Hey all. I have recently seen a copy of my credit report. I've had a few loans over the years, and have paid them off on time. I have 2 credit cards right now, and unfortunately one is nearly maxed, and the other is at around 75%, for a total of around $3500. One of them I have 2 30 days charges on them, in Sept and Dec of 2000. Last I checked (3/2002), my score was 637, from eloan.com. Not great, I know. Being less than 2 years ago, do you think that the company will be willing to get rid of those 30 day lates? How would I go about disputing those? Is email or snail mail recommended? Counting student loans, auto loan, and credit cards, I probably have around $30,000 worth of debt right now, and make less than $30,000/year. That is probably not helping anything either. Plus I am considering returning to school to switch careers. By the time I get out, I will probably be around $80,000 in debt, assuming all goes as planned... How sour can I expect my credit rating to become, considering the amount of debt I am acquiring? Seeing how I have a 637 score right now, I doubt it can get too much worse. Thanks to all here at creditnet for your help.
Jimbo, the first thing you should do is to check all three of you credit reports (ie. Tran Union, Experian, and Equifax) and make sure they are correct. I am not an expert, but I don't believe your income is accounted for in the make-up of your scores. By the sounds of it, you have 2-30 day lates, your cards are maxed, and you have some student loans. Not all that bad. You have a couple of options. You could either dispute the lates, or you could try to find a low apr Credit card and do a balance transfer. Then when your old credit card is paid down, you could ask for a goodwill deletion of the 2 lates (look up "goodwill" in the search engine below). This would keep those older accounts alive. If you dispute the lates and they are deleted, then the whole trade-line will be deleted, which will take away all the positive things you have accomplished. A word to the wise. If you go back to school, don't let your credit cards get out of hand, and make sure your student loans are always accounted for. Student loan lenders are probably the most inaccurate reporters to the CRA's. Good luck.
Goodwill. That's the key word I was looking for. Thanks for the info, and I'll keep in mind not to get them deleted. As for the APR's on the credit cards, they are below 12%, which for being my age, and my credit being the way it is, its not too bad. Anyway, thank you for the info.
