Hi everyone! After years of waiting, very old debts have been falling off my credit reports like clockwork over the past few months, with the very last of them scheduled to fall off at the end of January 2008. (Sadly, I never knew CreditNet existed until about 3 months ago, so I haven't done much in the way of disputes). When this final debt falls off, the only thing that will exist on any of my credit reports is my student loan, in the amount of $40K, which is in good standing. When I pulled my scores a week ago, they were 643 (Experian), 605 (Equifax), and 566 (TransUnion). I have one dispute pending with Transunion because they're reporting my student loan twice - both the original loans and the consolidated loan, so it looks like I have $82K in student loan debt instead of $41K). In a sense, I feel like I'm starting with a clean slate, and this time I want to do things right. My BF and I would like to buy a house in the next 3 years, and I know I still have work to do in terms of getting my credit score up to a level where lenders will look at us as desirable candidates (his credit is good). For the sake of establishing a revolving credit account, can someone suggest a card for someone like me? One without outrageous participation fees? I'm not TOO concerned about the interest rate at this point, because I will NOT be carrying a balance, but it is of course still a consideration. Also, even though my old creditors can not pursue legal action to collect from me, and the old debts will "cease to exist" on my credit report, is there any reason for me to worry about them attempting to collect? or to thwart my efforts to re-establish credit? All of my debts were relatively small (none over $3500) to begin with. For example: Say that I apply for a Discover Card. Even though Discover no longer reports on my credit report, could they look back through THEIR old files and find that I defaulted once upon a time and deny me based on that? Thanks everyone!
Some creditors blacklist applicants with unpaid, defaulted accounts. One problem I see now is that if only one account tradeline remains after the storm clears, you may or may not have enough information to generate a credit score. Honestly, sometimes one is enough and sometimes it isn't. If it isn't, you'll have to resort to a secured card or a sub-prime offering. You may have to if the score is present but, too low. With one positive account and nothing else, you could ask a family member or friend to add you to an existing account. Once that would report, you scores should be around a 700 or so. If that's not possible, you could go to a company which offers the service. Be wary and look at credentials. Honestly, you need to wait and see where the scores are, or aren't, when everything comes off.
