Where to begin?

[almost_there]

Let me start by saying hello everyone and I am so glad to have found these boards! I graduated from high school in 1996 and almost immediately ruined my credit before I knew better. I have kept an eye on it and recently pulled a 3-in-1 report for both my husband and myself (we ruined our credit together as high school sweethearts). So my question is, where is the best place to start after you have your reports and there is stuff you want off it?

I have paid charge offs, paid collections, and of course items that aren't paid yet. We have 2 new (1 year or less old) accounts that are in pays as agreed, our student loans are current, though they were behind in the past. If it weren't for our past mistakes, we'd have good credit now and it's so disheartening that everything we have paid or are re-paying isn't really making a bit of difference on our reports.

Would it be better to dispute, for instance, all our paid/settled chargeoffs with the original creditors or with the bureaus? I have searched high and low online for definative answers, but it all seems like SO much information that I can't seem to keep it straight.

We want to buy a house as soon as we can, as we are living with family right now (have been for a long time now) we can't afford to rent in the area where we live, plus we have a dog, which makes it that much harder to find a place. Add to that, we had our last landlord sue us not once, but twice (guy was a complete @$$!) So, we have about $1800 worth of judgements hanging over our heads as well. We were told by the bank to pay those and our collections before they could really talk to us. That sounds like a wonderful plan, except that I know in reality paying our debts doesn't seem to make any difference. I will pay the judgements of course, I want to get into a house. But while I am whittling down these debts, I also need to be cleaning up our credit reports.

I've seen what's on them, but now what? Any advice would be tremendously appreciated. I can give more details if that would help you help me. Thanks in advance.

Today is my birthday, and this is sort of my bday treat to myself, to get to serious work on getting the credit we deserve.

Our scores as of 3/28/03

DH TU: 613

Me TU: 542

[morrow]

<blockquote>Originally posted by almost_there

I have paid charge offs, paid collections, and of course items that aren't paid yet.

Dispute your paid collections and charge-offs with the CRA. Dsipute them as not yours. I dont know where you stand financially, but if you have the funds to pay, try settling your other accounts.

We have 2 new (1 year or less old) accounts that are in pays as agreed, our student loans are current, though they were behind in the past.

Send a letter to the OC asking for a *goodwill* adjustment. Ask them to update the account to never paid late. You kind find outlines for this letter all over the board.

Keep in mind, if you choose to mail your disputes, send them CMRRR. If you dispute online, make sure that you keep track of everything youve disputed and when you disputed it! Would reccommend printing your page with confirmation info.

</blockquote>

Hope this helps, and welcome to the board!

[kb9tbq]

<blockquote>Originally posted by almost_there

Welcome & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

See what we can do to brighten up your B-Day

So my question is, where is the best place to start after you have your reports and there is stuff you want off it?

Ok for future reference; don't buy the 3 in 1 reports during the clean up process; this only obscures the raw data from each CRA and will make disputing harder. But for now will work with what you have to start off.

paid charge offs, paid collections,

With items which are paid; dispute as having "no knowledge of these account" & please remove.

items that aren't paid yet.

Careful before you go any further on these; need to know:

What type of accounts are these?

What state your are in? to figure if you are still within the SOL (statute of limitations) period of time the creditors / collection agencies can legally collect on the said debt.

If you are still within the SOL (usually advise to lay low; till these expire) this is if you have the time though.

Others will follow up; and walk you through Debt Validation for dealing with the collection agencies head on - OK.

We have 2 new (1 year or less old) accounts that are in pays as agreed, our student loans are current, though they were behind in the past.

Advise to send goodwill letter to the student loan company to see if they will take consideration and remove the late listings for you. Don't want to dispute with the CRA unless you have to on lates. Recommend using www.planetfeedback.com for this part. All you have to write about is that you are sorry for having incured the lates; point out that you have been paying as agreed since this time; and plan on buying a home soon. That the lates are affecting your chances for this home loan. Quite a few get mixed results but it is well worth it to see if these tradelines can be saved.

landlord sue us not once, but twice (guy was a complete @$$!) So, we have about $1800 worth of judgements hanging over our heads as well.

If you were not served notice properly to appear in court; it is possible to get the judgments vacated (dismissed) just have to see for your state what is allowable for being served. You can still dispute with the CRA to see if you can get these removed.

</blockquote>

[almost_there]

Thanks guys! Thanks kb for the birthday wishes, too

Ok, I think I know a bit more on how to proceed. It seems almost ridiculous to me that our 7 years is almost up on most of these accounts, but I need a house ASAP (although not so quick as to get in over our heads again :upsidown: ) LOL

The past 7 years or so has been, literally, like a prison sentence. We've had to live with family, drive crappy cars, and make all kinds of huge sacrifices. Don't get me wrong, we've learned from our mistakes and this whole experience made us better people for having gone through it, but I will sure be glad when over the next 2 years or so, most of these things will be gone from our credit history.

I was planning on waiting it out and laying low on some of the unpaid debts that were nearing that 7 year point, and now after reading about the SOL, I see that it has already run out in some instances! Woo hoo! I'll have to read through my credit reports again, because I am sure that since most of my accounts were opened and dates of last activity were in late 96/early 97, and SOL being 5 years in Iowa and 6 in SD (I was in an out of state college) the SOL has run out on some of these.

Which leads me to another question...I have 2 credit cards from long ago that I have been paying a CA $50/month each for quite awhile, like a couple years now. Can I suddenly switch gears on these people and demand they put these old accounts in good standing or offer a settlement with good terms. I tried about a year ago to negoiate with these people to put my account in good standing. They said they couldn't so it. Everyone I have ever tried to get that from has given me a similar answer. Guess I will have to try harder Can I threaten to stop paying them unless they cooperate with me? If the SOL is up, can I just walk away and not pay another dime?

It's not my intention to not pay my debts, but I would sure like some leverage. I will also admit, the ones that have expired are probably not going to get paid. I owe JC Penney $74, called them a couple years ago to offer to pay it. I asked them where to send the check, they said "oh we're sorry, you're no longer in our system." I know, I know, I should have disputed that one right away, I doubt they can prove it anymore. I am such a procrastinator!

So, now that I am on this, what about these 2 I am paying on, which isn't even showing on my reports? What can do about these?

Thanks again.

P.S. About the judgements, we were properly served. The debts are ours and are a fact of life we just need to pay, suck up and move on from. Although :notsure: I have heard that you can settle on judgements....wonder if that would work. The guy who sued us is such a #$*! that he probably won't rest until he gets every dime he can out of us.

[kb9tbq]

<blockquote>Originally posted by almost_there

morrow: I must be getting slow; lol Didn't realize you beat me to the post

I was planning on waiting it out and laying low on some of the unpaid debts that were nearing that 7 year point, and now after reading about the SOL, I see that it has already run out in some instances! Woo hoo! I'll have to read through my credit reports again, because I am sure that since most of my accounts were opened and dates of last activity were in late 96/early 97, and SOL being 5 years in Iowa and 6 in SD (I was in an out of state college) the SOL has run out on some of these.

If the accounts are out of SOL; then you can commence disputing with the CRA; if the collection agencies start to bother you; then send them cease & desist letters.

Which leads me to another question...I have 2 credit cards from long ago that I have been paying a CA $50/month each for quite awhile, like a couple years now. Can I suddenly switch gears on these people and demand they put these old accounts in good standing or offer a settlement with good terms. I tried about a year ago to negoiate with these people to put my account in good standing. They said they couldn't so it. Everyone I have ever tried to get that from has given me a similar answer. Guess I will have to try harder Can I threaten to stop paying them unless they cooperate with me? If the SOL is up, can I just walk away and not pay another dime?

Sorry; if you paid on these; it has re started the SOL for them to legally collect on the debt. To stop paying now would make it another 5 years to go; at this point in time - they can still try to sue you if you stop now. What I would suggest though; is that you sweeten the deal for them. Agree to pay in full in return for them removing the negative reporting all together from your credit report. Will want to get this in writing from them.

I owe JC Penney $74, called them a couple years ago to offer to pay it. I asked them where to send the check, they said "oh we're sorry, you're no longer in our system." I know, I know, I should have disputed that one right away, I doubt they can prove it anymore. I am such a procrastinator!

Definately dispute this one as "no knowledge of account" they will have to remove the listing if they can't verify the debt.

P.S. About the judgements, we were properly served. The debts are ours and are a fact of life we just need to pay, suck up and move on from. Although :notsure: I have heard that you can settle on judgements....wonder if that would work. The guy who sued us is such a #$*! that he probably won't rest until he gets every dime he can out of us.

Would negotiate to pay in return for the judgments being dismissed (this way it will definately be removed from your credit report; unless you can get it deleted on your own before then).</blockquote>

[almost_there]

Ok, thanks again kb I am getting the hang of this I think. I should be in bed right now, but I am so excited to get on this project, I just can't sleep. I started typing letters already, but in the morning I am getting back to it full speed ahead

I looked over our reports again, this time knowing more about SOL's and such. I have post-it's all over the place, each item on my report has some sort of flag on it LOL pink ones for disputes/something ain't right here and green for time is nearly up/by God this one is actually accurate! LOL Pink and green, sort of like stop and go

So, now I have a good question about collection accounts - Dispute the paid ones right? And the unpaid ones, request verification first? Then if verified offer to settle on my terms? I think that's what I've read you do. Like I said in my original post, there's SO much information, it's hard to keep everything straight and apply it to your own unique situation.

I have some SOL questions, but I will try and find the answers first before I ask. I love that I found this site

[almost_there]

One more quick question before I MUST go to sleep disputes...all at once, a few at a time, or 1 at a time? I have MANY things to dispute, but I read that doing too many at once can generate a "frivolous dispute" response from the CRA's and that just sounds like a waste of time to me.

All you pros out there, any advice on this? Thanks again! Good night.

[smogtek]

almost_there,

One thing I did not see mentioned was to dispute all names and addresses until you get down to the ONE name and address that you use.

You can usually do this by phone and sometimes stuff just drops off in the process because it was linked to a particular name or address.

If it doesn't, go back in with a "not mine" and see if it goes bye bye that way.

Be prepared for some items to be verified because some CRAs just verify the "not mines" cause it's easy, read that LAZY, to do so.

Next, start disputing a few at a time with all 3 CRAs and be creative, wrong date, wrong amount, etc.

This can be done, but it take patience and perseverence to get there.

[creditmess]

<blockquote>Originally posted by almost_there

One more quick question before I MUST go to sleep disputes...all at once, a few at a time, or 1 at a time? I have MANY things to dispute, but I read that doing too many at once can generate a "frivolous dispute" response from the CRA's and that just sounds like a waste of time to me.

All you pros out there, any advice on this? Thanks again! Good night.

</blockquote>

first of all..welcome..

now, as for your question.. you can dispute many items at the time. I do (well it depends) about 6-7 at a time with each CRA. So like, I send 3 Certified Letters with RRR on one day. One letter for each CRA. This way its easier to keep track of it all since they will all pass 30 days pretty much same week, or even day.

[almost_there]

Thanks everyone. I just checked all our scores today and I am SO ready to get cracking on this and hopefully get this stuff off my report, or at the very least get some status' changed to positives. I have much work ahead of me that's for sure!

Thanks again!

[creditmess]

lol.. i thought you were going to sleep??

[almost_there]

credit mess, that was late night! LOL Well actually early this morning. It's a whole new day, but getting late again, 11:59 pm, so it will be yet another day by the time this gets read by anyone.

I have been typing up my intial letters first, I read somewhere to dispute the inaccurate personal info first, so that's where I am starting. Kind of like dipping my toe in the water. There are several errors in our personal info, including an alias for my husband that is completely wrong, he's never been anyone but himself.

I'm curious though, do I send proof of our current employers? I want potential lenders to see we've been at our jobs awhile, but I don't want to give anyone more info than they need either. Do I give the bureaus a phone number to verify our employment or just leave that issue alone? I will have to go re-read that thread on here about employers and such.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[almost_there]

I meant "last" night! but yes it was late last night LOL

[smogtek]

Just leave the employment and phone number issue alone for now.

Concentrate on getting the personal info done. You will get updated reports and then you can start on the disputes.

[almost_there]

yeah, that is what I decided to do. I have some bills that might come crawling out of the wood work if they know where we work, as someone said in another topic "you don't want to give them more ways to contact you" so I have deleted the lines in my letters about correcting our current employers. All I have to do now is make some copies and get them sent off. I hope it doesn't take long because I am really looking forward to moving unto the disputes, as so much of the things on our reports is old and should be easier to get off.

In fact, I will probably get to work and get my first round of dispute letters typed so I can send them out as soon as this personal info. issue is dealt with. I can't wait to see what happens to our credit once we get some of the old stuff taken off, as all of our newer tradelines are positives.

[Edit by almost_there on Wednesday, April 30, 2003 @ 08:55 AM]