A little background, I am 24 years old and I have been steadily working on repairing my credit since February of this year, starting with a secured card with my bank, Wells Fargo. Finding myself with bad credit already at 19, I had some accounts (credit card, telephone, internet, etc.) that were opened by a family member without my knowledge, I decided to wait for them to age off as they balances were too high. I am in a better position now to start working on my credit as I have two jobs, a full-time and part-time, very few bills relative to my income, and I am now in better control of maintaining and monitoring my credit. My main goal now is to get my scores up to get an auto loan as I need a vehicle and having been taking a cab and catching rides to work for the last year and a half. 
Which is money being thrown out the window and has gotten quite old. I have no auto loan history and will not have a cosigner, so it is very important that I get my scores up and this is why this is why this is so frustrating to me as they had really improved. I am thinking about trying to prequalify through Capital One and probably would have been ready within the next month or two. (I already have a downpayment.)
As to my current problem, there were two payday loans that were placed with Ad Astra Recovery Services. The accounts were opened without my knowledge by a family member, but I decided to pay them anyways as I felt it would be too much of a hassle to go the identity theft route and would like to get things cleaned up as fast as possible. However, I will mention that I wasn't even working at the time the accounts were opened. I called Ad Astra Recovery Services and inquired about a pay for delete. Although this is my first post and I signed up earlier this year, I have browsed the forums frequently since early last year preparing for a rebuild when I was in a better position financially, so I knew what to ask for when speaking to a collection agency.
It is probably already well known here they they do not provide pay for delete letters, so I had to take them at their word and read others here had not had any problems. I negotiated the accounts to half the amounts for both, got the removal approved by a supervisor, got the standard it must be paid within 24 hours to be good and paid them off. It was agreed that the accounts would then be removed, they were only on my Equifax and Transunion reports, within 30 days, but that it could take longer. All was well, or so I thought, until I got the letters in the mail stating that the accounts would be updated to paid in full, with no mention of removal. I called again after the accounts updated asking once again about removal. I was once again told it would take thirty days. I called once the thirty days had gone by and began to be given the runaround about what was and was not said.
I've read here that some people have had luck with disputing, but I know that it is against the reporting guidelines to agree to remove negative information for payment, and I was advised that it would be better to file a complaint with the BBB. I did just that and what happens...they claim they never made that agreement and go on to state that it is against their policy and reporting guidelines to offer pay for deletes and they would never do that. Now, we all know that this a lie. It's all over the internet that they do. There are numerous complaints on the BBB website and other places regarding problems with them removing information after agreeing to. The complaint is currently still open and am I waiting for their response to my rebuttal. I had recorded the calls, but as luck would have it, a phone crash caused me to lose the recordings.
I will continue to try and get it removed by calling the company and seeing if I can speak to someone as it looks like the BBB route is not going to work. I will be persistent in this as I would like them off before I apply for a vehicle, but I know that paid is better than unpaid. The major problem I am having now is that they decided to put in the comments on the accounts that I dispute the information. I don't dispute anything regarding the accounts. If I did, I would have opened a dispute myself. My problem is with their lies about deletion. This is what they said in a portion of the BBB complaint initial response: Based on this complaint we have updated the accounts as disputed for credit reporting purposes.
Not only did they update, but they then added the account to Experian dropping my score 21 points! (I should mention these are FICO scores I'm speaking of.) I obtained a Venus card via the shopping cart trick (yes, I will use it) and was expecting an increase as I only have the secured card and know that I need three accounts for optimal scoring purposes. I only have one card through the shopping cart trick and do not plan on getting another unless it's the Sportsman's Guide Visa as it is the only one I would actually use other than Overstock and it is a while away, so there is no need to worry about going me possibly going overboard. I went to Experian to figure out what caused the drop and went through the process like I'm about to open a dispute and sure enough find the two accounts there with the comments that I dispute, but it meets reporting requirements.
To sum things up, once again, I do not dispute anything regarding the accounts. The problem I have is with Ad Astra. How can I get the comments removed and get the accounts removed from my Experian report as they were never reported there and they only reported them after they were paid using the excuse that I dispute the information when I don't? I will post the full BBB complaint when it is resolved.
Thanks in advance. Any and all help is appreciated! Sorry about the length.
You should get your social security number changed so your family member doesn't keep causing problems like this for you.
I don't think it's a big deal that they disputed the account on your credit report, or if you dispute it on your credit report. It may get deleted that way. I wouldn't stress over that.
Also, it's very likely you can still get a car. Car loans are not that hard to get. And if you get a high interest rate, just refinance at a credit union after 6 months.
Okay, update and my apologies for being a day late. Ad Astra's phones were acting up yesterday and the better part of today. I was just able to get through about two hours ago. I won't write a novel, I'll just give the pertinent facts.
Bad News:
1. It looks like it will be staying. They ONLY delete for full amounts. This is not what I was told and would have had no problem paying the full amounts. I even asked the rep before paying and she said no it would still be deleted. Had to go through a very rude rep that hung up on me and refused to connect me to a supervisor before I got someone that would cooperate. Heads up Frogfan, pay the full amount if you want it to be deleted. Don't take the settlement even if they offer one.
Good news:
1. I had a collection account that was not mine reported on Experian and opened a dispute last month. I got my results today and it was removed. On my new updated report, the two Ad Astra accounts were not there. My score updated on 8-1 when the new Venus account reported. A 21 point drop happened on Experian from the Ad Astra accounts being added there. I'm hoping the accounts will not reappear again. Think I will let sleeping dogs lie as far as the comments are concerned unless they become an issue. I doubt they will.
I will let everyone know how my score moves when it updates again from the the account deletion and the Astra accounts being gone. I was mainly upset about them being reported there and dropping my score when they never had been reported when they were open and delinquent. I'm praying that they will stay gone! I'm okay with them staying on Transunion and Equifax as the major score hits already happened when they were first reported and will try to goodwill them off in some months when things have cooled down some.
Good luck to everyone else with their rebuild efforts.
Bad News:
1. It looks like it will be staying. They ONLY delete for full amounts. This is not what I was told and would have had no problem paying the full amounts. I even asked the rep before paying and she said no it would still be deleted. Had to go through a very rude rep that hung up on me and refused to connect me to a supervisor before I got someone that would cooperate. Heads up Frogfan, pay the full amount if you want it to be deleted. Don't take the settlement even if they offer one.
Good news:
1. I had a collection account that was not mine reported on Experian and opened a dispute last month. I got my results today and it was removed. On my new updated report, the two Ad Astra accounts were not there. My score updated on 8-1 when the new Venus account reported. A 21 point drop happened on Experian from the Ad Astra accounts being added there. I'm hoping the accounts will not reappear again. Think I will let sleeping dogs lie as far as the comments are concerned unless they become an issue. I doubt they will.
I will let everyone know how my score moves when it updates again from the the account deletion and the Astra accounts being gone. I was mainly upset about them being reported there and dropping my score when they never had been reported when they were open and delinquent. I'm praying that they will stay gone! I'm okay with them staying on Transunion and Equifax as the major score hits already happened when they were first reported and will try to goodwill them off in some months when things have cooled down some.
Good luck to everyone else with their rebuild efforts.