Here is my story. I have "worked" on my and my DH's credit on and off for years now but I sincerely thought that just meant disputing with the CRA's online. HA! Had no idea that they did very little to verify the debts validity. We recently applied for a VA loan to purchase a home and were denied. They used to only require a 640 credit score and that was basically it. Well apparently they have gotten stricter. His mid score according to Kroll Data is 650 with Experian when the Loan Broker pulled it. She had pulled for us back in January just so I could see what we needed to take care of and we were told that they did not look at medical at all and to just pay off the collection accounts. It was a 583 then. So we used our entire tax refund and paid off every single collection on both of our accounts, including one that was a judgement on his. My credit is not being considered at all since I am a stay at home mom and I have no income but I want my credit to improve as well. Anyway, they based the denial on him not having long enough positive history since the negatives and they wanted more of the down payment to be our own funds, not gift funds from my parents (VA doesn't even usually require a down payment but we were going to put 10% to help our case). So here is where we are today..... HIM: Equifax/634 Experian/646 Transunion/630 14 total accounts $41,039 balance 8 HP inquiries in last 2 years 1 BK from 2004 1 PAID judgement from 2008 - scheduled to remain until March 2015 9 baddies (5 medical/2 late pay/closed accounts/ 2 paid collections) 3 positive credit cards - only one with 12 months history. Utilization is under 10% on all. 1 positive auto loan - no lates ME: Equifax/544 Experian/597 Transunion/642 45 total accounts $118,613 balance (HELLO Sallie Mae!) 2 HP inquiries in last 2 years 1 BK from 2004 24 baddies (mostly medical and paid collections) 3 positive credit cards - only one with 12 months history. Utilization is under 10% on all. 1 positive auto loan - no lates Plan of attack: 1. Have parents add us as AU to their CC but may not work for DH after reading a few threads here. Have also read we need 6 open lines of credit so need to work on that. I am thinking a secured loan at our bank or DCU once I join. 2. Opted out. DONE 3. Send address deletion letters. 4. Goodwill letters for the closed account/late pays for both of us. 5. Using the Obsolete Letters for the paid collections and then DV if that does not work. 6. Work on getting the judgement removed from his report. Have seen several methods but thinking the 1,2 Punch or the Nutcase Series on this. 7. Going to try to get BK removed because address will be previous address, not current. 8. Then I will start the WhyChat HIPPA Series for all of the medical collections 60 days after I do all of these things. Did I miss anything obvious to any of you?
Welcome and best of luck!! I haven't tried the HIPPA process but have heard mixed things about it, so please keep updating as you go through it! I'm interested to see what will happen. Also, just a note on the old addresses, you can remove them right online with the CRAs and save some postage/time. I did it for both myself and my husband and it was finished within a few days.
Welcome to the forum. It sounds as though you have a firm grasp on your situation. Just a question about the statement above....why would this not work?
The CRAs are getting fussy about 'old addresses', if even one DF on your report is reporting that address, they won't let you remove it. Heck, they won't even remove an address that I never lived at, because (SOMEONE - they won't say who) reported it.
I have heard that Experian has caught on the the authorized user trick and that you have to share the same last name as the cardholder and the person can't be a spouse of a relative or they will delete the TL from the AU's report. Not sure if that is true but I am going to try anyway. Can't hurt. I have heard that about the CRA's and old addresses as well. I think it's only if that address is connected to a current delinquent account though.
I have my husband listed as an AU on 3 credit cards, and they all show up on his credit report. I had him on there as AU before we got married and had different last names. I guess we got lucky that they deleted old address for us then!
Did all three bureaus delete the addresses? That would be awesome. I just don't trust the online process anymore. Spouses can list each other and I'm sure they don't catch everyone. I can't see how they wouldn't allow a person to put anyone they want. I would love to see some actual guidelines of theirs stating why that wouldn't be the case.
I'm not so sure about that. Heather is a big advocate of getting yourself added as an AU to trusted friend/family members account that has a long standing solid history. There are businesses that facilitate this process and there would be zero connection between the client 'buying' into the CL and the actual account holder. I can attest that with a different last name/no family ties that you CAN be an AU on another's account and it reports on all 3. Not sure about the old address deal. I had no problem getting a few old ones deleted, but like you and jam said/alluded to, it might only be possible if it was 'reported' and not 'reporting'.
Authorized user route sounds like a good idea. Also, have you considered PFD letters on any of the outstanding accounts? You might be able to negotiate some of those bad debts right off your report.
Yes, all 3 bureau's deleted addresses online for both myself and my husband. As far as the authorized user, why not just give it a shot and see what happens?
There is no trick to the authorized user accounts. Experian has not caught on to anything. Authorized user account still impact your score and completely legal even if you are not family members. I work for a company that sells authorized user accounts. Most banks not all will report the history for the authorized user account like it has been on your credit report the entire time. Authorized users accounts can drastically improve your credit score. It depends on what is currently on your credit report and what type of credit card you are added to. Credit cards with higher credit limits and long perfect payment history's will impact your credit score the most. If you would like to learn more please contact me directly at heather@boostmyscore.net. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
