But not dumb ones, I hope. Yes, I've read the FAQ, and have spent the past several weeks browsing and searching on this board. I'm currently looking at credit scores from 498 to 509. All of my derogs are charged off collection accounts, a few of which have been paid. Most of these appear on the report multiple times, once for the OC and once for each CA that's handled the account. There are 2 accounts that are being reported as unpaid charge offs by the OC, but as paid collections by the CA. How would you guys recommend attacking that? I also have a single student loan being reported as 3 separate accounts by the same loan company. One shows as paid as agreed, but with negative history, one shows as a charge off, and the other shows as a collection. I currently have the paperwork filled out and ready to mail to the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program to get that loan current. Would I be screwing myself by doing that? Is there anything I should do creditwise BEFORE getting it current? I fully intend to pay it off, but I don't want to inadvertantly lose an opportunity to clean up some serious derogs. Also, how do you guys recommend taking care of accounts that are being reported by both the OC and CA? Obviously, I'm only going to pay one or the other, how do I negotiate to have both items deleted? I got a credit card from Plains Commerce bank 3 months ago and set up a weekly $25 (which is the minimum monthly payment) online bill pay through my bank to them, so I have positive history being built again. I'll also soon have the new student loan account adding positive history. Any ideas on good ways to add some more positive history on there in the mean time? Any other ultra easy to get credit cards out there? My goal here is to buy a house in the near future (year or so, if not sooner). I know you guys probably get these questions all the time, but I'm feeling really overwhelmed right now. Any chance some kind soul could offer some suggestions as to a general road map to follow for this situation?
One other quick question before I get started. It is my impression from reading over this board that I should try working with the OC to have items removed before disputing through the CRA, as to avoid having too many disputes and getting the "frivolous" label. That sound about right?
Oops, If you have not started the dispute process. Begin first with a not mine dispute, hopefullly you will get deletions and then work from there. You always want to start with trying to get it deleted.
Is it better to dispute through the CRA right away, or to hit it from the CA and OC side first so as not to pump too many disputes into the CRA and get labeled as "frivolous"? I think I've got a good understanding of the process, I'm just REALLY nervous about making a stupid mistake and making the process go from difficult to impossible.
The "Frivolous" label only applies after you dispute the same item more than twice and do not provide new info as to why it should be deleted. You want to apply the *Low Hanging Fruit* theory before you begin the validation process. *Low Hanging Fruit* Theory - dispute EVERY DEROG as *Not MINE*, wait the 30 days and usually 1/3 to 1/2 will fall off. Now this obviously depends on how old the debts are. Recent charge-offs or other recent derogs will not fall off so easily. When I began in March, I had several derog dated back to 1996 & 1998. I was able to get half of them deleted after the first round of *Not Mine*.
Dispute EVERY derog? All at once? I was under the impression that 2 or 3 at a time was the way to go.
