I will use this board as a Diary to help other newbies as well as get some insight from some of the "PRO's" that are hanging around this board. I have decided to attempt to repair my credit myself, before having to turn it over to Junum, or some other credit repair agency. I got the Experian Personal Credit Report for free after being denied credit, because of what was in the EXP report. How nice of EXP. I will try to include cost for everything that I do so that other newbies can get an idea of how much it costs to "Do-it-yourself". My current status is as follows I have: I have 10 accounts in good standing (No Late Payments) I have 8 accounts with creditors and others. 7 of the 8 accounts are late credit card payments (from college) 5 <30-day-late>, 1 <60-day-late>, 1 <90-day-late>. All of the credit card lates are from 6/2000 -8/2000. These credit cards are now up to date, and I have not had any late payments to credit cards for about 2 years. 1 account is a charge-off from 8/98 I went online and ordered my credit information (credit report & score) from the big 3 credit agencies tonight: Equifax - $12.95 TransUnion - $8 Experian - $6 (I got the report for free, had to pay for score) Question: I intended to claim that on the joint credit card, that my spouse was the offender. I intend to try to clean up my wife's credit using the same method, by claiming that I am the offender. Should I attempt to fix both mine & my wife's credit at once ? Or should I fix mine and THEN work on hers ?
I think this may be a flat-out improper reason to dispute. I would be concerned that whoever you made this claim to would simply explain to you, in nice terms, "Tough cookies." I'm not saying you'd be a bad person for using it, but I'm not sure there's a precedent for it working. I'd seriously consider disputing on another angle. Maybe say "not mine , maybe "not accurate" ... but that dispute reason seems bogus, unless you were merely an "authorized user" and not a joint account holder.
sounds like most of your negitive info is old. disputing the late pays or a goodwill letter to the OC may be the way to go. your scores are descent. You should be in the 700 club pretty fast.
Thanks for the encouragement creditman. I am looking for the best way to approach my credit situation. Should I do both ? Dispute them AND send a goodwill letter to the original creditor ? What is the format of a goodwill letter ? Any pointers to a sample goodwill letter will be appreciated. The first thing that I noticed about all three reports however is that they have my address and employee information incorrect or oudated. I will send off letters to all three today requesting changes.
UPDATE: 7/25 I have sent Goodwill Letters (CRRR) to the following: Chase Wells Fargo Citibank Capitol One MBNA Wish me luck. Question: I have 1 30 Day late from AVCO finance. I believe that AVCO is now out of business, how should I approach this one ? Should I just outright dispute this with the CRA's ? Also has anyone had success with goodwill letters to Beneficial ? (another 30 day late from 1998)
if you think AVCO is a good tradeline with no lates, then dispute it as "paid as agreed". if not just go the not mine route. if u dont have many positive tradelines, then dispute the 30 day. never dealt with beneficial..sorry
Thanks for the advice creditman. After taking a look at th AVCO one it says that the account was sold and the status of the account is "unkown". I have decided to outright dispute it. I sent off another 3 letters today CRRR. EQ - AVCO - Dispute Letter EXP - American General Finance ( This is another local finance company that is not at the same address they were at 4 years ago, in fact doing a search at yellowpages.com indicates that they are not even in business in my home state anymore) - Dispute Letter Beneficial - Goodwill Letter - 1 30 day late And the struggle continues...
what's really hurting my cedit score is the fact that I don't have any high limit cards. I ma trying to wait until I clear a few more of my "dings". repo from ex falls off next May, sears, and an MCI bill.
My first success !! (Im tickled ) CitiBank sent a letter today indicating that they have "sent corrected information to the reporting agencies with instructions to : delete the accounts(s) from your credit report" I used one of the goodwill letters as a template. It worked ! The turn around time for the response is impressive (about 14 days). The letter also states that I should allow 30 days for the agencies to update their files. Question: Is there a way to check my credit score without incurring the constant charge of having to pay EQ, EXP or TU? For instance TU only allows you 6 days of access to their website after you have paid the fee to see your credit report... what a rip-off. Also, should I be worried that they will possibly delete the account and not just eradicate the lates ? 7 more to go...And the struggle continues
"Question: Is there a way to check my credit score without incurring the constant charge of having to pay EQ, EXP or TU? For instance TU only allows you 6 days of access to their website after you have paid the fee to see your credit report... what a rip-off." You can sign up for Equifax's Credit Watch, which runs 70 bucks a year. The first 30 days is a free trial period. I signed up for the free trial, but like it enough so that I'll probably keep it aqnd pay. Experian has something similar, which I haven't been able to try out yet because they have the wrong address for me, so I have to mail them proof that I'm me. :/
This is what Citibank normally does, delete the entire account. They did it for us via a goodwill letter about 8 months ago. They may have just deleted lates for some folks, but deleting the entire account seems to be the norm. DemPooches
You can keep checking Experian for as long as the report is good for (3 months I think) by going online and requesting an investigation. Put in all your info, and you can check your report!
I would fax and send a copy of the letter to the CRA's. Sometimes they will delete the same day. Charlie
Thanks for the information about credit watch. I think that I will hold off until some more of the goodwill and dispute letters come back before I sign up for it. The more I learn about the money involved with controlling a person's credit record, the more I think that this is a scam for the CRA's. DemPooches, as long as deleting the entire acct is the norm, I probably won't rock the boat. I do have 10 other accounts in good standing with relatively long histories. Thanks for the suggestion about the fax. I like that option. Bunter's post reminds me that I need to send a letter to each of the CRA's because they have outdated information about me, such as where I work...etc
UPDATE: 9/12 I have been really busy at work so this fell to the wayside a bit. Here is where I am at currently: I have had some good results from the 6 Goodwill letters & 2 Dispute letters to various CA's & CRA's. I am looking for some advice with the negative results: SUCCESSES: Citibank - Has sent corrected information to the 3 credit agencies (The 3 will delete the citibank account) EQ - AVCO - Dispute Letter - I was correct, EQUIFAX will delete this account, it is unverifiable IF YOU DONT SUCCEED AT FIRST...: Chase - Negative response to goodwill.. pretty much a form letter from them Wells Fargo - Negative response to goodwill .... pretty much a form letter Capitol One - Negative response to goodwill, they indicated that they "contacted the 3 CR to ensure the information was being reported correctly" MBNA - Negative response.. but very thorough, even sent printouts of late payments (this will be a hard nut to crack) IN LIMBO EXP - American General Finance ( This is another local finance company that is not at the same address they were at 4 years ago, in fact doing a search at yellowpages.com indicates that they are not even in business in my home state anymore) - Dispute Letter I am waiting for a response on this one from EXP .. It was sent certified return receipt requested & signed by EXP on 8/12/02... it is now 9/12/02 and they have yet to respond..... Question 1:What is my next course of action ? Beneficial - Goodwill Letter - 1 30 day late , Beneficial received this on 8/5/02, Return-Receipt requested. They have not responded at all yet... I suspect that Beneficial doen't track these types of loans (It was an $8,000 loan that was closed in good standing in jan 99) Question 2: should I dispute Beneficial with the CRA's ? This account has been closed since 99... If I dispute should I dispute with all 3 CRA's or with one at a time....? Question 3: since my credit report has changed (the citibank deletion) shouldn't I be able to get FREE copies of my credit report from all 3 CRA's ?
I just sent a letter to Mr. Cooke about the Capitol One acct. I will report back as soon as info comes in.
Padderwock: Everytime you get a change or an update on your reports, the CRAs will send you update credit reports. That's the glory of disputing. You get to see what's going on regarding those reports for as long as you have something to dispute.
With regard to MBNA, I spoke to someone on the phone who said they will remove a single and maybe two late pays if they are only 30 days and you have since established credit with them. In a letter to them they said no-way. Try calling MBNA, I just called the number on the statement and asked them, they transfered me to someone who did in fact state she can and will remove one or two 30-day lates, but alas, I had four. Chase....They were the hard one to get anything out of. They ignored one mailed letter and said no to the next mailed letter. After a PFB and about 30 emails (OK, less than 30, just seemed like that manY) I got them to remove the single 30-day late that was 3+ years old. Hope this helps....
Thanks for the info. It pretty much tells me that I shouldn't give up. I will try the PFB solution for all and give both chase & MBNA calls on the phone...
Just got a response back from Mr. Cooke... no luck.. "I would like to address your concerns. Respectfully, Capital One cannot fulfill your request. We must maintain accurate information regarding the payment history on accounts." I may give him a call and see if I have any recourse at all...
