This story takes a couple of paragraphs to tell, but I'll spare you my life story. The bottom line is that a former employer used my personal cards and now my credit rating has been badly hurt. I am not sure where to turn to for legitimate advice.
I left a company a year ago, and found out -- six months later -- that they had continued to use two of my personally guaranteed credit cards to the tune of $70,000.
Since I hadn't know about it (the bills were being sent to the company address, not to me), it was being reported against my credit for many months. By the time I found out it was tool late. In 2006, my credit rating was 810. I was very proud of that and had worked for 30 years to get there. Now it is in the mid 500s.
After I left, the company had told me they were no longer using the cards, and I unfortunately relied on that information.The credit card companies say it was my responsibility to remove my guarantee, so even though i didn't make the charges, it's not their problem. The company is defunct so there is no one for me to go after for damages.
One of the banks agreed to a program -- repaying the full $20k over 3 years at 1 percent. I decided to take that deal rather than taking the "hit" of a settlement or incurring legal fees to fight it.
The other bank, where over $50,000 is owed, told me they wouldn't negotiate anything unless i brought the account current (over $5500). I did - and now they tell me they won't negotiate with me because the account isn't overdue! They actually advised me to go delinquent again and call back. But of course that is bad advice, since it would cost me thousands in additional interest and potentially more bad items on my credit reports.
At this point, I'm ready to do anything to get this over with and repair my credit. I can come up with the full amount (painfully) -- but here are my questions:
1. Can I get a credit card company to remove the bad reporting in return for full payment ("pay to delete," I am told that's called)
2. if I pay it off first, do I have any leverage to get them to do that?
3. if I go direct to the credit bureaus with this information (after paying it off), can I get the negative information off my report?
4. If I settled instead of paying in full -- could I still get the negative reporting removed?
5. are their credible lawyers who deal with this sort of thing (rather than the shady operators on the web)? I feel like my case is too small for heavy-duty attys, yet not a fit for credit counselors since i do in fact have means to pay and want to avoid further damage to my credit rating.
I would be sincerely grateful for any advice - or a "pointer" to someone legitimage who could advise me.
Thanks in advance.
I left a company a year ago, and found out -- six months later -- that they had continued to use two of my personally guaranteed credit cards to the tune of $70,000.
Since I hadn't know about it (the bills were being sent to the company address, not to me), it was being reported against my credit for many months. By the time I found out it was tool late. In 2006, my credit rating was 810. I was very proud of that and had worked for 30 years to get there. Now it is in the mid 500s.
After I left, the company had told me they were no longer using the cards, and I unfortunately relied on that information.The credit card companies say it was my responsibility to remove my guarantee, so even though i didn't make the charges, it's not their problem. The company is defunct so there is no one for me to go after for damages.
One of the banks agreed to a program -- repaying the full $20k over 3 years at 1 percent. I decided to take that deal rather than taking the "hit" of a settlement or incurring legal fees to fight it.
The other bank, where over $50,000 is owed, told me they wouldn't negotiate anything unless i brought the account current (over $5500). I did - and now they tell me they won't negotiate with me because the account isn't overdue! They actually advised me to go delinquent again and call back. But of course that is bad advice, since it would cost me thousands in additional interest and potentially more bad items on my credit reports.
At this point, I'm ready to do anything to get this over with and repair my credit. I can come up with the full amount (painfully) -- but here are my questions:
1. Can I get a credit card company to remove the bad reporting in return for full payment ("pay to delete," I am told that's called)
2. if I pay it off first, do I have any leverage to get them to do that?
3. if I go direct to the credit bureaus with this information (after paying it off), can I get the negative information off my report?
4. If I settled instead of paying in full -- could I still get the negative reporting removed?
5. are their credible lawyers who deal with this sort of thing (rather than the shady operators on the web)? I feel like my case is too small for heavy-duty attys, yet not a fit for credit counselors since i do in fact have means to pay and want to avoid further damage to my credit rating.
I would be sincerely grateful for any advice - or a "pointer" to someone legitimage who could advise me.
Thanks in advance.
