I recently made a decision to remove a renter from a house I own and place it on the market again.  Due to the problems with the economy I had to rent the house in the first place because I was having problems selling it.

When I removed the renter and placed the house on the market, I had no income to pay the mortgage.  Knowing this would be the case, I contacted the mortgage company immediately and informed them of what I was attempting to do.

They very nicely agreed to place me into a forbearance agreement for the time the house was on the market.  They told me they would still have to report six months of no payments.

At the time, I thought six months of no payments under forbearance would not damage my credit as much as six months of no payments with no agreement.  I was wrong.

The mortgage lender is reporting the six month period as no payments without stating an agreement was made due to special circumstances.  My credit report looks as if I simply refused to pay for a six month period.  There is no documentation showing the mortgage company agreed to this.

My credit is ruined now.  I can’t even trade my car WITH a co-signer let alone without one.
According to someone I talked to at TransUnion, that period of six months where I was under the forbearance agreement will have a negative effect on my credit score for seven years.

I’m regretting even trying to sell the house now.  I thought I was being responsible by working something out with my mortgage company but it appears as if I made a huge mistake.

I have contacted my mortgage company and they refuse to document with the credit bureaus the reason for my non-payment period.  They also refuse to remove it from my credit reports.

I submitted a dispute with the credit bureaus and they too refused to remove the negative credit or to document in any way the forbearance agreement.

Is there any path left for me?  I can’t stand the fact that I will have those six months of non-payments on my credit reports for seven years.

It just seems unfair.

Eric (more…)

I need help quick!

I have a car loan that received a lat payment for May 2008 (I sent it a week late). I have had this loan for about 13 months (with excellent payment history).

The bank, the day prior to receiving the payment, called an old friend whom I had listed on my refferences application and gave him my account number, the amount due, and the date it was due with instrucutions on how to western union the money.

He then sent this info to my job via fax essentially making fun of me for “not paying my bills”. My supervisor got the fax and questioned me about it (everything was on there, account number, etc.).

I called the bank the next day (they were closed that day) and they said they received payment. I asked them about why they did what they did and they said that they were allowed to and there was little I could do.

Long story short, they are a privatley owned bank in CA, non FDIC member, non National bank. Other than the state attorney general and the FTC, what options do I have to report them for making that third party disclosure?

I work at a brokerage and am an affiliated member of the SEC, this act just about cost me my job (I just graduated from college) and just about opened up an investigation by the SEC. I’m in CO BTW.

I’m not sure what to do, they marked my CR 30 days late already (which is a small concern of mine next to their 3rd party disclosure).

Thanks for any posssible suggestions….I really appreciate it.

Anthony (more…)

Love your site! 

The short story is that my parents refinanced our home for us, credit is in their name and spouse and I make the mortgage payment. 

I bent the rules but am sure I didn’t break them when I made our mortgage payment at the bank which services the loan on the 31st of the month. 

Late fee assessed, but is this really 30 days late? 

Thanks,
Terri (more…)

Don’t you think that is good the banks are making it harder for people with good credit and bad credit to get loans?

The reason I ask this is because the lending institutions have been ripping people off with sub prime mortgages since the 80′s because those the people’s credit report was bad the solution is to make them pay ten times more on a thirty year note?

Maybe if the bank was satisfied with making the higher interest rate for the first five years and then if the debtor has a good record of paying on time then reward them with a civilized interest rate for the next twenty five years. Don’t you think that would have made the banks a heftier and more realistic profit without having to almost for sure foreclose on the sub prime corporate greed loans?

Our economy would be flourishing right now and loans would be getting paid off. But, no, the banks wanted to make 2 million percent profit for taking on a risk instead making a consistent profit and giving back to the community at the same time. I mean how can a consumer who had problems in the past paying bills in the past be held responsible for paying 100 times more than the affluent and wealthy?

Yeah, I can see punishing the poor slob for 5 years at the most but, then giving an incentive for the other 25 years if the guy has changed his ways and is being sincere about paying his bills. Another aspect is auto loans 16 to percent interest on a 3 to 5 year note. Come on!!! These companies can’t wait to reposess and resale the auto and tack the balance charge back to the poor man oor woman who lost the car.

The country club elitist have been doing this supposedly legally with the backing of Republican corporate greed politicians since the 80′s as well. I think it hilarious now that the same lending institutions with the recession going on now are now ending sub primes and tightening and making harder for the poor and poor in credit to get home and auto loans.

I guess this makes sense to them to just concentrate on loans pretty much guaranteed to be paid back but, let’s keep it real the poor and poor in credit will triumph in this matter because the banks will lose even more income now trying to punish the poor for the monster the lending institutions created out of there ravenous greed. When does this vicious cycle end?

John

What is the statute of limitation for an old delinquent/collection account?

I was under the impression is was 7 years but I still have an account that is listed on my report. 

Love the site by the way!

Carrie (more…)

I am interested in getting a pay for delete letter for two derrogatory accounts.  Less than a year old.

Juan

No need to talk but wanted to give readers hope.

I have a department store credit card that was reporting 30 days late one time 5+ years ago. I called and asked them to remove it. They did! No problem.

Same thing with another little store credit card. I couldn’t speak with anyone so I wrote a letter explaining my desire to buy a home this year and could they pretty please remove the 30 day late 6 years ago. I didn’t get a response but the next time I checked my credit report, not only was it gone, but they raised my limit by $150!

Yes, there are people out there who won’t hold it over your head. Have faith!

Sharon

I have received a settlement offer from a CA regarding a debt that is past the SOL but not the CRTP. The offer letter states that they will update the account status as PAID IN FULL.

My husband and I want to apply for a mortgage within the next 2 months and this is the only thing standing in our way.

Ideally, we’d like this to be deleted or at the least show paid in full and never resurface again. What should our next steps be?

Should we try to negotiate on our own (for deletion or a lower settlement) or hire a lawyer to do this on our behalf?

Janine (more…)

Thanks again for all of the great info on your site. 

I’m working on different scenarios to clean up my collections/charge-off’s.  My question surrounds getting the quickest boost to my credit score.  Will I see a greater boost to my score by  cleaning up all of the negatives at once, or will it be more beneficial to clean the negatives in stages?  

Thanks. Looking forward to your input.

Jake (more…)

Can an account be charged off even when payments were being made on it?

Rosa (more…)