I have been reading posts for the past few days despite trying to move at the same time; needless to say, I'm hooked! There are some extremely dedicated people here, and the whole board itself is very helpful. Everything I've read thus far has truly inspired me to get my credit into shape. However, I'm a bit stumped trying to get a strategy in order. Up until the very end of 2005, I have been working at somewhat low paying jobs due to the experience they offered. It was a strategy I went with in order to build my resume to allow me to get my dream job. While doing so, I was also supporting my wife as a stay-at-home mom as well as two kids. During this time, I incurred a few late payments and some extra debt (not to mention a car I really shouldn't have bought). Fast forward to 2006...I have finally gotten the dream job I have been searching for. Work from home, family trips, over $200k a year in salary, etc. However, now I have to pick up the pieces from my "building years." We need to purchase our first home (tax reasons, of course), yet are worried about the credit situation. I would also like to purchase a car in the next month from a family member (we went down to one vehicle) and am having trouble getting a loan for that. My wife has a credit score of 680, though she has no income. I have heard that we will probably not be able to get a car loan on her credit, because most banks don't care about "household" income, but personal income. My credit scores are: 586 (EX), 575 (EQ), and 596 (TU) The first big area I need to clean up are my inquiries. From the combined reports, I have 24 inquiries. About 10 of these came from "car loan network" where I submitted one application and got queried by multiple companies. Some of these are accidental duplicates (one from a credit card, one from its parent company). Onto my accounts... * revolving line of credit (overdraft protection) with a $300 limit and a balance of $0. * closed credit card with a perfect history that EX says is closed and EQ and TU says are open * Beneficial/HFC collection account with two 30s and one 60 back in 2001 (paid) * Chase credit card maxed at $11,000 with two 30s (I'm planning to pay this card off this week) * Car loan at $17,000, perfect history * A closed credit line with eight 120s (no 30/60s) from 2001-2003 * Very old home store credit line from 2000 EQ still says is open * A revolving WFNNB account with 30, 60, 90, 120, 120, and then a CO (paid and closed now) * Collection account with three 60s (paid) * Car loan with balance of $11,000 with four 30s (COMPLETELY paid and closed, though all three bureaus have duplicate accounts that are still open!) * Revolving credit card with $8000 limit maxed I know, that's a lot of items! However, I am currently not derogatory on ANY accounts, have no judgements, liens, or bankrupcy...just a lot of lates here and there, a ton of inquiries, and possibly too much debt (though, as I said, Chase is being paid off and the second auto loan I mentioned is fully paid off and closed though the CAs do not report that). I guess this is a perfect example of how a score can get horrible even without bankrupcy and other highly derogatory items. From what I've read on the boards, I need to get my envelopes ready and start getting the incorrect accounts (open when they're really closed) taken care of, and then work on some of the CA accounts and such...but I'm unsure where to begin. Do I mail the CAs or the CRAs? How should I begin? Once I get this going, I know I can make it happen, but I'm really unsure where to start!
Here's where I think I need to do with these (numbering from the first on down as posted above)...but I am an admitted newbie at this, so please feel free to say "You're being st00pid!" 1. No problems here 2. Let them think that. Open perfect history card with 0 balance = good 3. Either nutcase or knockout...I doubt they'll respond to goodwill 4. Pay the card off but do not close, send a goodwill/intent-to-reuse-only-if letter to Chase 5. Keep paying. =) 6. Dispute this to the CRAs 7. Let them think that. This is retail credit 8. I'm stumped on this one, not sure what to do. I'm thinking nutcase or knockout 9. stumped here too 10. I have called the financial group and asked them to mark it as closed, which they are doing (and sending me a letter). I don't want to have two car loans open if I'm trying for a new one 11. Pay it off as soon as humanly possible I'm still working out how I will do all this...but it's a start.
