I am 26 years old and have excellent money skills now. Nothing is more important to me than paying all my bills, and doing smart things with my money. However when I was 18-24 I royally messed up my credit. I got credit cards and charged them up and thought it was totally fine to miss payments. I was able to get a loan to pay off all my debt. I payed back this loan a few years ago. Now, I have somehow gotten a few things to help prove I can be responsible with my credit. I am financing a brand new car, I have a credit card, a student loan, and a line of credit. All that are paid on time all the time!! My husband and I really want to start looking into getting a mortgage but I know that my credit report still shows all the ugliness of the past. Even though they are all paid off, it still shows how I messed up. This is making it so we cannot get a mortgage. Not even if we have a down payment and now pay everything off on time. My question is where do I start? Is there any thing I can do to repair my credit report? Or do I have to wait longer till they just take stuff like that off? What is it, 5 years or something before I can request to get it taken off? Please advise. Thank you.
Welcome... First thing we need is a more specific description of what's on you reports. Collections, charge-offs, duplicates, amounts owed, etc. Also, wo told you you could not get a mortgage? Have you been turned down? Did the mortgage company disclose your scores to you? If not, ask them what they were.
First of all welcome to Creditnet. I think you will find many people to help you find answers to your questions along the way. The simple answer to your question is NO do not wait, start now. The 5 years you are thinking of is really 7 years and it is the date that derogatory information can be reported on your credit reports, not the time you have to wait before starting the process and get the derogatory information removed. Where to start? Order your credit reports (I recommend you start with hard copies, although you can get your reports online). You NEED to get all 3, this is IMPORTANT (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Some states allow you to get 1 free a year from each CRA, some have reduced rates, and the rest charge about 8 or 9 bucks to order it so you might pay as much as like 30 dollars, but it is money well spent. Do this for YOU and YOUR husband, so you can get the infomation and begin repairing things before your mortgage process begins. Once you have all the reports, post a note describing the negative information...type of debt, dates, derogatory listing, without posting the details, and folks here will help you decipher the information and give you some course of action. Good news is people here are quite good at giving you ideas to get your reports clean...legally. Once again, welcome, and Good Luck -Peace, Dave PS: You can get your report many ways. Experian(EX) 888-397-3742 www.experian.com Equifax (EQ) 800-685-1111 www.equifax.com Trans Union Corporation (TU) 800-916-8800 www.transunion.com
I have seen my credit report from Equifax and it lists all the department cards I had and a line of credit where I missed payments. Nothing ever went to collections I don't think. It just says "Certain Store Name" paid late over 30 days 4 times, paid late over 60 days 2 times etc. Then on to the next card. I am not sure what a charge off is. Like I said, all of these have been paid off they just report how bad I was at paying them back. It was the bank that I have my credit card with that turned me down. They told me that with what was listed on my report prior to 1999, we do not qualify for a mortgage. I know that this bad stuff will still show up on my credit report I am just not sure for how long. They are not looking at the amazing turn around I have had since 1999. They are just looking at what I did wrong. How long does that stay on for? I really appreciate the help.
Hmmm. Folks on this board (myself included) have gotten mortgages with bankruptcies that are less than 5 years old. Anyway, follow Nave's advice. Get your reports and post what's on them here (minus personal info of course). We on this board are the best in the business at legally cleaning up reports. Show us what you've got and we'll help. By the way, a charge-off means that a creditor has written off the debt as uncollectable. Creditors are required to do this if they have not received payment within 180 days.
Thanks to both of you for responding. The thing I don't get, is that if all the reporting of how I paid things late is within the 7 years, then how can I possibly make my credit report look more attractive? I understand that I can act now and try to fix things but it seems to me that anything that is less than 7 years will stay on? Is this accurate? Also, does it matter that I am in Canada?
Hmmmmm not sure about the Canada situation...I think these laws and regulations are US laws, but I am sure others have information about how they relate or differ for our neighbors on the North coast. Don't mix up this 7 year thing. That is a limit imposed on the reporting agencies that says ... Derogartory information CAN be reported for UP TO 7 years. Positive information CAN be reported for UP TO 10 years. However, you are trying to remove the derogatory information before the time LIMITATION. For instance, you can claim things are inaccurately reported, or are simply NOT YOUR account at all, and therefore SHOULD NOT be reported for the full 7 years...you want them deleted or corrected NOW. For late payments (for instance) you can claim that you were never late 30 days in 1998, PROVE IT or REMOVE IT from my credit report...if they can not ACCURATELY prove you were 30 days late in 1998, the derogatory item MUST be corrected, and of course you should not have to wait 7 years to get this done...you should NOT be penalized for the CRA reporting inaccurate information. Hope that helps. -Peace, Dave
Hi, I am also brand new. I have my credit reports and disputed some items, but at the time I used a credit restore paralegal. I think our disputes overlapped (although I advised them to wait after MY disputes were responded to). Anyway, here's what's on my report: EQ: Capital One - charged off /reverified 6/02 Fingerhut - r9 02/02 First Usa- paid collection reverified 6/02 EX: Fingerhut - pending dispute (from repair co.) First USA -pending dispute (" ") TU: Capital One - charged off (10/97) rever: 6/02 Fingerhut/Axsys- charged off 2/02 Fst Bank- paid collection rv CRD ADJ CO- collection CE Wadsack- collection Any advice Thanks.
Taffy Welcome to the board. While I am able to provide info concerning mortgages here in the states, I have absolutely no knowledge of the laws and regulations in Canada. Also unfortunately, the 7 years only counts in the US, I don't know what the credit reporting regulations are in Canada. I would suggest that you talk to a qualified mortgage broker in Canada, if they have brokers in Canada, about your situation and get his or her advise. Another thing, you should see if the broker you talk to deals with multiple lenders of all credit grade loans. Good luck and again, welcome to the family. fla-tan
1*They told me that with what was listed on my report prior to 1999, we do not qualify for a mortgage. 2*They are not looking at the amazing turn around I have had since 1999. Taffy ================ 1*Using old out dated meaningless info. to nullify your good character is how they operate. 2*its the pre 99 where the money is for them so they aren't interested in the recent especially if it's a good record. They are Daffy.
Hey taffy Welcome... I am 26 and I am at the very same position as you.. I have been spending the last few weeks reading all of the postings just to educate myself on how to fix my credit... everyonce in a while I see someone who is new and I just like to say hi..... so HELLO
