How An Individual Development Accounts (IDA) Can Help You Purchase A Home or Expand Your Business!

I had never heard of this account until last January and I was immediately intrigued as a Realtor and even more intrigued as a professional in the credit management field - after all we stress budgeting and saving all the time!

So, what is an IDA?  An Individual Development Account is a special matched savings account that helps families and individuals with limited financial resources to establish a pattern of saving, building assets, furthering their education or job training, or to start/expand a small business.  

When you save in an IDA your money is matched with donations dollar for dollar (or more).  You will also be enrolled in financial education classes covering topics in budgeting, saving, banking and more.  The idea is to encourage others to invest in assets.  Your take-home pay will cover food, clothing, bills and other necessities, your saving dollars that are matched are used to help you purchase a home, invest in a business, or seek higher education.

Matched dollars are provided by the government, private companies, churches and local charities.  

How do they work?

You contact an IDA program sponsor to enroll.  The sponsor will provide you with all of the financial education classes, one-on-one counseling and training.  You will open up an account with a partnering bank or credit union that will handle all transactions to and from IDA.  Each month, IDA participants will receive a statement tallying their personal savings, matched savings, and interest accrued!  Most IDA programs that I've heard of are 2 years.  There are some that provide accounts as short as 6 months and as long as 5 years.

This is phenomenal for students seeking help for room, board, tuition and/or books; individuals and families in need of assistance in saving for a down payment or closing costs; and aspiring business owners.  

Program sponsors provide additional training based on participant's goals. For example, those seeking to start a business are taught the necessary skills to be successful in starting and growing their business.  Those that are seeking to purchase a home are provided home ownership tips and guidelines. 

It's important to note that each program sponsor's requirements and offerings are different.  Some will allow you to use your matched funds for other goals such as housing repairs, a car, and retirement; others only focus on one goal such as Housing IDAs or Small Business IDAs.  

The key is to ask questions, review all paperwork and requirements and ask about fees.  Yes, not all IDA accounts are free.  All costs are put towards participant benefits though - classes, one on one counseling sessions with an expert (i.e. assistance with building your business plan).

So, how do you know if an IDA is for you?  Investigate!  I will say that if you are paying off a lot of loans or have a lot of credit card debt, this may not be for you right now.  Some have been denied participation due to their credit history. Take care of that first.  When your savings goal has been reached, you want to be able to jump on it right away.  

To find an IDA program nearest you visit www.idanetwork.org. There is a directory on there that lists program sponsors by state. Simply contact them to find out their particular program and how you can apply.  The Federal Office of Community Services also has a directory of about 200 companies across the country that have IDA programs; you can view them at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/afi/states.html.

And if credit is holding you back from participating in this program; please feel free to reach out to me, I'd love to help!

~ Netiva

Insurance Consumer Reports - Specialty Reports Series

The Fair Credit Reporting Act protects more than just consumer credit rights; but rather reports about our overall financial health. Reports that detail information on consumers for purposes other than credit are called Nationwide Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies. These companies are industry specific and compile information geared toward certain industries. Their reports may be pulled by employers, insurance companies, banks, and landlords/property management companies. This post will focus on companies geared toward the insurance industry. And just as you're able to obtain a free credit reports from the three major Credit Reporting Agencies once a year; you can obtain a free report from these companies every 12 months as well.

MIB Group Inc. (formerly The Medical Information Bureau) is a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency that collects and stores information about consumers regarding their individual life, health, long-term care, and disability insurance. Typically, if you have an MIB file, you should have applied for one of the insurance types mentioned within the last 7 years as an individual, not as a member of a group (think employer).

Therefore, if you have not applied for insurance as an individual, you should not have a report with MIB. The information in the report mirrors the information you would have inputted on the insurance application. It will also have information from your healthcare provider that lists medical conditions you may have. This report is used by insurance companies. Now, the law states that an insurance company cannot deny coverage or increase premiums to an applicant with pre-existing conditions, but having this report available definitely makes it difficult to abide by that law; namely the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies state they use this report to see if applicants would be eligible for other types of insurance products they market. To see if you have an MIB report you can contact them directly; (866) 692-6901); you can also view their website: http://www.mib.com/request_your_record.html.

Prescription Drug History Reports are another form of nationwide specialty consumer reports used by the insurance industry to see the history of what kind of prescription drugs were purchased by consumers. The two companies that compile and store these records are IntelliScript and MedPoint. Prescription drug reports are kept for 5 years and details the drugs purchased, the dosage prescribed as well as refills given.

Armed with this information, insurers can determine the medical condition of an applicant, as well as determine the risk of insuring them. If a persons is denied insurance for any reason, they can request their specialty consumer report from both IntelliScript and MedPoint for answers. You can request a copy of your MedPoint report by calling (888) 206-0335; an IntelliScript report can be obtained by calling (877) 211-4816. Callers will have to provide their full name, date of birth, last four digits of their Social Security number and current zip code.

It is important to note that just as there are errors in our credit reports; there may be errors in our Medical Consumer Reports as well. We are, under the FCRA, allowed to dispute information reported by any of the companies mentioned above.  The instructions to dispute any information found in your reports are provided by the companies both over the phone and on their websites.

Can A Collection Agency Continue to Charge Interest & Fees?

When a debt has been charged off, more than likely the original creditor will sell the debt to a collection agency soon after. You'll start to get letters and calls with their attempts to collect on these recently purchased debts. If you bother to look at your statements, you'll notice something else --- the increase in the 'Amount Owed' section.

Is this legal? Well.... yes; under certain circumstances.

Section 808(2) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act states "A debt collector may attempt to collect a fee or charge in addition to the debt if either:

(a) the charge is expressly provided for in the contract creating the debt and the charge is not prohibited by state law, or

(b) the contract is silent but the charge is otherwise expressly permitted by state law.

Conversely, a debt collector may not collect an additional amount if either:

(a) state law expressly prohibits collection of the amount or

(b) the contract does not provide for collection of the amount and state law is silent."

Section 808(3) goes on to state that state law determines what is considered to be a reasonable fee or even if fees are legal

To summarize, a collection agency would need to abide by the terms in the agreement you signed with the original creditor - which most of us don't read. Don't fret. One of the things you ask for when you send the collection agency a validation letter is a copy of the original contract with your signature on it. That way you can determine if the amount they are charging is legit. It's also noteworthy to point out that if additional fees and interest are allowed it starts at the time the collector owns the debt, not at the time it was charged off.

This is because when a creditor charges off a debt they typically stop charging interest. If they continued to charge interest they would need to send you monthly statements, according to the Truth In Lending Act. If they continued to charge interest, this would increase their losses. To avoid wasting paper and manpower putting it on their books every month, they'd rather just be done with it, charge it off and sell it to a collection agency.

Once the debt is sold, the collection agency can charge interest, without sending you monthly statements, because they are not held to the Truth In Lending Act.

Let's put this into perspective: You default on your credit card. They charge it off after 6 months of non-payment and stop charging interest and stop all collection activity at the time of the charge off.

They then sell the debt to a collection agency. Your credit card contract/agreement specifically stipulates that if your account falls into collections due to lack of payment, your interest will continue to accrue. The interest will start to accrue when the collection agency purchases the debt. They cannot back date it from the time of charge off. To add, if the amount specified in the contract is larger than what your state allows to be charged, state law prevails. The collection agency will only be able to charge what the state allows.

So, how do you know if the collection agency has charged you the proper amount of fees and interest? Well, again, you want a copy of the contract. Then you want a full accounting, meaning a full explanation of how they arrived at the 'Amount Due' total.

That's just to start. A lot of experts claim that when a debt collector purchases a debt; all the rights, title, and interest that the original credit has gets transferred with the purchase. However, there are other laws that state differently. In the US law encyclopedia, American Jurisprudence, 73 Am Jur 2d. Sections 90-93; it says that one cannot subrogate onto a contract that they were not originally on, did not have any interest to protect, and then claim successor in rights and interests. Thus, when an original credit sells the debt, they give up their rights to collect on the debt, BUT they do not give those same rights to the collection agency. The collection agency cannot act as a substitute for the original creditor.

Confusing right, that's how our laws work! One law gives them permission, another takes it away.

No matter the argument, the addition of fees and interest benefits only the collector; this is why they can settle a debt for such a steep amount and still make a nice chunk of money. You didn't think it was your stellar negotiating skills did you? :)

Just remember, before you pay anything VALIDATE VALIDATE VALIDATE!


Hopes this helps!

If you need assistance tackling collection accounts on your credit report, give us a call! We've been successful in permenantly removing over 480,000 at the time of this posting.


~ Netiva

Debt Collection Attorneys - How to Deal With Them

You’ve gotten a letter demanding payment on an old debt in the mail. This one is different from the other letters, because... it’s from an attorney!  There, in big, bold letters are the words "Law Offices!"  You're shaking in your shoes right about now.  It's inevitable, you have to make payment arrangements now, right?  The last thing you want to have is a professional law firm trying to sue you for a debt!

SLOW DOWN! Just because the collection letter/threat came from an attorney’s office does not mean you can’t treat it the same way you treat any other collection attempts from a collection agency. After all, they’re help accountable under the same federal laws that govern collection agencies and 3rd party debt collectors – The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Further, most times these letters are generated from an internal department from the same collection agency that has been trying to collect from you in the first place. Reports have shown that by placing the “Law Offices of…” on the letterhead of a debt collection mailing gets significantly more results than a regular 'this is an attempt to collect a debt' mailing that consumers normally receive.  People are more agreeable to making some form of payment arrangements to settle or satisfy the debt in full if it comes from an attorney's office.

Please note, I am not negating the fact that most times the person listed on the letter is an attorney. I am stating from experience that in most cases these attorneys do nothing more than lend their name and license number to the collection agency in an attempt to scare consumers into paying. Which is why the letters from law offices typically include verbiage threatening a lawsuit.

Will they sue? If you’re worth the pursuit sure, but this will happen whether the threat comes from a collection company or an attorney. My point is you can still demand validation the same way you demand it from a collection agency/3rd party debt collector.

I would also recommend taking it a step further. Google the attorney’s name on the letterhead. Verify if he/she indeed is a separate entity from the collection company or merely an employee of the collection agency. I remember an ‘attorney’ was attempting to collect on a debt I settled with the county I reside it (no statute of limitations on it) and when I googled their name all types of fraudulent posts were listed. I merely demanded validation and they came back with a letter saying I owned a little under $100 more than originally requested. Do you think I paid that? I sent a follow up letter demanding a full accounting and proof and they never contacted me again.  So, demand validation!

Legal Department Within the Collection Agency

You will probably get threats prior to the collector transferring your account to their legal division, in which they’ll state that a suit for judgment is eminent. From what I’ve seen, there is usually only one attorney and a small staff of non-paralegals that will merely sign the same letter the collection agency has been sending out in the first place but meaner. these attorneys do not generate the letter themselves, nor do they personally review your account – they merely sign it.

Now, if you’re dealing with a smaller company, they usually hire real attorneys who are in your local area, the attorney will have an actual office/address in your state, and will be able to respond to your validation letter according to the law, and are therefore more pleasant to deal with (at least in my personal experience). You can, however, and should still request validation and do not, under any circumstances, fold if they are unable to provide you with everything you’ve requested.

So, if collection attempts come from an attorney, don’t freak out. They are still collecting a debt, they are still held to the FDCPA, and can still be told to stop all collection activities if they are unable to provide you with a full accounting, copies of contracts with your original signatures, and proof of assignment (among other things).

As always, if you have any questions or would like assistance fighting collection activities on your credit report; give us a call!

Pay For Delete - Does It Really Work?

If you look on any financial website on how to remove a negative item from your credit report you’ll more than likely see the ‘pay for delete’ option listed. Pay for delete is a negotiation strategy to get a negative listing or trade line removed from your credit report. You negotiate a full or partial payment in exchange for a complete removal.

Do they work? It really depends on who you ask! Some will state they know from experience that it works and they’ve been able to get from under their debt while simultaneously improving their credit from the deletion. Others will vehemently deny its effectiveness saying the creditor will get their money and leave you hanging. To add, if you look at one of the credit bureaus website; they’ll even hint that it is illegal to remove a negative item via this method (go figure, huh).

Honestly, it has worked on occasions yet I would be lying if I stated it works all the time. I can also state that I have not found anything in the law that flags the practice as illegal; the reason credit bureaus are against the practice is because it cuts into their profit. Bad credit is big business. Of course, they’ll state that the integrity and authenticity of the report is ruined by this practice, but so is their inability to accurately report true and authentic information on a credit report so that theory is out the window. I will admit, I personally am not a fan of the pay for delete method. And I’ll share why.

First and foremost, it really only works with collection agencies or 3rd party debt collectors. So, if you have negative information on your report from an original creditor the chances of them deleting anything for payment is pretty slim. They’ve more than likely already charged off your account, have gotten their tax and insurance claim benefit from the write off and sold your debt to a collection agency, so their cool. Why make your life easier?

So, what you’re really doing is negotiating with a company that purchases bad debt to make a profit. You’re offering to pay them money to delete the negative item from your credit report.  Let’s say they accept. You get their agreement to delete in writing and send them the money. Now you wait, and wait and wait. Hmm, they haven’t deleted anything! You have it in writing so you send a dispute letter to the three credit burueas with a copy of the agreement that they promised to delete for payment and…. the credit bureaus refuse to delete as well. There’s nothing you can do about this. Collection agencies can revoke their ability to access or report any information with the credit bureaus if they delete what’s believed to be accurate information from your report. Further, by giving the credit bureaus proof that you paid the debt, you pretty much have admitted the debt is yours and can forget about disputing it with them for removal. Now, if it’s in writing you can sue them for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; which states that a collector cannot lie or use deceptive practices in order to get payment for a debt. But, as one of my clients stated: “Who has time and money to go through that?”

The goal is to rebuild your credit and to restore your score. If you settle a debt with a company, they legally have the right to send you a 1099 tax form for the remaining balance; the IRS views the amount you did not have to pay as income; which you have to pay taxes on. Thus, you’ve just created another bill.

Another thing to mention is that if your debt is being reported by the original creditor and by the collection agency, paying for a deletion will not remove both debts; just the collection. Your score will still be negatively affected by the charge off that is reporting.

If you do decide to go ahead and offer a Pay for Delete, please do so after you have asked them to validate the debt. What you are asking them to do is prove that you owe the debt and that they own the debt and can provide documentation to back it up. If they can’t provide this, they have to delete it anyway. In addition, check your state’s statute of limitation to see if they can legally collect from you according to your state laws. The time frame for a creditor or collector to enforce payment of a debt is limited, if you pay less than the full amount you risk restarting that time limit to day one. You also want to see when the debt will be deleted from your credit report. If it’s going to fall off why pay anything towards it?  By paying, you risk them adding an additional trade line to your credit report that details the payment received and a negative 'Paid Collection' notation on your report. Lastly, send everything certified mail return receipt and keep copies of everything!

I hope this helps! And as always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Short Sales Purposely Reported As Foreclosures To Ruin Future Buyer's Credit

Short sales are known to be a great alternative to distressed homeowners who are facing foreclosure. In a short sale, banks will accept a lower amount than the homeowner owes on the property in an effort to avoid foreclosure.

Imagine being able to sell your home, avoid foreclosure, and have a chance to start anew.  You check your credit report to begin the task of rebuilding and... your short sale is being reported as a foreclosure of bankruptcy!

This is exactly what happened to persons who completed a short sale on their home with Wells Fargo & Citigroup Mortgage.  A judge has ordered they face claims of violating federal law by falsely reporting that thousands of homeowners went through a bankruptcy or foreclosure.

Consumers were able to provide proof to support their claims that Wells and Citi furnished inaccurate information to Experian, crippling their efforts to obtain a new home loan in the future.  What's really the kicker is that once the error was disputed by the consumer, Experian failed to conduct a true investigation, which is required according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act; and Wells & City were slow in correcting; often sending verification letters confirming that the error was reporting accurately!

According to the bank's representative it was merely a data entry clerical error.  My thinking is, if that was the case you would have corrected it upon being notified, right?  Umm, Hmm.  They will have to face the judge and the 1000s that were victimized by their 'clerical error';  Well, Citi AND Experian.

If you'd like to look it up; the case is Shaw v Experian Information Solutions Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, No 13-cv-1295.  Victims are seeking damages for violations of the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act.


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Credit Repair Companies - Revealing The Truth

I read a lot about the finance industry, from personal finance tips to ways on increasing your credit score to companies to stay away from when getting back on track to financial solvency, and I must say, most people who write about credit repair companies don't know squat!

It's really surprising that they call themselves 'experts' when they really just regurgitate the same mis-truths that have been spinning around for years instead of doing the real work of investigation that comes with being an author. I mean, a very well respected personal finance guru actually told a person writing in that there was nothing she could do about her bad credit but wait for it to fall off! What?! 

Here's the deal.  You can repair your credit and it is legal for a credit repair company to assist you. The Fair Credit Reporting Act makes it possible for you to challenge negative information on our credit reports.  Over 40 million Americans today have errors on their credit report; making those items eligible for deletion.  Now, if you are a company that makes billions of dollars storing and selling this information, how would you feel about businesses out there that educate consumers about their state and federal rights to challenge these errors, have them permanently removed from their credit reports, thereby improving their scores?  Not too happy with them right?  

Let's face it; these private. FOR PROFIT billion dollar companies - Equifax, Experian and Transunion - make a TON of money reporting and selling products to consumers and companies on bad credit.  We cut into their profits by successfully removing bad credit from consumer's credit reports!  So, they've put out information to confuse the consumer who could really benefit from having a professional on their side.  It's not all non-truths; they simply put out 1/2 truths and pump those up until they're believable.

So, let's address some of these partial truths.  

1.  There's nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you can't do for yourself.  

This is true. Just as you are able to file your own taxes without the use of a Tax Preparer/CPA or purchase and sell a home without a Realtor, or make investment decisions without a Financial Planner, you can repair your credit without the use of a credit specialist. So... why use one?  The same reason why you would use a tax preparer, realtor and financial planner!  You want someone who is well versed in the law, is extremely educated on consumer rights as it relates to Federal and State laws, and who is experienced with how to handle 3rd party debt collectors, credit bureaus, and original creditors.  Someone who's read and is educated on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act; the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (2003); state laws and case laws; just to name a few.  To think that an average consumer would read through all of this is ludicrous.  Now, I have had some people be very successful in repairing their credit and have taken the time to do this; and I applaud them for this.  Similarly, I've had people sell several properties without ever paying a commission fee to a Realtor, kudos to them.  The average consumer, however, does not have the time or the desire to do this.  Plain and simple.  If you want proof, look up lawsuits and any of the 3 credit bureaus.  You'll see the millions of dollars they've had to pay out for blatantly ignoring disputes with proof of inaccuracies from consumers who were repairing their credit on their own.  

2.  Do not trust any company that charges up front. This is partially true.  The whole truth is that there are companies and professionals who are exempt from the Credit Repair Organization's Act (CROA) rule and who can charge up front fees; these vary slightly from state to state but for the most part include:  non-for-profit 501(c)3 companies, government agencies, attorneys, real estate brokers, loan officers, and debt counseling companies who are acting in the course and scope of their profession/license.  If you'd like to learn more on this Google your state's CROA laws (yes, it's that readily available).

3.  You cannot have true information removed from your credit report. Well, if the event is true but is reporting incorrectly, it can be removed.  I can't tell you how many bankruptcies I've seen reporting the discharged amount as $0.  REALLY???  Someone filed bankruptcy because their $0 debt was just too much for them to handle!  Yes, information that has really occurred can be removed from your credit report.  We've had 1000s of public records removed because they were not accurately reporting on our client's credit reports. Wrong counties, wrong courts, wrong amounts, wrong account numbers, wrong dates, wrong, wrong, wrong.  Which is why we delete, delete, delete!

4.  Negative information has to remain on a credit report for 7 years.  NO.  The law limits negative credit information on a credit report to 7  years (in some cases it's 7 years & 6 mths or 10 years); meaning it can come off anytime before that.   This means that nothing has to stay on your credit report at all.  As a matter of fact; none of your creditors have to report anything on your credit report; that's all voluntary.  Thus, negative information does not have to remain on a person's credit report for 7 years.

5.  Only Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS) can legally help you fix your credit.  Are you kidding me?  You'd be amazed at how many of my clients come to me after a CCCS has screwed it up!  Not to say that they're all bad; I've referred some of my clients to them when they needed to get a handle on debts because they'd gotten way over their heads; I give my clients all their options from debt consolidation, debt management plans (which is what consumer credit counseling is), debt settlement, and bankruptcy; along with the pros and cons of each.  From there it's a personal decision. 

Nonprofit consumer counseling services are funded and regulated by credit grantors and credit bureaus. Gasp! That's why they direct you to them!!!  When you work with these agencies, there is a note placed on your credit so that any lender that pulls your report knows you are paying your debts through a debt management plan with a CCCS.  Lenders view this just as negatively as a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.  Don't believe the hype.  CCCS are not credit repair organizations; they are debt counseling agencies that help you pay your debts by creating a plan to pay off all your debts.  That's it.

6.  The credit bureaus lets me submit a 100 word statement to explain my story to potential lenders that I want to do business with in the future.  Yes, they do allow you to submit a 100 word statement; but what you don't know is that you have just admitted all this negative debt is yours,  You're basically saying, "Yes, I could not pay this debt because..."; it does not change your score or the information on your credit report; and you've done nothing to improve either by submitting this statement.  In reality, you've just made it harder to dispute any errors that are reporting in the future. Further, lenders don't consider the information you've submitted in your statement.  They could care less; they only review the data that their system pulls from the credit bureaus about your credit worthiness.  Therefore, if you've submitted a 100 word statement to the credit bureaus, ask that it be deleted immediately.

7.  If credit repair companies are successful at getting anything removed, it'll just come back on in the future.  Another partial truth spread like wild fire by the credit bureaus via the media, finance 'gurus' and government agencies.  The truth - once legally removed it cannot be put back on your credit report.  If the creditor initially verified the item the account may still be deleted at a later date as the credit repair process intensifies.  Further, if an item was deleted due to a slow response time by a creditor; the credit bureaus must notify you in writing 5 days prior, or it must be deleted again. Some times collection agencies will sell a debt and the new collection agency will report it; they'll just have to re-delete it.

8.  All credit repair companies are scams and are not to be trusted.  Every industry has some unethical members and the credit repair industry is no exception to that; you can Google crooks in every industry known to man and will find many faces.  However, to state that an entire industry is wrong is just.... wrong!  Especially when you have professionals such as myself and my team who go above and beyond to operate ethically, morally, and with integrity and who genuinely care about the clients we help.  It should not surprise you by now that a lot of the negative information about credit repair organizations stems from credit bureaus themselves.  They've publicly admitted that over 30% of the disputes they receive come from our industry and it ads to their overhead and directly affects their revenue.  They hate us. The work we do, however, is vital.  We help our clients save thousands of dollars in interest rates, loan terms, insurance premiums, rent payments, utilities AND MORE.  Where's the scheme in that?

I hope this helps!  Hopefully yours eyes are open now to the real schemers out here.  And if you need assistance getting your credit back on the right track; please do not hesitate to reach out to me.  I'd love to help!

Multiple Collection Accounts For The Same Debt - Who Do I Pay?

Q & A:

"I have a number of collection agencies reporting the same debt on my account. Is this legal? I don't mind paying it off since it's not much but how do I know who to pay? If I do find out who to pay should the other collection agencies be allowed to stay on my credit report if I no longer owe them?"

Great question! It is common for people to have a number of collection agencies on their credit report for the same debt. It is legal IF the ones that no longer own the debt mark their tradeline (the item they have reporting under their company) as CLOSED or TRANSFERRED. Only one collection agency should have an open or active tradeline showing for you for that debt. If you look at your credit report again you may see the original account on there as well; it's typically marked as CHARGED OFF; meaning it's no longer an active debt. Whenever you see CHARGED OFF, CLOSED OR TRANSFERRED it means the account is closed or no longer active.

So, I would normally suggest to look for the company that is active, but in your case because there are so many companies I would send them a validation letter to see who owns the debt. Not doing this may run you the risk of paying a company that no longer owns the debt and still being liable for the debt with the company that does own it - not a good situation to be in. Further, there's a lot of fraud out here when it comes to collection agencies; many 'ghost' companies pretend to be the owner just to take consumer's money. Another point to mention is that if a debt has passed to a few collection companies, the chances of them having all of the paperwork they need to collect from you in the first place is slim.

So, send a validation letter so that the collection agency can prove that they own the debt.

As far as the reporting on your credit report; the 'Date of Last Activity' or the 'Date of First Delinquency' should be the same on every single company that has ever tried to collect from you for this debt. This is the date your payment was first missed and never made current again. A collection account is a continuation of the debt with the original company. Thus, the dates must remain the same so that it can be deleted at the same time. If it is not the same; you have grounds for a deletion based on inaccuracies. Because a collection account is treated as a continuation of the original debt, it will be deleted at the same time as the original account.

In addition; if you're going to pay the debt; make sure that it is not past your state's statute of limitations. You didn't tell me what state you're in but a quick Google search will give you the answer. If you're going to pay it in full, you don't have anything to worry about. If, however, you're going to settle, beware; you will restart the clock on the statute of limitations giving them more time to pursue you for the remainder of the debt - namely take legal action against you.

Hope this helps! If you need further assistance feel free to contact me to review your report.

~ Netiva