How long have you all been at this?

My score has went from 502 to 641 in 8 months. I got fed up with doing the disputes and stuff though so I took a couple of months off in the middle of the 8 months. so I guess I actually worked on it 6 months. Much can be accomplished in 6 months if you put in the work. Don't get discouraged some people take a little more prodding then others.
good luck,
Candi

 

i have been doing this since october. My score has gone up over 100 pts on all three cra's but i still have a way to go. I will be looking to get to 650 so i can at least breathe i sigh of relief. it takes persisitance, that is for sure.

 

6 Weeks, disputes are pending with all 3, I have started rehabbing student loans, got some new trade lines, and paid down balances. Not sure of any score changes yet, but Im hoping for good gains in the future.

 

I started June 2001...I was in the low to mid 500s on TU. I had no idea how to even go about getting scores from the other two but quickly learned. I was at 766 on TU, but dropped due to a new (old one popped up) collection. My scores have increased greatly and I am just happy to have found this board. With six months of consistent work, things will come together. I would suggest since you are working on yours and hubby's to send out disputes at the same time to keep things organized. No time like the present. Get to it.

 

Just started in November 2001, already have made significant progress- removed at least 4 accounts from each report-- still alot to be done. Score wise, TU drops my score daily, I am down to 450- other reports are around 570 to 600... it can be done in 6 months I am sure. I am betting on 1 year to get my reports clean (many things dropping off naturally at the end of this year- I will not bother disputing these). BE PERSISTENT and it will come...

 

Why not, they may surprise you and be nice enuff to remove it anyway.

 

Many of the things waiting to fall off naturally are unpaid and I would rather not "wake the sleeping giant"-- re-start collections, etc. Also some of these are showing expiration dates that are earlier than they probably could/should be... WHAT A REFRESHING CHANGE... I don't want them digging up old records and end-up changing the dates.

 

I've been at it a year this month. My scores were all in the 500's and now are (see below). I originally only disputed 2 at a time, per CRA. I also got discouraged at some point and didn't send anything for a while. I made my biggest gains, once I found this board back in April 2001.

 

I started in late 2000, found this board in March 2001. My scores started in 400's...are now (see below). Experian will JUMP Monday when I get my new report. Equifax is still pending. I don't think 6 months is a reasonable time period, but it depends on what you have on your reports.

 

I started in December 1999, when I financed a car at 21% APR and 3K down payment, 472 Equifax beacon. Car payment was $472.25, on a 1997 Nissan Maxima, my dream car. I didn't care because career wise I was making very good money. I worked for a major wireless carrier, at the time. I was 32 y/o and making 50K per year. I refinanced the car 6 months later through my credit union at 8% and my payment dropped to 310.21

I wanted to house hunt so I had a friend of mine run my Experian score at the same time, the score was 499.

I ordered my credit reports and figured I would get to work. I had pages and pages of charge offs and student loan defaults from the mid 90's on all the CRA Reports.

I surfed the web and read and re-read everything I possibly could regarding credit repair (or credit rehabilitation). I think I joined this board at the end of 2000, I think, can't remember.

I got to work with disputes. I disputed four or five tradelines at a time. I was VERY successful with Equifax. Almost everything I disputed was removed.

Trans Union was probably 70/30, I had a few stubborn things that wouldn't come off. I was able to get a clean TU report because I caught them in a lie fudging disputes. It was my last round of disputes and I included all of the negs in one dispute. There were 8 tradelines. I received a report back in about 7 days after the dispute saying they verified the tradelines as accurate. I immediately fired off a "request for procedures to verify letter" reminding them they had 15 days to get the information to me. I called on the 14th day, and the rep informed me they were investigating again. I informed him I didn't request another investigation, I requested the proceedures used to verify. He told me they had 30 days to do a reinvestigation. Out of frustration, I downloaded Lizardkings letter (thanks for the information!!!!) and completed my small claims paperwork the same day I spoke to the rude rep.

A week later I received an updated copy of my report and all negs were removed, and I was told they were coded to never reappear. Should they reappear here is the person to contact. My score jumped to 725, I don't know what it was prior to that.

Equifax, I didn't have to go that far, everything was deleted. The stubborn collection accounts that were verified, I sent validation letters. The collection companies removed their tradelines from my reports and didn't bother to respond to the requests for validation. What I did to document was sent all validation requests (certified return receipt) Then I pulled my credit reports 30 days later to enure the tradeline was removed. I did this to make sure it was deleted and it doesn't return because the tradelines weren't validated by the collection agent.

Experian has to employ some of the most inept employees of the three. Part of the problem is I live in an Experian local affiliate areal. So my disputes are handled locally. I started out with 35 pages of negative entries on my credit reports. Duplicated student loan tradelines, was the main culprit. The progress with them seems to be slower. I have 2 collections listed on my Experian Report. One is a cap one charge off, slated to come off 7/02, and a collection with "The Credit Bureau", which happens to be Experian. My CE score is 610, but a year ago it was 499. So when I started my credit repair journey it was lower than 499.

Another tactic that I learned from Carreon and Associates that kinda worked was Dispute-negotiate-settle. I ordered thier service where they run your credit reports and evaluate your credit. I did everything they suggested and added the validation letter to their formula. It has served me very well during my journey. I disputed-requested proceedures to verify-validation-and in almost every case the tradeline was removed.

I had 2 collection agencies that ignored my requests for validation. When that happened, I filed a complaint with the Attorney General of PA. I have to admit they took my complaint seriously, and resolved it within 3 weeks of filing my complaint. Also, they sent me copies of all correspondence they sent to the collection agency with copies of the Collection Agencies reponse (which was they were removing their tradelines because they cannot validate the debt). So should the debts reappear or get sold to another agency, I have them by the short and curlies.

I would tell anyone starting out, my journey was LONG! Lots of frustration, highs, and lows, but I would do it all over again. The key is Education and documentation. You should start documenting from the first dispute you mail in. So, if you have to sue in small claims, you have everything you need. I kept copies of all my disputes, responses from the CRA's, copies of "procedures to verify" (always sent certified return receipt), validation letters, responses or lack of response ect. I have EVERYTHING.

I should also state that all of the collections listed on my report was past the sol in PA, which is 4 years. So, I never suffered from someone trying to get a judgement when I requested validation.

Sorry so long, but it is my hope that this will help someone who reads my post. Good luck to you, don't get frustrated and give up. It takes time to damage your credit and it will take time to repair it.