Chris Shinn Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Please help! We've been denied credit due to delinquent credit obligations. Around Feb 2006 my husband and I refinanced our house to pay off credit cards. There was not enough in the refi. to pay them in full so we chose to settle at a lesser amount with them. It didn't go as well as we hoped, we wound up refinancing a second time in Aug. 2006 to pay off the final 2 cards. Due to the recent denial of credit, I pulled our credit reports from Experian. Most of the accounts on the report are Paid in a Settlement, Account Charged off or written off etc. Creditor's comments are Account legally paid in full for less then full balance. How can I have these statements cleared so that we can raise our credit score? I've searched all over this forum and haven't found any information touching our situation. I've considered writing a letter. Who do I write it to, the original creditor or the collection department or to Experian? OH!!, I'm so confused and do not have much time to clear this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Sorry...there's no magic wand that will fix all this.The first gotcha in trying to do the semi-right thing and paying your creditors at least part of what you owe them is that your credir reports take a huge ding.The second one is that they will send you a 1099c for the found income, and the IRS is gonna want a piece of you.The only thing I can suggest is read, read, read...the credit repair forum has lots of advice on making it better...its not going to be quick, but you can whittle away at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elyse449 Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Hi there,You didn't mention what your FICO's are? How many accounts in total? You didn't negotiate the REPORTING on your credit files within your settlements? Well, I think you're a bit out of luck--at least for awhile. As these get older, they won't have the effect on your CR that they appear to now...ALSO you'll have an easier time disputing some of them.Your first step is to find out what your current FICO is and how many accts are reporting negative information. Secondly, I only ever recommend settling as a LAST resort, you should've tried to have paid some of them in full PRIOR to charge off status. That's probably what hurt you was settling so many at once. It would've done the same damage to just do a BK and you would've saved yourself some equity and moolah. Oh well, what's done is done. Thirdly, dispute the OLDEST tradeline FIRST. Now, I caution you here--if they're reporting correctly, you may be out of luck. OTOH, if you can catch a error, than you may have something. Remember, original creditors are not bound by the FCRA/FDCPA junk that CA's are. So, if it's the OC's reporting--again, that's going to be tough to deal with. You can try the dispute process as directed here at the site...but just remember to dispute both with the furnisher AND the credit bureau's. Either way, with time--some of these may begin falling off on their own, although they're legally allowed to report negatively for 7.5 yrs. The older they get, the better-you can try a round of disputes, but I'm not sure how far you'll get given that these are barely over a year old. Fourth--WHEN you do decide to try to reapply for credit (not until you've gotten SOME of the baddies deleted though and your FICO is where it needs to be!) please do some research FIRST. Try "whogavemecredit.com" because it lists a general idea on what FICO's you'll want to even BOTHER suffering the inquiry. Remember, inquiries ding your CR's. Never do blind applications, ALWAYS know where your credit is prior to wasting your time.Finally--look at what got you here (and don't forget it). It didn't happen overnight for any of us, it didn't happen thanks to great choices. If you can learn from it and tread more carefully, slowly but surely your credit will reflect your good judgment and you'll get credit again. Just have patience and perseverence,those are the two most important things in this game.Good luck and remember, research, research, research. Some of us have dealt with the companies you are dealing with, try plugging in their names into the search box. Either way, this will take some time. There is NO way to rush through it and get a quick fix in this case I'm afraid.Elyse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Shinn Posted July 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Thanks to both of you for your replies. I was hoping for better info. At the time, there was nothing more we could do. I had already been on the hardship programs that each of the credit cards offered. That did not help. Once the programs were over, your not allowed to sign up to them again for another 5 years. In the meantime, we were on the verge of losing everything. I was actually suicidal. I'm still on medication to help me cope. I was asked what my credit scores are, Mine is 645 and my husbands is 613. Which honestly does not make any sense. He paid all but one of his loans off in full, where I settled on every one of my cards with out hesitation. I thought my score would have been much less. Oh well, I'll keep reading on and plugging in. Thanks again for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetscarbie Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 How can I have these statements cleared so that we can raise our credit score? I've searched all over this forum and haven't found any information touching our situation. I've considered writing a letter. Who do I write it to, the original creditor or the collection department or to Experian?You can try disputing with the CRA. Will they delete it? Don't know. It's like playing the casino tables. The house always has the good odds. You just might luck up and they will delete them.If that doesn't work try writing a goodwill letter to the OC. Will that work? I seriously doubt it.You and your husband don't have "terrible" scores. They are doable scores. You can fix and slowly repair them and make them higher but YOU HAVE to quit robbing Peter to pay Paul. I take it from all the different refinancing within such a small periord of time to pay CC, that is what you were doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aadam101 Posted July 25, 2007 Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 Thanks to both of you for your replies. I was hoping for better info. At the time, there was nothing more we could do. I had already been on the hardship programs that each of the credit cards offered. That did not help. Once the programs were over, your not allowed to sign up to them again for another 5 years. In the meantime, we were on the verge of losing everything. I was actually suicidal. I'm still on medication to help me cope. I was asked what my credit scores are, Mine is 645 and my husbands is 613. Which honestly does not make any sense. He paid all but one of his loans off in full, where I settled on every one of my cards with out hesitation. I thought my score would have been much less. Oh well, I'll keep reading on and plugging in. Thanks again for all your help.Your situation isn't nearly as bad as you think. Spend some more time on this board. There are many people who have been in worse shape than you and they have great credit scores now. It takes some time and patience and a lot of hard work but it can be done! Don't get discouraged. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are many knowledgeable people here who love to help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Shinn Posted July 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 Thank you for all your support. At one time we were on the verge of bankruptcy. We finally found someone who would refinance our house. It dropped my $35,000 credit card debt with 29.99% finance charges down to 7.5%. I figured in the long run as long as we make one extra payment each year we would make out better financially. I never knew exactly how bad it would be on our credit. The way I looked at it was, each credit card company really didn't lose out of any money. When we settled we paid the at least the amount that was actually purchased on each card. They wound up losing the overage and late fee charges. Which I think the federal government needs to step in and make a law that credit card companies should not be allowed to charge both fees. One or the other, NOT BOTH. Anyone agree with me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointman Posted July 25, 2007 Report Share Posted July 25, 2007 Your situation isn't nearly as bad as you think. Spend some more time on this board. There are many people who have been in worse shape than you and they have great credit scores now. It takes some time and patience and a lot of hard work but it can be done! I agree. As you have time, read beyond the more recent posts, search, and then search some more. I usually end up with 4-5 windows open due to following some of the very useful links I come across.You might also back up a few steps and order the book, in case you don't get to spend that much time surfing.Patience and persistence."The waiting is the hardest part,Every day you see one more card.You take it on faith, you take it to the heart,The waiting is the hardest part."Tom Petty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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