All: It's great to find such a great resource created by others with similar issues and obstacles. So great I had to get involved to ask for some guidance. As many of you can probably relate, I was very irresponsible earlier in my "credit" life. Now that I'm older, credit is playing a larger role in determining the lifestyle I intend on living. I recently ran my credit report online and found the following deragotory comments: 3 charge-offs (Report Dates: 6/97, 9/01, 10/01, however, all payments that initiated the charge-offs were close to or prior to seven years ago) 4 collections (2 paid, 2 unpaid; 1 probably over 7 yrs. old) 2 entries from Household Credit Services (both revolving "pays on time" though I have no idea what these are for or where they came from. Some late payments on one of the accounts) What exactly do I do to have these all removed from my report immediately? Which letters to whom? Do I leave the HCS account that shows no deragotory information alone? The information that all of you have provided on this board is great but I want to make sure I handle these issues as effectively as possible. I don't want to make any mistakes. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks. Shawn.
Household credit services offers cards on behalf of many stores (KMart for one), so it might be one of those. CJD
The process used to improve your credit is to dispute each derogatory item. If they are at the 7 yr reporting mark or close to it, you can dispute as "out of date." I think I would start there, it's the easiest, and will get you rolling.
Shawn.... Welcome... It's always great to see another new face around here. Did you order your credit report from one of the three major companies? Experian, Trans Union and Equifax all have methods to dispute or start investigations on negative information now. If you bought it from another vendor, you'll need to contact one of the three majors before they will start an online investigation. Also, please be aware that you do need to check all three reports, they do not always show the same things. Now, for Household, they finance many national retailers like Best Buy, CompUsa and Kmart. If you've ever had a store charge card, that's probably what it's from.... Good luck! And again, welcome.
