I'd be careful with lawsuits if you're trying to get a top secret. One of the questions you'll have to answer is if you're involved in any legal actions. While something like a divorce isn't a problem, being plantiff in a number of lawsuits could be detrimental, especially with your credit report. It will look like you are desperately seeking ways to get money. If you get some of these settled and have assets in excess of your liabilities it will be much easier to get the clearance. How much do you have available to settle the debts?
I have about $1k/month to put towards my past debts. Should I pay off the smaller ones first and make arrangements for the more expensive ones? I havent sent any validation letters yet. I will though.
Also. do I contact the original OC if the account has not been turned over to a collection agency as per my credit report? If so, do I send the OC a validation letter?
Don't send a validation letter to the OC. They do not come under the FDCPA because they're the original creditor. I'd dispute anything you haven't with the CRAs and see if any of it falls off. Personally, I'd worry about the larger ones first. I think if you have some small chargeoffs it's not so bad for the clearance. They're worried about things that would open you to blackmail or doing things for money. So if they're small amounts they're not so worrisome. Contact the OC and find out if you can make arrangements to settle. Don't tell them you need to get it cleared up (for a clearance or anything else) because they'll use that as leverage. Tell them that you are trying to make a new start or you are trying to do the right thing or something like that. Make a low offer. They'll counter. Come up a little, maybe they'll go down a little. Keep going until you meet somewhere that you can handle.
Put your $1000 aside for a few months before you call, then you'll have some money. On the bigger ones, maybe tell them that you have $1200 or $1500 or something and that you'd like to clear up your debts, and would they accept the lump sum of (whatever amount) to settle this. If they say yes, or rather, when you agree on an amount, ask them to send something in writing.
Thanks Let me make sure I'm understanding correctly 1. send validation letters to all collection agencies 2. save money for a couple of months then contact via mail the OCs and see if they would accept a lump sum payment for deletion off of credit report for bigger ones and pay off the smaller ones for deletion off of credit report. correct? Thanks again
You can call them if you want, especially the OCs. Just make sure you get anything you agree to in writing. You probably will not get a deletion from the OCs and you may not even from the CAs. But if your main concern is getting a clearance, having them paid is better than unpaid.
My main concern right now is getting my credit better. The clearance is secondary. I didn't get the TS job. My reinvestigation for my current clearance is not for another 2 1/2 years.
Do you have any current accounts that you are paying on time? Keeping accounts current and the utilization low is probably the best boost to your credit score.
some i have kept current. Now, I just received a letter informing me that the HOA put a lien on my house for the past HOA dues. It seems every time I take a step forward. I get knocked several steps back. I now have to focus on paying that. I'm just so frustrated. It seems I'll never get ahead.
Keep plugging away at it and don't let yourself get frustrated. If you give up, your situation will only get worse. Have faith that you'll get ahead...it will take time and A LOT of patience, but I can be done. There are plenty of people here who can attest to that.
I can assure one and all that getting frustrated happens easily. I'm working on my case today, worked on it quite a bit yesterday and I'll probably be working on it all weekend long. I have to put something in writing, research it to see that I'm correct, print it out to see that what I have said makes sense and that the formatting is correct. I'll probably waste at least half a ream of paper printing out succeeding versions to be sure it is all properly explained and correct and maybe I'll get it ready to file by Monday with some luck. Then I'll have to get some more motions ready to go file. In the meantime I'm also working on a federal case which I will be filing in about a month. Yes, it can get frustrating but you just have to hang in there and get the job done.
I've finished my motion to show cause why Plaintiff's attorneys should not be sanctioned for providing false and misleading information to the court and to the Defendant. The document is available by clicking on my google docs link below. Of course I don't have any idea whether or not the Judge will salute it but at least I've ran it up the judicial flagpole. (LOL). We will just have to see what the judge does with it. Now I've got to start to work on my next motion which will be to dismiss the Plaintiff's case. That probably won't fly but what have I got to lose? I probably won't win but at least by the time I get done fighting with them the lawyers ought to be horrified at the thought of ever seeing my name come across their desk again. (LOL) And of course it will several times over before we get done with this little dog and pony show.
