Hello all, I took a few months hiatus from the board but know I am back. I had some success in the interim. I need several things answered before I can post my whole report and have it critiqued by the top tier minds on this board. I have read a lot and feel that I have gained so much from so many of the postings. Thank you all! Issues/Questions that i need help resolving: 1) I recently did a PFD with a CA to get a valid medical bill (fell of a balcony in college) removed from the collection section of my reports. Why has this had no effect on my FAKO's ?? It almost seemed to have a negative effect on one of the scores! What's the deal?? 2) A few months ago I requested that EXF remove several addresses from my report. They did a dicey job, but also dropped a lot of my credit history! I was very excited about the recent PFD, so I decided to update my Truecredit reports. Now, EXF is gone all together. Nothing appears at all. This was upsetting because it was a good FAKO score of 719. What's the deal with this??? 3) I realize I need to increase my available credit, amount of credit, and diversity of credit. This makes me very nervous because I do not want a hard pull on my report for a failed attempt to obtain credit. If I were sure that the CC company would pull EXP, I think i may be ok. That FAKO is 738. How can I make sure I do not get turned down? I know Psycho Doc had the excel sheet on the yahoo group. I have downloaded it, but it seems outdated. A little advise please. 4) I have a student loan with a balance of 14K. I may be in a position to satisfy the debt in full. I do not know what to do though, as it is my only installment loan. I figure it might be helpful for the loan to remain, in order to build my credit strength. I just hate the thought of paying all that interest, when I could be placing the $ saved on interest in a high yield savings or low load index fund. Advise and opinions, please. 5) Lastly, I plan to post my whole FAKO report here for assistance very soon. Is it necessary to get my FICO scores or reports from the CRA directly? Or will the Truecredit (TU) reports do the trick? I am willing to do anything to get this right, so please do not hold back. Not that any of you would. Please help me with these intial questions so I can move on to the whole picture. My goal is to be around 800, or at least at the top tier interest rate level as soon as possible. This is not only a financial thing for me, but it is a point of pride for me to correct past mistakes and change bad habits. Sincerely, Ultralight... FAKOs TU - 624 EXP - 738 EXF - 719 (prior to the entire report being mysteriously removed, see #2)
Hi there, I am fairly limited in my credit knowledge but I have learned a few things along the way so I thought I might try to help, even if it's just a little. 1. I think what you are seeing is the fact that you lost the overall history associated with that tradeline. Although the acct was a negative one it may have had a positive affect on your score because of how old it was. I think the drop you are seeing will be temporary due to this and hopefully a increase will come soon. I'm sure you know this but FAKO's are not too reliable. FICO's are the actual real scores you want to see but they can be a bit pricey to get. 2. EXF, do you mean Equifax? It is looking to me like you may have a "split" file. I had it happen to me with TU after disputing old addys. You can call them and ask them if there is more than one file under your SSN. Be presistant though till you get a CSR you feel knows enough to help you. I called TU and was told I only had one file. Monthes later all the old stuff slowly returned to my TU report. It was a pita to deal with. The problem with split files is you don't know which one a creditor will get when pulling your credit. I would address this before working on more disputes. 3.. You can never know what you will be approved for until you apply. Research and decide which cards have the features you want. Call them up and ask what do they consider creditworthy. Which CRA do they pull in your state? Be picky what you apply for. Inquiries will stay on your credit report for 2 years. Start small and build your way up. Don't do mass apps, you'll regret it. 4. Sorry no input here, I know nada about student loans. 5. When starting credit repair it is recommended you get an actual credit report from each CRA. Then you can use Truecredit to monitor your progress. I would recommend you go through your reports and devise a plan of action as to what you will dispute and work on first. If you dive in head first and go full throttle you are going to burn out quickly. Credit repair is slow, tedious, hard work. I applaud your drive and determination, thats great. Just remember this isn't a fast process & don't get discouraged if things don't go just as you plan. Just keep at it & you'll eventually get there. Now I will leave to the other residents here who know a lot more than I do. Good luck! Tegleg
As far as the student loan goes, you could probably pay it off, depending how long you've had it. But what is the interest rate, and what is the rate you would earn in the "high yield savings or low load index fund"? I would suggest that you could take the money you would use to pay it off, put it in the investments, and still pay the loan. You may be better off. For example, if the loan is at, say, 5%, and you feel you could make 9% average on the mutual fund, take the lump sum you'd use to pay off the loan and invest it instead. You'll come out ahead in the long run. You'll be making 9%, which will be compounding over time. If you pay it off, you're only "making" 5% on that money. By putting the lump sum in the investment early, you're getting the compounding on it and will come out ahead in the long run. That's one place that so many people get hung up. Debt, in and of itself, is not bad. Uncontrolled debt is bad. But any time you can make more than you'd pay, you come out ahead. Don't think all the millionaires in this country got there by being debt-free.
