     Rob (Rob) | Thursday, April 27, 2000 - 02:22 pm 
After several months of work, I have successfully removed 8 collection accounts (local and long distance phone bills and medical bills), 2 bad trade lines (fitness membership and furniture store accounts), rehabilitated and consolidated 4 defaulted student loans (now a new trade line with an I1 rating and have received 4 credit cards (now R1 ratings on my bureau). My Beacon Score (Equifax) went from a 530 to a 652 (and climbing).
By negotiating with my creditors, I was able to convince them to delete my accounts once payment was received. In addition, I received letters from each creditor stating, "Please be advised we have taken the necessary steps to delete the account referenced above from all three national credit reporting agencies. This process will take 30 to 60 days. You may use this letter for verification that the account is being deleted."
The key to my success and the restoration of my credit was easier than I thought...time, money (which I owed in the first place) and an unwillingness to accept "No" for an answer.
By the way, although I have only used each credit card once to get an R1 rating, I never use more than 10% of my available credit. This enhances my credit rating. I will use my head this time.
Thanks!
Rob |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Thursday, April 27, 2000 - 04:39 pm
It's great to see you were successful!
Thanks for posting, you provided much needed encouragement. |
| Jack Flack (Hotair) | Friday, April 28, 2000 - 06:09 am
Is this a major change of policy or am I really behind times?
It has been said before by many people, some who purport to be in-the-know, that CRA's cannot simply "delete" accounts.
Is this now happening as the norm? Are folks now able to settle for whatever and routinely get the line totally deleted?
Did the creditors/collectors finally wise up? I suspect these deletions happened all along but were under the table for the most part.
Money still does talk, I see! |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Friday, April 28, 2000 - 08:51 am
It's always been possible to delete accounts or change the rating. Much more important than the money factor are putting in the time and not taking no for an answer.
I've had clients over 10 years ago who managed to substantially improve their credit just by being persistent.
Just have to mention the client who got Chase to remove several lates including 60 day lates. It was an open credit card and they said no, no, no ... She'd call at various times and days so she got different supervisors.
Eventually they got so tired of her calls they made a deal to close the account and pay it in full. It wasn't delinquent and not a whole lot was owed, she just wore them out. And it got her the mortgage. |
| Rob (Rob) | Friday, April 28, 2000 - 03:22 pm
Thanks for the many emails. Because I cannot answer them all, I will post what I did here.
For my student loans, I had to repay for 12 months on each of them to rehabilitate them. I did not want to wait that long, so they agreed to lump sums totaling 12 months of payments. Then, I consolidated them through the William D. Ford Foundation.
As for the collection accounts, I disputed all of them with Equifax. When I received an updated copy of my credit report, I called Equifax back to get the remaining phone numbers to any creditors that I did not already have. I called each of them individually. Because the collection agencies do not know what else is on my credit report, I told them that their account was holding up a mortgage loan and I would pay in full if they agreed to remove the debt from my report. Of course they want their money, so they agreed and the rest was just a matter of mailing checks and waiting for their letters.
One method that I learned to ensure the information would be removed was to call the representative, take down their name, reach an agreement to have the information removed, then call back (speaking to a different representative). This way, I could ask questions such as, "I spoke to Mr. Davis and he agreed to have the account removed from my credit report. Do you see the notes he left on the screen? I forgot to ask him how long it would take." The rep would then say something like, "I see his comments to have the account removed. It normally takes 30 to 60 days. Have you sent
in the payment?"
Good luck and don't give up. You do not have to wait 7 years.
Rob |
| Michelle Nielson (Michelle) | Friday, April 28, 2000 - 05:21 pm
I have had luck getting items removed by just disputing them with the bureaus. They will try to jerk you around or ask for more information - but being persistant has helped. I personally haven't had much luck with creditors deleting information. Most of them flatly say no. I've told them, sorry I am deviding my money up among those who are willing to remove, call me if you reconsider. None have called.
Most of the collections I have left are very small and are due to fall off in a very short time. The year 2001 will be very good to me. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Friday, April 28, 2000 - 07:03 pm
Thanks again, Rob and Michelle.
Just want to mention again that if you don't want your e-mail public,
CHECK the option towards the bottom of the "Edit Profile" page under "Preferences:"
"Do not display my e-mail address with my profile or on my post." |
