What If There Is a Mistake on a Credit Report?

Many parts of your personal financial situation depend on your credit report. The rates you pay for loans and the premiums you pay for auto or homeowner's insurance depend on your credit. When you find errors on your credit report, you must follow a process to remove them so you can be certain your report is accurate.

Check Your Reports

You should check your reports regularly to see if they contain errors, such as late payments or collections accounts. You can receive an annual copy from each of the major credit reporting agencies from the Annual Credit Report website. The process is simple, and the delivery of the report is immediate over the Internet. If you have been denied credit, you are entitled to a free copy of your report from the agency the creditor consulted before denying you. You can also purchase a copy of your report from each agency if necessary.

Dispute With Credit Bureau

If you find errors on your report, you must dispute them. The credit reporting agencies have a process on their websites for disputes, usually through the reports you receive online. You can check the disputed item and say why it is an error. The credit reporting agency must research your claim and ask the original creditor to prove the information is accurate. If the creditor does not verify the information, it is removed from your credit file. This process should be completed within 30 days, but it may take as long as 45 days. If the online process doesn't work, write a letter to the agency explaining why the entry is inaccurate and asking it be removed.

Dispute With Creditor

If the creditor states the information is accurate but you still do not agree, you will need to deal with the creditor directly. Write a letter stating your name and other identifying information. Include the nature of your dispute in the letter, along with the reasons you feel the entry is not correct. If you have documents supporting your claim, send copies. You may need to be persistent in this process. If the creditor still refuses to remove inaccurate information, you may consider filing a lawsuit for damages or contacting your state attorney general's office.

Other Considerations

You can add a statement to your credit report if you cannot resolve your dispute with a creditor. Such a statement may help with a lender or potential employer who checks and reads the entire report, but it will probably have no affect on your credit score. You probably will not be successful in removing accurate information from your report. As time passes, the negative information will decrease in its effect on your overall credit picture.

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Can I Re-Negotiate Debt With a Payday Company?

Payday loans are generally taken out at high rates of interest for relatively short periods of time, from a couple of days to several months. However, if a payday loan is not repaid on time, the company that issued the loan may take measures to collect on the unpaid debt. For borrowers who face a large amount of debt, negotiating a settlement to avoid the incurring of additional fees may be an option.

Payday Loans

Payday loans resemble other loans in that the borrower is obligated to pay back a certain amount of money, plus interest, by a certain period of time. Legally, a payday loan can be negotiated down. However, the payday loan company will have to agree to receive less money on the loan or to receive the money owed over a different time frame than originally agreed on. Companies are not legally required to negotiate this form of debt.

Default Penalties

Borrowers who fail to pay back payday loans on time are liable to face additional penalties. If the debt continues to remain unpaid, companies may add additional late fees or raise the interest applied to the loan until the person owes an amount several times the size of the original loan. Some payday loan companies may accept payment of only a portion of this debt, while others will demand it be paid in full.

Negotiation

While payday loan companies are not required to enter into negotiations with borrowers, some may choose to. Negotiations can result in the borrower having to pay the company less money -- a debt settlement -- or in paying the money over a longer period of time -- a debt payment plan. In some cases, the negotiation may result in harm to the borrower's credit rating, particularly if the debt is settled for only partial payment.

Considerations

Not all payday loan companies are willing to negotiate. Generally, a payday loan company will negotiate if it decides that it in within its financial interest to do so. In some cases, the company may believe that it can collect more money by pursuing forceful collection. In some cases, the company may opt to sell the debt to a collection agency, with whom the borrower will have to attempt to negotiate a settlement.

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What Are Your Constitutional Rights for Debt?

The government's Federal Trade Commission enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which protects consumers from abusive or harassing debt collection practices. If you owe a significant amount of money, you may receive phone calls from collection agencies. Your creditors have the right to send these agencies after you. But you have your own rights. Learning them is the key to preventing collection agencies from harassing or intimidating you.

Calling Hours

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collection agencies are not allowed to call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., and they can't contact you at your place of employment if you tell them, in writing or orally, that you cannot receive calls where you work.

Threats and Harassment

Debt collectors are not allowed to threaten you or imply that they will damage your property or physically harm you in an effort to collect the money you owe. Collection agencies cannot misrepresent themselves as lawyers or as representatives of government agencies. And they cannot say that you will be imprisoned if you don't pay your debt.

Contacting Others

Collection agencies cannot contact other people, including your co-workers, bosses, friends or family members, about the debt that you owe. Collection agencies, though, can call other people if they need to do so to find your address, telephone number or place of employment. However, they are not allowed to tell these other parties why they are looking for you.

Stopping Contact

You can get a collection agency to stop calling you by sending that agency a letter, by certified mail, telling it to stop contacting you. After receiving the letter, the collection agency can only contact you again to tell you that it will no longer be calling or to inform you that your creditor is taking a specific action, such as filing a lawsuit against you, to claim the money you owe.

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How to Transfer a Home Equity Line of Credit to a 0% APR Credit Card

A quick telephone call to your credit card company may be all you need to transfer the balance on your home equity line of credit (HELOC) to a credit card with a zero-percent interest rate. The transaction could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in finance charges. That makes it an excellent idea if you make all your credit card payments on time and expect to pay off the card before the interest rate adjusts.

Instructions

1

Apply for a credit card--if you don't already have one--offering a zero-percent interest rate through a promotional period. Check with your bank or credit union for cards offering such a feature, if necessary

2

Review the credit limit on your new credit card. Also review the length of the promotional period.

3

Check the balance on your HELOC by reviewing your billing statement. Or call the your lender's customer service department. Confirm that your credit card has enough available credit to support a payoff of the HELOC

4

Call your credit-card company to initiate the balance transfer. Provide the customer service representative with the full account number of the HELOC and other information as requested, such as the lender's name and address. Also answer any questions necessary to establish your identity. Get a confirmation number for the transaction and ask when the transfer will be completed. Allow sufficient time to pass, and follow up by checking both your HELOC and card statements to confirm that the transaction was successful.

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What Is Assigned Debt?

Assigned debt is the bane of anyone who is being harassed by a collection agency. Creditors sometimes give debts to another party to collect. This is known as assigned debt.

Who Collects Debt

When a company trying to collect a debt has been unsuccessful, it contacts a collection agency that promises to use whatever legal methods it can to collect the money.

Commission

A commission is paid on the total amount collected on the group of accounts given to the agency. The more the agency is able to get, the more commission it makes, so it is in the agency's best interest to get as much from the accounts as possible.

Process

The original creditor agrees to take no further action on the debt and to leave it entirely in the hands of the collection agency. It promises that it is the legal owner of the debt that the collection agency is pursuing the issue on the company's behalf.

Terminology

The debt is called assigned because the debt is not sold to the collection agency. The money is still owed to the original creditor.

Ownership

The original creditor still owns the debt and will get the money paid on the account, minus the commission. The collection agency is simply acting as a contractor, even though the agency may try to convince people otherwise.

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How Can I Fund My Virtual Visa Using My Bank Account?

Virtual Visa and Virtual MasterCards are much like credit cards, just without the physical card. Hence, virtual. These are simply account numbers, with expiration dates and security codes, that allow customers to shop online, purchase hotel tickets, reserve hotels and make car rental reservations. These are prepaid accounts, not unsecured accounts. You must refill the account when the funds are exhausted. Doing this is relatively simple. While there are many, many vendors that offer these virtual accounts, nearly all allow their customers to refill their accounts with a bank wire.

Instructions

1

Take out all documents and correspondence associated with your Virtual Visa account. This will likely include a list of terms and conditions, a user agreement and some literature that reflects the refill policies. Most vendors offer some sort of "instant" funding but also allow for bank wires.

2

Separate the user agreement and the refill options from all the other documents. There will be a contact number on one of these forms. You may need to dial the customer service representatives to get the appropriate bank name and account number for a wire transfer.

3

Create an online profile at your own bank, if you do not have one. To create this, you will need your name, address, email address, telephone number, Social Security number, date of birth, account number and debit card number. You will also need to create a user ID and password. You will have to submit this profile, then open your email and click on the confirmation email establishing your online profile.

4

Log on to your online profile. Choose "transfers" from one of the drop-down menu options or option tabs. This will differ from bank to bank. However, you need to access "transfers" and then the option that reads "bank-to-bank transfers."

5

Enter the receiving bank's account number and choose the bank name. Enter the amount to transfer. This is the amount you want to add to your Virtual Visa card. Confirm the account numbers, bank name and amount. Click "transfer." This could take as long as three days.

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What Happens If One Does Not Pay a Pay Day Advance Back?

It is never a good idea to not pay back a payday advance or any other loan that you enter into an agreement to pay. If you choose not to pay back a payday advance, there are things that lenders can do to eventually get their money back. In the long run, it will not benefit you not to pay back your payday advance.

Legal Action

You could face legal action for not paying your payday advance. By signing your payday advance agreement to pay back the funds and fees when they are do, you are legally binding yourself to the contract. Therefore, if you break the contract, your payday advance lender can take you to court to get the money from you. If you have to go to court, then you could be responsible for paying lawyer and court fees in addition to your payday advance.

Overdraft Charges

If you don't pay back your payday advance, then the lender might continue to debit your checking account until they receive their money. They do this by using the checking account information and debit authorization you provided when you initially applied for the payday loan. If this occurs and you don't have the money in your account, then you will incur overdraft charges from your bank.

Phone Calls

Your payday advance company can continue to call you, your family members and other listed references if you don't pay your advance. The phone calls could eventually get annoying and disruptive for you and your references.

Credit Reporting

Your payday advance lender can report you to the credit bureau and TeleCheck for not paying your advance. If this happens, then your credit score will be negatively affected because you will now have a bad debt listed on your report. Also, if you have a bad TeleCheck report, you will typically not be able to open up a checking account with a banking institution or make a check payment with businesses that use TeleCheck.

Tips

If you believe that you may not be able to pay back a payday advance, then consider finding an alternative way to obtain the money that you need. You can borrow the money from family or friends. This way you don't have to pay fees and you can take longer to pay back the money that you borrow.

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