Earlier this month we applied for a debt consolidation loan with a national financial institution. We were excited at the idea of saving about $300 a month while lowering our interest rate. Our excitement was short lived when we were denied. We couldn’t understand why. Yes, we do have more debt than we should (thank you very much Paxil – yes, that is sarcasm), but we have always paid our bills on time and have never had an account sent to collections nor have we ever filed bankruptcy.
So when the denial letter came in the mail, we called all three of the major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Transunion, and Equifax) and requested a copy of our credit reports (you can also go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com) We knew that we could do this, but we never seemed to get around to actually doing it. Well I am so glad that we did. We got the reports and we have been reviewing them over the past few days. Here are the things that we are disputing:
1. Two years ago we refinanced our land loan. The loan officer told us to just pay the interest and we would defer the payment and roll it into the newly refinanced loan .. so that was what we did …. only it doesn’t reflect that on our credit report. It says that we were 30 days past due on the payment – which we were NOT. So we filed a dispute on that one.
2. This is the biggie! In 1999, yes 1999! We put new carpet into the house that we live in now, which amounted to $795. We applied and were approved for a Carpet One credit card and we charged the carpet to that. The card had an available balance of $4,500, but we never used it again after the initial purchase of $795.
Sometime in there was when I started taking meds, so things get a little blurry for me about the specifics, but we may or may not have used a credit counseling agency to lower our interest rates and payments. However, I do know that we were NEVER told that some financial institutions view “payment counseling services” as a BANKRUPTCY or COLLECTION on your credit report !!!
We had wondered why our denial letter for the personal loan said that they denied us because of a collection … and now we knew why. So an account that is completely paid off and was never late shows up on our credit report as a COLLECTION and was the ONLY reason that we were denied the debt consolidation loan. The last time that the account was reported to the credit report agency was in 2007 … not 1999, when it was originally paid off, so that item is scheduled to stay on our credit report until 2017.
Disappointed? Damn skippy we are, but like I said earlier this week, “Disappointment Is Our Family Name” – we will get over it. We have survived much worse.
So now that the disputes are in process, we just have to sit back and see what happens. Please make sacrifices to the good credit gods in our honor.
I do not get it yes I read this post but it is over my head as to why you where refused but then I do have a headache and no not from reading this but still I have one. I do not get how companies think they seem to have a weird take on things if you ask me……..yeah I know you didn’t ask but I am sharing that anyway……….
Yeah, we were shocked that they viewed it that way even though it is a paid account.
I find it very curious that something from 1999 is still showing on your credit report. Almost everything falls off after 7-10 years, depending on what it is. Even bad things like collections and bankruptcies. Unless it’s an active account, like the Discover card I’ve had since I was 18.
I’m sorry you got denied for that. Have you talked to any local financial institutions? Sometimes local institutions, like credit unions, will approve a loan that a national company won’t.
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Evidently they start the time line based on the last reporting date and for some reason that account was last reported in 2007 even though it was paid off in 1999.