B
brandonashlie
Guest
Residents of Oregon, currently residing in Texas
My husband had some credit problems several years ago, before we were married. He settled most of the collections back in '95 and one in '98 and hasn't had any problems since then. We've bought a house and two new cars with only little problems and no outstanding debts have shown up on any credit reports we have seen. A couple months ago, I wrote letters to the three major credit agencies requesting information on how to clean my husbands credit up a bit, because it has been affecting our rates poorly, even though my credit is spotless. One of the reports we recieved claimed that my husband has an outstanding debt, that he in fact paid off in '98. I called the collection agency to investigate and they told me that the account was too old for them to look up and transferred me to another department where they proceeded to tell me that my husband in fact has another outstanding debt from a different account, which he insists he paid off as well (although we have yet to see this on any credit report, since '95 it's been reported as paid off). Equifax, who owns both these debts, told me that I would have to call the companies my husband paid and get letters confirming the payments, yet when I contacted them, they both said that they no longer have any files on him since they sold the accounts to Equifax. I have spoke to Equifax several times since then and their stance on the issue is basically that it is our problem and that we need to come up with proof. My husband has kept no records of the payments, nor has he kept his old bank statements, so we can only get proof for the '98 payoff. Equifax couldn't even tell me the last payment my husband had made to either account. They claim he hasn't paid, yet have no proof either way and no one seems to have any information regarding his payment history on the accounts. I find it ironic that all the sudden after 6 1/2 years for one account and 3 1/2 for another that these paid off accounts have suddenly sprung back up on his record, that both the accounts are owned by Equifax and that they were only purchased within the last year. This development means 7 more years of bad credit for someone who has grown up a lot and not misused his credit in a long time. If he really still owed the debt, why would they report it as being paid off for 6 1/2 years? How can we fight this without any proof? And what exactly constitutes sufficient proof? Don't they need some sort of proof to say that he hasn't paid? I just want him to stop being punished for something he did when he was eighteen and now it seems like he'll never get out from under this.
My husband had some credit problems several years ago, before we were married. He settled most of the collections back in '95 and one in '98 and hasn't had any problems since then. We've bought a house and two new cars with only little problems and no outstanding debts have shown up on any credit reports we have seen. A couple months ago, I wrote letters to the three major credit agencies requesting information on how to clean my husbands credit up a bit, because it has been affecting our rates poorly, even though my credit is spotless. One of the reports we recieved claimed that my husband has an outstanding debt, that he in fact paid off in '98. I called the collection agency to investigate and they told me that the account was too old for them to look up and transferred me to another department where they proceeded to tell me that my husband in fact has another outstanding debt from a different account, which he insists he paid off as well (although we have yet to see this on any credit report, since '95 it's been reported as paid off). Equifax, who owns both these debts, told me that I would have to call the companies my husband paid and get letters confirming the payments, yet when I contacted them, they both said that they no longer have any files on him since they sold the accounts to Equifax. I have spoke to Equifax several times since then and their stance on the issue is basically that it is our problem and that we need to come up with proof. My husband has kept no records of the payments, nor has he kept his old bank statements, so we can only get proof for the '98 payoff. Equifax couldn't even tell me the last payment my husband had made to either account. They claim he hasn't paid, yet have no proof either way and no one seems to have any information regarding his payment history on the accounts. I find it ironic that all the sudden after 6 1/2 years for one account and 3 1/2 for another that these paid off accounts have suddenly sprung back up on his record, that both the accounts are owned by Equifax and that they were only purchased within the last year. This development means 7 more years of bad credit for someone who has grown up a lot and not misused his credit in a long time. If he really still owed the debt, why would they report it as being paid off for 6 1/2 years? How can we fight this without any proof? And what exactly constitutes sufficient proof? Don't they need some sort of proof to say that he hasn't paid? I just want him to stop being punished for something he did when he was eighteen and now it seems like he'll never get out from under this.