Overwhelmed & confused -- trying to clean up credit so we can buy a house

[lockgirl]

Hey Everyone! I'm 2/3rds of the way through reading GCIS, but I'm sort of lost & overwhelmed.  Any direction would be super helpful!

1.  Has there been an update to the book at all?  It seems like things have changed a lot since it was published -- like submitting requests online for example.  Should we try that?

2.  I have 3 items that I have disputed with the original creditor because the accounts billed for an additional month after they should have been closed.  They are marked as "disputed" on my report, but one has gone to collections.  I just want them OFF the damn report so I can get the score up ASAP.  Does it make more sense to just throw money at the problem?  All in all it's about $500 & would save me thousands.  These accounts are more than 2 years old.  If so, what is the best way to do it?  With the one that has been sent to a creditor, do I reach straight out to them?  Both the original source AND the creditor are reporting on my file.  I live in Florida but just moved from Massachusetts.  

Thanks in advance for your help!

[lockgirl]

Can anyone help?

 

[BV80]

On 3/14/2022 at 1:30 PM, lockgirl said:

Hey Everyone! I'm 2/3rds of the way through reading GCIS, but I'm sort of lost & overwhelmed.  Any direction would be super helpful!

1.  Has there been an update to the book at all?  It seems like things have changed a lot since it was published -- like submitting requests online for example.  Should we try that?

2.  I have 3 items that I have disputed with the original creditor because the accounts billed for an additional month after they should have been closed.  They are marked as "disputed" on my report, but one has gone to collections.  I just want them OFF the damn report so I can get the score up ASAP.  Does it make more sense to just throw money at the problem?  All in all it's about $500 & would save me thousands.  These accounts are more than 2 years old.  If so, what is the best way to do it?  With the one that has been sent to a creditor, do I reach straight out to them?  Both the original source AND the creditor are reporting on my file.  I live in Florida but just moved from Massachusetts.  

Thanks in advance for your help!

GCIS?

[lockgirl]

Good Credit is Sexy

[Clydesmom]

On 3/14/2022 at 10:30 AM, lockgirl said:

1.  Has there been an update to the book at all?  It seems like things have changed a lot since it was published -- like submitting requests online for example.  Should we try that?

I have NO idea what that book is.  We have never heard of it here.  The title alone tells me it most likely is full of a LOT of misinformation.  NO you should not dispute online ever.

On 3/14/2022 at 10:30 AM, lockgirl said:

I have 3 items that I have disputed with the original creditor because the accounts billed for an additional month after they should have been closed.

Did you close them according to the terms of the contract?  If not, then it may be best to pay that one extra month and be done.

On 3/14/2022 at 10:30 AM, lockgirl said:

I just want them OFF the damn report so I can get the score up ASAP. 

Then pay for delete may be your best option.

On 3/14/2022 at 10:30 AM, lockgirl said:

Does it make more sense to just throw money at the problem?  All in all it's about $500 & would save me thousands.

It made more sense to throw money at the problem long before it hit your reports but if it is that little amount of money but will save 5x that much pay for delete it and move on.

On 3/14/2022 at 10:30 AM, lockgirl said:

If so, what is the best way to do it?  With the one that has been sent to a creditor, do I reach straight out to them?  Both the original source AND the creditor are reporting on my file. 

Do you mean it has been sent to a collection agency or a junk debt buyer?  Please stop using outdated terms from that book.  If it has been sent to a collection agency you can call the original creditor and ask if they will pull it back so you can pay them.  If it has been sold to a junk debt buyer then you have no choice but to deal with the JDB.

 

[BV80]

@lockgirl

Along with the information provided by @Clydesmom, here’s a little more information.

First, understand who is reporting.  When an original creditor (OC) shows a balance owed, it still owns the account.  Any collection agency (CA) reporting that same debt is collecting for the OC.  As pointed out in the previous post, call the OC and ask if you pay the OC, it will first recall the account from the collection agency.  Some OCs will, some won’t.  In the event the OC recalls the account, the CA no longer has collection authority and must delete.

When an OC sells an account and if it has been reporting the debt, it must update to show a $0 balance.  It cannot show a balance owed for an account it no longer owns.  When you see an OC reporting a $0 balance, the debt has been sold to a debt buyer.  In that instance, you cannot pay the OC.  If you want to pay, you must pay the new owner.

Do not dispute information that is accurate.  Here are a couple of reasons.

1.  If a debt is still within your state’s SOL for collection, disputing could cause the OC or debt buyer to start collection activities (if they are not already doing so).  One of those activities could be a collection lawsuit.

2.  If the current owner of the account has not been updating for several months, verifying a dispute could will be an update to the entry and could cause a drop in your score.

Note that OCs rarely ever delete an entire entry.  You can ask for a PFD, but it’s usually a waste of time.  Some debt buyers will delete after payment.  Midland Funding and Portfolio Recovery will delete, but you must check their websites to find out the exact details.

Stick to disputing inaccurate information.  There are self-described “credit experts” out there who will tell people to dispute everything for whatever reasons. They claim to have sued creditors, CAs, and debt buyers to have accounts deleted from credit reports.  Well, their tactics may have worked in the past, but times have changed.  Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins (2016) and Transunion, LLC v. Ramirez (2021), courts have become much more stringent in their requirements for consumers to prove their standing to sue under both the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Another bit of information the “credit experts” usually fail to provide is the fact that if you dispute  information claiming it to be incorrect, you bear the burden of proving it in the event the furnisher verifies it.  Some creditors, CAs, or debt buyers may cave and give in without a fight, but others will stand by their reporting.

 

 

[BackFromTheDebt]

10 hours ago, Clydesmom said:

I have NO idea what that book is.  We have never heard of it here.  The title alone tells me it most likely is full of a LOT of misinformation.  NO you should not dispute online ever.

 

 

IIRC, the book “Good Credit is Sexy” was a book written by the woman “Big Sister” who at least in theory runs this web site.  
 

It is reasonable that @lockgirl would assume someone in the forum would be familiar with the book.  
 

Well, that is not the case.  “Big Sister” used to spend a lot of time on this forum, and would ban people with different opinions from hers.  Quite a lot of what is now the “conventional wisdom” was derived by people who were banned.  Then she would deny the people were banned.  I was banned under a different name simply for pointing out that a user had been banned, even after the moderators asked me to refer anyone looking for the banned users to a different, now defunct, forum.  
 

in those days I couldn’t give my best advice.  I would simply refer users to the “other” forum.  As I mentioned, some moderators asked me to do that.  But I got banned anyway.  
 

These days “Big Sister” rarely visits the forum. She does occasionally, but she allows the moderators to run things.  In any case, what she considered heresy is now the conventional wisdom here.  Moderators praise me for giving the same sort of advice that was ban worthy under a different user name. 
 

If this post offends anyone powerful who decides to ban me, it isn’t a loss to me. I long ago passed the point where I need help from this forum.  I stick around because some users, pretty much all of whom were banned, helped me enormously in the past.  I want to “pay it forward” by helping others.  

[lockgirl]

46 minutes ago, BackFromTheDebt said:

It is reasonable

Thank you for not being mean.  As posted in my original comment I'm very overwhelmed by this,  & people being ugly isn't helpful.  The reason why we have issues with our credit is because I was bed-ridden due to illness for 8 years & my husband was doing his best to juggle everything -- still sick but making progress...  I think we could all be kinder to one another.  ❤️