, what Bank I used, etc.) calling me several times a day. Is there any chance this CA could be part of a scam? It was so long ago… I don’t remember every detail of their calls; I just remember it was awful. I disputed this debt online in 2006, without success but didn’t have the energy to follow through with it at that time due to a housing crisis. PRC just sucked all the energy… talking to them was like being in the Twilight Zone.

But, I’m in much better shape now, so I just disputed this supposed debt online again, two days ago. Since finding this website… I understand it may have been a mistake to do this online. It seemed like a good idea, because I’m under some time pressure. In April, EX ignored both of my written requests for corrections and deletions, claiming that I didn’t give them enough documentation to prove my identity. I couldn’t access my free report anymore either, so I finally purchased a new one online and disputed it that way. Actually, I did this online with each of the Big 3… on the same day. 6/17. So where do I go from here about this dumb phone bill problem? I just have a terrible feeling that they (PRC) are going to make this very difficult… I’m trying to get prepared by examining my options.

I wouldn’t have the money to pay this off, even if I wanted to. (Paying the mystery phone bill would make it impossible to pay off any remaining bills that actually are mine… which is the whole point of what I’m trying to do. Plus, I’m hoping to have some money left over to get a secured credit card… I haven’t used a credit card since the 1990’s; my vehicle is paid off… so I need to start building some new forms of credit before my old good credit from installment loans ages off.) I was originally planning to try to settle with PRC after I paid my real stuff off… just to make it go away. I’m not sure this really the best option either. Wouldn’t this be like accepting responsibility for a bill that isn’t mine? What is most important to me is to get this thing off my CR because it doesn’t even belong there.

I’ve talked to 3 different mortgage lenders who offered to ‘help’ me clean up my credit… each pulled my CR… which apparently also has hurt my scores. (Even though they are still higher than when I started this project.) Worse, all three of these people gave me conflicting advice about how to fix my credit. One told me to pay everything off, even when the debts were not being reported correctly, and that my credit would be fixed after 30 days. Another one told me to dispute everything first, then pay off whatever is left. The third told me not to dispute anything... he suggested that instead, I should “petition” to have those items removed from my report. (Trying to find out exactly how to do that was how I discovered this website. Is this the same as ‘validating’ a debt?) Since this all happened within a couple weeks... I wound up even more confused about how to proceed than ever. Since then, I've been doing research and trying to sort this out myself. I was looking into the ‘validation of debt’ links here… but feel a little intimidated by that for some reason. (Must be the legal jargon; I don’t think I can afford to sue anyone, and isn’t that what debt validation is for?)

Sorry this is so long... this is just really confusing, and I feel a bit desperate for answers on this. Its taking me forever to sort through all the credit repair info that's out there, it's mind-boggling me. I'm really hoping someone can just help to point me in the right direction. Part of my problem, is that I have no real concept of how different actions will affect my scores. (TU=567, EX=586, EQ=562… and these numbers don’t factor in any recent corrections.) Any ideas about this phone bill, or if anyone has any experience dealing with PRC... I'd be grateful.

ConvexLes

[smurfette in nyc]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

I think it would be very helpful if you could copy all the information contained within the tradeline, exactly as it is reported on a hard copy credit report from EX, for this bogus phone bill. That way, we here could take a look at the information, and better be able to advise you.

Personally, I am a bit confused about whether it is actually the OC reporting this debt to EX, or the CA you mentioned, PRC?

[ConvexLes]

(*is it legal to mention the CA's name here? if not.. let me know, I'll take it off.)

[start of TL]

PORTFOLIO RECVRY&AFFIL

Address:

120 CORPORATE BLVD STE 1

NORFOLK, VA 23502

No phone number available

Account Number:

XXXXX....

Original Creditor:

WESTERN WIRELESS CORPORATION

Address Identification Number: 0323253479

Status:

Collection account. $1,075 past due as of Jul 2006.

Status Details:

This account is scheduled to continue on record until Jul 2009.

This item was verified and updated on Oct 2005.

Date Opened:

09/2004

Type:

Installment

Credit Limit:

$1,075

Date of Status:

12/2004

Terms:

1 Months

High Balance:

NA

Reported Since:

12/2004

Monthly Payment:

$0

Recent Balance:

$1,075

Last Reported Date:

07/2006

Responsibility:

Individual

Recent Payment:

$0

Account History:

Collection as of May 2006 to Jul 2006, Jan 2006 to Mar 2006, Nov 2005, Oct 2005, Aug 2005, Mar 2005 to Jul 2005, Jan 2005, Dec 2004

Your Statement:

Account information disputed by consumer (Meets requirement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act).

[end of TL]

As I've said, I've never had an account with Western Wireless of any kind. Thanks. I'm glad I found this place. It's so hard to navigate through all this when you haven't been trough it before. (I'm more of an artist than a lawyer... but I do have a bit of scientist in me, which should count for something.)

[smurfette in nyc]

First of all, Portfolio is a bottom feeder JDB!

You should know that Portfolio paid a penny or two for each dollar of this alleged debt. Anyway, my opinion is that you should send Portfolio a DV letter, CMRRR. Because it obviously wont be a timely DV, they will not be required to respond to you, and most likely wont, but at least you will have the beginnings of a paper trail.

Assuming they don't respond after 30 days, (and even if they do) I would then file complaints with the BBB, AG in Virginia, as well as the ACA, explaining that this is not your debt.

Also, although you mentioned you already disputed this TL with EX online, I don't think it would hurt to immedietly send EX a written dispute via CMRRR, to add to your paper trail. As far as providing them documentation of your identity, be sure to include a copy of a photo id, such as your driver's license, in addition to another copy of an id such as a social security card, or recent utility bill. Good luck!

[ConvexLes]

What is ACA? (It's not on the list of Common Abbreviations, which I had to print out... so I could understand what you all were talking about...lol.)

Dumb question about CMRRR... I sent letters via CM with RRR before, and never got a return receipt via mail. Am I supposed to get receipts by mail... or am I supposed to get them some other way. TU responded to my letter... so I know they got it. EX responded to both my letters to them, with letters to say they were unable to respond. (Obviously I had never used RRR before... I am REALLY a newbie)

So what type of dispute letter would I send to EX?

If PRC bottom feeder fails to respond to my request after 30 days, will EX be required to remove it from my record?

[Magdalen77]

What is ACA? (It's not on the list of Common Abbreviations, which I had to print out... so I could understand what you all were talking about...lol.)

Dumb question about CMRRR... I sent letters via CM with RRR before, and never got a return receipt via mail. Am I supposed to get receipts by mail... or am I supposed to get them some other way. TU responded to my letter... so I know they got it. EX responded to both my letters to them, with letters to say they were unable to respond. (Obviously I had never used RRR before... I am REALLY a newbie)

So what type of dispute letter would I send to EX?

If PRC bottom feeder fails to respond to my request after 30 days, will EX be required to remove it from my record?

ACA is the American Collectors Association, a trade group, they are supposed to be trying to help improve the public perception of collectors (good luck with that). If Portfolio is a member maybe that will embarass them enough to get them off your case. I've had a lot of success with reporting everyone involved to the AG of their state and to their local BBB. That includes EX and the JDB. In my case it was Arrow, they're all bottom-feeding scum-suckers, though.

And yes, you should get your return receipts back in the mail unless you asked for e-mail delivery instead (it's slightly cheaper).