Hello Everyone, I am currently obsessing over fixing me and my husbands credit. We currently live in San Diego, but in about a 1 1/2 we plan to move back to texas and buy a home. Unfortunatly, our credit isnt the best. A little background on my situation is...As of 8/8/2011 my 3 credit scores are TR 575- EX 577- EQ 586. Currently in Collections: 2 credit cards ($2000) Cable account payday loan bank account (w/ a low balance) Current but has been reported late: 1 installment account Inquiries: About 15-20 Student Loans: Currently deferred. Please someone help, I dont know where to begin with fixing and raising my credit score. Im miserable knowing that I have this debt and that I may forfeit the chance of owning my own home.
Have you spoken to a bank or a mortgage broker to see what credit score you need to qualify? Usually you need a 620 or 640 to qualify for a home loan. If you want the best pricing you need to have a 720 score. How old are your collections? If the collections are a couple years old, I would maybe think about leaving those alone. If you pay the old collections off is like refreshing a negative items on your credit report. The payment will update the date of last activity and that could lower your credit score. The only way I would pay them off if you get the CA to agree to remove them once they are paid. Make sure you get this agreement in writing. Another fast way to increase your credit score is to add yourself as an authorized user to one of your family members or friends existing credit card accounts. Just remember that the credit card must have perfect payment history, and your friend or family member must be able to maintain a low balance (10% or less of the credit limit). Long payment history really helps to increase your score as well. I hope this helps! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Thank you for the information. I have two accounts in collection that are recent (2010) and the others are around 2007-2008. Im currently putting together letters to send off, asking that they remove the accounts if I pay them and also the validation letter. Im keeping my fingers crossed to see if this works. Yesderday disputed a few inquires and accounts on Equifax, so now Im waiting for that. No I havent spoken with a bank or a mortgage broker yet. My husband and I are currently in San Diego and we want to purchase a home back in Texas. Basically i was trying to get a headstart. Because I know my credit needs help and I want to atleast try fixing it a 1 1/2yrs before I really need to make a big purchase. My ultimate goal is to have my score at 680 or higher. i dont plan on stopping until I reach that!!
Sounds like you are on the right track to fixing your credit and getting your collections removed. You mentioned that you have an installment loan. You should apply for a credit card to from Capital One and start putting a tank of gas on it once a month and pay it off. So, you can start building diverse credit profile with revolving and installment accounts on your credit. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
I was advised to try and get a credit card, the only problem is, Im not sure if I will get approved and then that will be another inquire on my credit, which i dont need. I was told to try a JCPenny's card, Target, or Sam's (same type of store as costco). Do you know if Capital One usually approves credit for individuals with a not so good credit history?
Are those your FICO scores below? If so, I would look into a secured credit card, like the Capital One Secured card to start rebuilding some positive payment history.
I believe those are (smh)...i got those off a site called freescore.com. im not sure if they are very accurate. Where do i got to get the accurate scores, if those are not? I know I really need some type of revolving credit, im just nervous to apply!!! At this point I dont want to do anything that will hurt me. But I will look into the CAP 1 card now. Thanks guys for all your help, I really appreciate it!!!
The scores from freescore.com are not accurate.com. The only place you can get your true "fico" scores is from fico.com. You will have to pay a few bucks but at least you will know exactly what your credit score is. If you have a friend that works at a bank or that is a mortgage broker they could pull your credit too. That would give you another inquiry, so I wouldn't suggest doing that since you have around 15 to 20 inquiries already. Good Luck! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
OMG...you were right, the scores i got from freescore.com were of atleast by 20pts, which is even worse than what I thought!!!! This news has really dicouraged me, but I will not give up. I looked at my equifax report from myfico.com and it showed that i had no accounts in collections. Now i dont know if thats a good thing for me or a bad thing becuase on other reports i have pulled, I saw that there were accounts in collections. Im assuming myfico report would be more accurate. So now it seems that sending out these Debt Validations may work in my favor (keeping fingers crossed)!!! My biggest issue on my credit is the credit card I had from Nordstrom! The balance is $1530 and was opened in 2006. I believe the debt is still with the OC. How should I go about handling this debt???
Assuming that you have the money to pay it off, you will want to call your creditor and try to negotiate a "pay for delete" (PFD). The real problem with paying off something in collections was mentioned by someone a few posts up - it "re-dates" your debt so that it stays on your credit report the full 7 years from the repayment date. However, you can negotiate with a creditor to remove the item from your credit report if you pay off the debt. Call Nordstrom and try to negotiate a deal. Start low - remember, the debt is old, so they may settle for much less than you actually owe. Just make sure that you have a signed statement from them saying they will have the account deleted from your credit report before you send them any money. Hope this helps, and good luck!
Actually, paid collections should fall off about 7 1/2 years from the DOFD (Date of First Delinquency). The DOFD doesn't change when a collection is settled.
Ah, thanks for the correction. Now that I read back I see why I got confused, lol. alancaster, you mentioned that the debt is still with the OC, so it's not really in "collections" because it hasn't been sold to a CA. Unless I'm going off old info here, making a payment to the OC would refresh the account because it would count as new activity, correct?
J_Albright...from my understanding it will refresh the debt. But i was wondering if there was anyway to get it removed all together. Or would sending a PFD letter help any?
Paying a debt will likely update the DOLA, but that doesn't mean the debt is necessarily refreshed. Like I mentioned, the DOFD should remain the same. I think it's always worth going for the PFD at least to see what the response is. Some CAs might embrace your offer while others will give you a flat out rejection. Keep us posted on how it plays out.
