All: I have spent the last few weeks perusing these posts and trying to get up to speed on all the various tactics that I may be able to use to improve my credit score, which currently hovers in the high 500's. However, I'm somewhat confused, and I'd like to call upon the knowledge of some of the old-timers here to help me develop a plan of action. A little background on my credit situation... I have quite a few negative items from when I was in college, and a few more recent ones that are causing me most of the problems. A summary: 1 paid AT+T collection from 2000 (Goodwill letter written in effort to have removed by collection agency, has been removed from EXP via regular dispute) 2 paid dental collections from 1998 (Collection agency offered to remove completely upon payment in full, but only reported it as a paid collection. Goodwill letter written in effort to get collector to adhere to verbal agreement) 1 Household Bank (GM CARD) charge off (charged off in 10/96, not sure when this is due to fall off my report... was 120 days late in 9/96, so I'm guessing May of this year) 3 student loans (from the same company) with delinquencies 90+ days. These are the most recent delinquencies I have, as these occurred in late 2000/early 2001 due to financial difficulties. I am clueless on what to do about these, if anything. I have two credit cards with a combined limit of $10,000, with approximately $5,000 on these cards. I am actively sending $800.00 per month to reduce my outstanding balances. I have 7-10 hard pulls on my account over the past two years. Three of those are thanks to CarMax, who pulled THREE different times in an effort to "comparison shop" a rate to us when we purchased our Jeep in 2002. Others include Tampa Electric, our apartment complex, and my employer, all within the past year. Since January of 2001 (when I met my wife), I haven't been 30+ late on a single account. Not knowing any better, I paid off the three collection accounts (which were all $200 or less). I've successfully disputed a few items, but I'm still stagnant as far as my FICO score goes. I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions or advice any of you could give me. My wife and I have a baby on the way, and we'd like to improve our FICO scores to 620+ by this time next year. Her scores are slightly higher than mine (in the 590-600 range) but she has a bankruptcy that is about 7 years old still on there. Thanks for your time, and I apologize for the long post. Matt
Sorry to keep bumping... any suggestions? I just received the results of my Experian disputes. One collection was deleted, two items remain, and one student loan was updated with a new date that it's supposed to fall off... wtf? Also, I have yet to pull last years reports and compare them to the recent ones, but I'm pretty sure that the one account that's showing as 12 times past 90 days is inaccurate. If I can prove that by showing the previous credit reports, is that good enough? Anybody got any ideas?
Have you disputed with the other CRAs yet? How long ago did you send the Goodwill letter? Have you disputed with the CRAs? Is it paid? Have you been contacted by a CA? Is it reporting a zero balance? Do you still owe on the loans? If so, ask them if you get the loans up to date, will they remove the lates. Have you disputed this before?
