Where to Begin? Newbie Assistance Please

[creditquestions]

Hi All,

This is the first day I came across this website and boy am I glad to see you all! I have read at least 50 posts so far and feel I am ready to start asking questions of my own. Hoping you all can help!

In my youth...

I quit college my senior year to start a business. I never regretted the decision as I really wasn't getting anything out of college - just alot of debt. The business went well for 5 years. It grew quickly. My partner and I made a major leap to build it even more - took out every kind of family and credit card loan possible. AND LOST ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

We have dragged on the past 2 years - avoiding the inevitable. We can handle the calls, the letters, etc. but quite frankly, we are just plain tired of thinking we are horrible people and want to fix our credit, not just stick a band-aid on it.

My significant other finished her degree while I was starting our business. She is the bread winner. Her income just covers our living expenses. It does not include our school loans as they are in deferment.

In Jan. I began school again - however because of our credit, we could not get financing. So, we were paying $500 a month for tuition out of pocket. It just wasn't feasible. So, again - postponed.

I have just taken a part time job to help with the bills. I need a degree to get a "real" job. Not just saying this - it's very much true. So, I bow my head each day and go to a low paying job. But, not as low as being on the street because I am too proud, mind you!

We owe $11,000 to family that we borrowed for our business. Repaying them takes is priority over everything.

Creditors are next. We have sunk as far as we can go. The damage is done. Now, we need to educate ourselves on how to properly get ourselves back on track! Your expertise, thoughts and opinions are encouraged.

My partner has a chance at a job that makes 80k a year (A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT over our current income). The crux is that this job is cross country. With our credit, we would need at least 3 months worth of deposits - which we don't have in addition to moving expenses. And of course, puts us even further behind on our quest to get our credit issues resolved.

Since we have only moved to our current residence 16 months ago, Jan. will be the first semester I could start school as in-state. I could still work part time and go to school full time if we stayed. Afterwards, I would be able to make good income as well. Do we stay here barely scrape by ans start paying this back? Or do we go where the money is and postpone school once again?

We have been together 16 years. All of our credit, business and personal are very mingled (or mangled as we like to think of it).

Today, I signed up for TrueCredit - my scores are as follows:

TransUnion 498

Experian 498

Equifax 517

In addition to $11,000 to family, the next biggie is $5,000 to the mortgage company (foreclosure). Gone, zip, nada, no more. The rest are credit cards and internal school loans (not US Dept of Ed - this are deferred).

Most have been turned over to collection agencies. Just today, I received two notices: 1) NCO Financial 2) Northland Group

I have also received phone calls today from the two mentioned above.

It appears from my truecredit that most all of these have been turned over to collection agencies. They are no longer with the original creditors. Yet, both are on my credit report. Do I contest these? Do I contact the folks that bought my bad debt? Do I contact the original lenders ie credit card companies? When I do contact them do I ask for pennies on the dollar? Or is it too late to barter?

Next question: On the truecredit report, there are two fields: 1) Opened and the other Reported:

If Opened says 11/01/2000 and the Reported: says 8/01/2003. Does this mean 4 more years until it is deleted from my credit report?

I have read many posts mentioning sending letters about incorrect info. But ours is all true. Do we contest this info? Or do we make arrangements with ALL OF THEM which just can't be feasibly be done right now?

If it isn't too late to clear up matters where do we begin? Do we start with the smallest first and work our way up? Or do we tackle the mortgage company first? I have read on this site that the mortgage company is the first to resolve.

Is it legal for collections to call you at work? Credit card, mortgage debt.. not school.

Should we get a PO BOX as opposed to a physical address (which most already know)? Will people start showing up at our our door? Should we start answering calls at home? If so, what do we say? Surely, they already know if we had the money, we'd pay! And they certainly don't call just to hear my voice - although I do have a nice tone....

We have considered Lexington Law Firm - have heard good and bad - but if we can't make payments on old credit, would Lexington Law do any good anyway?

Where on earth do we begin so we can begin again?

[Donna47129]

Where on earth do we begin so we can begin again?

and welcome!

Well, you have made the right first step!! No, DO NOT contact that Lexington Agency, you can do more than they can for free!!

I know that you are overwhelmed, it's easy to see and everyone is when they first get here. But, you really need to start by reading all of the Stickys, starting with the one entitled "Newbies begin here" or something like that. You need to start in the "Credit Repair" thread, so this thread may get moved.

If you begin with the "Stickys" you will have a bunch of your questions answered by the experts...so I suggest that.

Also, IMHO, you really need to check out housing and other prices from where you may intend to move. The buck there may be worth a lot less than where you are now (actually, in all of America right now) but what you live on where you are currently may be the same standard based on the $80,000 at the intended location. You need to truly find this out or you'll move for absolutely nothing! The company I work for pays our out of state employees based on their cost of living and it's unbelieveable the difference in costs around the country.

Another thing, if you do finish school and get the "real" job, you should expect that a lot of companies now check credit. With that said, rushing to get through school only to not be able to land a job would really suck. Something to think about.

Good luck in your quest! I have only been here for 6 weeks and have already gotten 16 baddies deleted including 2 CC CO's. My ficos have significantly improved and I am finally getting approved for credit. It takes effort, but you seem like you are ready to improve your life. I'm glad I found these wonderful wise people, I have gained a wealth of knowledge!

[Donna47129]

http://debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249329

[creditquestions]

Donna,

Thank you for the post and suggestions. We will certainly be spending time this weekend absorbing all this information.

How did you do this?

"I have only been here for 6 weeks and have already gotten 16 baddies deleted including 2 CC CO's." Please, please do tell! Did you just send one big list of accounts to the three credit bureaus and ask them to verify the info? What was the first step for you?

A link to Cost of Living Comparison for newbies like me!

[Donna47129]

I don't know if I got lucky or not, but all I have done are two rounds of disputes. Some I disputed as "Not Mine" and a few for other reasons such as "too old to be on file" even though they really had 2 years left.

The biggest plus I had was that one particular CA had most of my old accounts and they apparently don't fight or verify much. The 2 CO's that I got deleted were First Premier and Merrick Bank. There were 3 separate CA's, 2 of them with one each and the rest to the one that didn't bother much to respond. Of these, I did not even have to DV. I had to DV a couple for my husband, but I am only counting my 16 right now because his results are not totally in.

The first round I disputed everything from 2002 and 2001. All from those years are gone! The 2001 I said "too old" the 2002 I said "not mine".

I am getting ready to do my 3rd round in December. Those are newer and I will do the 1 2 Punch (do a search for this).

I started with 15/14/10 and now my baddies are 9/10/4! It's very exciting for me because for me, it's been easy, but like I said, I just was really lucky that most of mine were with the same company that apparently doesn't keep good records or just doesn't respond. I'm not bragging, it may have been harder if I got some tough agencies. The "hard" ones are on my husband's and I did get the biggest one off, but that's a whole different story! (Midland Credit-the Devil!!)

Good luck!!

[creditquestions]

Donna,

When you say you "dispute" what do you mean exactly? Would one write a letter as shown here on the site and challenge all of the negative items? Just make a big list of all items and send to all three credit bureaus saying that you dispute them?

I see here:

What should you challenge?

Everything, and you should always shoot for a complete deletion. Don't bother challenging the information within a collection listing, charge-off, court record, repossession, foreclosure, or settled account. As the basic nature of these listings is negative, changing the information within the listing will yield no improvement. Severely negative listings, such as these, must be disputed on the basis of complete deletion or not be disputed at all.

So, one should not challenge charge-offs? It appears you were successful in doing so. What did you say to get these off?

Can one legally try a "Not Mine" or will it come back to bite us in the end?

Extremely interested in your course of action and certainly appreciate your help and encouragement!

[flycouture]

Welcome! I would not dispute anything write now that I am not getting called on or dunned. Don't wake the sleeping giant! Second read quickly to understand what dv'ing is. If you got two letters- you only have 30days to dv. I've found that the 1-2 punch works best. Dispute the cra and ca( those already calling or dunning) at the same time. Also if the oc has sold / assigned I would dispute those now! The key is understanding what you are doing and feeling comfortable doing it!

You'll get a lot of useful info but use it wisely!

Good luck! In the end you will feel empowered by the choice to effectively clean your own credit

[Fizzle1979]

CQ -

1 - To answer your question: Where on earth do we begin so we can begin again? You begin by reading this web site. This web site has an abundant amount of information and people that are willing to help you. However, it does take time. Someone who got a information deleted in a matter of days, others it took months. Different results for different people. What happens to one doesn't happen to all.

2 - Do not ever speak to a Collection Agency on the phone. They will put fear in you by telling you lies. *IF* you get caught off guard and happen to end up on the phone with them, tell them to send all communication in writing. Do not ever give them your bank account information at any time.

[creditquestions]

Thank you all for writing in. My first course of action - define what a 1-2 punch, cra,ca and dv are and put them into action! Anyone publish a dictionary of terms here yet?

Is it wise to get a PO Box rather than a physical address? Has anyone found this to be beneficial? I certainly dont want anyone knocking at my door.

Are they allowed to call my place of employment?

Please feel free to keep the information coming. I plan to spend all weekend reading the site and forum and asking questions!

[Donna47129]

Are they allowed to call my place of employment?

Unless you send them a CMRRR letter, yes, if you send the letter stating that they are not allowed to call your work, then no, it's a violation.

I started my disputes online and they were already paid, so I knew that I had nothing to lose. If yours aren't paid you can either DV them with the 1 2 punch, or not mess with them unless you could pay them fast if they become aggressive fast.

Like said above, nobody's situation is the same. What worked for me may not work for you. You should be able to find the same type situations by reading the forum and doing searches. Search out the companies listed on your CR, it should give you an idea.

Good luck!

[pointman]

We have considered Lexington Law Firm - have heard good and bad - but if we can't make payments on old credit, would Lexington Law do any good anyway?

I considered them too, and the nite I Googled them to "sign up" and start paying them, one of the Google returns had a quote referring to LLF; it was from a post in CIC... God Bless America! I saved my money and I'm doin it myself!

I've said this and posted it many times; Go to the newbies section, find the Acronyms thread and print the list. Keep it handy while you're reading the threads. You'll soon have a smooth readin experience and it will all make sense.

I bought the "Good Credit Is Sexy" book, I read a lot and thought I was ready so, I launched my DV campaign... I had some quick results then things came to a screeching halt. I had to slow down and go back the the PRIMER and follow the steps in the flow chart. Things have picked up since then and I'm seeing better and time-proven results.

Print the ACRONYM list.

Order THE BOOK.

Find and Follow the FLOWCHART.

Keep track of your DVs and DISPUTES.

Give then TIME to WORK.

When you read the forums, go back several days/weeks, instead of reading just the stuff posted since you last visited.

Wear out the SEARCH feature...

Keep asking questions but try to limit how many you ask in one single post. There are a lot of knowledgeable members here but even the best will pass on replying if you cloud your post with too many questions.

Be persistent and GOOD LUCK!

[Fizzle1979]

Thank you all for writing in. My first course of action - define what a 1-2 punch, cra,ca and dv are and put them into action! Anyone publish a dictionary of terms here yet?

Is it wise to get a PO Box rather than a physical address? Has anyone found this to be beneficial? I certainly dont want anyone knocking at my door.

Are they allowed to call my place of employment?

Please feel free to keep the information coming. I plan to spend all weekend reading the site and forum and asking questions!

Yes print the accronym list from this web site.

I own a PO Box. I like it. About $40/year for me. But with that said, if whoever wanted to find you, they would I'm sure.

They are allowed to call your employment if you haven't told them otherwise. Again, let them know that all communication must be in writing.