All, After reading everything I could on this board, including the FAQ, glossary and the primer, I believe I am ready to jump into the world or repair. First of all, I'd like to repair my wife's credit. I got a 3 in 1 with scores, and I now realize that these scores are not too accurate. However, it reports EQ 591 EXP 588 TU 591 Just to make sure, are these FAKO scores instead of FICO? I got my report at Experian's website for $39.95... There's some good and bad. I've got some stupid Fingerhut accounts on there that I'd like to close, but should I? Each of them is positive... Additionally, we've went through a pair of repos. The first one was a "soft" one, we got the car back and paid the loan off. This is still reported as a repossession, however, it is also reported paid in full. The second one, GMAC, we are in the process of paying the loan back. I find it unusual that some of them report at good, but others report as bad. How can I get them to remove the bad and keep the good? Finally, we're in CCCS repayment. I'd like to get some of our accounts that have been paid off the report, along with others.. My real question: What should I do first? (1) Dispute a few with the CRA's? (2) Do a debt verification with the OC's? or (3) Dispute the original debt with the OC's... Any replies would be greatly appreciated... Chris
I also pulled mine and it was EQ 567...not too bad. I'm going to work on some 7 year old accounts first on mine... Thansk for any suggestions...
I recently began the same journey by pulling the 3-in-1 report. While it gave me a general idea of personal info/tradelines, it did not include everything I needed to know. As a newbie, I would recommend: 1. Pulling up each report separately, from the source. 2. Removing previous addresses from your reports. 3. Signing up for Experians free Credit Expert Trial, so you can get a good idea of how on-line disputes work in a day-to-day format and check out their credit score simulator.
Thanks, I went through and got my actual EQ credit report today and prioritized everything on my report. I'll do the same with both EXP and TU. I'm going to sign up with CreditWatch per your recommendation. I disputed a few inaccuarcies already with EQ.
Good for you. I just began last month. Visit this thread to remove addresses. It is important, because some believe that the CRA's may use them as a 'lazy' form of validation. http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?threadid=41605
Here's the first plan: On mine, I'm disputing collection agency tradelines to start. I also have more than a few lates, so I'm going to try the "not late" on a few and "validation" letter to the rest after my first round goes through. On my wife's, I'm disputing the reposessions that are listed, along with a deliquent account. I'm unsure about the seven-year thing...I have a few that were opened in 1995 so I'm not sure if I should go after those for the seven-year thing... Thank for all the help...
2*however, it is also reported paid in full. 4*CCS repayment. Clakedorr =============== 2*Paid or not still a real bad NEG. 4*Nearly as bad as BK. The END ************************* LB 59
4*Nearly as bad as BK. WRONG!!! BK~~BAD!!! **CCCS~~REALLY, REALLY BAD!!! **NOTE...a few people have had great luck with CCCS...BUT "TONS" of people have had BAD luck with them!!! There have been people 2 years POST CCCS that still can't get a 100% securred credit card or mortgage under 10%
In the past, when I was concerned with the CRA labeling a dispute as "frivolous or irrelevant", I would save the "low hanging fruit" (like closed accounts, SOL accounts, etc) and intermingle them with my other disputes. I'm not sure if it had any validity, but my thinking was that it made the overall dispute letter less likely to arise suspicion then just a bunch of "not mine's". Now I'm not as concerned about it, so I'd consider getting as much of the low hanging fruit with the CRA's as I could, and just hit them all and see what's left. Then I'd put more thought into the last hangers-on.. Keep in mind, OC's don't have to validate. only CA's do (accept in TX, maybe some other states?). Learn the FCRA and FDCPA well, then you can keep an eye out for them doing things like inq's w/o a PP, not reporting your disputes, reinserting w/o notification, etc.
Re: Re: Newbie: Plan of action review I haven't found anything in TX statutes that say OC has to validate. The statute differentiates between 3rd party debt collectors and debt collectors (OC's), but still leaves validation only to 3P's. I've been looking thru Chap 392, do you know of another place this might be located?
Re: Re: Newbie: Plan of action review Well, due to all the negative information that I'm hearing about my good friend CCCS, I've decided to drop them. I'll pay the same payment that I was to each of the banks and ask the OC's or the CRA's to remove the "paying by credit counseling" statement on the report. If not, that's one more thing I've got on them...lol Otherwise, I'm proceeding slowly with each of the CRA's...no more than three/four disputes in this first round, and doing ones that I know need to come off (because 7 years are up) or correcting an address. I mixed in one or two ones that are a little more difficult...it will be interesting to see the results.
Re: Re: Re: Newbie: Plan of action review nope.. I don't live in TX, I just thought I had heard people here saying that TX holds OC's to the FDCPA and hence I thought that extended to validation. I may have been entirely off though, so I probably should have made that more clear..
