OK, you can see my scores down below. Will be getting added as an AU on my wife's grandmother's 10-15 year old CC with $12,000 limit and low utilization, so that should help a lot. Here's my strategy for the next 120 days, at which point I should be closing on my house. Let me know if you seasoned vets have any insight or additional advice. Currently have: Cap1 - $1,000 Limit, open since March 2006, currently at $900+ balance, but will pay to zero over next 2 months (had to run up balance last few weeks since dealing with payroll issues at new job in a new state). Orchard Bank - $300 Limit, open since April 2007, Currently at $300 balance, will pay in full and sock drawer it over next 30 days Target Red Card - $200 Limit, open since 1/2007, currently at $100, will pay off end of this week, and continue to use for one box of diapers a month, paid in full each month Crown Jewelers - Reporting $500 Limit, open since April 2007, currently at $0, used once to get TL, won't use again Chase (AU on father's card) - $20,000 limit, open since 1/2007, currently at ~$14,000. What should I do with this one? My father added me at my request to improve my utilization when this was a $12,000 Limit, $300 balance card. He then used it to pay off a leased car at the end of the lease since mileage was very low and card is 0%. He's going to pay it off at about $700 per month, but the account age is not helping me and now the utilization isn't either. Should I have him remove me as an AU and then dispute the listing? Or should I leave it alone? Or something else? HSBC Auto Loan - Balance $26,100, open since 1/2007 (replaced Honda finance loan opened in 9/2006, paid off in 1/2007 by HSBC), monthly payment of $585, never late Sallie Mae Student Loan - Balance $32,000, opened 8/1997, monthly payment of $105 (paying slightly more each month), never late but have been in forbearance for most of the post-graduation life of the loan That's all of my current credit. Negatives on my reports: Dell - C/O of $2100 first reported as C/O in 7/2006. Been trying to work out a PFD with ERS, the CA (CA not listed on reports), but they won't do a PFD and Dell won't talk to me. 2 Paid collections for Comcast. one for $37 and the other was ~$95 but is listed with a high balance of $438, so I can only guess they received equipment back late and had originally charged me for it (?) My current Cap1 account has a 30-day late in January that I'm working on having removed via phone calls. I have been informed that they won't remove for "Good Will" any longer, so I'm not going to write a GW letter, but if you search my old posts, I do have some inside info at maybe having it removed, just haven't had a chance to use it yet. I will this week. Then I have a bunch of old, late payments on closed accounts from when I used a debt consolidation service (had I only known then what I know now, no way I would have agreed to closing these accounts!) Except for Wells Fargo, all of the below accounts were included in debt counseling program and paid at lower interest rates and closed in late 2003. Began the debt program in late 2003 and completed in early 2006. I never missed a payment to the counselor, but they had a few problems and 3 of the following lates are associated with porblems the counselor had paying the OC, and some, like the HSBC 2 60 day lates, were consecutive months when I first started the program and the second one is false: HSBC CC - $300 Limit, $451 High Bal, 3 30 day lates, 2 60 day lates Cap1 CC - $768 High Bal, 4 30 day lates, 2 60 day lates Cap1 CC - $887 High Bal, 2 30 day lates, 1 60 day late Cap1 CC - $464 High Bal, 3 30 day late, 1 60 day late WaMu/Providian - $1100 Limit, $1415 High Bal, 4 30 day lates Wells Fargo Loan (co-signer with father) - $3600 loan, 85 months, 1 30 day late (I stupidly disputed the 30-day late on this one, but the account stayed on all 3 reports) So my plan of attack is to do the following: 1) Cease & Desist letter to ERS with a CC to Dell. Follow up with Dell 15-30 days later to try to work out a PFD directly with them before they assign another CA. 2) Litigious nutcase letters to the 2 paid collections for Comcast (2 different CA's). Would have sent these, but since I just moved from VA to TX, waiting on first utility bill to get a TX driver's license to include with nutcase letters. 3) Litigious nutcase letter to HSBC CC. Account was only open 5 months when I went into program. 4) 3 Litigious nutcase letters to Cap1 only mentioning the 60 day lates (they were all right around the time I entered the debt program) arguing that the only reason I went 60 days late at all was that they had trouble working wth the credit counselor. 2 of these accounts were 3 years old when closed and one was 5 years old. I won't do anything with WaMu/Providian since the account was open for 7 years and had 4 30-day lates and all older than mid-2005. As additional info, TrueCredit says the following about my scores: 1)Recent Late Pay (TU, EQ, EX) 2)Not enough debt experience (TU,EQ) 3)Too much collection debt (TU) 4)Too many late pays (EX) 5)Too many inquiries (EX) - BTW, there are 11, 2 will fall off this summer (i.e. before close), 3 were within 10 days related to mortgage shopping, 3 others in 2007 related to temporary apartment while house being built, Orchard Bank Card, and HSBC Auto Loan. 6)Not enough accounts in good standing (EQ) - BTW, AU on father's Chase only reported by EX so far And My FICO, back on 5/5/07 had the following to say: 1)Collection and a serious deliquency on your report 2)Recently missed a payment 3)You have multiple accounts showing missed payments or derogatory descriptions. 4)You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit. Any additional ideas and strategies will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post!!!
