Is my credit screwed?

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Tomato

Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Were you under the age of 18 at the time you signed up? If so, you are not legally an adult and cannot commit to contracts, only your parents can for you at that age. In other words, tell them to stuff it, the contract isn't legal.

Yes, I was 14 or 15 when I first signed up.

Good to know they can't sue since they don't have my SSN, hopefully this won't hurt my credit and impact my ability to get a loan, etc. in the future.

But did you use the service when ~ 18?

That may be the letter of the law, I don't know for sure. I would think that it matters the age when the agreement is drafted (or signed). I'm not a lawyer, but , I play one on the internet.

However, since they get 'hit' with this all the time because they don't/can't verify the age of the person, it's an easy way out. My wife went through this we before we got married, with Columbia House and a tanning place. Both services were used after she was 18, but she signed up for them when she wasn't. She was able to get both of them to drop the claim, just by saying she wasn't 18 when she signed up.

 

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: amdforever2
PAY NO ONE!!

A paid collection is just as bad as an unpaid collection.

Pull a copy of your credit report from Equifax.com">http://www.equifax.com</a>.

If ANY collection account is showing up, you need to send a validation letter to the collection agency, which forces them to PROVE you owe money, usually in the form of a signed contract, which they won't have.

Then, dispute the collection account as not yours with Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

That is absolutely the worst advice I have ever heard. Anyone following that could cause serious detriment to their credit status.

Collections accounts are sold, and they can therefore be resold. If they sold it to another company a few years down the road you would have another bruise on your credit. I am quite certain they can note it as a charge-off as well, and that's far worse than showing an open/closed collection account.

The above happened to me, so I know it's possible, but someone please feel free to correct me on anything.

You are absolutely wrong, and amd is 100% correct. Disputing as not mine is a trick to ensure validation of the debt. 75% of the time the CA will just agree it isn't yours and drop it. Pay for deletion is another trick to help you out. A paid collection BARELY looks better than a non-paid collection. Validation is also key, and is another tool to make sure your account is handled correctly, or possibly force them to delete the negative tradeline.



Source">http://www.creditboards.com</a>

Absolutly.

 

[Mill]

BTW, I do feel your pain. I had a collections account from something I knew nothing about. I had no idea that the contract wasn't fufilled, and they never contacted me. I ended up with a collections on all three of my reports, and my FICO dropped from low 700's to high 500's. When I shopped for my mortgage I had to pay the CA, but stupidly I did no research, and thus didn't do a pay for delete. I'm still in the process of dealing with this crap and disputing over a year later. Even though I did the right thing and paid I am still getting screwed. Word to the wise... never ever ever ever assume something is taken care of unless in writing.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: amdforever2
PAY NO ONE!!

A paid collection is just as bad as an unpaid collection.

Pull a copy of your credit report from Equifax.com">http://www.equifax.com</a>.

If ANY collection account is showing up, you need to send a validation letter to the collection agency, which forces them to PROVE you owe money, usually in the form of a signed contract, which they won't have.

Then, dispute the collection account as not yours with Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

That is absolutely the worst advice I have ever heard. Anyone following that could cause serious detriment to their credit status.

Collections accounts are sold, and they can therefore be resold. If they sold it to another company a few years down the road you would have another bruise on your credit. I am quite certain they can note it as a charge-off as well, and that's far worse than showing an open/closed collection account.

The above happened to me, so I know it's possible, but someone please feel free to correct me on anything.

You are absolutely wrong, and amd is 100% correct. Disputing as not mine is a trick to ensure validation of the debt. 75% of the time the CA will just agree it isn't yours and drop it. Pay for deletion is another trick to help you out. A paid collection BARELY looks better than a non-paid collection. Validation is also key, and is another tool to make sure your account is handled correctly, or possibly force them to delete the negative tradeline.



Source">http://www.creditboards.com</a>

Resource appreciated. I had actually protested the account through PrivacyGuard (yeah, I know), but nothing came of it. I'll spend some more time researching it.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: amdforever2
PAY NO ONE!!

A paid collection is just as bad as an unpaid collection.

Pull a copy of your credit report from Equifax.com">http://www.equifax.com</a>.

If ANY collection account is showing up, you need to send a validation letter to the collection agency, which forces them to PROVE you owe money, usually in the form of a signed contract, which they won't have.

Then, dispute the collection account as not yours with Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

That is absolutely the worst advice I have ever heard. Anyone following that could cause serious detriment to their credit status.

Collections accounts are sold, and they can therefore be resold. If they sold it to another company a few years down the road you would have another bruise on your credit. I am quite certain they can note it as a charge-off as well, and that's far worse than showing an open/closed collection account.

The above happened to me, so I know it's possible, but someone please feel free to correct me on anything.

You are absolutely wrong, and amd is 100% correct.

Well, thanks for the correction then. I take no issue with being wrong.

FWIW, I disputed a collection account that was resold with Equifax, and it left two entries on my credit report.

And actually, I see that I responded primarily to the "PAY NO ONE" remark. That's a poor habit of mine, and I am in error.

Apologies to amd.

No prob.

 

[amdforever2]

Descartes, you can get your collections removed too.

Send another dispute request to the credit bureaus, and request a "procedural request" which means the CRA must tell you HOW they proved the account is yours.

If the CRA does not respond within 30 days to your dispute, they have violated the FCRA. Sue
If they say your dispute is frivolous, or they refuse to redispute it, they have violated the FCRA. Sue

If they send a request saying they need more info, do not respond. They must still complete investigation within 30 days. If they don't, sue.


You should all visit creditboards.com

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: amdforever2
Descartes, you can get your collections removed too.

Send another dispute request to the credit bureaus, and request a "procedural request" which means the CRA must tell you HOW they proved the account is yours.

If the CRA does not respond within 30 days to your dispute, they have violated the FCRA. Sue
If they say your dispute is frivolous, or they refuse to redispute it, they have violated the FCRA. Sue

If they send a request saying they need more info, do not respond. They must still complete investigation within 30 days. If they don't, sue.


You should all visit creditboards.com

Absolutely.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Some great credit info/advice in this thread, thanks.

 

[Descartes]

It's interesting how quick your perception of things can get turned around. Excellent advice....

 

[XZeroII]

Do you people realize that the whole point of a credit report is for companies to find out if you are trustworthy enough for them to borrow to? There are always weasle ways out of stuff like this, but do the responsible thing and pay it off and let your record clean itself. If ever asked about it, explain the situation and how you felt an obligation to pay it off even though you really didn't have to.
Don't be like the rest of the world and try to screw the system. Change starts with one person.

 

[kyparrish]

I was in this same situation. I ended up paying $110 to Columbia House for my 6 CD's I never bought.

It was worth it to me to just pay it and be done with it

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Do you people realize that the whole point of a credit report is for companies to find out if you are trustworthy enough for them to borrow to? There are always weasle ways out of stuff like this, but do the responsible thing and pay it off and let your record clean itself. If ever asked about it, explain the situation and how you felt an obligation to pay it off even though you really didn't have to.
Don't be like the rest of the world and try to screw the system. Change starts with one person.

You're a moron. Obviously you have no idea how the system works. It has nothing to do with credit worthiness. One collection will prevent all but the most sub-prime lenders from working with you. Secondly, I'd say a vast majority of the people are trying to fix MISTAKES and not weasle out of a goddamn thing. I've had people illegally pull inquiries, had a Bankruptcy reported(WTF?), and had numerous address areas, and account errors. It takes time, letters, and persistance to fix all of that. My collection account was from a washer and dryer I rented while living in an Apartment. I called the company to come pick it up as I was moving out. Both the company and my roommates said it was picked up, but then later the company said they had no inventory record of it. Of course this was after it was sent to collections, and I never knew a single thing about it. Not a phone call, a letter or anything. I go to apply for my mortgage, and BOOM! So I thought I'd do the responsible thing and pay it. Will, that wasn't the responsible thing after all. I should have paid it on the contigency for a deletion. It simply shouldn't have been my fault. You'll find people will plenty of violations 100x more egregious than mine. Many people have sued CA and the CRA and gotten FCRA judgements of 1000 dollars.

For some odd reason you think the right thing means getting fvcked in the ass. I had a 15k car loan. Paid it off. I had a 30k car loan, never missed a payment and never late. Same with 4 credit cards and all my bills minus ONE time I didn't pay my bellsouth bill by the due date. That's three years of perfect pay, yet you think the right thing was for them to screw me over based on their own error? Obviously you need to check out creditboards and truthfully understand things. Oh, I had one more collection. I had to get a new bank account at the same bank because I moved to another state. That meant the account number changed. Well, they told me the account would be closed, so I took it to a zero balance. A collection for .99$ plus collection fees was on my report as well. I talked to my bank and they removed it with a phone call. Evidently the automated process to close the account didn't go through, and they had to do it manually now. Actually, it wasn't a collection, but rather a charge-ff. Again, something I knew nothing about until my credit report was pulled for my mortgage. Now I'm diligent about checking it.

 

[SaturnX]

I really don't understand how you were able to join Columbia House when you were 14/15 without some kind of misrepresenation... I mean at least in Canada it specifically stated that you needed to be 18+ to be able to join, where you are required to provide a signature that you will in fact buy those remaining CDs/DVDs.

Just my 0.02.

--Mark

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: SaturnX
I really don't understand how you were able to join Columbia House when you were 14/15 without some kind of misrepresenation... I mean at least in Canada it specifically stated that you needed to be 18+ to be able to join, where you are required to provide a signature that you will in fact buy those remaining CDs/DVDs.

Just my 0.02.

--Mark

I joined BMG when I was the same age. Apparently those companies don't do anything to verify age, and I can't recall any verbage specifying I had to be at least 18 to join... it was so long ago.

 

[Azoth]

Edit: Bah, should have read the rest of the thread before posting...