Hi all - I'm Kell. I've been reading here and just about everywhere, so I'm doing the part about introducing myself as a newbie. My score is super low, but reading a lot of other things I'm just really glad it's not well into the five figures of problems. My main problem is only about $1200 worth, but it's two chargeoffs from last year that are killing me. Approximately $500 and $700. Both of them are 2010 accounts I finally lost track of by late '12/early '13. Well I'm back on track now and want to straighten it out as best I can. Like I said, I've been reading and reading and reading - only problem is that I've developed "information overload" of all the stuff I COULD do - letters to send, etc, phone calls to make. I always hear about not paying off super old ones, but since these are both starting in 2013, should I just pay them off and let them go to paid status and be done with it, or try to repair them more aggressively? I kind of went off half cocked and called one of them who wouldn't talk to me - just told me to talk to the collections agency and then they told me they wouldn't talk to me about what went on the report, so it just wound up going in a circle. Fortunately I WAS smart enough to be a little vague about it actually being a valid account and left a little bit of an impression of "Maybe it's mine, maybe it's not, but if paying would help, I could pay". So in any case that got me exactly nowhere. Any thoughts on the next move? Dispute, letter (to which?), CRO/Lawyer? Just send them the money? If it IS going to be stuck on there I'd rather have it on there as paid in full than settled. Like I said - I've been studying, but at this point I have a lot of information I'm not sure what to do with. Thanks for looking!
Welcome to the board. Whether it's reported as PIF or settled, both are negative and neither will do anything in boosting your scores. Your scores being "super low" are because of what you said, in that these two very recent charge offs are killing them. Do you have any positive open TL's? With a DOFD of no more than 14 months ago, unless you're in a 3YR state, you've got lots of time before the SOL is up; the OC and the CA know this and it's going to be hard to negotiate any deals on such recent accounts. Look for reporting errors, and let us know who the OC and CA's are.
Hi there. Thanks for the response. The one I called was Comenity bank and it's still showing up that way on the credit report, but the number they referred me to answers the phone "ERC" The other one is GEMB. I haven't called them yet after the first one didn't work out so well - if there's a CA, I don't know who it is. I have one CC open with 2 30's but showing current now, and some closed positives. Thanks again
Also, if this helps. Creditsesame, using Experian is 674 Credit Karma, using TransUnion, is 571 My CU, what they call "Equifax FICO" is 509 CreditSesame is linking me to a 5K loan offer, which is exactly what I want. For two reasons - to rebuild my credit and get a 20K car instead of a 15K car. They say that applying for the loan won't hurt my credit. Does that mean no hard inquiry, that I'd get it based on the Experian score that Credit Sesame is showing?
These scores are what are known as FAKOs. They mean virtually nothing, especially if these CO's ARE reporting on your EX report, there would be no way you'd have a score in the high 600's. This sounds more accurate, but for the time-being, don't worry about the scores. Just curious, but why do you need a car costing $20k over $15k? Are you ready to have two monthly installment loans due (the car note and this personal loan)? Sure it will help build your credit, as an installment loan. It's good to have a healthy mix of both installment and revolving. Plus you have to know what the interest is for this 5k loan, it will likely be high. I doubt that. Speaking of Comenity bank -- they're the only creditor I know of where credit can be had from them without a hard pull. It's called the shopping cart trick (Google/search it)…..you can ask to see if it will be a HP, but that's not really something CreditSesame can tell you, as they're not the company making you the offer, correct? They are simple directing you to a business where you "can" get a loan for this amount? One thing to add: There is no guarantee that whomever this loan is from would only pull your EX report anyway, and if for some reason these CO's aren't reporting there, but are on EQ and TU, the likelihood of approval is slim. Are all 3 credit reports reporting the same data from C-bank and GEMB?
I'd just rather have a $20K car than a $15K car - they're newer with less miles. It would be a better fit. Plus it would be something active and positive on my credit report. I think there are parts of that question I don't understand - about two loans. I'd rather only have one. If I can't swing a 5K loan, I'll probably just stick to a 15K car for the time being. but I'll probably be actively shopping in the late March time frame, so if there's anything I can do with my credit in that time , that would be good. It's not a large loan, so I'm not too worried about the interest if it's ultimately helping me. The two that I've seen are the same and appear to be accurate. I haven't seen the one from Equifax. They want me to send in my life history to show me the report. I should be able to get it in a few months.
You said you're being linked to a $5k loan offer. If you want to purchase a vehicle costing $20k, you (presumably) would need to finance the remaining $15k. That $15k would be an installment auto loan, the $5k linked offer for a loan would be its own installment loan, thus two loans you would be paying on, also likely with different terms/interest. Any positive history will help your credit, correct. However with two recent charge offs, I suggest working on those first. Whether you're financing $15k or $20k you are going to get slammed with interest in the mid-teens or worse which can easily add over $100 a month more to your car payment with the CO's being there. And don't bother talking on the phone to this people, you were probably talking to a CSR, who has zero pull. Research consumer advocates or executives up the ladder at these businesses. You're like going to need to give a good story and offer a PFD, and will likely have to be 100% since this is such a new instance. I hope you're joking about a few months. Usually if they cannot verify you online, they ask for a DL license/SS card, utility bill to prove who you are. Shouldn't take more than 2 weeks. If this doesn't work, you may have a bigger problem with your file.
Forgot to ask -- are just the OC's reporting, or are there any collection accounts on your reports from them as well? And IF there is a CA reporting, have they sent you a dunning letter?
Thanks again for the replies. The 15K is the cash price. the 5K would be on top of that. I want to say the loan I looked at was $170 for three years. I've had a fire since the last time I've had an employer, so I don't have an SS card OR a pay stub at my disposal. From my understanding I'm going to have to get a birth certificate first before I even start on the SS card. I don't see it being a couple weeks. The PFD would be fine. Paying full is what I was offering anyway. the amount is small. When you say advocate, do you mean something like Lexington Law? Neither of the reports I'm looking at mention a collection agency on either of those accounts.
Okay, so you're putting $15k down on a car, and want to finance the rest, approx $5k through a loan? In that case, if your only loan is $5k, then yes, higher interest charges with shorter terms won't hurt *as bad*. Sorry to hear that! Yes, it could be a process then. No, forget LL, or any other "Credit repair agency", waste of your time and money. Anything they can do, you can do better, and for free. I meant that credit card companies have an executive office where you can talk to someone with some power (unlike calling customer service and talking to a CSR, or their manager), and usually you can get farther with these people. Get a hold of an address or e-mail address and compose a letter to them. It would be something like a cross between and PFD and goodwill adjustment, because you don't necessarily want them to delete the accounts themselves. I'd start with the one who already has a CA involved. You don't want a collection reporting as well.
