I had a Chapter 7 discharge in January, since then have paid off a 5K student loan, and just recently applied for a $700 Secured Credit Card that I should receive this next week. There was an $18 annual fee. During the week, someone from a credit rebuilding agency called - I had left my number for them to call me - and said that for $79 she would be able to have the negative items from my credit report removed. Such as, the bankruptcy itself, and the accounts included in the bankruptcy. When I inquired as to how they do this, she was vague. I passed on the offer, and am still wondering...can I have these items removed, and if so, how should I go about doing that? Just start disputing them on my credit report? I live at the same address as when I filed. My credit score as of Mid-March was 642. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Luckyword
You can get some of the items removed but, not all. Honestly, if there are many I wouldn't mess with it. You're facing an uphill battle with the public records and accounts included thereunder. Removing even half, which we at Apex Credit Services typically do, is not going to improve a 642 that much. Plus, the remnants will shoot you down automatically with some lenders. Finally, $79.00 is too low of a price. One couldn't expect much for that.
Is 10 too many? I have about 10 items on the credit report...credit cards, that is. Is that so many that I shouldn't even bother to try having them removed?
Well, the choice is ultimately yours but, you're not going to get them all removed through just disputing them (you may be able to accrue violations and litigate). It may improve you score somewhat by removing them but, anything that remains will lead to automatic decline with certain creditors. Thus, even if you got to a 720 (which we could do through removal and the addition of tradelines) you'd still get rejected by some lenders. However, there are some lenders that will touch you (HSBC, Merrick, etc.) and improving your score theorically would improve your chances of approval and interest rates would be better. I suppose what I'm saying is that you face an uphill battle and it is time consuming to do this correctly. A $79.00 company isn't going to do much good and if you yourself don't know what you're doing, you could make matters worse. So, you could read these boards and make some headway. However, just don't expect to set the world on fire right off the bat.
This is going to be a long and tedious process so unless your in it for the long haul your going to have days that seem its a hopeless cause but just be patience it will pass.
