So I need some guidance: My wife and I went through a bit of financial trouble 5 years ago. I should have filed Chapter 7 then but wanted to try and save things. That didn't work out so well. All of our revolving credit got charged off and it took sometime to start and rebuild things. I have tried one of the major credit services and after a year, nothing really happened other than unresolved disputes. I went back and tried a different company and pretty much got the same results maybe less. So I have seen a few of the creditors hit our bureaus lately and I would like to know is there a path I should try. Should I try to negotiate with any of these creditors to see if I can get them to 1) Settle, 2) Stop the reporting up to a deletion for pmt. Should I contact an attorney (which will cost more) and see if he/she can negotiate terms on our behalf. I really want to get this behind us so we can get into a position of buying a house. Thanks for listening
I would give it a try on my own first. Cleaning up your credit reports and negotiating settlements isn't rocket science. It just takes some time and persistence. If you're up for it, start communicating with the creditors listed on your credit reports and develop a strategy for negotiating payment while keeping your credit scores in mind. Remember- paid collections are just as damaging to your credit scores as unpaid collections. The goal is to seek removal of the negative information in return for payment, but every situation will be different. In some cases, you may need to settle for less, but you just need to be flexible and make adjustments along the way.
