Post: #76

not playing the moral police here, i know the economy is though many places in the world. But how do you end up in these situations?

Also, is it possible to just take up a load of credit, go abroad, have a friend invest them for you in a house or something, and when the companies starts calling you just say you lost them all in a casino, you're broke, and with a medical condition.

What would happen?

Post: #77

Dude..Painter. Just, thanks man. peace

Post: #78

(04-18-2013 06:31 PM)pants Wrote:  not playing the moral police here, i know the economy is though many places in the world. But how do you end up in these situations?

Also, is it possible to just take up a load of credit, go abroad, have a friend invest them for you in a house or something, and when the companies starts calling you just say you lost them all in a casino, you're broke, and with a medical condition.

What would happen?

How do you end up in these situations? Easily. Say you have a great job, wife, kids, big house, and all the toys. Then you get in a car accident, have brain damage and can't work anymore. Or you get sick. Or you die and your wife who is a stay at home mom gets stuck with all the bills.

Or you're just a typical American living on credit cards with a $1500 mortgage or rent payment, $600 car payment and you have ten credit cards maxed out. Before the economy crashed this is what everyone was doing, letting the bills pile up then getting a first or second mortgage or refinancing their house and paying everything off. I was on the ground floor when that bubble burst and I remember almost exactly when the money stopped flowing in.

Trust me, when I started as a bill collector I considered everyone who owed on an account to be a piece of shit and I gave them the business but I heard just about every bad luck story there is and learned some people really want to pay but can't.

As for getting a big loan and blowing it you could try that now but the banks aren't lending much to anyone and if you used it to get a mortgage the bank would just foreclose on the house. But yeah, you can charge up anything and not pay for it and there's little creditors can or will do to you. I explain in my book that instead of suing debtors creditors just sell off the account at an inflated price that makes most of their money back or is even a slight profit (when you stop paying a bill the contract allows for a penalty period that inflates the balance with late charges and interest). Collections has only grown with the tanking economy and now even your mom and pop local stores sell off their bad accounts because it's better than nothing.

The thing with collections is that if you owe money and don't pay it back they will keep after you forever. Like I said, I've had people pay off 20 year old debts for 15% of the balance because they were sick of the calls.

@ Feo - You're welcome!

Post: #79

(04-18-2013 05:48 PM)painter Wrote:  

(04-18-2013 04:44 PM)swshrsweet Wrote:  

(04-17-2013 04:22 PM)painter Wrote:  @ swshrsweet - The account will be on your credit report for seven years from the day it's paid. There's nothing you can do to have it removed, you just want it to show that it's been paid and there's a zero balance. If it's in collections now your best bet is to settle the account for the least amount you can negotiate. Being from Texas should help you get a low settlement.

Thats what I didnt want to hear. I feel like an idiot now for dodging the hospital instead of setting up a payment plan. Oh well, I guess you live and you learn. Thanks for the advice.

Your credit score and your social security are the only things that matter in America.

I should have asked, have you confirmed this is on your credit report? If so, don't feel like an idiot, it was on there anyway. If you can't pay it off at once or get a settlement then negotiate a payment plan, a collection agency legally has to accept whatever you offer them, even if it's $5 a month. If they don't accept that or hang up on you then they've violated the law and if you can document a violation it's worth $1000 to you...

No I have not checked to see if the it is on there but I tried to get an investment property loan the other day and they told me that my credit score was mid 600s. December last year it was 720+. I feel that I am entitled to my debts and I do want to pay it off but, your 20yr old boy is on a budget. I will call them today and see if i can settle for a discount

Thank you painter!

Post: #80

What score is considered bad credit Painter? Is it true you can get a credit card, NEVER use it and it will increase your credit?

Post: #81

(04-18-2013 05:24 PM)Atilla Wrote:  I’m surprised no one has mentioned that the first thing you have to do is demand a debt validation because the collection agency may not even be legally entitled to collect the debt from you. Never acknowledge or make promises to pay a debt without a getting the debt validated, even if you know you owe it.

I had debts before and paid them off, but afterwards, I kept receiving these letters in the mail that I owed some $9k, and it turned out it was all bullshit. Wrong account number, the agency had a record of fraud, just a PO box address, constant offers to settle within the next 30 days when the letter was more than 30 days old, etc. I sent a letter demanding validation and received an obviously bullshit validation letter (a sheet of paper saying I owed $9k), as the website I’ve linked below warned. I disputed it in another letter saying that it wasn’t legitimate proof and demanded the proof that I owed the debt, that they have a right to collect, how the $9k figure was determined, etc. Never heard from them again. I believe they put it on my credit report too, so if it's there when I check, I'll need to threaten to sue if they don't remove it.

If a creditor can't validate a debt:

* They are not allowed to collect the debt,

*They are not allowed to contact you about the debt, and

*They are also not allowed to report it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Doing so is a violation of the FCRA, and the FCRA states that you can sue for $1,000 in damages for any violation of the Act.

Creditinfocenter.com

This site has a lot of great material, including how to settle, and a forum for you to ask any questions on. Sample letters are also provided.

creditinfocenter is a good resource to get some basic information. The problem with these websites is they start with the whole "make sure you validate the debt, blah, blah, blah," as if people have no idea about what bills they owe. The only people who "forget" they owe ABC Bank $10,000 for financing a purchase are LIARS who think they can pretend their way out of their responsibilities.

Those websites are not really about helping people, they are more about advertising expensive services and making a profit on consumer ignorance. If they spelled it all out for real then they wouldn't make any money advertising for bankruptcy lawyers, debt settlement companies or fix-your-credit-businesses because people would realize how simple the whole thing really is.

Those websites do exactly what you did in your post, provide some good information mixed in with total misinformation, i.e. your experience in getting debt validation: It's a good example of a typical experience and then you say you "think" the agency put it on your credit report but you don't know. A collection agency can't report ANYTHING to the credit reporting agencies. They can't "add" anything to your report or update information or contact them to discuss your credit worthiness. A bill collector will say he can do all that and more in order to scare you into paying but it's a lie. And if you go on a debt/credit website and read stuff that "confirms" what the bill collector told you then the misinformation feeds on itself and these lies keep spreading until they become "common knowledge". I've talked to so many people who didn't know what the fuck they were talking about but they had all the confidence in the world because they read it on a credit website.

You also say you're going to "threaten to sue them if they don't remove it,". That's like threatening to hold your breath until your mom gives you some candy. If you think that's going to scare anyone into jumping through hoops it won't. They'll probably just laugh in your face.

I wrote my book in order to spell out all the options for every situation you might have in dealing with a bill collector from the perspective of how collection agencies actually work, not what a for profit lawyer, debt settlement company or advertising website or anyone else on the fringes of the collection industry wants you to believe. They make boatloads of money on consumer ignorance not enlightenment.

If people realized these vultures won't do anything they can't do for themselves for free they'd all be out of business tomorrow.

Post: #82

(04-19-2013 09:31 PM)houston Wrote:  What score is considered bad credit Painter? Is it true you can get a credit card, NEVER use it and it will increase your credit?

These days anything under 700 seems bad. As a collector anyone with a 500 or above was someone I went after hard. Before the economy crashed anything over 600 was fine to get credit, usually at a higher percentage rate. You can still qualify for credit with a low score but it will be at the highest interest rates.

A good way to build credit is to get a credit card, use it, and pay it off every month. Never using it doesn't do much but it's better than nothing. Just make small purchases or put everything you normally buy in a month on the credit card and pay it off.

The problem with these credit cards now are the standard rates are between 15% and 19% and one late payment and your at 29% which is ridiculous.

Before the economy crashed you could get a credit card with a generous limit for a reasonable 10% - 12%. If you paid it off every month or kept the balance low they would keep upping your limit. I went from a limit of $1500 to $15,000 in like 18 - 24 months on a mastercard but I never came even close to the max on the thing.

Another option if you don't qualify for a regular credit card is to get a prepaid credit card account with whatever limit you can afford. Roll on that for a year and pay it on time and soon enough you'll be getting offers from every credit card company there is.

Post: #83

So I had my last T mobile bill that I blew off from last year. It was around $80 but got sent to collections and was $250 because of (supposedly) late payment fees and taxes. I paid the whole thing off with the agency but should I have tried to negotiate? I wonder if I should of gave a fake number and address...Im paranoid about that shit.

Post: #84

Got a nice thread going here.

I do have a question for Painter/Anyone else who is knowledgeable about this stuff. Earlier this year I ran into payment issues with 2 credit cards, where I simply forgot to make the payments:

- Capital One: This card had been taken over by Capital One from HSBC that month (30 Day Late - May, 2013)
- Chase: This was a new card that opened up in March, 2013 and made the first payment, missed two subsequent payments (60 Day Late - April - May, 2013)

I have a number of other cards which I made the full payments, and I'm still kicking myself for being disorganized for these two cards -- I was too busy working on my side hustle. Anyways, I am at a point where I NEED to get these two baddies off my credit report. I need your advice:

- I know people have written goodwill letters to get lates off of their credit reports. Is there a way I can explain and get these two credit card companies to remove the lates?
- I have been making timely payments on both Credit Cards since lates in May, 2013. In fact, I have paid off the Cap One card in full and can do the same thing with Chase, is that a good idea?
- Is there a way of convincing these companies to remove the negatives? I'm willing to call/email/send letters/pay someone to get these two off my report.

I desperately need to hack this thing in order to take advantage of this funding opportunity. And yes, I am kicking myself for the lates. Help?

Post: #85

Anyone have experience with credit agencies? is it better going to one instead of trying to clean up debt yourself? Are they actually helpful?

Post: #86

(09-09-2013 05:43 PM)houston Wrote:  Anyone have experience with credit agencies? is it better going to one instead of trying to clean up debt yourself? Are they actually helpful?

Have you ever looked at the aptly named Scott Bilker's articles? There's a ton of them here.

He also has some youtube videos, a couple of books and more. They're all about techniques for how to negotiate with credit card companies and banks, whether or not to use credit agencies and the like.

I haven't looked at this in a while but at one time I did and thought he knew his stuff. Could be good for some tips.

Post: #87

I'll try my question here first, if I don't get a reply I'll start a thread.

Just wondering has anyone ever bought a chunk of bad debt (credit card debt etc?) and then worked on collecting it? Or farming it to a collection agency? Just starting to look into this and wondering if anyone knew anything about it or actually was in this business. Thanks.

Post: #88

(06-19-2014 08:12 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I'll try my question here first, if I don't get a reply I'll start a thread.

Just wondering has anyone ever bought a chunk of bad debt (credit card debt etc?) and then worked on collecting it? Or farming it to a collection agency? Just starting to look into this and wondering if anyone knew anything about it or actually was in this business. Thanks.

I've actually seen credit card debt for sale. The thing is that it is unsecured debt, so it isn't tied a house or a car or anything. You basically have to seek judgments through the court.

When companies sell it, it is all bundled up. So you could buy 100k worth of credit for 3-4k, and have to call a thousand people to work out deals.

It sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

Post: #89

(04-03-2016 05:01 PM)renotime Wrote:  

(06-19-2014 08:12 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I'll try my question here first, if I don't get a reply I'll start a thread.

Just wondering has anyone ever bought a chunk of bad debt (credit card debt etc?) and then worked on collecting it? Or farming it to a collection agency? Just starting to look into this and wondering if anyone knew anything about it or actually was in this business. Thanks.

I've actually seen credit card debt for sale. The thing is that it is unsecured debt, so it isn't tied a house or a car or anything. You basically have to seek judgments through the court.

When companies sell it, it is all bundled up. So you could buy 100k worth of credit for 3-4k, and have to call a thousand people to work out deals.

It sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

Debt collectors make their living by doing just that, buying debt for pennies and trying to collect on the full amount or as close as they can get to it.

If you're being hit up by collection agencies never agree to the payment in full, ask for the original contact for your debt (assuming its non secure debt) and half the time the debt has been bought/sold so many times that they no longer have the original paperwork and have no recourse to collect at that point, this is also how you clear your credit report, write a dispute letter to the credit agencies and if they can't come up with the documentation you can have it removed.

Post: #90

(04-03-2016 05:01 PM)renotime Wrote:  

(06-19-2014 08:12 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I'll try my question here first, if I don't get a reply I'll start a thread.

Just wondering has anyone ever bought a chunk of bad debt (credit card debt etc?) and then worked on collecting it? Or farming it to a collection agency? Just starting to look into this and wondering if anyone knew anything about it or actually was in this business. Thanks.

I've actually seen credit card debt for sale. The thing is that it is unsecured debt, so it isn't tied a house or a car or anything. You basically have to seek judgmentjs through the court.

When companies sell it, it is all bundled up. So you could buy 100k worth of credit for 3-4k, and have to call a thousand people to work out deals.

It sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

I got into collections a while back. Don't do it. Its a dying business. Buying bad paper is also one of the worst ways to go. Contracting still has some life left.

First, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is so outrageously pro-debtor, that you can find a violation in every single call or letter if you dig deep enough.

I got hit because the ink on a letter sent to some deadbeat was darker in certain areas than others. Then, the errors and omissions insurance company I was required to have decided that I had made an error and the lack of legibility omitted some of the disclosure to someone with limited eyesight, and they weren't going to cover my settlement or defend me. Yes, because I made errors and omitted something the errors and omissions insurance did not cover me.x

Second, if you are buying the debt, the originator has already worked the account to death. They got nowhere, that's why they're dumping it. In the amount of time that's passed since the default, the debtor has disappeared a few more layers over.

Third, and most important: PEOPLE DONT HAVE LANDLINES ANYMORE! The best skip tracing software is called Accurint, and it is incredible what it can show you about people in terms of location information. The problem is if someone has bad credit, they switch over to the prepaids. Accurint can give you numbers for phones under contract, but that's it. What you wind up doing is leaving a lot of messages with debtors elderly relatives, and that's about the best you can do.

I used my licensing to get into auto rep, and that's saved that business, but I live on an island and its hard to hide cars.

Aloha!

Post: #91

^ i used to work as a skip tracer for collections. It was interesting for the investigative type experience but the people I worked for were shady as fuck. Glad I'm not doing it anymore.

Post: #92

(04-17-2013 04:22 PM)painter Wrote:  @ swshrsweet - The account will be on your credit report for seven years from the day it's paid. There's nothing you can do to have it removed, you just want it to show that it's been paid and there's a zero balance. If it's in collections now your best bet is to settle the account for the least amount you can negotiate. Being from Texas should help you get a low settlement.

I don't know if the laws and rules changed on this in the last few years or not, but I was able to get a small medical debt (around $100 each x 2) removed from the credit report after I paid it off. However in this case, they were sending letters to the wrong address and I didn't know until it hit my credit report.

It is a PITA though because you need to request each bureau to remove it, but the automated process with credit karma made it easier, "direct dispute" is what they call it.


I had a question for the masses though, one of the things I'm getting dinged for on my credit score right now is the average age of open accounts. The way I ended up with short ages was I'd open up a credit account to get a 0% interest rate for buying something, then close it after paying it off. So my credit report is full of these. Is it actually beneficial to keep open accounts that never are going to be used again? I'm about ready to close a 9 year old account I used to purchase furniture with that hasn't been touched in 7.

Post: #93

(04-04-2016 02:32 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  I had a question for the masses though, one of the things I'm getting dinged for on my credit score right now is the average age of open accounts. The way I ended up with short ages was I'd open up a credit account to get a 0% interest rate for buying something, then close it after paying it off. So my credit report is full of these. Is it actually beneficial to keep open accounts that never are going to be used again? I'm about ready to close a 9 year old account I used to purchase furniture with that hasn't been touched in 7.

Don't close accounts you don't use. Age of accounts is 1 of the variables used in deciding FICO score. If you run into issues with new credit because you have too much outstanding credit, reduce the limit on the old cards. One can close old tradelines that aren't used, but why do that vs just lowering the limit? Keeping the account open is the better option.

Post: #94

(04-04-2016 09:22 PM)jj90 Wrote:  Don't close accounts you don't use. Age of accounts is 1 of the variables used in deciding FICO score. If you run into issues with new credit because you have too much outstanding credit, reduce the limit on the old cards. One can close old tradelines that aren't used, but why do that vs just lowering the limit? Keeping the account open is the better option.

If you're trying to improve your credit score you want to demonstrate you are able to use credit responsibly. The most important things to show that are to never be late on a payment and to keep your balance to less than 30% of your available credit (balance-to-credit ratio).

I've been focusing on improving my credit and have researched it quite a bit. I haven't read that lowering your limit will help with your credit score. As far as I know, the more credit you have the better it reflects on your score (as long as you keep the two points I mentioned above). I definitely would not ask to have my credit limit reduced because it will make your balance-to-credit ratio worse.

I agree that the age of the credit is important. The older the better. If you're going to close some credit cards, close the newer accounts. Your average age of credit will increase that way.

The 7-Steps-To-720 program recommends 3-5 active credit cards to demonstrate your responsible credit use. Keep them active by charging small amounts that you pay off by the due date (i.e. gas, netflix, etc).

Post: #95

(04-05-2016 10:05 PM)SamuraiJack Wrote:  I've been focusing on improving my credit and have researched it quite a bit. I haven't read that lowering your limit will help with your credit score. As far as I know, the more credit you have the better it reflects on your score (as long as you keep the two points I mentioned above). I definitely would not ask to have my credit limit reduced because it will make your balance-to-credit ratio worse.

I had thought this too, until a very helpful rep mentioned to me during a credit application that my limits weren't going to be as high as expected because I already had too much credit. Yes, that's right, a high limit hurt me. Perhaps it was specific to this particular financial institution because I'd never heard that before, but there is logic to it. So while having a high limit doesn't hurt your FICO directly(score), you won't get as much credit as you would think, which is the whole point to having a good FICO, along with lower rates.

Post: #96

(07-08-2016 11:48 PM)tomgrace Wrote:  [Mod: Spam]

Guy joins up, makes two random posts that essentially equate to no substance in the space of 2 minutes and then 10 minutes later plugs this company.

Shameless Plug Troll?

Post: #97

Just got billed $900 for doctor visits that my insurance apparently didn't cover, even though they told me it did. Will try to dispute, but what are the consequences if I don't pay?

Post: #98

It gets passed to a collections agency, ding on your credit report and you will get random calls, some creditors will overlook that because it is "medical debt".

Post: #99

PM me im an expert on this topic, having settled upwards of 150K so far

Post: #100

I made a thread about this, especially helps with medical bills.

/thread-59365.html