Understanding exactly what to dispute first.Oldd collections and duplicates. Newbie!

[hope412]

Hello,

I am brand new to credit repair and hoping I can get my life back soon! I accidentally stumbled across this website and a few others like yours and never knew all these years that I could do something on my own to help my credit.

Just to explain what happened to my credit.

In 2006 I was let go from a high paying job that my family depended on to make ends meet. We had a very rough year financially but have been back on track since 2007. I was 21 at the time married, with two young children. My husband and I had stellar credit and had just purchased a new home and two new vehicles. We struggled to keep paying things on time but, when I couldn’t find another job it basically came down to keeping our home, transportation and utilities.

We had to let our many credit cards go. We started throwing bills away and just not dealing with it because we couldn’t. Big mistake!!! Now I can’t remember what we actually owe to whom and have no records. But, we were very young and just didn’t have a clue as to the hole we were digging ourselves in. We have been blessed with a fourth child last year and cannot even get a vehicle financed that will safely fit our family into. We now have to take two cars when we have a family outing.

I really need help in understanding exactly how to proceed.

Most of the things listed on my Credit report are Charge offs and Collections from Agencies that picked up the charge offs from old credit cards.

There seems to be quite a few duplicates on my Experian and Trans Union reports. One example is a HOUSEHOLD CREDIT SERVICES account. The date opened and First date of Delinquency is exactly the same on both lines. But the Charge off amount is different by a few hundred dollars. Is this a good example of a duplicate Trade line?

Also, I have noticed that the amount the Original Creditor’s are listing as charge offs and the Amount the Collection Agencies are listing do not match. The date of first delinquencies and date that the account was opened do not match on some of these as well. Is this a valid reason to request deletion?

Am I correct in understanding that I should dispute all Collection accounts that are past the SOL as “Not Mine” First and if that doesn’t work then go to pointing out what is not correct on the next dispute?

Do I mention on my first dispute letter that there are duplicates or just put every account in question as not mine?

Again, I have no records to back anything up. But, I honestly do not have any recollection of the majority of these accounts and know for a fact that I did not open some accounts. Such as a line for an online book club that I supposedly opened two years ago! I have never received anything from this book club nor did I ever even go to this website.

If you have gotten this far, THANK YOU!!! I have been searching for answers and reading the forums since I discovered this info last night and am having trouble putting it all together.

Edited March 7, 2011 by hope412

[lolah]

Hi Hope,

Have you read the Newbie Credit Repair Primer? It has a ton of great information on how to get started.

You do not have to prove these accounts exist or are accurate - they do! So, don't worry about not having records.