Hello all, my name is Bruce and it is the first time posting. I have been reading everything I can on credit repair so far the this site is amazing!! Last January I hired a credit repair person for about $450 to fix my credit, at the time my scores where 548 (TU FICO Classic), 583 (EFX Facta Beacon) and 546 (XPN/FAIR, ISAAC Model II). My biggest issue was a defaulted student loan that showed up about 12 times and a couple of collections, and only one revolving credit car loan. First off let me say I think this is a pretty good guy, he was refered to me by a friend (mortgage broker) to help me get a house. After looking through my credit reports he said I should be able to get a house in 60-90 days. Right now my last FICO scores have improved 583 (TU FICO Classic), 606 (EFX Facta Beacon) and 583 (XPN/FAIR, ISAAC Model II). However I have no idea of what these scores mean. When I use True Credit to pull my last report it gives me 675 (TransUnion), 659 (Experian) and 705 (Equifax). When I pull from Experian I get a 573 score. Question #1 - what score do I believe and what is the best site for scoring if my goal is to purchase a house? Anyways, I am prior militiary and would be a first time home buyer so I am hoping to do a VA loan with zero down. I am being told a 620 score would do it for me?? Since Feb 2011 have been able to pick up 2 credit card (applied bank $500 and Capital One $1500) and have kept the balance to around 10%. My Capital one is fairly recent so it hasnt reported yet, the applied has reported to Experian and Transunion but not Equifax. The only things left on my credit report as far as negatives is mutiple 120 past due, collection/charge off, Closed/Transfered - all from my student loans (6 total 2 closed but seriously past due, 1 unknow that was transfered to another office and 3 Current Closed -paid was past due 120/180). Since the student loan is in default I have been paying them through garnishments for about a year now, I only have about 5 months left and I am paid off. From what I am told there is basically nothing else I can do with them at this point (other than pay them). (No rehad loans because I have less than 9 months of payments). The other is an old car that I payed off in 2007, it is closed current but has two 30 day lates showing - anything I can do about that to raise my score? Everything else is clean, no bankrupty or judgements, I do have 3 inquiries since Jan 2011 and two back in 2009. I just feel at this time there is more than I can do but not sure what next to do? And totally confused about my score, I dont want to go loan shopping and have a bunch of hard inquiries hit my report and not be able to get a loan. Any advice? Thanks
Welcome to Creditnet! The only scores you should care about are your 3 FICO scores, which it sounds like you've been tracking. Those are the scores an actual lender will use when they underwrite your loan. The scores you get from True Credit aren't real FICOs, so I wouldn't pay much attention to them. In regards to what credit score you'll need to get a VA loan, I've heard different things lately from different lenders. Most will want your FICO scores around 640 or higher from what I've seen. Glad to hear you've picked up a couple credit cards and are keeping your utilization under 10 percent. Always pay on time and in full, while keeping your CU ratio low, and that will have the greatest positive impact on your scores over time. There's probably not much you can do about the paid off car loan that's showing some 30 day lates. You could always write a nice letter requesting that they remove them out of goodwill, but they really don't have to do anything. Those baddies will have less and less of an effect on your FICO scores as time goes on and eventually they will drop off your credit reports altogether. Do you have a spouse/close relative that has great credit and would be willing to add you as an AU on a few of their oldest credit cards in good standing. If so, that will help give your FICO scores a nice boost as well.
Thanks for your response. I have called a couple mortage broker, what I am getting about a VA with zero down is between 620-630 score. I have not let any of them pull my credit report as of yet (didnt want to go down any points). Sorry dont have anyone else I can get on their CC, no an option. The FICO scores I am getting are from my credit repair guy and it is a hard inquiry. It sounds like I need to dump TrueCredit reporting since they are so far out of wack it really doesnt do me any good to have them. Is the MYFICO.com any better? If so, they list like 5 different plans, and it seems like they are about $20 per report (Trans and Equifax)? Very confusing on what I may need. So the only thing I can do about a 30 days late is a goodwill letter? I cant dispute the late payment? Thanks Again
myFICO.com is the only place where you can actually purchase your real FICO scores. Well, you can at least get 2 of them. Consumers can no longer purchase Experian-based FICO scores, but your lender still can and will. Anyway, what you want to buy are your individual FICO scores from both Equifax and Transunion via myFICO.com. I think they cost about $20 each.
Okay got the MyFico with the Scorewatch additioanlly I have Experian already monitoring. Yesterday my Experian and Equifax when up EX (12pts) EQ (35pts) with the addition of a Capital One CC. On my 3rd round of disputes this is what I have left, with the first 6 being all student loans that have been consolidated. Cant seem to get the "Claim filed with government" or the "Transferred,closed. " taken off. Also Midland was paid,closed so I am now going for the delete. Any other suggestions?? AMERICAN STUDENT AST DateOpened: 10/2008 Status: Collection account. Garnishment been paying since May 2010, will be paid off in Oct 2011 ACS EDUCATION SERVICES DateOpened: 07/2007 Status: Claim filed with government CLC SERVICING CORP DateOpened: 07/2007 Status: Transferred,closed. ACS EDUCATION SERVICES DateOpened: 12/2004 Status: Paid,Closed ACS/COLLEGE LOAN CORP DateOpened: 11/2005 Status: Paid,Closed. ACS/STUDENT CAPITAL CORP DateOpened: 06/2005 Status: Paid,Closed. FIRESIDE AUTO FINANCE IN DateOpened: 05/2005 Status: Paid,Closed. two 30 day late MIDLAND CREDIT MANAGEMENT DateOpened: 08/2008 Status: Paid,Closed. Paid Collection Agency MIDLAND CREDIT MANAGEMENT DateOpened: 09/2010 Status: Paid,Closed. Paid Collection Agency
Congrats on the improvement in your scores. Keep using that credit card responsibly while maintaining a low credit utilization ratio and you should continue to see nice little bumps upward here and there. Which of these debts that you listed have you already disputed? Have you sent letters requesting deletions of the late pays too? I'm just not clear on what's been done already. Some of these that are listed as Paid/Closed can be simply left alone, since there's nothing negative associated with them.
I have already disputed all of them twice. On the second pass the CRA came back as frivolous claim. Getting ready to do a third round this week. Three of the ACS/COLLEGE loans are marked as 120 past due, they were consolidation loans rolled in the one I currently am paying. I talked to a broker today, he could get me a VA loan today except when you default on a federally back student loan you cannot get a VA or FHA loan until the student loan has been paid or is current. There is a list out there called CAIVRS which the mortgage companies query during the loan processes, if youâ??re on the list no loan. At this point I have two choices, either find a loan for 5K or wait 6 months to finish paying off the loan. At this time, I donâ??t know of anywhere I can get a personal loan for that much with a credit in the 620 range. If you know anyone please let me know.
I would get rid of the student loans first before buying the house. Home prices and interest rates are going to stay low for awhile at least, so I wouldn't feel too rushed. Take the time to keep improving your FICO scores as well, and then you should be in a good position to move forward once the students loans are completely paid off.
Update, Good News. My mortgage broker was able to clear me from CAIVRS list by proving that I had been paying my student loan for over a year now and only have 6 months left. However, on my credit pull my mid score was 600. Had a new CC that hit this week (I had to get another CC because my Allied Bank only reports to bureaus). I am only 20 points away from a VA loan!! I am still disputing the MIDLAND CREDIT MANAGEMENT to try to get it removed (on my 4th try), plus paid down a balance on my little $300 CC. I am very close. Hopefully in the next 30 days I can get approved.
That is good news. Hopefully you'll get good news on the MCM dispute too. Did you pay off your credit card balance completely? If not, you should to boost your scores as much as possible.
Hello Everyone, just registered recently and i'm eager to search for a lot helpful tips about credits and debt questions. I can see that this forum has a lot of answer to my questions. See on the threads! =)
Yes, all balances are paid off. Just got a report back yesterday from transunion, one of the MCM has been deleted and got two of student loans to remove the lates!!
Adding yourself as an authorized user to a existing credit card account is a great way to give your credit score a quick boost. Make sure the authorized user accounts have at least 2 years of perfect payment history. They must be able to maintain a low balance (10% to 20% of the credit limit). If you add an AU account that is maxed out it could hurt your credit score instead of increasing it. The older the AU account is the bigger the boost would be since you have only established a few months of payment history with your new credit cards. You are already maintaining low balances on your own cards so I wouldn't worry about what type of credit limit the AU accounts have. Good Luck with your mortgage! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Good news to report, I am 25 days away from closing on my first home!! I was finally able to get my score up to a 650 mid score after paying off my student loan. For VA loan I only needed a 620 so I am very please right now. Midland still has yet to come off but I will continue with letters. Hand written letters seems to work better for me. Best advice I can give to others is to stick with it and dont delay doing something, it you do nothing and wait you will surely get screwed. Also keep good records, this helps. Once my scores started climbing it seemed that I started to get calls out of the blue from 10 year old accounts. I used validation letters and cease and desist letters for these, most never responded again. I did have an old utility company that actually came back but I sent an SOL letter and havent heard back from them. If they call just ask them for thier fax number and an account number, nothing else. If they ask anything, tell them you dont recall the account but will get back with them with an answer, then fax them a verification letter and a cease and desist letter. Another big key for those with Student Loan issues, DO NOT let them get into default! If you do you are screwed. You will be lised on CAIVRS and it will hit your credit hard (mine was for 60 points) until it is paid off. Nothing helps defaulted student loans until they are paid off. Once you pay off a loan, go to you borrower advocacy, they will get you the paid letters you need, dont wait for the collection agency to send them (it can take up to 60 days they say). Good luck every, it took me almost a year to clean everything up but it did finally happen!! Bruce
Another note, In the beginning, I did use someone to help me fix my credit, however, after the first 45 day he was pretty much useless. I would have to continually remind him to write letters. In one collection casse, I was advise to pay off the amount without a deletion letter that he would go back later to get them off, he never did and they still remain on there. Still, I am glad I had someone to start me off, but just be prepared after about 45-60 days it pretty much is just a routine of sending letters of disputes to the CBs. And the guy I hired didnt have any special "tricks" that arent already talk about in these forums.. write letters, follow up!!
Congrats on getting approved for your first home loan! That's great news, and I'm glad you were able to find some help here along the way. Hope to see you around the forum sharing what you've learned.
Congratulations on your loan approval! I hope you share with others your success with repairing your own credit. Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
