What do I do first, second, third...

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by dbaby91, Mar 8, 2010.

  1. dbaby91

    dbaby91 Member

    Okay, so I've been floating around checking out the immense wealth of information this site provides for around a month.

    I have a huge task ahead of me and not sure how to tackle it - it feels a little overwhelming to be honest. I have been a single mom since my son was born 10 years ago and that is the best excuse I have for the sorry state of my current credit report. I have charge offs galore and lots of other fun deragatory inforamtion that makes me cringe when I look at it. I am a good person...I just made some bad decisions - although looking back, I did the best I could and I just have to figure out how to get out of the weeds. I currently rent and I would like to at some point buy a home - but wait...that's a little too far ahead...for now I would just like to know what to tackle first to yield the best results and the most effective way to tackle it.

    My name is wrong on 2 reports and right on one.
    My addresses are - some correct, some wrong
    My employment - some right but spelled wrong and some are 15+ years old

    Now to the fun stuff....

    Here the collection agencies on my credit report (I'll list names and give a total for the debt at the bottom) Some are mine, okay most - but there are about a 1/4 of them that are not:

    These are shown as ORIGINAL creditors and they are actually (aside from Suntrust) collection agencies as far as I can tell.
    Arrow Financial
    AFNI Financial
    Midland (two times - two different accounts)
    Suntrust Bank

    These are shown as collection agencies for original creditors:
    Arrow Financial
    AFNI
    Midland (again 2x)
    National Recorvery Agency (for BMG music...really???)
    RJM ACQ LLC (FIVE times!!! That's right - five different times)
    CMI
    Totals around: 4k

    As for my revolving accounts - I have none. That is hurting me, I know. I rent and I own my car since I paid it off in 2007 so I have not one credit card or payment - which I like - but it's not helping the credit situation

    The revolving accounts they do show are closed now but here they are anyway:

    First Premier Bank - 12/03 charged off but gives a balance date as of 1/08???

    HSBC Auto - this one bugs me because it shows as a "Charge-off" and I paid the balance, there was no charge off at all.

    HSBC Bank - charge off - doesn't show a date and just shows "purchased by another lender"

    Imagine card - This one is on all 3 reports but all the numbers are different. the payment amounts are different - it's from 11/08

    WACH/REC shows up on two of them with a balance amount of 0 - and the date 4/2009 but there is literally nothing else there.

    So that's the down and dirty of my credit report - ewwww! I just am not sure which accounts to attack first. The collections ones that are there - some are mine but have very jacked up fees on them and then some are just flat out greek to me - don't know what they are.

    My scores range from a scrawny 545 to a still terrible 585. I even did a bankruptcy scenario just to see, feeling again overwhelmed. It said my scores would raise but still just below 600. Oh, and I do have someone willing to add my on their cards (they have platinum credit so it's a good thing) if that would help.

    I also signed up for a credit report and monitoring service so I can keep up with what I need to.

    I have had the "head in the sand" mentality because honestly we make enough to get by - and that has been the scenario since my son was born. I knew it would kinda tight. We live just fine but there isn't a ton extra to go paying off this or that - I have to focus to get the month to month bills paid.

    I know you may see this and want to tell me that it was idiotic to get myself in this mess - but my somewhat batter ego would really appreciate it if you didn't :) I know I messed up and I want to fix it.

    Any help would be totally appreciated!!!

    Thanks!

    dbaby91
     
  2. dbaby91

    dbaby91 Member

    bump - hoping to get a reply :)
     
  3. dbaby91

    dbaby91 Member

    Aww come on...nobody knows nothing??? :-(
     
  4. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    I've been ignoring your post because it really requires someone who knows something about credit repair to give you some help. I do know about the Caspar Milquetoast method of credit repair but I don't think that would help you any. The Caspar Milquetoast method of credit repair is only for those too timid to even take a chance of offending anyone. It is for those who believe that the only way to keep from offending anyone is to simply pay everything anybody might claim you owe without protest of any kind. The cartoon character Caspar Milquetoast was first seen in 1924 and ceased publication back about 1938 or so. Caspar Milquetoast was such a timid character that he was once depicted as running past a sign on the side of a building that said NO LOITERING

    He was so timid that when his hat blew off his head and landed on a strip of grass containing a sign which said KEEP OFF THE GRASS Caspar just bought a new hat rather than to disobey the sign and get his hat back. Caspar Milquetoast was far too timid to dispute anything so I doubt that his method of credit repair would help you much. So that's why I haven't responded to your post. I just don't know anything about credit repair so rather than even attempting to do any credit repair I just force those who put something on my credit reports to take it back off again and pay me for forcing them to do it.

    Needless to say that don't work in all instances. It only works for debt collectors, not original creditors. I don't know how to do anything about adverse listings put on credit reports so I don't worry about credit scores to start off with. I don't need good credit and I don't even care if I have no credit at all or a terrible score. I take care of that problem with my corporations which all have excellent credit so it don't make any difference what my personal credit score is. My corporations own all my assets and they pay most of my bills so I don't have much to worry about. They pay me a buck a year and I have another means of earning my living. So I haven't responded to your plea of help to fix your credit because I don't know how to help you fix your credit. Hopefully somebody on here who does know how to do credit repair will finally come forward with some suggestions.
     
  5. dbaby91

    dbaby91 Member

    Thanks for your reply. Most of what is on the report is collection agencies. I haven't cared about my credit for some time, partly because I didn't know what to do about it and partly because it seems like a stupid game that I didn't have the rules to. I appreciate your honesty.

    Maybe you can answer this: What is the most effective way to take a collect account off my credit report?

    Thanks!
    dbaby91
     
  6. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    That depends on several factors I don't have the answers to. The first line of defense is always the debt validation letter but if it has been more than 30 days since their initial (first) contact with you then you don't really have that option as a viable means to proceed. Yes, you can always demand validation but if you don't get that taken care of they can continue to collect so after 30 days the DV letter isn't going to do you a whole lot of good. Can you find anything on your credit reports which is false or misleading information? Are there any instances of illegal re-aging of the debt? If there are then you might have a way to go.

    Apex Credit Services seems to be the best expert on credit repair around here and I'd read a few of his posts to get some of his expert ideas. He posted some excellent tips a couple of days ago. You might send Apex a PM and see if he can help you out some.
     
  7. dbaby91

    dbaby91 Member

    Well, I haven't heard from or corresponded with any of the creditors - if they call, can I use that as my first contact and ask for validation if I actually talk to them at that point? They have been calling without my answer for about 2 months now and I just didn't know what to say so I let it go to voicemail. I will read what you recommended. Thanks for your help. I know it's a mess!

    :)
     
  8. billbauer

    billbauer Well-Known Member

    I recommend stating that the debt is disputed and validation is demanded during every phone conversation with a debt collector.

    What to say to a debt collector should never be a problem. What consumers need to understand is that debt collectors always have a canned speech they use on every call. They start off with their little spiel and then change it on the fly as the conversation unfolds. Just like phone solicitors, if the target of their call interrupts their spiel they get confused real quick.

    One time many years ago I got a call from a debt collector and after I determined what was calling I stopped the conversation by telling her that she should hold the phone away from her ear because she was going to hear a very loud noise and I didn't want to harm her hearing and then immediately introduced a short burst of feedback squeal via a tape recorder. Just a second or so. Then I came back on the line and immediately said, My, you sure are a pretty lady.
    ........How do you know that?, She asked. My reply was that the loud squeal was my camera phone taking her picture.
    She started screaming about how I can't do that without her permission. Well, I did it anyway and she got really mad and hung up the phone.
    I can just imagine the gales of laughter in the office as she started howling about how somebody just took her picture over the phone. (LOL)

    Another time I was in a restaurant having supper and a lady walked up to my table and asked me if I was Bill Bauer. I said that I was and she started trying to talk to me about this debt I owed. Just so happened that I had a few packets of rattlesnake eggs in my pocket. Little brown envelopes that had a picture of a rattlesnake and a warning message that said Don't expose to heat or direct sunlight. Eggs will hatchInside the envelope was a small piece of wire, a wound up rubber band and a steel washer. Open the envelope and the rubber band would unwind spinning the washer and making a sound about like a rattlesnake. I stopped her and asked her if she had ever seen a rattlesnake egg and she said no. I gave her one of the packages which she opened. She screamed started trembling and stood there wetting the floor. She threw the envelope on the table and ran out the door cursing at the top of her lungs, never to be seen again or heard from again. (LOL).

    Later I did the same thing to a cashier in a Homeland grocery store and got exactly the same results minus the cursing. The manager came over to see what the ruckus was all about and when he saw what had happened he busted out laughing too but sent the poor thing home for the day with full pay then called for a mop boy who cleaned up the mess. I didn't mind doing that to a debt collector but I felt so sorry for the poor cashier I threw my rattlesnake eggs away and I won't ever do that to anyone again. Could cause someone to have a heart attack I guess. But the truth is that rattlesnakes don't lay eggs. They give live birth. The babies are just as dangerous as the full grown ones even though they are only hours old. Their rattles work immediately at birth but the shells are so soft you can't hear them which makes them even more dangerous than a big one.

    But back to what to say to a debt collector when they call. Several years ago I developed a canned speech of my own that anyone can print out and keep by their phone at all times. You can find it on my google docs page. Just click on the link below. There are also recordings of me actually using the list of 18questions on various debt collectors. If you use the list and break up their train of thought and their spiel they will soon go away and never call you again. I've had them call me, recognize my voice and say, OH NO!, NOT YOU AGAIN[b/] and immediately hang up the phone. (LOL)

    I always wish they would call back so I could have some more fun with them but they never do. I use the same general idea with telemarketers. Once I figure out that they are a telemarketer I'll interrupt them and ask them if they heard about the lady who ran over her cat with a lawn mower and cut off it's tail. No. So she picked up the poor cat and the tail and took them both to Wal-mart. Why did she do that? Because Wal-mart is the worlds biggest re tailer. While they are laughing I just hang up the phone. Don't ever hear from them again.
     

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