…some say ignorance is bliss. I don’t buy it. Everywhere I see people getting deeper and deeper into debt and I see more and more people reach a debt level where I have my doubts they’ll ever dig out, during this lifetime.
Is this deliberate? You bet. It makes me furious.
Basically, the game played by the big finance companies is to drive you into debt, wherein you’ll have a lower credit score and more trouble obtaining affordable credit. Result: you go further into debt. Vicious cycle continues. Banks and financiers get richer; Americans as a whole go deeper and deeper into debt.
One tool the financial industry uses is the credit report and the credit score. I pulled my credit report today and noted a drop of about 30 points on the scores from two of the bureaus. The reason: Sprint sent an old account of mine out to collection, and the collector credit-reported it. Granted, it was reported as disputed, but it still torpedoed my credit scores. Only problem is, I don’t owe the debt. This was an accounting error made when Sprint changed my account internally and did not reconcile the books when the account was changed. Former Sprint employees admitted this to me but, alas, I did not get it in writing and the new employees only go by what’s on their lame-o computer screen. Hence, I’m screwed.
However, I will not pay it. One thing creditors don’t tell you is that, if you just leave a derogatory mark on your credit report for a few months or years and otherwise maintain your credit accounts, the derogatory marks have less and less effect until, at last, they have virtually no effect at all.
Everyone needs to know this. Don’t let creditors bully you into paying debts you do not owe. Obviously, pay the debts you do owe, but if someone puts crap onto your credit report and it doesn’t belong there, dispute it. If it doesn’t come off, sue them. But don’t pay it. Never. With a passage of some time, the account will have no further effect on your score…
…unless some unscrupulous debt collector buys the account and re-reports it as a new delinquent account, often with a new account number. THEN you need to bring a lawsuit to teach the collector a lesson about such shenanigans.
I hope this has been of some assistance to you. Thank you for reading.