Thread: My Credit Repair Project - Looking for advice please

Greetings, I’m hoping to get some sage advice on the credit clean-up project I’m working on. I’ll be purchasing a new home in July/August of 2013 so I thought I’d better run my credit reports and FICO and start cleaning some things up. Average FICO was 670. Credit reports showed a couple of small tax liens (in total under $9,000) which I’m currently in the process of taking care of and across the three credit reports there are 6 items that are showing negatively on my credit reports. Here’s where my questions begin. Two of the items only listed on Experian and are listed as “Potentially Negative Closed.” These two items are with the same CA (does not list original creditor), however, they appear as separate items on the report. Account status lists closed on both items with a 24/mo payment history update 2/2008 of “Key Derogatory”; which makes no sense because it’s out of the 24 mo period. No other entries over the past 24. One lists “date opened” as 1/2/2006 and the other as 6/6/2006. So here’s my question, rather than fire off a debt validation letter and then an offer to pay for delete would it be best to just let these drop off naturally? I’m assuming that they will drop off 7 years. I’m not worried about a lawsuit from the collection agency as the SOL in California where I live has long passed. Don’t know if this matters but the total of the two items is around $1,200. This is my first question.

Second question, this item appears on Trans Union with a pay status listed as “Account Paid in full: was collection.” Amount is just over $200. Listing is by a CA and detail lists the original creditor. Date closed is 5/2007 and Trans Union is estimating Item will be removed 7/2012; this is only 5 years not 7 so I’m thinking I want to work on getting this one removed. So here’s the question, is my only course of action since this is paid to dispute with Trans Union?

Third question, this item appears on Experian as “Potentially Negative Closed.” Date opened is 6/1/1995. Item is listed by OC. In the 24/Mo Payment History it shows “Key Derogatory” in 4/2006. What’s odd is from 5/2004 – 3/2006 Experian reports “OK” in green. On this account, I’m 100% confident this item is over 7 years old. Hypothetically speaking it probably would have gone into default around 2000. I assume firing off a dispute letter to Experian stating that based on when account originally went into default this is appearing on my report in error.

Fourth question (there’s only more, hang in there), I have an item that is listed on Trans Union, Experian and Equifax with a pay status of “in Collection.” Item is with a CA however the original creditor is listed (Comcast Cable). This item will not drop off until 2014 so I need to take care of it. Would my best course of action be to fire off a pay to delete to the CA? Or, to dispute it with the reporting agencies? Amount is just over $200.

Last question, I have an item that is only showing-up on Trans Union, pay status “in collections.” Listing is by CA and the original creditor is listed. This item won’t drop off until 2014. The amount on this item is $80 (parking ticket). I’ve heard that if the collection item is under $100 not to sweat it, pay as the mortgage lender will require this and move on.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my questions and thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Sounds like you have a big project ahead of you before you purchase your new home. Right before you are ready to get qualified for you home loan. You can ask a family member or friend to add you as an authorized user to one of their existing credit card accounts. Make sure the card as perfect payment history and they can maintain a low balance (10% or less of the credit limit). The higher the credit limit and the longer the payment history the bigger the boost from the authorized user account. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET

Thanks Heather, I have an Amex and Visa card that I pay off each month on time and have for years so this will help. All three credit reports so positive status each and every month on this. Would you still recommend having someone add me to one of their cards?

1.) Do you know when the DOFD is for these? If not, I would recommend looking into that so you can determine exactly when they would fall off your credit reports. If these were opened in 2006, they might not fall off before you need to apply for the mortgage.

2.) It's been paid in full and is supposed to drop off your reports this year. Why mess with it right now? Remember, once again, the DOFD is what determines when the account will fall off your credit reports - not when the account was closed.

3.) Yes, I would dispute this through the CRAs as too old to appear on your credit reports.

4.) If there's something inaccurate to dispute through the CRAs, do it. Has this debt been sold by Comcast to the CA, or are they just collecting on behalf of Comcast?

5.) Yes, FICO has said that its most recent scoring model excludes collections under $100. Keep in mind that not all lenders are using the newest model yet, so I would still want to take care of it if possible. For such a small amount, you may be able to quickly negotiate a PFD with the CA.


Keep us updated on your progress as you work towards buying a home next year!

OK, the silence here is starting to scare me, is it really that bad?

Originally Posted by smr2001

OK, the silence here is starting to scare me, is it really that bad?

What do you mean smr? I just answered you and asked some follow-up questions below?

Originally Posted by JoshuaHeckathorn

What do you mean smr? I just answered you and asked some follow-up questions below?

Awesome Joshua, thank you so much. Regarding my silence post. Based on the time stamp it looks like you were posting when I opened my reply dialog box. I got on a phone call and didn't finish my post until after your post posted. Thanks again for your input, it's greatly appreciated.

For ease of reading I've embedded my answers below:

Originally Posted by JoshuaHeckathorn

1.) Do you know when the DOFD is for these? If not, I would recommend looking into that so you can determine exactly when they would fall off your credit reports. If these were opened in 2006, they might not fall off before you need to apply for the mortgage.
ANSWER: Short answer not the exact date. One lists January and the other June. So, using the 7 years + 180 days it looks like the June item will probably still be on my report. I think I'll sit on the January item and let it drop off, do they always wait 180 days or sometimes do they drop off shortly after the 7 years? Would you advice doing a PFD letter on the June item and seeing if I get anywhere? If zero success I can negotiate a reduced payoff. Also, my date is not "hard" so if I have to push my purchase back a couple of months I can, I'll just need to convert my lease into a month-to-month.

2.) It's been paid in full and is supposed to drop off your reports this year. Why mess with it right now? Remember, once again, the DOFD is what determines when the account will fall off your credit reports - not when the account was closed.
ANSWER: That's what I was thinking but wanted to check with others to see if they thought I should at least attempt to remove it.

3.) Yes, I would dispute this through the CRAs as too old to appear on your credit reports.

4.) If there's something inaccurate to dispute through the CRAs, do it. Has this debt been sold by Comcast to the CA, or are they just collecting on behalf of Comcast?
ANSWER: Not sure if it's been sold or not. I was thinking I'd contact Comcast first and if they still own it send them a PFD. If they've sold and it's with the CA I'll send the CA a PFD.

5.) Yes, FICO has said that its most recent scoring model excludes collections under $100. Keep in mind that not all lenders are using the newest model yet, so I would still want to take care of it if possible. For such a small amount, you may be able to quickly negotiate a PFD with the CA.
ANSWER: Didn't know about the newest model. I'll PFD and see where it goes.


Keep us updated on your progress as you work towards buying a home next year!

Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it. Somehow between the reading I've been doing and the feedback I've received I really don't feel that bad about my situation; when I first read my credit reports I felt like the sky was falling. I knew I had some bad items on there but when you see it in black and white and the credit score it really hits you. The good news is I only have to deal with these types of items. I don't have credit cards, loans etc. that I need to pay down to get my debt number where it needs to be, I have zero credit card, loan or any other debt (out side of these items).

I will definitely update as the process moves along.

Originally Posted by smr2001

Thanks Heather, I have an Amex and Visa card that I pay off each month on time and have for years so this will help. All three credit reports so positive status each and every month on this. Would you still recommend having someone add me to one of their cards?

What's your credit utilization ratio? You're probably fine for now with the 2 credit cards as long as you've got high enough limits to keep a fairly low CU ratio. Hopefully it's below 30%, preferably 10% or less.

Limit on Amex is $13,000 and Limit on Visa is $10,000 and I pay both cards off every month. Last year I ran about $34,000 through the Amex and $10,000 through the Visa.