I'm 23 years old & I got my first CR today, what a nightmare! Like most, I made the mistake of getting my first CC when I was @ the immature age of 18, & like most, had NO idea how important credit is...Now, here I am, years later, NOW trying to pay back a CC from years ago, along with 2 defaulted school loans...I cant even get a damn cell phone, that's how bad my credit is...So anyway, I got my report & it has my Discover acct. charged off, along with the CA that charged me off for that acct, & then the same CA charged off for the same acct again(I have 3 trade lines for this one acct.) After 5 years of NON-payment on this acct & 2 school loans, I am finally in the process of paying off these debts--in a few weeks I make my final payment to close the balance out for my CC (I didnt get such a great deal either) I have been making timely payments for 8 months on my school loans, but they will not take the "120+days past due" off my CR until it is paid (& I am no where near done) Point is, I am desperate to fix whatever I can to clear some of this up (my FICO score is a pathetic 488) I would like to, one day soon, buy a house, but I know my rate will be phenomenal! Forget a car lease, like I said, I cant even get a silly cell phone approval! Can someone offer some words of wisdom & advice...The situation seems bleak & neverending--I feel hopeless & helpless!
Believe me, there are MANY here who feel your pain because we have been there. The good news is, there IS HOPE, and you found it here on Creditnet. It is great that you have had this learning experience so early in life, and that you have made the wise decision to begin paying your debts and getting back on your feet credit wise. It ALWAYS seems bleak when you first start out...don't get more discouraged, it will get easier and better. First, dispute those pesky duplicate entries as duplicates...they usually are the easiest to take care of. Easily but not always easy...they too sometimes get verified. BTW my first cell phone required a deposit...that was actually my first rebuilding account. Anyway back to a plan of action. Student loans are not my area, folks like Roni and Erica can give you much better insight as to how to tackle those 120 day marks. But they are not as bad as a defaulted loan so I think your report can be helped with a bit of advice from the experts. If you are going to pay, try and negotiate and pay everything to the original creditor. Send validations to ALL the CA's, and demand accurate information that you owe the debt and they are legally able to collect on it. Chances are they have wrong information, information that can not be supported, may be unlicensed...many reasons why the validation process can get you out from under the wrath of the CA's. On the CC end of things I think you should not send final payment until you validate and/or try and work things out again. I would PFB or call the executive office and explain to them that you had this card shoved at you in college and while you were an adult in age, you were still naive of the credit world and feel you were somewhat at fault, and somewhat taken advantage of by the lure of the college credit card (they will know what you are talking about, although they may not sympathize as much as we would like them to). Try and convince them that you are turning things around and have been working to pay off all your debts and attempt to negotiate settlement for removal of the derogatory information, possibly even reinstating your old card. I guess the outcome of that would depend on how much and how long you ignored the debt and how large the remaining balance is, not to mention their mood at the time. If that fails I would still try and post here one more time before simply paying the balance as there are still some things you could try to negotiate or validate (although you have already started paying, so validation is a bit tougher) to try and get some satisfaction. The cell phone will soon come, and the auto lease will not be far behind. Persistence is the key, and time will help to heal the wounds. Good Luck, -Peace, Dave
Hello, Don't despair. The more seasonned creditnetters can offer you great advice on how to tackle your credit. You are in great company here. As for a cell phone, have you tried Sprint PCS? They ask you for a deposit if you don't have good credit. I doubt they ever deny anyone. For a car lease or financing, I recently got a rate of 5.9% for a 2002 car with 3 charge-offs(though they were 6yrs old) on my credit reports. So, it's really not bad, there are people/businesses willing to give us the second chance we all deserve. Good luck :->
Thanks for the advice! Here is some more info that might make it easier to assess my damage! Here is JUST my CC info: Discover Card ($1000 CL) OPENED -8/97 LAST ACTIVITY- 6/98 STATUS "revolving charge off" -REPORTED 3/00 BALANCE $1442 HISTORY charge off RMAPP Pur-Pap-AM <-- what does that mean? OPENED 12/98 STATUS "open charge off" BALANCE $1443 REPORTED 5/00 HISTORY "charged off acct, unable to locate consumer" RMAPP Purpa-Dis Rmsosa (AGAIN, with different letters following co. name) LAST ACTIVITY 12/98 STATUS "Open Charge Off" BALANCE $1343 (I assume its due to my $100 payment 2 months ago) REPORTED 4/2002 HISTORY "Charged off account" Why do they say "LAST ACTIVITY" was 12/98, I made a $100 payment in 3/02?? It must have been noted BTW they have my old, old address listed as my current So I made a voluntary pay to RMA in 3/02 (My acct was supposedly up to $1700) They were willing to settle by 3/30/02 for another $502, closing the acct. Like an a*s, I didnt do that and I called to make a pay last week, and they told me it was now in legal and transferred me to a VERY MEAN man that yelled at me! Basically, demanding and threatening me to make a full payment of $814 soon before they take legal action...I was scared, and agreed to give them half now and half in May, thus paying off the acct . They made it seem like it was such a great deal that they gave me, but I end up paying $914 on a $1700 acct. (for an original CC balance of $990) Anyway. What can I do now? I already agreed verbally, which is probably taped, to make this payment w/o knowing I had some negotiating/bargaining power. Now I end up holding the short end of the stick! This is on my CR and will be for HOW LONG? How will it appear next month once I make the final payment and close that acct? Will my FICO score go up? Can I call and work something out now and demand some kind of retribution????? Like I said, I voluntarily called them and began making payments (3/15/02) and the acct will be ccompletely paid off by 5/15/02....Shouldnt they reward me w/something for the timely re-payment???? Do I have any bargaining power now after admitting my fault on the phone and verbally agreeing to make these payments?? Thanks in advance for the help! And this is my new fave site! You guys are great!
SprintPCS has a Maximum deposit of $125 now, not too harsh. Then they limit a few things, like how many phones you can have, etc.
One good thing is that the age of your credit file is 5 years. A lot of people don't take personal finance or credit seriously until they hit 30. If you start working on your credit now, by the time you hit 30 you will have a great credit score. As far as getting a house, generally a credit score can be pushed up enough to get a good mortgage in about 36 months. This is excluding people who file a bankruptcy. The bigger issue for you will be to get a steady income and save up the down payment money and closing costs. Good luck.
Luckily, I have a full-time permanent position at a great company. I manage, and have managed, to maintain my own household for 3 years. So saving money for the down payment isn't the problem. I was just hoping to buy a house sooner than 3 years from now...I am "throwing away" $1000 month paying someone else's mortgage (I rent). I'll be 23 next month and have recently realized that I want things in life, like nice cars and a nice house....So I began to pay back my debt and now hope/wish to repair my credit, and my life. Is there any chance of that happening sooner than later? Unfortunately, my boyfriend has the same problem as me (except for the school loans). His credit is bad too and we are MISERABLE, we now realize it will take forever for us to buy our first home at a decent rate and get the cars and other 'luxuries' we desire. We learned the hard way and now as we are planning the beginning of our lives and trying to secure our future, our horrible credit is holding us back! Boy, dont I wish I listened to my parents about the importance of credit!?!?! I guess it's better late than never! And luckily, I'm still young!
Re: My first credit report ever-UGH To answer your question about the DOLA -- you want that to be the old date. Seven years from that date is when the account will drop off reports. I've got to mention that as well as clearing up your old bad credit activity, you should try to build up some positive. (That was my biggest mistake. I had only bad tradelines on my report, and had sworn off credit entirely for several years. Now the few negative tradelines that I have will fall off within a year, but I've got a short credit history. When I was looking for a cell phone 2 years ago Sprint wouldn't let me have a cell phone even with a deposit -- AT&T (now Cingular) did with a deposit and a one year contract.) Try to see what improvments you can make quickly on your reports, and let the inquiries from the cell phones age for a couple of months, and try to get a secured credit card. Make a small charge on it every month and pay it off every month. I've also heard that you can get a secured loan from a bank, by buying a CD for the term of a loan, and making timely payments will build your credit. ellen
I had a BK discharged in 1997. I also had defaulted student loans that will be rehabbed next month. Anyway, I started my credit repair in May of last year. At the time, my scores were all similar to yours (490ish - none over 500). I was approved last week for a $158K mortgage (5% down, 2 points, & 7.75% rate) and I am having my new home built and it should be done by the end of the summer. Granted, the terms aren't spectacular but they are not horrendous either. Had I waited 3 months and applied AFTER my student loans rehabbed, the rate ewould have been better. My current scores: EFX - 556 (dupe student loans), EXP - 632, TU - 601. Bottom line - it can be done if you take the time to do it right.
If you can manage to keep your credit report absolutely clean for 24 months, and pay off your debt in the meantime, then you can qualify for a home mortgage - you guys are so young, you could get an ARM at a lower rate and then use that mortgage to help augment your paying history. I know that 30 seems a world away, but by the time you are 30, you could be homeowners on your second house in prime credit with excellent credit. Please think about all this long term. I didn't learn credit lessons until THIS year and I am 38, how I wish I had your horrible credit and YOUTH, rather than my finally cleaned up credit and all this AGE!! LOL! Anyway, the first thing you probable need to do is get a copy of all three of your credit reports and determine the inaccuracies and dispute based on those. For instance if Experian says you owe a certain amount and it was due on a certain date, and Equifax says something different on the same item, you have a great case to have the original creditor ask for deletion because of inaccurate reporting. When I first started this on March 1 of this year I had 1 judgment and 7 negative items, and I am now down to 1 judgment and 3 negative items. It takes persistence and more persistence and a lot of file keeping and letter writing. Read the FCRA in addition to the FDCPA.
Good News!!! I got my first cell phone in my own name with NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED this weekend! Just have another question... What are the chances that I could finance a Dell computer? Is it worth applying to see if they will approve it, or is that a hard inquiry? Does anyone know?
I was approved for a Dell 2 months ago. Interest rate is a whopping 26.99% but I plan on having it paid off in less than a year anyway. Yes - it is a hard inquiry. They pulled Experian for me in PA.
Was that for a lease or did you purchase it? I used to be in the computer business and I think Dells are great computers. Especially for a first time buyer because of the excellent customer service.
Erik-- I have a question for you--What part of the business were you in? I need advice on what computer features I actually need....Would you be able to advise? Also, I plan on buying, but financing it. Does it make a difference?
DON'T they have a second offer...6 months NO INTEREST??? If you can afford to pay it off in 6 months...(ON THE OTHER-HAND...YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY 26.99% EITHER~~~NOBODY CAN!!!) It's 17.00% HIGHER than my upper limit of interest rate I will pay...
Are those that have horrible credit, and given a horrendous interest rate still entitled to the 6 months NO INTEREST? If so, I could definitely afford to save that $ in 6 months and make the remaining balance payment in 1 shot, 6 months from now....But would I be given this option?
Depends on HOW HORRIBLE your credit is... It's a 100% securred account...they can "TAKE" the computer back... I suppose they might decide who gets the 0.00% offers...but they LOSE the sale if they DON'T let you have the 0.00% offer...
If your DENIED the 0.00% offer~~~JUST WALK...DON'T TAKE THE 26.99% OFFER...AND DON'T PAY CASH OR CHECK!!!
Well I was in the business of building and repairing PC's. I specialized is Compaq Servers, the $12,000 to $40,000 variety back in the ancient days of fall 98 and spring 99. I am good on the basics of the current computers. What did you plan to use a computer for? Surfing the Internet only? Power user. Graphics design. Family computer with a 14 year old kid who wants to play the latest games? Are you a first time buyer?
I, myslef, am a first time buyer -- I have my first computer that my family bought me in June '98 (its an IBM Aptiva no less and basically sucks) I need something that I can download music and record CD's, use a digital camera for pics, and surf the web! I dont do anything else on it than use Word/Excel once in a while...I dont care much for the DVD playing capability stuff etc., as I dont have time to check my aol mail as it is, so I just need something quick enough to download music on the web and record those cd's. It is definitely a leisurely thing for me, no real work involved...I assume I dont need all that memory upgrade crap and so on if I only plan on using it for the internet, huh? Thanks in advance for the advice.
