Macys’s AmEx 90 day late…HELP!

Mar 212011
 

While trying to build my credit and pay down credit card bills, I’ve become very anal about late payment etc…

 

(back story)

I had a Macy’s store card, and this winter I was “given” a Macy’s American Express card; my assumption was that I moved from the traditional store card to the new American Express card; my GAP card did similar. I am currently signed up for the automatic payments for Macys, and made the assumption that the bill was only one (not two) and the monthly payment made automatically as always. Even checked my online banking regarding the payments, and noticed each statement was paid on time.

 

Well, I learned today that the store card and American Express card were two different account under my name, and the American Express was 90 days late. I spoke with the Macys account rep, and they agreed to remove the late fee if I paid the balance in full which I did. I plan on closing the account, too.

 

Now, I’m very concerned about my credit score as I know that 90 days late is a KILLER. Is there anything I can do with the credit bureaus to fix this? If they notice my other open accounts, I am never late (thank you auto payments). I understand that I am at fault for assuming differently therefore missing the payments, but I simply figured the store credit card transferred to the new one; odd to think a store having two different accounts under one name.

 

Any help would be great–thanks!

 

CitiAssist charge off – help?

Mar 112011
 

Apologies for the length!

 

Most of this is very old (2007 – well before I knew about sites like this) but I really need to get this sorted out so…

I had a CitiAssist (private) loan that I screwed up on back in 2007. Citi is reporting to the credit bureaus every month that it was Charged-off/Written off (depending on which report you check) and the amount increases each month.

I went through some pretty bad credit handling back then and I suppose I was just ignoring it. I honestly must have forgotten about it as I did have the good mind to consolidate all of my federal loans later that year and those are fine. However, I take full responsibility.

What I recall is their internal collections department contacting me around Dec 2007 or so for payment (back then was ~$5000). Ultimately they demanded immediate payment or very large monthly payments that I told them was not possible. I was willing to pay $200/mo or whatever but they would not accept it.
Communication ended.

A few months later (so early 2008 or so) I received a certified letter from a collection agency in my state. The name of the agency appeared like a law firm but I am pretty sure it was just a collection agency. From information I read online, I sent a certified letter to them requesting debt validation (not saying it wasn’t mine and not refusing to pay). This may or may not have been the brightest thing to do since, even though it’s a Private loan, I think it goes by different rules (compared to like CC account) since it was a student loan.
Anyhoo, I never heard from them nor Citi again.

 

Knowing I really need to get this resolved just within the last couple of weeks I logged on to their site and according to my online payment history on their website, the last payment I made was on 12/25/2007 but my loan is no longer listed within their system (“You do not currently have any active or fully disbursed loans on our system.” according to their website). I did have to update my Contact Information on their website to view anything so I assume that will trigger something somewhere that I’m still alive and how to contact me which is ok because I’m not trying to hide from them and I do want to pay.

 

Again, it is Citi that is reporting to the CRAs every month that it’s charged off. No CA has reported anything. Since they are actively reporting it as a Charge Off and the amount is increasing (It is reporting at ~$7000 as of today), does this mean it is still in Citi’s hands?

I guess my biggest question is does anyone have any guesses as to what Citi would offer for payment options based on experience? It would be nice to have some idea so I don’t feel like I’m getting hit by a train when I get up the nerve to call them.

Also, from reading other posts I understand that they could still sue me even if I have arranged a payment plan with them and am paying as agreed. In your opinion do you think this is something they are likely to do? If I asked them would they know? Is there some time frame from defaulting on the loan that they just automatically start the process?

And I have dug through every last piece of paper that I have files and cannot locate anything related to this loan, if it matters.

score drop from online dispute

Feb 272011
 

I tried to verify a debt from first premiere bank for the last 45 days and I never recieved anything in writing from them at any time about this debt. I think I made a mistake by disputing this online through EQ. as I just got a SW alert that my score dropped 24 points due to the dispute. What happens now? Anyone know if this happens when disputing online?

Online Disputes vs Written Disputes

Feb 232011
 

I have goofed and disputed online. I have not been happy with the “verification” efforts and results. I plan to send new disputes through the mail for now on. WIll the results of my online disputes affect my written disputes? Will they be seen as frivolous and redundant by the CRA?

 

Is it true that handwriting a dispute has a better chance of success instead of typing?

Family Credit Management mistake

Feb 212011
 

Good morning, I have had a recently discovered issue.  We’ve been using Family Credit Management for 4 years now.  They’ve done a good job so far – until apparantly last year around June.  Last March dh had a lay off for one month and this led to us being one month behind to FCM.  They were handling 3 creditors at the time (when we started we had 11 creditors under them!).  The three were Target, Chase, and Sams. 

 

We worked closely with FCM and got caught back up inside of 8 weeks (including the missing pymt, so we were ‘all’ caught up then).  That was approx June by then.

 

We went along like normal all year after that, and I didn’t have anymore late payments to FCM which meant (or so we thought) the 3 they were managing were getting their pymts on time too.  Part of what happened is my fault, but part of it I believe is someone else’s – I need opinions please.  What happened was a week ago I pulled our FICO scores from this site as well as ordered us each the 2 reports available from here.  I was SHOCKED to see that Target has been consistently reporting us as being 60 days late every single month since June.  It appears as if we’ve been behind on every month by 60 days!  But we were paying FCM and thought all things were good.

 

Naturally I called FCM and said WTH?  We utilize this company in order to prevent this type of issue.  I’m so frustrated right now.   So she takes a look at it and basically scratches her own head and says she needed to call Target to see what happened.  Then she calls back and explains that the guy she spoke to did say that our account was ‘supposed’ to get re-aged after the make up payments were made back in May/June timeframe but that *HE* didn’t even know why it hadn’t happened so he said he’s going to ‘fix’ it now.  Here’s the kicker — he said he’s only going to be able to make repairs back to November.  So that will mean that every month from June-October will still reflect the 60 day late thing!  Thats five months!

 

I told the FCM CS that was not right since we believed to of been caught up (we never deal with Target and only with them) as we stayed in constant contact with them and was caught up inside of 8 weeks – so we had no reason to think anythiing was wrong.  I mean, we would of happily paid anything Target wanted us to, if only we would of KNOWN about it.  Also, the other two – Sams and Chase- had no lates marked out on them.

 

So, the part where I accept blame is this:  we no longer get paper statements from Target and around a year ago something happened with our online log in for Target so I haven’t been logging in since I didn’t have the new PW.  Thats my fault completely.  Had I been either logging in or getting paper statements then I would of seen that we were 60s late every single month.  Our reports also clearly show all other payments are completely on time and haven’t had any lates in 3 years (even back then it was only one 30 day one) until you suddenly see all these red marks from June to present as all 60 days lates for Target.

 

I’m really frustrated and it seems FCM doesn’t wish to accept any of this on themselve or want to really work too hard to help us get these wiped off Target’s reports.  Sigh.  What can I do?  Thanks, Lisa

EFC of 8504

Feb 012011
 

So I’m thinking of going back to school to get my Bachelor’s degree (FINALLY)…..I submitted the online FAFSA and received the SAR…the EFC is 8504. I’m waiting to hear from the school’s financial aid office. But in plain English, what does this EFC mean?

 

 

Tv Online – Online-TV-Software

Jan 022011
 

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Bad debt charge off

Jan 022011
 

I have only one major blip on my credit report.  It happened when I switched from TXU Electric to another provider.  TXU quickly disabled my online account, which I used to pay my bill on.  So when the final bill came in the mail, I missed it (not used to paying by mail).  They made only 1 attempt to contact me (that I can remember), but apparently wrote it off as bad debt very quickly.  It’s $98.

 

How should I take care of this?

Equifax disputes…

Dec 282010
 

First thanks, especially to AndySoCal who has been very helpful. This has been so helpful, and myFICO is proving to be worth every penny. My scores have already gone up considerably, from a 606 to a 715 on TransUnion in just two months! But, Equifax just dipped from a 702 to a 670, and I’m looking for a little input, and wondering if I went overboard disputing with them.

 

So, first TU: they were my worst score. They 6 innaccurate accounts. Two collections I disputed online and they deleted. And, they had misreported 120 lates on 4 student loans from June/July of 2004, accounts that were at the time deferred, and I have since paid, rehabbed, closed. Under the terms of the defer agreement, Sallie Mae agreed to delete the lates. But TU was reporting them. I disputed with Sallie on the phone, and they said the would retract. But, they dragged their feet. So I disputed with TU, and bam, TU investigated and deleted the lates within two weeks.

 

Now to Equifax. They had not reported the lates on those same loans–until LAST WEEK! I saw my score drop from 702-681, so I got a free credit report–and here is what I found:

 

1) EQ is now reporting the 120-day lates. TU has removed. Experian never had them. So I disputed online with EQ, too. I am pretty sure they should come off if they properly investigate. Not sure how they suddenly appeared, though!

 

2). I am an authorized user on my wife’s citicard. It has a credit limit of $24,500. But that limit wasn’t reported, and it was listing my credit utilization as over 100%! So, I checked the “Please verify details” dispute box on the account, and added a comment that read simply “please note the correct credit limit of $24,500.” Was this a mistake on my end?

 

3)   And lastly, as I had written before, Chase was listing two 30-day late payments from late 2004 on a credit card they bought from another company. I know I was not paid late because I has an auto-deduct, this was a glitch when the the card company changed hands. I asked Chase to confirm and Chase said they had no records, but they would not delete. Standard. Now, I know these will come off soon, and aren’t likely killing my score. But, I hope to buy a home in 2011, and the difference is between a line listing two 30-day lates, vs. four 30-day lates over the last 7 years. TU and EX both have the correct info.   So I disputed.

 

I want accurate info, and I want my reports cleaned up. But this whole experience, while going reasonably well, has felt a little like dealing with organized crime. I’m nervous that disputing this stuff will just anger them! TU, I have to say did a nice job. responded quickly and favorably to the online requests. I have no idea what I’ll get out of EQ even though I am clearly, materially in the right on these counts.Meanwhile, the disputes have lowered my score to 670.

 

Any thoughts?

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