Finally Pulled the reports/scores..

I've lurked on here for a while read some, stewed some and finally pulled the reports. I've had a few bouts with un-employment and severe under-employment and became overextended.

I've been secure in a job for a few years making good money, so I finally decided to pull the reports because I'd like to get a house....

Here's the good news: I got a car loan on a used car 2 yrs ago and have not been late (it is at ~20% though)..., a Chevron gas card, a Household credit card & a Cap 1 card - I got these in the last 9-18 mos - all of these newer accounts are in good standing and showing no negatives on any reports.

When I got the car loan, my score was ~525 or 530 (the auto finance place told me not to worry - they could finance Al Capone, but it would be steep). I could have paid cash, but I figured the best thing to do was to get a payment history established again.

So I pulled my scores this evening from MyFico.com; they are better, but here goes:

TU: 607 - 07/04
Exp: 625 - 07/04
EQ: 591 - 07/04

Here's the bad news: my basic problem is that I have ~ 4 charge-offs:
Cap1 charge off - 12/98
Diner's Club charge off - 12/99 (former Arthur Andersen corporate card...another story)
Providian charge-off - 8/99
MBNA charge-off - 11/99

1999 wasn't a good year...

I've taken the FAQ/Newbies advice to pull the reports, give the scenario & post the results. I'm guessing that my advantage is that these are relatively old. No collection activities on these for a while and 2 these balances are a few hundred bucks and the other 2 are ~ $1,000 each. Fortunately, I now have enough $ to pay them if I needed to, but I know that will not make things better.

My guess as a strategy would be to dispute the validity of these with the CRAs as "not mine."

There is also a complication that TU and EXP have my old Cap1 listed from '98 but also as a new account as of 12/03 - which I never did...

I've also got a collection from BellSouth for a $200 unpaid phone bill on 2 of them - is the idea different to approach this?

Guidance, insight and divine intervention are all welcome.

Yours in credit improvement,
attta

 

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I've lurked and read all of the FAQ, sample letters, litigious mindset, etc., several times. I'm a sharp guys, but for some reason the process still eludes me a bit.

I was fearful to start the process - I'm sure that is normal at the beginning. But it was a "freeing" experience just to build up the nerve to pull the reports and that has greatly reduced the fear factor on moving forward.

Should the first step be to dispute with the CRAs since no CAs have contacted me for some time?

 

Wow - thanks for the feedback. I'll double check on the SOL, but I think that you are correct with the 4 years (Georgia). So you are saying that I could dispute with the CRA, they would/could try to validate this with the OC and suddenly wake the OC into "vigilante collection mode..." that doesn't sound good.

However, if my aim is to delete the negatives from my CR, then even with that risk, is this the right strategy. My guess is that if it wakes 1-2 up and it is not past the SOL, then I could try to reach a settlement for deletion trade-off? That makes sense to me since that would still lead to an eventual deletion.

The 2 Cap 1 accounts look similar (the dollar amounts are ~$950 and ~$1025), so I think that I may be able to do that. Also, I never did have an MBNA account - unless they were doing business under another name at that time...not sure how that works.

Thanks,
attta

 

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Thanks for the info -

I'm fortunate that I have a job that pays very well so I could pay off the car loan, but I thought that keeping the payment stream for the car loan was worth the 20% to keep an account on my CR.

I was thinking that getting the derogs from my CR *may* be not too difficult and would be the best way to get a better rate if I waited a few months once these were clear.

I can scrape a decent down-payment together- probably 10% or so.

Should I start by disputing these with the CRAs?

 

Thanks for all of the input!!

I've got about $25K in savings and about $60K in a 401K that I could take a loan against for a DP. (Thankfully, I'm making 6-figures, so I have good income).

My concerns are:

(1) Improve the credit situation quickly to have more options for a mortgage
(A) Dispute as "not mine" for the old Charge-offs
(B) If they can't get cleared, try to reach a pay-off settlement with the COs for a deletion (since they are past the 4 yr SOL in GA)
(2) Shop the mortgage, house, etc.
(3) Get some prime CCs to be able to buy the lawn mower, etc....

Is this sounding like a decent plan - please throw stones at it if it sucks...

 

BTW - I pulled the reports from myfico.com, is that a problem as far as sending copies of the reports back to the CRAs.

I also looked at Creditboards and they suggest getting rid of former addresses bad aliases, etc., prior to disputing TLs. Should I that first, since my reports have multiple old addresses and none of my derogs would be associated with my new address?

Thanks for the input...

 

Looking at another thread, it said that you could probably get the old addresses, etc., removed br the 3 CRAs over the phone prior to sending the disputes (via CRRM). Is this the best path?

 

I'm at work and I just disputed the old addresses online with TU, EXP and EQ did not show that option.

I saw where it is advisable to have the reports directly from the CRAs instead of a 3rd party (like I did from myfico.com). Is that true, or will the CRAs accept the printed online reports from myfico.com?

 

Sorry for the blow-by-blow, but since I'm just starting, I need a little assistance here.

I just disputed my old addresses, a wrong SSN and 5 other aliases I've never used with EXP. She deleted most of my old addresses, but would not delete one of my previous addresses - that is the address where my old charge-offs originated. How can I get them to remove that?

I'm guessing I can call back on Monday and simply say that I've never lived there, or will they have a record of me already calling to delete it?

I know that it is not much of a start, but after burying my head for so long, even the little steps of getting the reports, acknowledging the situation and beginning the confrontation process is pretty amazing...

How long after the this call do I need to wait to start disputing the TLs...?

yours in credit recovery,
attta

 

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