Hello Again,
So yesterday as I was writing about the debt collectors it dawned on me that I didn't expound on the knowledge that I had gained in regards to credit reports. After spending a long time on the phone with Privacy Guard I hung up with a greater knowledge and feeling empowered by some of the advice they gave me. First of all know that you are entitled to a FREE copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three reporting agencies out there. Everyone should order a copy each year around the same time to see how you are doing...let's say at tax time. File your taxes, order your reports! Easy enough to remember.
Step two, read them!!! Every inch of them. Compare them and see who has the correct information and who doesn't. I can guarantee you that no three reports look the same. Why? Because only some of the information is reported to only some of the three agencies. Next make yourself a list of those "bad" debts. Anything that has a negative connotation is immediately reported and remains on your history for as long as that account is open. Now if the account says "write off" that does not mean it goes away. Basically it means the company listed your debt as a tax write off and technically they can report it every year because they keep it as an open account and so the statute of limitations on debt does not apply! Remember it only applies on debts that have been turned over for collections and have not been acknowledged as debt by you and has not been paid on. Big note...all good credit takes a long time to appear on your report because it takes you years to pay off that car or whatever and will stay there forever!!! But bad credit comes on immediately (in one late or missed payment) and stays until dealt with or the statute of limitations runs out...remember the "Credit Collectors Unveiled" post???? Look there for that statute info. This is another excellent reason to READ YOUR CREDIT REPORT!!! It will show you who is reporting your payments late and guess what??? You have been paying them on time...or so you thought. What has happened?? Perhaps you mailed it in, it got put on customer service desk, logged in, and then sent to accounts dept, and eventually posted to your account...and now it is late because customer service processes are so slow they don't get it to accounting in a fashionable amount of time...it is up to you to look at this and call that company out, and follow up with the corrections!!! I can guarantee you that you are one in a million accounts they have and slipping through the cracks happens to all of us at one time or another...some of us are just obliviously ignorant of it.
Now back to the credit report...You have ordered it, received it, read it and crap...bad news. There are accounts that have been posted by a collection agency and you say "great now I get to deal with these guys". STOP!!! First things first, call the original creditor, keep a paper and pen and write down who you spoke with, any id number they may have, what department they are in, the date and time you spoke with them and ask them these very SPECIFIC questions. 1. Do I have an account with you (ask for acct number write it down). 2. Is this account open? (be specific in your wording and don't offer up any information) 3. If I had an account with you "technically what would the balance be"? VERY IMPORTANT TO WORD IT THIS WAY!!! If they say zero...say thank you and ask them to have it removed from your credit report. If they tell you they can't do that because it's been turned over to a debt collector remind them that they have just told you the balance is zero and by law they have to remover their post on your credit report. Lastly let them know you will be contacting the Federal Trade Commission, say thank you and hang up. You can contest that debt mentioned with the credit reporting agencies if the original debtor said your balance was zero!!! And it must be removed from your report when you supply them with the information you wrote down because the original debtor told you the balance was zero! If this is not done you contact the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is a nasty word to most companies and a very useful phrase when asking for adjustments to your credit report...sometimes it's enough to just mention it.
Now if they say they don't have any accounts in your name but it's on your credit report then ask "Was my account transferred over to another lender?" if the answer is yes then ask "who?" and get as much information as possible, name, address, account number, phone number, contact person. This would be the debt collectors from the "unveiled" blog.
So now you look down the report and you see a collection agency as the person listed on the debt...with no account number or other information other than theirs. You can call Equifax, Experian, or whoever and ask them to connect you to the Suppressed Code Contact Information Dept. These folks can tell you who the original creditor is and you start over with the aforementioned process of calling the original creditor and asking that one question "If I had an account with you technically what would the balance be?".
Lastly it is very important to find out the statute of limitations on debt in your state because the reporting agencies typically keep things on for seven years and for instance the statute in Oregon is six years!!!! So keep after them! Make yourself a notebook to keep your credit reports in, put extra paper in that binder and a few pens. Start writing down all the information you can gather! and remember to review it annually! Don't ignore your debt...DEAL WITH IT! A lot of times you don't even know what you owe and don't "technically" owe! Good luck!
TTFN
P.S. I am not a financial advisor by trade, just a woman who has been doing some research and this is what I found out...I believe the information to be correct...if you find out differently please post a comment after all us humans do make mistakes!!
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