Ok, I will first start off saying Ive been reading this website along with other books for the last 5 or 6 months...Definetely a newbie! But I soak in information like a sponge- so feed me! A month and a half ago, I opted to hire Lexington Law to help my clear up my credit, ordering their "concord package"...In hopes that with their help and my deligence, my credit will be decent in 6 months...even though they are EXTREMELY SLOW ! My main concern on my 3 credit scores are my HARD inquiry pulls...set your eyes to stun:: In the last two years I have TU-12, EX-34, EQ-41 :-( What is the FASTEST way to remove these damn inquiries, and does anyone know how much it will improve my score if these are gone. I have started (in the last 6 days) to pull my own credit report everyday through truecredit in hopes that will clear some of those hard pulls off. Now I will list my accounts. They are all mostly listed by all three CRAs, so I will just list the single listing. 1.GEMB/WALMART--Closed (Transferred)--$0 --Late 120 Days 2.BK OF AMER--Closed (Paid)--Collection/Chargeoff-- Late 120 Days 3.HSBC NV--Current--$608--Late 150 days 4.GEMB/GAP--Closed (Transferred)--Late 120 Days--Chargeoff 5.MIL STAR--$777--Current--Late 90 days 6.CAP 1 BANK--Closed (Paid)--$0--Collection/Chargeoff ...These are obvioulsy just the negative accounts on my credit, I do have 10 accounts in very good standing. This is the brunt of my credit report.... PLEASE give me suggestions and comments...dont hold back! I am in the Air Force, if that could give me any leverage- let me know. If anyone would feel really generous and like to give me one on one help--you would be a savior! Im only 22, and I screwed up my credit...but with that in mind, I'm young and motivated...just need a paved track to run on. My girlfriend is moving with me in about 6 months...I would like to have most of this cleared, or at least on its way- so we can apply for nice things together...btw her credit is damn near perfect- high 700's....dont know what she sees in me I really appreciate everyones comments! -SCORES- TU-525 EX-512 EP-539 Dreams: (in 6 months) TU-667 EX-650 EP-685
Lots of things to do. Keep pulling your credit every day, opt out at (888) 5 OPT OUT. Opt out permanently. Not doing so lets debt collectors purchase your information, so do that first. Your credit is not that bad, and you are probably grossly overemphasizing your issues. A couple of basics: FICO scoring models do not consider inquiries older than 12 months old, even though they might appear on your credit report. The facts appear on your report, but they are not used by FICO. So how many of those inquiries are older than 12 months? Secondly, many FICO scoring models consider inquiries only within six months. (most use 12, some use 6), so how many are older than 6 months old? Consider the Nutcase letter for paid collections. You will have to adapt your letter from one of these? http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...e-is-the-nutcase-letter-29986.html#post213969 Start by getting copies of your original hard copy credit reports via the US Mail from each of the three CRA's: Experian, TU, and Equifax. Begin disputing/deleting old addresses from your credit reports. They are used to verify the baddies without the CRA actually contacting the furnisher in a dispute. Oh, and cancel Lexington Law. Everything they do can be done on your own, and much quicker. Save the money. They move at the speed of cold molasses because it is in their financial interest to move slowly.
For the Cap 1 and BofA accounts, consider sending the CYA letter, taken from Butch's post. This is designed to be sent to the Original Creditor (OC) directly. The letter also has been modified by dixiedrifter, and is known as Guerilla Tactic by some. The idea is simple: The OC receives this letter, checks their file on you, notices the account is paid, and says: why would we want to be involved in a lawsuit between these two parties over an account we have already been paid for? So they delete. Believe me, it works. Dear (OC Name), I am contacting you now regarding the inaccurate information contained within my EQ/EX/TU (pick applicable) credit files associated with the above account. On xx/xx/xxxx I disputed the inaccurate information with EQ/EX/TU and it was subsequently verified on xx/xx/xxxx. Recently I have learned that EQ/EX/TU sometimes does not contact the furnisher of information when verifying a dispute, but merely verifies the information already placed on their magnetic tapes. Due to the nature and circumstances of my last dispute, I find it hard to believe that (OC name) has been contacted by the credit bureaus in question. Obviously, these sorts of things can create difficulties for the consumer in trying to correct inaccurate information on their credit reports and also legal problems for the furnisher of information because they never get a chance to conduct their own investigation into the accuracy of the disputed information. In addition, it can it can falsely implicate that a furnisher of information has knowingly or negligently furnished inaccurate information to a consumer reporting agency in response to a dispute. I have already suffered actual damages from the reporting of inaccurate information and am preparing to initiate litigation for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and my states consumer protection laws. However, I wish to make sure I have the responsible party before filing. If upon receipt of written confirmation that you have no record of EQ EQ/EX/TU contacting (OC name)�s offices regarding the above account during xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx, I will focus my attention upon EQ/EX/TU for failing to properly investigate my dispute saving (OC name) from having to deal with a lawsuit and damages caused by EQ/EX/TU�s negligence in handling the matter. Otherwise, presume that (OC name) provided such inaccurate information to EQ/EX/TU during the reinvestigation process, and will be forced to proceed with the filing of a lawsuit to recover damages. (Optional paragraph) Please expedite all correspondence concerning this matter, as I am preparing to go mortgage shopping/vehicle shopping in the next few weeks, and any adverse action taken by a lender based on the inaccurate information contained on my credit report(s) will result in damages considerably more than what I have already suffered. Your cooperation in this matter will insure that EQ/EX/TU fully complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act when conducting reinvestigations of consumers disputes and possibly help reduce the number of lawsuits against your company caused by the credit bureaus disregard for the law.
Were you stationed overseas, or on a mission, during any of these deliquencies? I have to revisit the FCRA, but I beleive there may be some forgeiveness here with being in the military. In your situation, it may help to dispute these directly with the creditors, and state in your letters, that you are in the military and were unable to process payments timely. Your military status may gain you some extra "goodwill" in your goodwill letters. Also, to help you with a plan, can you detail how old each of these accounts are? To help your score, you need to go after the most recent negatives first. I think your goals are realistic, it will take some time, and a lot of work. But as a second voice, dump Lexington now, you not only are wasting the money, but also perhaps hurting yourself by using a "credit repair organization". The CRAs do NOT have to process disputes if they believe they are from a repair company.
Ok, I just opted out. Since everyone agrees about Lexington Law, I will cancel my account with them. My hard inquires are still bad: Last 6 months: EX-18, EQ-20, TU-8 Last year: Ex-26, EQ-24, TU-11 I will start compiling my letters between goodwill and nutcase letters. Actually, my Bank of Amer, HSBC, and Military Star cards went deliquent while I was deployed. I tried a letter to Military star with orders, proof of service- and they replied they cant take it off because I wasnt in Iraq- I guess S.Korea isnt considered bad enough.
This won't help at all, of course, but how did you get so many inquiries in such a short period of time? There are letters in the sample letters database for requests to remove unauthorized inquiries.
You know, im not sure. I know I have a slight addiction of always seeing what I can get approved for. But for some reason, it doesnt seem THIS extreme. All I know is that I am DONE applying for credit, until I purchase my future home. (I just need some power and will From what I can tell, a lot of the inquires are CA's pulling my credit(unauthorized) to get my contact information. So, those are for sure going to be taken off.
They don't pull just to get your contact information, they pull to "poison" your reports (potential creditors you apply to can see these CA hard inquiries and they're the kiss of death). And they have a right to a "priority pull" if you owe them money... Their permissible purpose goes away only when the debt does.
Okay, 1) you've "Opted Out", that's done 2) You've pulled all your credit reports, and reviewed: Done 3) Have you removed all "old addresses" and older "personal info"? You need to get this done next, then we start the validation/verification and disputes. Let us know how this process goes for you. We need to look at the whole fo your reports and scores, I know the inquiries are killing you, but let's look at the big picture, and work a total plan for you. So, get the old addy info taken off now, you can probably do this on line (if you've recently purchased reports)
clearing inquiries I have been pulling my CR everyday since 13 May to get soft inquiries on my credit, and I have already dropped 2 inquiries from my TU and 2 from my EX off my report! Hopefully they will ALL be gone in a couple of months!!
ONE MONTH later update! One month ago, here were the negative items on all 3 of my CRAs: 1.GEMB/WALMART--Closed (Transferred)--$0 --Late 120 Days 2.BK OF AMER--Closed (Paid)--Collection/Chargeoff-- Late 120 Days 3.HSBC NV--Current--$608--Late 150 days 4.GEMB/GAP--Closed (Transferred)--Late 120 Days--Chargeoff 5.MIL STAR--$777--Current--Late 90 days 6.CAP 1 BANK--Closed (Paid)--$0--Collection/Chargeoff -SCORES- TU-525 EX-512 EP-539 As I pulled my report today a LOT has been changed. ::Equifax:: Everything deleted but the deliquincies from HSBC and Mil Star Went from 41 inquiries to 0!! ::Transunion:: Deleted walmart, gap, and Cap1. Delinquincies from HSBC and Mil Star still on. Went from 11 inquiries to 2! ::Experian:the devil of them all) No change whatsoever. Nothing has been removed, no inquries have been deleted :-( BUT those items are still in dispute status. ::Scores:: Eq-608!! Tu-523 Ex-506 With my two bad delinquincies- Ive contacted them both because I was deployed when the both accounts went deliquent. Mil Star said they cant delete because I wasnt in Iraq. HSBC said they couldnt change the status, but were able to change my APR to 6%! But obviously looking at my EQ report, those 2 deliquincies are KILLING my score, I know now because they are the only to derrogatory items on the report. Any suggestions on trying to get those deliquincies removed? I went ahead and disputed them online saying I have never been late on 18 June Oh, and the reason my other 2 scores dropped is because Im at about 90% utilization on my 3 CC's. But, that will change next month- as its only about $1500 of debt. Thanks for everyone's help!!! Im going to the top! (BTW, I got rid of Lexington Law a LONG time ago!!)
