Hi all, I'm new here. I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks or so and thought it was a pretty comprehensive site, so here goes my first post. In a nutshell, I'm a 40 year old with bad credit (no open accounts within the last 2 years, just finished paying a garnishment from a creditor, late payments, recently divorced, etc.) and I'm trying to begin the process of rebuilding my credit. Up until about four years ago, I had great credit and could easily qualify for just about any loan. However, I got really sick while going through a bad marriage, became severely depressed, dealt with a problematic teenage son, the list goes on. In addition to all this, I had lots of credit debt and started having a hard time juggling accounts and paying the bills. I was overextended and exhausted with life in general. I threw up my hands, said to heck with them all, and just didn't pay. Nor did I care that they were calling me for payments. I really just didn't care. I had blocked it all out so as not to deal with it. My husband at the time decided we had to do something about the debt. We went through Consumer Credit Counseling and paid back nearly 38,000 in debt over a four year period. During that time, we never made one late payment. However, we separated and I ran out and got a card on my own I defaulted on. We're now divorced and I decided it's time to have a look at my credit report. It's not lengthy and it's not pretty and there are a couple of errors. I got absolutely NO credit at all for paying off all the debt through CCCS. My ex-husband, on the other hand, now qualifies for a prime rate mortgage and is in the process of buying a home. Equifax gave me a score of 621, which I know isn't great, but I tried to get an auto loan recently and was turned down. Even by a sub-prime lender. I couldn't get a score from TransUnion because I have to mail in for that info for some reason and Experian said I didn't have enough info to generate a score. So I figured I'd apply for a secured card and be diligent about my payments to show that I'm serious about being a responsible borrower. I applied online for an Orchard Secured credit card and didn't get an approval right away while online, so I think I've probably been declined and am now waiting for the snail mail letter (no formal decision relayed to me yet, but they've already swiped up the required 200.00 deposit out of my account). If I get turned down for this, where do I go to try and start the rebuilding process? I know that you can be turned down for a secured card - I've read about it happening. Sorry this is long-winded, but it feels good to tell someone my story. Thanks!
621 and you couldn't get an auto loan?!? I'm a newbie here myself, so I don't have much but sympathy for you, but I got a loan from Honda for a $30,000 car in September and my score was well below 621. Hell, at 621, you could qualify for a conventional, 100% financed mortgage. Obviously you'll be paying through the nose, but you could get those loans, nless you are trying for a car that's too expensive for your income. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying to you...
Welcome! One way or another were in some kinda crazy boat or trying to get on the boat to get off the island.... anyway...I qual'd for a loan thru American Honda Finance in Oct.. my score at the time was about 530... yes the interest rate is high! Wells Fargo, HSBC, Citi.. EVERYONE said No to me, plus it hasn't been 3 years yet since my 2( yes, 2) dismissed chap 13 bk's. there is hope here... after reading and for months I wanted to officially join in on the posts and the shared info.. it really does make a difference and I'm so thankful for everyone here....good luck to you and it WILL GET BETTER!
Hi, thanks for the response. I don't know why EQ has me at 621 and EX can't generate a report? I need to check TU, but have to mail for that one. I just got denied for a Target Red Card. Now I have inquiries on my report.
did you just apply online for the Target Red Card or did you go into the store and get the pre-approval? When I called I was told the pre-approved code only look at a Credit Report to verify identity and address info. hopefully you'll find some assistance maybe with the inquiry...the scoring really is a mystery to me... yours is definately higher than mine.
I applied online for the card. I've learned that if you don't get approval online right away, it usually means you've been declined. I called their 800 number and sure enough, that was the case.
Hi there, glad to meet you. Your not alone here, alot of us are/have been in the same situation. The credit repair/rebuilding process is very lengthy so it's important to approach it in small steps, otherwise you will be overwhelmed and burned out. First of all go to annualcreditreport.com and request free copies of all 3 of your credit reports. Then send in disputes to remove inacurrate names and addresses, I disputed mispellings of my old names and addresses as not mine and previous names and addys as "I fear this information could be a portal for identity theft". Give this an entire 30 days to be done and don't be surprised if only some, not all are removed. This is done for a reason, sometimes removing a name or addy associated with a certain acct can cause the item to be deleted also, and when you do your actual disputes it makes it harder to match it to you. While you are awaiting go through each and every item and note which accounts are positive and which are negative. The positive ones you obviously want to keep and the negative ones you want deleted or reporting correctly. Then assess each negative item for incorrect data, is it truly yours? are the dates and amounts correct? If you haven't already you need to read Psychdoc's seminar stickied at the top of the forum, all of the items up there are must reads. This will give you insight as to how to start disputing and why. You don't want to go into this blindly, if you don't know what you are doing and why you may end up making your credit worse or getting sued by a sleeping giant. This takes alot of time and effort and patience, you didn't get into debt overnight and you won't get out overnight. I don't mean to sound like I am lecturing but I am, it's important you know what to do and do it honestly and correctly. Above all never be untruthful. Post when you have questions, and you will, I guarantee it, it is a long and frustrating process. But this is your credit, if you don't make sure it is correct then who will? Keep in mind the other half of credit repair and that is credit rebuilding, it sounds like you have made a good start. Limit how much you apply for, alot of creditors don't like to see massive inquiries on your reports, if your denied then wait awhile till you actually get some credit work done, increase your scores a bit then try again. There no failure in trying. I was denied alot when I first started so I am now waiting awhile till my credit cleans up better to try again. I have a 3rd half to credit repair myself and it's my budget. I made a budget and I stick to it. Any bills I get are paid promptly, esp credit related, it's very important to pay all your bills on time when credit rebuilding. I hope that gives you some starters, I am not far past you so we can all learn together. I wish you good progress, Tegleg
Thanks everyone for the welcome and great advice. I could barely bring myself to view my credit report at first, so I feel better knowing I'm making a move in the right direction - one small step at a time.
JShimmer, you're right. It was an "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I do have a question. Say I dispute a 3 year old collection or charge off. Am I waking a sleeping giant and risking having the date changed to a more recent one? That's one aspect of this whole process that's confusing to me. I have one account that is on there as a charge off. It was actually transferred to another and they reported it as a collection. So, it looks like a charge off AND a collection for 2 different accounts. Am I correct in thinking this is the way this works? Thanks!
No, a dispute won't re-age the account. The only way an account can be re-aged is if you bring it current (e.g., make whatever payment they want to bring it current) or enter into an agreement to start paying on it again, even if it's not in full, and then MAKE a payment (it has to be more than just your verbal agreement). Payment in FULL or and an accord & satisfaction (settle the debt for less) will NOT re-age it, but merely discharge any further obligation. What a dispute WILL do is notify the creditor that you are trying to get it off your report -- which tells the creditor that (a) you're still there, (b) you know about the disputed debt and (c), most importantly, you're trying to get it off there for SOME reason. When you "wake the sleeping dog", you could very well be weakening your bargaining position, because if they KNOW you're trying to get rid of the TL/CA on your credit history, they can probably assume you are trying to clean up your credit to, perhaps, get a mortgage or other credit -- so they'll be less likely to negotiate a settlement with you (or, at least, negotiate one that's more beneficial to you than if you had NOT "awoken the dog"). But you can never predict this stuff. Some debts could have changed hands so many times, NOBODY has the ability to verify or, better yet, nobody knows. These HAVE to come off if a creditor can't verify them. But there is also the flip side (what I explained earlier) -- something ends up becoming a big problem when, had you let it sit, it would have aged off on it's own. But to answer your question (again), no - disputing an account with the CRA will NOT re-age the account.
Yes, you can have a charge-off (the original account) as well as a collection account on your history at the same time. The last activity date can not be any different (it's the SAME debt), but you can get dinged twice until the 7 years ~180 days expires. You should NOT, however, have more than one of each. If an original creditor (OC) sold the debt, they MUST remove their tradeline (they have, essentially, assigned your payment to someone else, so they no longer have a claim). Same goes with a collection agency (CA) - only ONE can be actively collecting it, so only ONE can appear. If the OC pulls the account from one CA and gives it to another, you can dispute the first CA's derog on your history.
