WFNNB listing on credit report – How to deal with it

By Good Nelly

Ask Nelly

If you find a WFNNB listing on your credit report, chances are that you may owe money to the World Financial Network National Bank or any of the business entities they underwrite credit cards for. If you want to know about how to deal with a WFNNB listing on your credit report, have a look at the topics given below:

• WFNNB listing on credit report – 3 Things to do
• What to do if you've paid off the bill

WFNNB listing on credit report – 3 Things to do

If your credit report shows a WFNNB account listing, and there's a certain outstanding balance, there are three things you can do:

1. If you owe money to WFNNB or its associates, pay it off
   In this case, you need to speak to your creditors and explain why you've missed payments. You should send them a hardship letter asking them to lower your interest rates so that you can pay off the bills. If you're in financial crisis and cannot pay on a monthly basis, you may try to negotiate a settlement on your account by paying as much as you can afford. Debt Settlement allows you to pay less than what you owe, and can get you out of debt legally. Check out these tips to negotiate and settle debt successfully on your own.
2. Verify the debt if you're not sure that you owe the money
   If you're not sure as to whether you owe the debt, you should send a debt verification letter asking WFNNB to prove that you owe the money. Once they provide you with enough proof, you should work out a repayment plan or a settlement to clear the debt faster.
3. You can avoid going to court if the SOL has expired
   If the Statute of Limitations (SOL) has expired, then the creditor cannot take you to court to collect on the debt. The SOL starts tolling from the day you first miss a payment. How long a creditor has to take you to court to collect on the debt depends on the SOL of the state you live in. However, even if the SOL has expired, the creditor may still use other legal means to collect on the debt within the provisions of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) and the debt will remain on your credit report for 7 years.

What to do if you've paid off the bill

When you've paid the account, and it still shows up on your credit report, here's what you need to do.

• Dispute the item with your creditor: You need to contact the creditor and request that they co-ordinate with the Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) and update the account status correctly. Send a dispute letter to the creditor via certified mail or fax and request a return receipt so that you can be sure that the creditor has received the letter. Attach all the documents that prove that you've already paid off the debt on the WFNNB account.
• File a dispute with the CRAs: You can file a consumer dispute with the CRAs. The credit reporting agencies are supposed to contact the original creditor within 5 days of receiving the dispute request and verify the disputed account within 30 days. They should send you the results in writing along with a free copy of your credit report, provided the information on the account is correct. However, if the account listing is found to be inaccurate, the CRAs will delete all information on that account from your credit report.