Iâ??ve been reading the posts for a couple of weeks and Iâ??m very impressed with the wealth of knowledge that all of you have shared. To see you all progress in your credit worthiness has been inspiring to me. Iâ??d like to share my credit story and begin the journey to credit improvement that you have all taken. Then- During my college years I obtained a Citibank MC, Chase MC, Amex, Amex Optima (remember those?), Fleet V & Bank of America V cards. All of these cards except for Citi were subsequently canceled by the creditors. Amex obtained a judgement in 1994 and subsequently referred the 2 accounts to a lawyer. I eventually worked out a payment plan and they were paid in full in 1996 (the judgement recently has been removed from all 3 CRA reports this year). I have since paid those credit cards in full, with the exception of Fleet ($500 left) and Citibank (still active â?? never late). I also graduated with what amounted to almost $27K in student loans. At the time, to try to â??improveâ? my credit, I opened a Capital One secured card, Providian Card (unsecured), First Premiere (unsecured) and FNB Brookings (unsecured) cards. I have since closed the FNB Brookings card (balance paid), the First Premiere card is at $0 (with the exception of their $5 participation fee, which gets paid automatically by EFT). Providian closed my account after a late payment in 2000 (the account has since been paid in full). The Capital One secured card is the only one that is open (but shows negative impact because of 2 lates). Now- I have managed to stay on time & consistent with my credit card payments [thanks to Paymybills.com] and recently was able to upgrade my Citi AA MasterCard to a Citi AA Gold World MasterCard and my request for a credit limit from 3,380 to 5,000 was approved [itâ??s a start!]. I have a Capital One Gold card (in addition to a Secured card) with a $1,200 limit. I recently received my credit reports online [Trans Union by mail] and signed up for Equifax CreditWatch & Experian CreditExpert. My scores as of 6/27 are as follows: Exp 640 EQ 638 TU 638 There are a number of negative (derogatory) TL on my file which Iâ??ll try to summarize below: Fleet NATB Visa 3 30-day Lates 4-01,9-00,6-99 Open 1-91 / Date Last Activity 6-02 FNB Brookings M/C 1 30-day Late 4-01 Open 2-99 / Date Last Activity 9-01 Capital One M/C 2 30-day Lates 12-99,5-99 Open 9-94 / Date Last Activity 5-02 Providian Visa 2 30-day Lates 12-99,1-99 Open 11-98 / Date Last Activity 4-02 SALLIEMAE $5K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $5.5K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $5K 2 90-day Lates 1-97,12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $5.5K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $3K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $1.9K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $0.65K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 - DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE$0.65K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* SALLIEMAE $1.9K 2 90-day Lates 1-97, 12-96 Open 10-96 / DLA 4-97 (transferred)* * these separate SallieMae Student loans were later consolidated to a $27K SallieMae Consolidated loan & has paid in full as of 11-2001. Chemical Bk St. Ln $10K 2 30d Late 2 unknown dates 1 60d Late 5-96 2 90d Late 8-96, 6-96 Open 9-94 / DLA 9-96 Chemical Bk St. Ln $5.5K 3 30d Late 8-96, 5-96, 1 unknown date 1 60d Late 6-96 Open 5-94 / DLA 9-96 Chemical Bk St. Ln $7.6K 4 30d Late 8-96, 5-96, 2 unknown dates 1 60d Late 6-96 Open 8-87 / DLA 9-96 Chemical Bk St. Ln $5K 3 30d Late 8-96, 5-96, 1 unknown date 1 60d Late 6-96 Open 5-94 / DLA 9-96 My EXP report lists an inaccuracy which I tried disputing but the status details says â??Verified and updated on 5-02. This account is scheduled to continue on record until 4-2003â?. Chase NA (M/C) Open 1-1988 Reported Since 4-1993 Date of Status 4-96 Paid as of 4-96 This account was paid off in 1991, but I cannot find the check for this last payment. What recourse do I have when Chase claims that it was paid 5 years later? Lastly, my TransUnion file has a collection account from ECOM for $132. It was an overdraft amount from an old X.com checking account. This was posted last year. I am asking the members of the board to recommend my course of action. I am thinking of sending a â??Goodwill Adjustment Letterâ? to Capital One to remove the 30day past dues. But other than that, do I dispute the multiple T/L with SallieMae & Chase? Any suggestions? I appreciate you all for taking the time to read my story & any feedback you have would make me forever grateful! I hope that within 3 years I can qualify for a mortgage (hopefully sooner) & move on with my life. Please accept my apologies if I was not clear with an item, please ask & I can try to provide further information. Thank you, Eddie F.
Hi Eddie, welcome to the board. There is a lot of great help to found on this board. I have gotten lots of baddies off my report. It has been a hard, difficult road with a lot of set backs, but with persistence, it will pay off in the end. I'm no means an expert on this board but I will offer my .02 cents and bump this up for you. The first thing I would do is read the FCRA and FDCPA all the way through and then read them again. Print them out, put them in a folder. You will be referring to them quite often. After reading that, make copies of your clean reports. On the copies go through your reports and highlight anything that looks inaccurate. Does it all look inaccurate or only some? Do you keep your statments that you can use to prove that a payment wasn't late etc... Then start diputing. Lets start with that Chase that was verified by the CRA. Who cares if you don't have the copy of the check? It's Chase's responsibilty to prove to YOU that they are furnishing 100% correct information. Dispute it with them and ask for validation Make them prove it to you. That collection...dispute it with the CA, not the CRA. CA's are shady, can't prove anything and are fairly easy to remove after months and months of sending them validation letters and not receiving a response. Is that a unpaid or paid collection? Let the board know that and you will get more feedback on how to respond. The lates. Dispute them. Dispute each and every date. Make them prove it. As far as the goodwill letter goes, it works for different situations. Do a search for "goodwill letter" and you'll see all the links and previous postings on this topic. PsychDoc gave a really good explanation of when and when not to use the Goodwill in a thread a couple of days ago. Hope this helps.
I honestly can't believe your scores are that high with all those negatives?? This scoring system will never be understood.
Thanks for your replies so far. I'll be sure to print out FCRA & FDCPAs and have them handy for reference. I think the fact that I paid off the $27K student loan, have not been late in almost 24 months on any payments (except 1 Fleet pymt 4/01), and have 8 T/Ls in "good" standing helps my scores. Plus the Amex civil judgments has been taking off my reports & ironically enough, Amex is reporting me to EQ as Paid Account / Zero Balance (canceled by creditor DLA 5/94 and 1/95, respectively). rblues - on the disputing items, e.g. Chase - should I dispute it online with the CRA or send them a snail mail letter? As for the ECOM collection with X.com bank. I remember getting collection letters last year from Coldata (Sp?) and unfortunately discarding them. Xcom bank has since gone out of business (merged with paypal) but it is listed as an unpaid collection (for $132). Should I request TU to validate? The plan for the Goodwill letter with Capital One -- I have a good relationship with Capital One (despite the 2 30day lates). They approved me for a Gold Card last Nov (1K, increased to 1.2K last month) and I've made multiple payments every month to pay down the balances. Lastly, the Student Loans with Chemical. I'm still a bit shocked at the 30 Day late - Unknown Date entries in my EQ report! I'll get started on your suggestions and will keep you posted! Thanks, Eddie F. P.S.- In todays mail I got one of those HFC loan checks for $3K. Sign it, deposit it and pay only $129/mo at 25% APR?! Are they kidding?
This scoring system will never be understood. bailey ============================== All you have to understand about it is it's a gimmick!
I would write Chase first and ask them for a payment history. Build a paper trail asking them at least three times. Then, if they fail to provide you with a detailed history, dispute it with the CRA again. Make sure you make the CRA dispute different that the first. This time you want them not just to verify, but evaluate the payment history.
