Today I recieved my first credit report, which is my Experian report. According to the nice folks at Experian, I have 7 negative accounts and 10 positive accounts(I guess they listed each and every little student loan I have taken out). I have 5 charge-off accounts, 1 180 days past due and 1 150 days past due. I imagine those last 2 accounts will be charged off by the end of the summer or sooner. Basically I am going to be dealing with 7 charge-offs. Something else I should note is that there are no listings from collection agencies on my report, only original creditors. Over the past few months I have recieved notices from collection agencies reagrding all 5 of the charge-offs, yet none of them reported. I imagine it is wishful thinking to assume they won't report the accounts at some point. My plan is to initially dispute 4 of the charge-offs as "not mine" and hope that the OC's won't verify. Those that do I will dispute with directly and again dispute with the CRA's, hoping that they will not report the account as disputed and catch them on a FCRA violation. One of my creditors is NextCard so I'm hoping they will be too caught up in their own financial problems to worry about responding to my dispute.
Yes I ordered reports from all 3 credit bureaus, it just so happens that the first one I recieved was from Experian.
TAT, Just curious, but is there a reason why you didn't order your reports online? You could have 30 days of free access to your EQ and EX report, which BTW update every 24 hours within those 30 days, and with TU you can view your report (and dispute) online.
The reason I didn't order them online was because that requires both money and a credit card, neither of which I have. I live in Vermont and we get 1 free report from each bureau every year. I don't exactly have a choice about letting the remaining 2 accounts charge-off because again I have no money and I got laid off from my job earlier this year. My family is in similar financial straits and are in no position to help me. I tried dealing with the OC's earlier this year and they were not very accomidating.
Just to let you know... It does not cost money for the free 30 day trials both EQ and EX offer. You can just put in a credit card number that is already on your report (which you'll need to do anyway for the verification part) and just cancel the service before 30 days are up (cancel between 26-28) that way, you will not be billed, you'll be able to see your scores, AND with EX you can still use the 10-digit report number to view your report through www.experian.com for free for at least 90 days. For TU, it's completely free. Just say you were denied credit or insurance within the past 60 days. It only allows you 6 days to access your report, and in those 6 days it never updates, however, it is nice to be able to get your (TU) report anytime you want instantly.
I just tried to access my report on TransUnion's web site and it gave me some message stating it could not confirm my identity and I would be blocked from accessing it online until the 28th...I'll get my report in the mail before that
They (EX) do not place any authorization on your credit card when you sign up. They will not "look" to see if you have available funds on the card. From what I can recall, the number was more for "proof of identification". Not sure about EQ. Don't remember them trying to authorize my card. Even if you decide not to do it, TU's report is still completely free, no charge at all for those who say they were denied credit/insurance/employment. <edit> Just saw your TU message. Wonder why it could not confirm you. Some of those test questions are "tricks".
Thank you for your suggestions mindcrime. Do you think that my plan with regards to disputing those charge-offs will be effective?
www.worthknowing.com is TRANS UNION...but it is a 3rd party type business...so even if you are LOCKED OUT OF TRANS UNION...it MAY NOT matter with www.worthknowing.com
