Hi everybody! First of all, just wanted to thank all the members on this board who have provided a great amount of information to help others slowly build their credit. I have been reading creditnet.com for a while now, and am ready to make some changes. A little bit of background information: I am not trying to rebuild my own credit, but rather my parentsâ??. They have dug themselves a pretty big hole and I have taken it in my hands to get them out of it. In the past, they trusted very close relatives who managed to cause them quite a bit of financial grief. Yes, these were all mistakes on their part, and they have since learned from it all. Momâ??s CR: Experian FAKO is 580 - Bank of America CC â?? Closed Account Status: Account legally paid in full for less than the full balance More than ten 150 day late payments, few 120â??s, few 90â??s. - Capital One CC- Open Got this for her about 8 months ago with a pre approved offer. Account in good standing â?? no late payments, paid off in full monthly Credit Limit: $750 (Cap 1 however does not report CL, they report high balance as CL) - Citi Financial CC- Reopened after making regular payments for 2 years. Credit Limit: $6200, Balance $5000 One 120 day late, a few 90â??s, a few 60â??s - FIA MBNA CC â?? Closed by creditor Once again, many 120â??s, 90â??s and 60â??s. - Kohlâ??s CC â?? Open â?? CL $500 Paid off in full every month now. However, has some past late payments also. - Sears Revolving Credit Account Good standing, no late payments. Course of Action? I have sent good will letters to Citi and Kohls. Kohls did not budge, and havent heard back from Citi yet. I didn't expect any results, but it was worth a shot, i guess. I also disputed the B of A account with the CRA's as inaccurate. The 30 days will be up on June 23rd. I did check the status for my experian dispute, and it says "updated". I'm not quite sure what that means yet (waiting for something in the mail). I'm not sure what to do in the case that the B of A is not removed? Could I just send a letter to the OC requesting more information (under the FCBA?), or should I try the nutcase series? Also, I plan on paying the FIA MBNA card off in the next few months, but am not quite sure how to go about disputing it. I would really appreciate some input from those who are wiser. Thanks in advance!
I applaud you on trying to help your parents, especially after someone else dug them into this hole. The first question, do they have a need for credit? Do they need to use/avail any credit in the future? In short, can they ride out the seven year reporting time limit without using credit? You don't detail any of the accounts as being "Charged Off", or sent to collections, so I'll assume these are all "late payment" statuses. I don't think you will have much luck with goodwill requests, due to the length and number of the lates, but it is worth the try. Your main action will be to study each account/tradeline on their credit reports and dispute any information that is not accurate or complete. I recommend that you "dispute" each account directly with the creditors, by sending a written dispute to them at the addresses listed on the credit reports. You will need to start looking for discrepancies between the OC and the CRAs reporting (there usually are some), and dispute the inconsistencies. Your approach here will be to dispute over and over, for each inaccurate/incomplete information. You have some "toughies" here, MBNA and BoA stick like glue, they are very difficult to remove. You will have to dig, and be a pain in the a.. with the creditors. You are looking to create your own luck! At this point it is critical to maintain the on time payment status for the still active/open accounts. This will work to raise their scores. The negative effect of the lates will fade with time, and the on time payment history will push the status to more favorable.
First of all, thank you for the quick response. Yes, they do need credit. 17% on a car loan is a little too much (last time they tried). Also, I would like them to buy their own home in the next 2-3 years. 1. About the status of the cards: The B of A showed up as "charged off", but the settlement was negotiated with B of A, and the payment was made to NCO (I know that was a bad call, but we didn't know better then). I don't have a lot of details about it, just a copy of the check sent because it was settled by a relative who opened it, and used it on my mom's name in the first place while my parents were out of the country for a few years. However, it is only reported by B of A on her CR. 2. How often can you dispute? If the B of A comes back not removed, how long do I have to wait before I can dispute again? I have found some glitches in reporting. The account was settled in Aug 2006, but is reported to be 120 days late till Oct 2006, is this enough to ask for a deletion? 3. In the disputes, do I specify what information is incorrect? Or do I let them dig it up and figure it out? All the payments are being made on time for atleast the last year and a half. Trying to pay down the outstanding debts, and trying to get out of this hole as quickly as I can. Thank You!
With B of A - write them, not directly to the department but rather a C-level executive. The "executive" department will handle your request - I'm thinking this may be your best bet. Show your credit reports and how the reporting simply doesn't make sense .... late payments account paid off, etc... You may have good luck here if all three bureaus disagree in the reporting. Do this after you have disputed with the bureaus and they have come back validated. For the first letter, make it nice and explain that you don't understand and since these can't be correct (they are all different) ask for the TL to be deleted. They may delete or they may "fix" the reporting to at least be consistent. See what you get, and if its still wrong, then write a second, stronger letter, demanding correction since they already validated and threaten suit.
martig4: thank you for your insight. How would I go about getting in touch with a "C-level executive"? Thank You!
C Level Execs Take a look at finance.yahoo.com and look up stock symbol BAC. The head executives will be listed there. I generallly don't use the CEO but rather the COO. Then use the corporate address listed there and make sure you send to ATTN: Executive you choose
Thank you very much. I'll post back when I hear back from the CRA's as to how I'm going to proceed. Still open to any suggestions. Thank You!
Results from Experian Hi, I heard back from experian, and they "updated" the B of A account I had disputed as inaccurate. All they did was move the account from "potentially negative accounts" to "positive accounts". I don't yet know if it helped my score or not because I can only see my score once a month. Has this happened to anyone before? Did it result in an increase or decrease in score? I'm a little confused now. If the account is a positive one (still show late payments and all), should I further dispute it? If yes, I will write the next letter to an executive at B of A. Also, the Citi goodwill letter came back saying that everything is reporting correctly. However, the last line of the letter says "The account has been reported as disputed to the Credit Bureas. Please allow at least 30 days for them to update their files." I'm not sure what that means either. I sent a nice goodwill letter asking them to remove lates. I made no mention of a dispute. My next steps are to further deal with the B of A account, pay off the FIA MBNA, and dispute that. And ideas on how to dispute the MBNA would be much appreciated. Thank You!
Reading your first post again about the BoA account, I don't know if you want to go the route I'm about to suggest..... It "appears" this account was a fraudulent one, opened by a relative, unknown to your parents (while they were away). IF..you truly want this to go away, then you may want to pursue that this was a case of fraud. That will entail going afer a relative, but if that is what truly happened, then you must consider the option. If it were my parents, and a relative did this, I would go after them. It is unfair to your parents to have this penalizing them. That is your parents call...... Next, understand that MBNA/FIA is now Bank of America...you will be dealing with the same people as your BoA account. How old is the account? Be aware that the MBNA accounts are very difficult to remove or work with. They are sticklers for reporting. You will have to find some error(s) to try and leverage.
