What do you do if you settle a debt but never get confirmation and its still on your report?
When my husband and his ex-wife separated, the ex-wife went on a ,000 shopping spree on credit cards.. My husband (being the dummy he is) just started paying off collections as soon as he found out about them. One collection agency (stanley weinberg and associates) called him and told him he could settle his 34 debt for 3800. Again, being the dummy that he is he agreed to an electronic check and never received any letter confirming the settlement. 4 to 5 years later we are trying to buy a house and the 34 debt is still on his credit report. We have no proof that they promised to settle, all we have is the bank statement showing he paid 00. Any ideas what we can do now? We need this off as soon as possible..
Posted February 6th, 2010 in Debt Settlement. Tagged: collections, credit cards, credit report, dummy, electronic check, proof, shopping spree, stanley weinberg and associates.
There are only two ways to remove it, First, contact Stanley Weinberg, let them know it is still on your credit report and ask them to have it removed. If they request it, it is the quickest method because it will be removed at the time of the request.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pmThe other method is to dispute it through the credit reporting agency. You must make the dispute in writing ( or through the internet ), and from the time you enter the dispute, the company that placed the report has thirty days to answer the dispute. Normally what happens in this case is that the credit agency contacts the collection company, informs them of the dispute and tells them they have 30 days to respond. On the collection agency end, they will check to see if they wish to dispute, and if they choose not to ( or in other words, they realize you’re right) they will not respond, and the debt will be removed after 30 days.
Even if you had written confirmation of the settlement, that would not remove the item from his credit file. It should show as "settled".
You might try disputing the item as having been settled on whatever date. Maybe you’ll get lucky and the collection agency won’t bother to respond to the credit bureaus request for verification and the item will be removed.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pm