New and have a few questions about fixing my credit. LONG

[ras82]

Hi all. I hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

Right after I turned 18, I was a complete idiot and got about 5 credit cards. I had no idea what I was doing and paid the minimums for awhile. Eventually I lost my job and didn't pay on them for months! Naturally they all went to collections and now I have approximately $5000 of CA debt and $2000 in student loans which are in good standing.

I'm almost 23 now and have a decent job so I can afford to get this taken care of but I'm still so embarassed and ashamed of myself. I don't even know where to start at this point. I have a few small accounts that I can start with, however, there's one account that's approximately $1000 and I have no idea what it's for. I tried calling the CA but I couldn't get ahold of anyone and it was all screwed up! I don't know what to do about that one yet.

My first question is - is it okay to start calling the CA's and setting up a payment plan with them or is that a bad idea?

Another question - I'm engaged and my fiance and I want to get married soon. He has decent credit (although it's NEW) and I don't want to drag his down with mine. Would it be a bad idea to get married now or should we wait until I get my debt paid off?

Last - Say I get all of this paid off - will the original creditors give me a card again or am I forever banned from using them?

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

ETA: I live in Ohio and my credit score is around 518.

[codename_fortyseven]

First and foremost: Stay off the phone with a CA.

Do NOT call them.

Do NOT make any deals. They will suddenly get amnesia when it comes time for them to follow through.

They'll promise you that paying them helps your credit report, that they'll remove the negative marks, etc... Whatever it takes to get you to pay. Setting up a payment plan will make them happy and your scores will still suck.

I say again: stay off the phone. You aren't ready to go tossing land mines for them to trip over quite yet.

As long as the debts were incurred before you two got married, they are YOUR debts. Your credit reports won't get merged either. You won't drag him down.

If you pay this off, you will more than likely have credit cards again. They'll be subprime credit cards, since a paid CO is no different than an unpaid one, FYI.

How old are these debts? When did they default?

[IHateCAs]

Hi all. I hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

Right after I turned 18, I was a complete idiot and got about 5 credit cards. I had no idea what I was doing and paid the minimums for awhile. Eventually I lost my job and didn't pay on them for months! Naturally they all went to collections and now I have approximately $5000 of CA debt and $2000 in student loans which are in good standing.

Most of us have been there. Soon as you get into a college, all those CC offers come rolling in. No idea how they expect your typical poor college student to pay them off.

My first question is - is it okay to start calling the CA's and setting up a payment plan with them or is that a bad idea?

No.

How do you know that the CA trying to collect has a legal standing to collect? How do you know it wasn't some company that just got info on you and said "hey let's see if we can get her to pay us $500". Believe it or not, stuff like this actually happens.

Generally speaking

Step #1: Order all 3 of your credit reports. Preferably a paid one, but you can get the free yearly ones too. Just make sure they come from the actual bureau, not a 3rd party.

Step #2 Have as much personal info about you deleted as possible IE incorrect name spellings and old addresses. Generally speaking, TU and EQ will do this with no problems. EX will give you a hard time. No problem. Any address they don't delete, ask them who is reporting that address and make a note of it. You can do this easily over the phone. The deletes are usually instant.

Step #3: You should sign up for the 60 day free trial at creditalert.com Allows you to pull your credit reports from all 3 daily. When you see all the previous info/addresses deleted you can start step #4a. Make sure you pull a fresh report daily to see if anything new has been added/deleted. You want to stay on top of things plus it helps let you know you're making progress.

Step #4a: Dispute ANY negative on a credit report by mail to the credit bureau. Do this for all three bureaus. Chances are not all of them are reporting all the accounts. If a negative only shows on TU, send a dispute for that just to TU. Some people have success with online disputes, but YMMV. Dispute as much information about a particular account as possible. Dates, amounts, account type, name of CA. Give at least three reasons on each dispute EG: "I don't have any open accounts with xyz collection agency, for $xxxx dollars on the dates you have listed". You will probably want to send a photocopy of your driver's license and SScard to each credit bureau along with your dispute. You'll only have to send it once and ONLY send it to the credit bureaus, NO ONE else. If a collection agency asks you for it, tell them to pound sound.

Step #4b: Ignore step 4a for any account that meets the following: (A) Is a credit card/loan that is still active (not in default/charge-off) IE you are still paying on it. You will try to change that to positive later. ( Is a credit card/loan that you paid off as agreed before it charged off/defaulted but is just reporting lates. You will try to change that to a positive later. © Any account that has an amount due more than you can't afford to pay off 100% right now if you absolutely had to AND is within the SOL for lawsuits. (D) Is a CC issued by Capital One.

Step #5: Wait.

Step #4b will take 35-50 days depending on the type of credit reports you got (paid/free). While you're waiting, make sure you are pulling reports daily and read the FDCPA. After you read the FDCPA, read it again (30 days is a long time). Once you've read it twice, read the FCRA. Read it again. Read them until you at least have a general idea of what businesses are and are NOT allowed to do. When you get to the point when you can look at something on your report and say "oh they are violating 15 USC 1692e (1) (3) & (5), you'll know you've read it enough times. Start reading about DV/VOD letters and what their intent is. Try to figure out how to put them in your own words. Also get to your post office and pick up a stack of certified mail and return receipt requested cards, you'll need them for step #6. One last thing to do for step 5: use the search option of this forum to look up collection agencies listed on your report. You'll get a better idea of what you're in for at step #6 and you won't have to ask questions that have been answered 1,356 times.

Step #6: If you've read enough, you'll know a lot of your FDCPA and FCRA rights. You'll also know what the purpose of a DV letter is and who to send it to. If you've availed yourself of the search option as suggested, you'll get a good idea of who will fold easy, who will send you bogus letters and who might try to sue you. If you want, you can start with the first group and wait for the later groups.

That's enough steps for now. Steps #1 through #6 will take you two months.

Another question - I'm engaged and my fiance and I want to get married soon. He has decent credit (although it's NEW) and I don't want to drag his down with mine. Would it be a bad idea to get married now or should we wait until I get my debt paid off?

I actually have no idea how marriage effects things. I would assume as long as all your stuff is just in your name and went into default before you got married, there shouldn't be a problem, but I have no idea. You can make that step #7.

Last - Say I get all of this paid off - will the original creditors give me a card again or am I forever banned from using them?

Depends on the creditor most likely. Some will blacklist if you have something really old that was unpaid. Some might even give you cards if you charged off with them previously, I dunno the exact answer to that either, but I suspect its "it varies".

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

ETA: I live in Ohio and my credit score is around 518.

That's a positive and negative.

Positive: You have tough consumer laws to use as a hammer to drop on collection agencies:

Negative: Judges think the SOL on credit cards is ten years instead of four (so I've heard).

[IHateCAs]

First and foremost: Stay off the phone with a CA.

Do NOT call them.

Do NOT make any deals. They will suddenly get amnesia when it comes time for them to follow through.

Yeah I forgot about this. Stay off the phone 99.9% of the time. Calling one of the credit bureaus to delete personal info is OKAY, but anything else do through the mail. Never talk to a CA on the phone unless you really know what they're doing and trying to bait them into violations.

[ras82]

Holy crap...I am so excited! Thanks for all of the excellent replies. You guys are great. I have to say this has been one of the most educational posts I've ever read. I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE THIS! I'm printing it out as we speak!

Also, I'm surprised to hear that you should NEVER call the CA's! I'm just really glad I talked to you guys before attempting to do it on my own.

BTW ~ Most of the debts defaulted in 2001, but two or three creditors have been keeping them current by reporting them again. Okay here are a couple of examples of what's my CR. Is this right?

Express (as in the clothing)

Date Opened: 6/2001

Date of Last Payment: 10/2001

Date Reported: 6/2005

Kaufmanns

Date Opened: 1/2001

Date of Last Payment: 4/2002

Date Reported: 5/2005

Why did it take so long to report?

*sigh* I've edited this post so many times because I keep thinking if new questions. OK - when I get one paid off, will it come off my CR or will it still be on there but say, "paid?"