Hey All! I've lurked around here off an on for years (since Quixote and PsychDoc). My credit was pretty shot during/after college due to a very serious car accident but I had it somewhat cleaned up enough to get a mortgage and car loan in late 2006/early 2007. Then, the economy happened. Husband lost his job in the mortgage industry, we had 3 kids, blah blah blah; I can't sit here and complain because most of us went through hard times. Well, we managed to modify our loan twice to stay in our home, but we've paid everything under the sun late since 2009-2010. During this time I also was diagnosed with some serious illnesses and had surgeries so medical collections happened of course too since we couldn't make minimum payments. Needless to say, we are finally in a decent financial position salary wise and I know I have to overcome my anxiety and start dealing with my credit (and the husband's) headfirst. He is a driving my old 1998 sebring (at least it's paid off and it is falling apart. The man NEEDS a new(er) car in order to do job visiting clients but everywhere turns him/us down due to credit. ::sidenote:: In 2005 and in 2006 (If I remember correctly) someone stole our identity so we put fraud alerts on all the CRAs. So last night I decided to order my free credit reports and get to work! Only problem is I could only get EQ online. I am assuming this is due to the older fraud alert? Then when I tried to start disputing a few things (I think I read the magic number is 4) EQ said this: In order to process your request, you need to send us a copy of the following documents: 1. Valid Driver's License 2. Social Security card or W-2 form 3. Utility Bill Please print this page and fax or mail it with the required proof documents indicated above within 24 hours. Please ensure that your 10-digit Confirmation Number is included with any documents you submit to us. Fax Number: 1-888-826-0549, or Mail to: Equifax Information Services LLC P.O Box 740256 Atlanta, GA 30374 Your dispute verification process may take up to 45 days and we will keep you informed via email on the status of your dispute Now, they did have my birth date wrong so perhaps that's why? But I'm concerned because 1. I can't find my SS card anywhere and NO utilities are even in my name (all the husband's) except for my cellphone bill. I'm so sorry for posting a novel here. I'd also like help strategizing a plan of attack but I'm not sure I can do that until EX and TU come in the mail. I just know I'm willing to do WHATEVER to clean up this mess and if that means sending ITS filled with case law, then so be it. If there is more info I could post that would help, please let me know. And thank you so much for taking the time to read and offer any advice (I also am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV). Oh! And there are a lot of accounts that say closed, $0 balance. Are those bad as well? Thank you again!
Also I should mention, I am self employed, but I did just find an old W2 from 2009 in my tax stuff (still has my current address on it). Furthermore, I went down through the PDF of my credit report and it shows that there is NOT any alert on it, fraud or otherwise. Gosh, I feel like such a dummy when it comes to this stuff and I just want to be strong and empowered and move past it.
Thanks for posting, Lizzy! Happy to help and thanks for lurking on the site over the years. OK, I might start w/ having your husband add you to one of the utility bills. Unfortunately, this won't help your score, but it should get the ball rolling on disputing. It's important that each CRA has your correct, up-to-date information to help prevent against possible fraud in the future. As for building you and your husband's credit, it sounds like you're looking for a pretty quick turnaround here. I would recommend 1.) opening a secured credit card to start adding positive credit to your account. There are options available online (here are our 5 best: Secured Credit Cards For People with Bad Credit - Creditnet.com), though it's also worth checking in with your local bank or credit union to see what options they have available for you and your husband. 6-to-12 months w/ a secured card will begin to push the ball forward on improving your score. (Though remember, there is a "hard inquiry" of your credit when you apply that will most likely dock you a few points; you can make up for this w/ on-time payments and responsible usage in a short matter of time.) I would also sort out which of your old debts will be falling off your report soon. You can determine this by identifying the date of first delinquency, and this will give you a sense of how much you can expect to gain in terms of your score in the upcoming months (if any are set to fall off soon). Once that is sorted out, you can prioritize which debts require validation and which should probably be left alone. In regards to your question regarding accounts that are closed, $0 balance ... do they say anything else? Were they closed due to inactivity? Did you close them yourself? You're NOT a dummy - this stuff is extremely confusing and I can tell you that I get tripped up on a lot of this stuff on a daily basis! We'll help you come up with some type of plan of attack here...
Thank you so much for replying Jason! Right now I have only seen my EQ. However, I pulled EQ and TU for the husband and seeing the differences in the reports ... well I am terrified to see my TU when it shows up! EQ went pretty easy on the husband but TU has the same accounts listed, one by the OC and one by CA for several different accounts; a corporate AMEX that the company closed stating it was collection ... it's just a mess. But I should save that for another thread perhaps? (I did dispute 5 things on his EQ online as not his, TU wouldn't let me b/c I must of messed up one of their INCORRECT identifying questions.) Back to me and my EQ: There are a bunch of dreaded student loans on there that I couldn't pay and ended up transferring to the DoEd. These all report CA or 90 or 120 etc. but show a balance of $0 and note they were transferred. I would love to get that off somehow but I am guessing that will never happen? There isn't even a fall-off date. I found some older store charge cards reporting $0, no bad payment history and it doesnt say who closed them. Could've been me? Who knows. Then we have a couple of medical debts that wont fall off another year or two and THEN....we have a collection agency trying to get me for Banfield Animal Hosp. Here's the backstory: I had a Pomeranian that I paid a monthly fee for to have medical services at the vet clinic located in Petsmart. Dog insurance if you will. After he was 3 it wasn't financially savvy bc he didn't need puppy vaccinations and had been neutered. So I canceled it. They tried to debit my checking account and I had the bank refuse and wrote another letter canceling. (This was March of 2007 I believe). So now apparently a collection agency is saying I owe several hundred for this (price was like 25 or 30 a month) and FDOD was 7/2007. I am in Illinois and I am having a hell of a time trying to understand SOL thanks to some IL Sup Ct rulings in 2009. Anyway, bottom line is I don't owe the debt and I don't think they are legally able to try to collect. I am SURE that good ole' TU and EX will have plenty more for me to play with. But at this juncture, generally speaking, as I am looking at this debt, is the first step better to dispute with the CRAs and if the debt doesn't drop off THEN go after the CA? While I would love for this to be over in a week, I know I am in for the long haul and I can't expect to see major progress for probably a year. That's why I first considered hiring Ovation or Lexington to deal with this for me so I didn't have to, but I think a nice e-fax subscription and the good folks here and around the net are probably a better idea.
OK - written contracts SOL in Illinois is 10 years, but for oral contracts it's 5. Was the problem that they just wouldn't stop charging the monthly fee after cancellation? Do you remember if it was a long-term policy you signed off on? That should determine which SOL affect you here. Either way, w/ the right documentation that's one to dispute. You want to start w/ debt validation letters to the CA's before disputing w/ the CRA's. Here's an oldie-but-goodie forum post that does a good job of explaining the two: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...uest-validation-creditor-same-time-67854.html ... Basically, if they (the CA) continue to report the debt w/o verifying it within the allotted time frame (30 days from receiving your letter), then you send your dispute letter to the CRA's.
The dog insurance was by year. You auto-renewed if you didn't write to cancel, which I did, but they kept charging the bank (it was actually my debit card I remember and I finally canceled the card I believe bc of it). Schnikes...I got ahead of myself and disputed some with CRA first. Rookie mistake. I'll switch up my tactics, hope they violate during the process, then go to the CRA. Luckily I still have TU to play with. I'll be asking for more strategy help as reports come in. I hope you all don't get sick of me! I have a 1 year goal to fix my mess. Maybe in 2 years I could hit 775, who knows?!? I admit I had a pity party for myself today thinking how banks got a bail out but consumers sure didn't. But tomorrow is a new day and onward we go.
Also quick dumb question: do the XXXX's at the end of the account numbers on the CR being reported by CA represent last 4 of SS?
No, they're the end of the complete set of account numbers for each account. Your SS# is located under Personal Information.
Was your cancellation LTR sent CRRR by chance? Did you send it, or was it your bank that wrote the cancel LTR? You wrote 'another letter canceling', how many did you write?
Of course I didn't think to send it with the little green card, so no CRRR. In the end it was 2 letters I wrote. On the plus side they are still saved (dated an all) on my older laptop. So I do have copies of them. So my next question is, since I don't have the complete set of numbers for my CA accounts. How do I go about disputing them? I don't have any letters from these guys so I don't know how I can write them without my full account numbers. Does that make sense?
You're saying 'dispute', but I think you are referring to sending a debt validation LTR to the CA. When you 'dispute' through the CRA, it's a matter of selecting the account and selecting the dispute reason; no account number needed. You don't need the full set when sending a DVL. You're disputing the validity of the account, therefore if the account listed with the CRA isn't complete, how could you possibly be expected to provide it?
Yes mindcrime, you are EXACTLY correct! So sorry for not being more coherent. This stuff is overwhelming and I'm having trouble getting the terminology down pat. So, at this point, I will begin DVL to the CA and will use the information that is furnished. If they can't figure it out, that's really their problem.
Don't worry, no one gets mad here about that stuff This may help: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t-intro-creditnet-glossary-19921.html with some of the terminology. And yes, with just your name, address and partial internal account number, they'll find you. But either way, once you can confirm they received your LTR, dispute the account and lock them down to 30 days.
Thanks mindcrime! I'm going at this aggressively. And an update: we just bought a brand new vehicle with an 8% interest rate. This is HUGE bc every place was offering 17-22%. We are on our way to getting this disaster cleaned up!
That's a nice interest rate lizzy. My last car I had a used auto loan at 19.5% -- yikes. Current vehicle financed was another used, but at 7.19%. What a different; it was smaller by 4k than the prior loan, BUT monthly payment was 60% of the other payment and a whole year less on the length of the loan. Keep us posted!
I'm going to try to make 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month goals (I just dont know what those goals are quite yet) and get this mess sorted out. Next year when we go to renew the plates, my hope is to refi then and get a better deal. I think short-term goals will be getting out ALL the DVs on everything. Finding a secured credit card like Jason suggested and get that going. The rest I will have to make a game plan once I see EP and TU. Thanks for all the help and support thus far. I hope no one gets sick of me here!
No way! Happy to help and love to see new members. Don't hesitate w/ follow-ups! Outlining goals is one of the very best ways to get organized and motivated. Start simple to net a few personal victories, and as you get more familiar w/ the process jump to the hard parts and, of course, use us as a resource along the way. Best of luck!
