Hi guys, Just signed up here, I am looking to get started with the process of cleaning up my credit. I am currently sitting sub 500 on my FICO. Most of my debts are legitimate to my eyes, but I think I will validate anyway as it can't hurt and most of them are older in nature. My immediate near-term goal is to gain a secured credit card with Amex, longer term I would like to be able to buy a car within a year. I have great debt to income (sub 6%) and am well over 100K/yr in salary, so I am looking to leverage these to find out how best to achieve these goals. I have a few questions after reading the boards. - Do I send simultaneous validates to collectors and CRAs, or collectors first and CRAs second? Do I dispute online with a CRA prior to sending validates? - What should be my first steps with a sub 500 on FICO and having gotten my reports? I have 10+ closed accounts, 1 in good standing, 3 chargeoffs and 3 collections. - What are my chances of improving my score if I have someone willing to put me as an authorized user and I have the $$$ to finance a secured card? - Is there any stigma associated with using credit repair firms? Why should I be bothered by this (I saw the CRO letter in the sample forum?) Thanks for all your help. Tim
Re: Do I send simultaneous validate A DV, demand for validation letter is what is sent to the CAs or JDBs. a dispute is what is sent to the CRAs. There is a strategy called the 1-2 punch that can be used. This is only effective if you DV the CA in the 30 day window after the initial contact. How it works is after the CA has recieved your DV letter you send a dispute to the CRA. If you respond in the thirty day window the CA has to cease all collections activity until they provide validation acording to the FDCPA. If the CA responds to the dispute filed with the CRA it is a violation of the FDCPA. This gives you some ammo in dealing with the collectors.
Re: Do I send simultaneous validate It's the general consensus that credit repair firms are crap. They generally have a cookie cutter dispute letter that they send out, the CRAs can tell, they aren't stupid. The FCRA has a provision that allows the CRA to disregard any disputes they feel are friviulous. I have also heard of them disputing closed accounts in good standing, etc. Plus, you have to pick and choose what you dispute. If yoiu dispute everything with no valid reason it won't be long before they ignore you letters all together and then you stuck. Plus they are expensive. I can write a DV and have it ready to go, CMRRR all filled out in ten minutes, and it costs me four bucks to mail it.
Re: Do I send simultaneous validate You've already taken you first step, that is getting your reports and gerring geared up to go. Sit down with your reports and go over every negative entry with a fine tooth comb. HiLite every thing that is incorrect. Is a collection account listed as OPEN, is a JDB listing themselves as a factoring company on your report? Is the date opened wrong? Is the credit limit wrong? Once this is done pick a few, the ones that are the newest ,or you think are hurting you the worst, and write dispute letters. You can find millions of examples online, most have a bunch of flowery language citeing the FCRA and such. The CRAs don;'t care keep it simple, tell them what is wrong, and ask them to remove it. Don't threaten them, they are only reporting information furnished to them. I have a dispute template that I use. Like I said I can write a dispute in a matter of minutes. Once you get these done, mail them off and wait. They will respond with their results, and you can go from there. Its a long uphill journey, but it feels damn good to make some progress. Very satisfying. Oh, and stay away from online disputes, it doesn't save any time, and there is no paper trail in case thing s get ugly down the road. Good luck brian
