Giving someone the courage to press on despite credit reporting mayhem:  priceless.  Thank you, thanks, and ever thanks for your very informative insights and commentaries!  You basically helped jumpstart my repair that had been going so-so b4 I was lucky enough to come across your site, now it’s going great!

I’m actually already back in somewhat decent shape thanks to your sage advise CR wise except for some pesky little 120s, 90s, etc. (due to illness and ignorance) that appear on my report from an old student loan.  Despite this Experian currently notes my plus score 708=low medium risk because all of my accounts in the past several years are current, no charge offs, bankruptcies, etc. but my interest rates are still astronomical partly because high balances on cards and a mostly very young accounts except 1 which is 5 years old but things could be so much worse, even though my fico is only 617 I’m thankful…

Anyway, my school, gotta love ‘em, agreed to pull my loan from collections so i am in repayment now, (well almost, 1st payment due next month) they asked for 12 months consecutive timely payments to bring it current, however i read here that the NCLC revised its guidelines to 9 consecutive timely payments in ten months to rehab so i put in a request to see if they were willing to change the language of the executed rehab agt. to reflect this-haven’t heard back yet.  Do you think they will consider my request?

My other question is this:  since the loan was pulled from the CA the CA sent me a letter saying contritely ‘we’re not going contact you again, you won’t here from us again about this, peace out, we regret it-our bad’.  The problem is prior to saying sorry they played racquet ball with my inquiries leaving 4 hards in just over a year, yikes!  Do you think they’ll remove them or convert them to softs, which is what they really are anyway, just as a consumer courtesy (who am I kidding, right?) since they agreed to bounce and leave me alone in writing anyway?  I know technically they can leave hards but also should have verified upon request and they never did this and since they are not in the picture going forward why not take some baggage they doled out with them?  I’m curious what’s in it for them at this point to continue to falsely indicate on my report that I opened up a new account with them or their assignees as a new credit transaction by leaving a series of miscoded but unfortunately not illegal hards that will last two years each -revenge?  So I sent them a CMRRR  a polite letter saying look you placed these hards while completely ignoring my requests for verification please remove them (I sent several verification request letters but only 1 CMRRR and it was way after the 30 days rule.)  I didn’t know who they were collecting for because I couldn’t even get that far with them, they were real mean and condescending and they were bullying and menacing but never cooperative, funny thing is if they had said who they were collecting for I would have sent money so in a way I’m lucky they were so uncooperative…do I have any chance that they’ll remove the hards b4 my rehab work clears them automatically in the next year give or take?  I wondered also does it give me any leverage whatsoever with the CRA (who notes the inquiries as ‘valid’ even after I disputed them) that I have the letter from the CA saying they are sorry and will stop it and the CA has a deplorable record of consumer abuses and
an unsatisfactory record with the BBB as it turns out as well…
Now my student accounts office says all negative items will be stricken if I satisfactorily complete rehab but then that’s about another year of astronomical credit card interest rates(19 – 21% APR)if they won’t remove the inquiries.

I pay way above the minimum on CCs every month to try to bring them down to zero in say the next 6 – 12 months and without this one loan being reported as 3 separate derogatory marks against me, my CR would be virtually unblemished accept for card balances about 50%+ of the max limit on 3 cards which I’m paying down and  2 are newish cards … should I just be happy I’m in rehab and getting back on my feet and forego the urge to try cast off what i call the “bag of tricks” hard inquiries from the CA which they’ve left me as a nasty little gift?  I am still working on not being emotional with money/debt etc even writing this note I feel so muddled and unclear because the whole thing makes me feel so ashamed, inadequate etc. but I hope you were able to get the gist of it- 

Best regards,
Gorem (more…)

I was once the victim of an identity theft. The thief forged several checks and was prosecuted for the crime.

Fast forward, 3 years later and I have a “hard” inquiry from a collection agency on my credit report. After writing several letters and proving to the collection agency that I was not responsible for the debt and gaining their agreement in a letter the hard inquiry remains.

The credit reporting agencies such as Transunion are requiring me to send letters of proof to them from the debt collector.

Question: Can I (with a high probability) sue the debt collector for fees associated in fixing my credit report from their inquiries?

Thanks for your time!

Darren (more…)

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More than a year ago a private school my son attended sent my account to collections. I had withdrawn my son from the school a few days after school started and they sent a bill much higher than what the year’s tuition was. I negotiated the bill with the school and paid them for three months’ tuition although he did not attend school there. They sent it to collections in April 2006. When I received the letter in the mail, I disputed the bill. The collections agency continued to barrage me with phone calls. I then sent them a letter asking them for verification of the debt because there was a 4000.00 discrepancy. I never received verification of the debt, the company ceased phone calls, however they did three hard inquiries on my credit report in Oct, Nov and Dec 2006.
My credit score went from 720 to 658 where it remains today. Recently I tried to take out a loan and was denied the loan because of the inquiries. My salary is 112K per year and there should be no reason to deny my loan.

Is the collections agency required to state the debt is under dispute?
What can I do to handle this? How long will the situation continue to follow me?

Do I have any recourse?

Thank you,
Julie (more…)

Hi again Paul,

I have 2 JDB’s pulling my credit reports a few times in the past couple of months each. These are for debts that, one is 12 years old and the other 14 years old. I understand that they have a permissable purpose in connection with the collection of a debt, but, if they no longer can collect or report, how long does permissable purpose last–FOREVER??? I filed a complaint with the PA. Attorney General for the JDB with the 12 year old debt. Do you think I should do the same with the other one, or am I just wasting my time? It seems like now that I have everything squared away with my credit, these 2 are intentionally kicking the crap out of my scores because they can’t report anymore and this is their only way to get revenge!

Thanks,
Chris (more…)

Just checked my credit report at Transunion.  The report contained information about JunkDebtBuyer making a Regular Inquiry on 4/4/07.    I have had no new accounts or debts for years, and the only 2 accounts left that are not paid are set to be removed in 05/07 and 04/08.  So needless to say I was shocked to see this inquiry.  Searching the web about JDB has turned up some allegedly shady dealings on their part. Am I to assume that JDB has bought one of my debts?  What can I do to get out in front of this for my protection.  any information appreciated. 
 
P.S. Of course JDB’s phone number is not available on my credit report.
 
Thank you for what you do,
 
Matt (more…)

Is it possible to remove a “hard” credit inquiry? The inquires are valid, but who knew opening a new checking account or requesting a faster tax refund would count against you for the next two years?

Ravy (more…)

Hi Paul,

  I have a question regarding when a hard inquiry is allowed. 

  I have been cleaning up my credit for the past two years.  I paid the final debt, which was with a collection agency.  I checked my credit and saw that they did a hard inquiry on my credit the day before I paid them.  Is this hard inquiry legal?  If not, what action can I take against them.

  I have never seen a hard inquiry done unless I was applying for a new line/extension of credit and gave my permission.  All other creditors, collection companies and companies that I have accounts with have done soft inquiries. 

  I know they can check my credit because the account was sold to them, but it does not make sense that they would be allowed to do a hard inquiry without express permission.  If this was allowed, then anyone’s bank, insurance company, etc. could do hard inquiries anytime they felt like it and really screw up someone’s credit.

Can you help with a definite answer on this issue?

Courtney (more…)

How to remove charge offs and inquries?

Renisha (more…)