a little help with step 1? re: sending out letters

[moonwife]

Ok, someone here was nice enough to send me a sample letter, so I'm going to sit down, fill it out, and send it off to get started. A couple of questions.....

1) I know that many of my debts, and probably about half of my husbands, are older than 7 years. So, do I just put that in the reason spot "I dispute this debt because I believe it to be more than 7 years old"?????

2) We got our reports from all three companies, and I just want to verify that I send the letter to EACH COMPANY, correct?

3) We both have more than 10 bad TLs on our reports....should we list them all in one letter or should I break them into small groups per letter?

4) Are credit monitoring deals worth it? My husband subscribed to one, if some of our negative TLs fall off as a result of my letter writing, will we be notified via the credit monitoring plan we have (I think it's with Equifax).

5) We just paid off our car, about two years early. Is that a good, bad, or neutral thing for our credit?

6) On that note....we are hoping to buy a new car within about 6 months....currently both our credit is about 550. Does anyone know off the top of their heads when credit stops being "very bad" and starts being considered decent for loans?

Thanks everyone so much. I truly appreciate the help. Laid out on one paper, this thing seems really daunting, so I'm just trying to focus on the small steps.

[willingtocope]

1. If the "date of first delinquency"...when you first missed a payment and never brought it current...is more than 7-1/2 years, then yes.

2. Yes.

3. Rule of thumb. If its something you may wind up in court over, send it separately.

4. In my opinion, NO. You're better off using the money to pay something off. If you got your reports thru www.annualcreditreport.com, you can get an updated copy after each dispute.

5. Moderately good.

6. There are many different FICO scoring models. In general, the one that car dealers look at are more interested in how you've handled past cars than in CCs. Getting your FICO Bank Card score up will help you get a better rate...but...a low FICO Bank Card score won't keep you from getting a new car.

[scorch]

willingtocope pretty much covered it.

Although I do not think you need to give a reason for disputing. This makes them work harder and makes it more difficult to verify imo. I've had fantastic results simply telling the CRAs, "Please verify or delete the negative TL(s). Thank you." EX likes to ask for a reason why you think it's incorrect sometimes, in which case I have just said that the TL is inaccurate... deleted. Sorry if I'm complicating things too much.

Also, the CRAs are supposed to send you a free updated CR following the results of an investigation. I have plenty of those laying around.

I'd probably concentrate on the first things first as far as being in the market for a car.

[cap1kid]

A little bit of advice when buying a car with poor credit- DO NOT let them run your credit report prior to negotiating- they will have a huge advantage- If they refuse; take your business elseware- it's a buyers market, unfortunatley banks are less willing to lend to at risk borrowers right now. Remember there are far more cars to sell then buyers- sales on average are down 25 to 30 %.

[moonwife]

I'd probably concentrate on the first things first as far as being in the market for a car.

Not a huge option for us......our car is on it's last legs and not worth pouring money into, so we are buying a new car in the next few months regardless. I mean, we already did it once with crap credit, hopefully we'll be able to get a better loan this time.

[moonwife]

3. Rule of thumb. If its something you may wind up in court over, send it separately.

.

Why would it be something I'd end up in court over? How would I know this?

[willingtocope]

There are always flat out mistakes on your reports...even accounts that might actually be yours. Sometimes, the mistakes are so bad that they're hurting your credit even more than they should...this is particularly true of CAs and JDBs reporting. Those people just don't keep accurate records.

So...if there's a chance you might have to sue someone to get it corrected...or, if there's a chance they might sue you because you just can't pay what they demand...send a separate letter. That way, if you have to produce it in court, the other side doesn't have a chance to see all the other debts you might have been disputing.

Personally, I send all my disputes separately. IMO, the keyboard jockeys who enter the data stand a better chance of getting one thing right than if they have to work their way down a list.

[moonwife]

There are always flat out mistakes on your reports...even accounts that might actually be yours. Sometimes, the mistakes are so bad that they're hurting your credit even more than they should...this is particularly true of CAs and JDBs reporting. Those people just don't keep accurate records.

So...if there's a chance you might have to sue someone to get it corrected...or, if there's a chance they might sue you because you just can't pay what they demand...send a separate letter. That way, if you have to produce it in court, the other side doesn't have a chance to see all the other debts you might have been disputing.

Personally, I send all my disputes separately. IMO, the keyboard jockeys who enter the data stand a better chance of getting one thing right than if they have to work their way down a list.

Do you have any "rules of thumb" on how to tell this?

Like, my report is mostly very very old debt, that has been sold dozens of times. I don't have anything over 1000 I think.

My husband has fewer debts, but most are newer (in the five year range) and he has two that are really big. One is 9 grand, and one is 16 grand, however the 16 grand one is a 10grand debt that a collection agency tacked interest onto to the tune of 6 grand.

What would tip me off that some would have to go to court?

[scorch]

Do you have any "rules of thumb" on how to tell this?

Like, my report is mostly very very old debt, that has been sold dozens of times. I don't have anything over 1000 I think.

My husband has fewer debts, but most are newer (in the five year range) and he has two that are really big. One is 9 grand, and one is 16 grand, however the 16 grand one is a 10grand debt that a collection agency tacked interest onto to the tune of 6 grand.

What would tip me off that some would have to go to court?

I just happened to be looking at this.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm#3

Under the FCRA, a background check report is called a "consumer report." This is the same "official" name given to your credit report, and the same limits on disclosure apply. The FCRA says the following cannot be reported:

* Bankruptcies after 10 years.

* Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest, from date of entry, after seven years.

* Paid tax liens after seven years.

* Accounts placed for collection after seven years.

* Any other negative information (except criminal convictions) after seven years.

If you have any of these and the CRA's won't remove them after disputing them, they have broken the law. Also if there's negatives being reported that just aren't yours. Sometimes the CRAs don't remove them.

[willingtocope]

You kinda have to go with your own gut feel on this...there aren't any real rule of thumb guidelines for this. It all depends on whether you're willing to pay to make it go away, or if you plan on fighting for your rights.

Me, personally...I would never pay a JDB anything unless ordered to by a court. First, they paid pennies on the dollar to the OC for the right to hassle you. You DID owe the OC money, but, in my opinion, that doesn't mean you owe the JDB. They usuallly have lousy records. What they bought was your name on a list. If you fight them in court, they have to go back to the OC for proof. I'm not saying that people always win against a JDB...I'm just saying that before I would hand them money, I'd make them work harder than just sending me a demand letter.

If your "very old debt" is beyond the statue of limitations for your state, then you can tell whoever owns it know to go pound sand...if they try to sue you to collect, you'd need to go to court.

As for your husband's debt...again, if it were me...I wouldn't pay a CA an extra 50% unless ordered to by a court.