This is How I did it..

[Champion80]

I see some of you have been hard at work, you have been posting away I see. If there are any questions I might be able to answer I will probably get back on in about a week or so. But I would also find others like me where you see the improvements, and search their posts and try and see what they asked and what they posted. Start with mine if you like. If any questions come up, let me know.

On the rebuilding your credit side, I first started about 5 years ago when I was in the mid 400's I had to get builder cards like, First Premier, Credit One Bank, Orchard or Household...the downside to these what when I got them sent too me, the fees make the card come with a balance already...but I had no choice. So if you have some cards that are currently good standing and active, just continue to stay positive, try to add in an installment loan or two if you do not already have one, start with smaller ones if possible. A good way to do this is put some money in a bank account, and borrow off your money , make sure its an installment loan.

On the negatives, keep doing what you are doing, make sure you follow the dispute process that is layed out exactly how it is written, if you have not found that post, search for it. If you can catch on the CA's with a violation, you are dead in the water unless you have the proper documentation. For the most part though, a lot of these companies are following the law so.. try and catch them, if you do not succeed...

I can tell you that while continuing to build, I actively went after the less expensive collections and contacted the companies by phone (most experienced here do not really promote this idea) but I had a method and it worked for me on 3 CO, you want to get someone on the phone that can do what you are going to ask,(manager, or experienced CA agent) but you start out with you sob story, let them know you really want to be good on debts, but say you were screwed by a relative that asked you to have it in their name, or you didnt know they did it, and now you are stuck with it, also try the truth and remind them, I am calling you..that shows for something!! And depending on how old the date of last activity is, this has leverage involved, if the DOL is past your states SOL for lawsuits (mine was 4 years in California) the older the better chance you can say listen I will pay you XXX , make an offer, but I want a letter faxed to me telling me you will request deletion from the CB's. I had the letter in my hand actually after we made this agreement by fax, and I called back, made payment, they then sent my receipt.

You have more leverage on CO after the SOL, but you can get results before then, a CA will sometimes, I think most times actually, eventually call it a loss for them and then sell the CO off to another CA at even less pennies on the dollar. The old CA can no longer report, it is no longer their debt, then the new company will send you a letter stating the 30 days verification or it is your debt letter..blah blah...they may also call you. Now you have a couple options here, you can try and use the "dispute process/Verification of Debt" and keep your paper trail and hope for a violation, OR you can make an agreement with them...I have been trying to pay this debt...however the last company did not respect my situation...yada yada...(sob story), your company sounds professional, maybe we can take care of this right now... I am willing to pay XXX (pennies on the dollar, do not be to greedy or they will just call your bluff) but I want a letter showing me this debt will NOT be reported to the CB's, not a letter stating you have paid as agreed, or settled in full. They have not yet reported in this circumstance, but the letter can protect you in case they do for some reason.

Now, as my credit was a little better, I got a BOFA secured card, payed $99 deposit, got $500 limit...a year later, of course I stayed positive, a year later, they took off secured status, bumped me up to $5000...I am now at a limit of $14,200

I would also like to personally thank Miracle, DocDon, Mathis..(SP), and many others for their great posts and advice. I have not been on for a long while because I had made great progress and I started to work on my fortune with my new found ability to leverage the banks money!!!

And heres the truth..you see my scores below, and the only reason I am not above 700 yet is because 2 CO ended up on my report about a year ago by surprise, I made the mistake of leaving a phone bill and electric bill in my name at a home I lived at with my Best friend and brother, they left and did not pay or cancel the last bills...I have not yet went through the great "Credit Info Center" blitzKrieg..but unfortunately for them..operation perfect credit has commenced!!!!

[Guest BucFan]

What do you think helped you the most, disputes or PFDs?

[tarbaby]

dispute first. thats helped me the most.

pfd's don't work..much.

[Fizzle1979]

I disputed all mine, never paid on account once it went into collections. This was back in 2001 - 2002 and currently have NO negative items on my CR.

[Champion80]

I do agree the PFD does not always work, this will always depend on the CA, like those that are assigned by the debtor cannot make this agreement usually because they are just assigned to collect...however, I did get the success of calling and paying the smaller CO's I had when they recalled from the assigned CA, then sold the debt to another..keep in mind I am not saying this will work for all CO's.

I can tell you that if I was recording the other day when I called on the CO's I mentioned at the top of the thread I could have a potential locked violation. This particular CO is from an electric bill, they assigned the CA, so the electric company is reporting..not the CA, they both cannot report on one debt as far as I have understood. In any case, after I grilled them and said, listen, I am calling you, I am answering your calls, this shows I am not trying to avoid the debt..I would like to resolve this...but my terms are I want a letter stating it will be deleted..before he got me on the phone with a supervisor, he did tell me that if I just paid it and disputed it with the CB's it would come off....that is a NO NO .. but I did not record the call, and since they do tell you we are being recorded, In California both parties have to know they are being recorded, because they told me we were, if I did record, I would have had the violation. I had a supervisor come on the line, I told them my terms, I told them I have done this in the past and companies can do this, she called me back the next day and said they do not have the authority because they are just assigned. So on this CO, I am either going to have to try and catch these guys in a violation, pay for it, and dispute afterword, or just wait until they sell it off as a loss, and when the new CA calls me and sends their first letter, I will call and pay and make sure I get the letter I need. I am first going to go the Verification route now, and see what happens.

Bufan, to answer your question from my point of view, tarbaby and Fizzle are right..I just was very persistent with the CO that were not that much, because I could afford to pay them if they agreed, this was in lieu of disputing which I did first every time. I also did have a couple CO come off from disputing, but I did have one put back on.

Remember though, there is leverage depending on how close you are to SOL for lawsuit, once past it, the only leverage THEY have now is ...are you going to need your credit in the next how ever many years your SOL for it to fall off your report..So you have an edge there because you can come with...I would like to pay you guys..would you like payment...like mentioned by many experienced people here, the phone idea is not something they agree with, and I understand why, but I also mentioned I got the PFD letters faxed to me, and they would just state that if paid by XX/XX/XXXX we will delete the file from your CB. And they after payment, I was faxed my receipt. It is up too you on how you negotiate...I ALWAYS go with the rout of ..I am confused, not sure what happen, I get a little upset..but not directed at them...then I apologize to them stating I not upset at you at all..I appreciate you help...what can I do...people have a natural instinct to want to help someone in need, so this is why I preferred talking to them on the phone, you can express sincere need for help...and if they have the ability, you have a good chance that you get a good result..if the company or supervisor for the CA you are talking to just has a strict no we cannot policy about PFD .. then all other methods expressed on the awesome credit info center will be your best shot of success.