Hi , I am new and am excited to have joined this forum. You guys look like you help each other out and that is great... I have been trying to clean my credit on my own and I have been partially succesful. I would like some advise on each of my negatives: This is what I have now... Cap 1 charge off , settled for less than full amount in 2004 (2) 30 day lates on my mortgage in 2004 I no longer have this mortgage, it was paid off. Receivable recovery CA paid off collection, 2004 My scores are : TU 581 EXP 639 EQ (none, no current revolving accounts) Which letters should I send and to whom, to the CA, OC, or CRA I did send all of these letters a year ago but I guess my letters weren't that good.... Please help...I really want to get this going again... Thanks, Lilo
Do you have any positive TLs? Your negative TLs are getting older, but without building a positive credit history, your choices are to try to get the negative aspects off the old TLs, or to remove the old TLs entirely. Currently the fact that they are at least all paid means they are partly positive. Your mortgage, in particular, even with a couple lates, is probably what is pulling you into the 600's. Do you have any open accounts that are reporting "paid as agreed" with no lates?
Thanks for replying. I currently do not have any open accounts. What I have are the paid mortgage with the two 30 day lates, the Capital One Chargeoff (paid-settled) and the CA,which is paid . In other words 0 balance. We refinanced our mortgage last year, and because my husband's credit was better, we did the mortgage under his name and now I have nothing. What I did yesterday is that I applied for a secured credit card with Orchard, and I know that will help me. My name objective is: To remove those negatives that I mentioned, and for that I would like to know what letter to use, To build new credit with secured credit cards for the time being. How many of these should I apply for... Does that sound good to you.... Thanks so much for talking to me....
Does your husband have any open credit accounts? If so, and if they are positive (no late pays, etc.) he could add you as an authorized user, and the credit history would also report to your credit reports. You would want to do this only for accounts with good history, and for best effect, carrying low balances compared to the credit limits. Make sure these accounts are always paid on time, never late, since they would affect both of you.
No, he does't have any open accounts either, except for the new mortgage which is being paid on time. The reason as to why his scores are a little bit better than mine, is because he doesn't have any negatives , well, except for the 2 30 day lates on the previous mortgage company. We are working on improving his credit as well. Any suggestions as to which letters I should use for: 1. the previous mortgage company 2. the cap 1 charge off 3. the ca, which by the way shouldnt' even be there because i paid the oc inmediately when i got the first letter of the ca. i failed to notify the ca that i was dealing with the oc, i guess that was my mistake. this was a doctor that i was paying my sons orthodontic treatment to. i don't know what to do.... Thanks....
Did you pay the med OC in a reasonably timely manner following receiving their bill? Was delay in payment due to delay or mix up caused by insurance billing? If so, ask them to have the CA remove the TL. If your goals are to get both your scores up, you may need to both open some form of revolving credit account to build up recent payment history on an open account. It could be a secured card, a department store card, or a card thru a credit union. At this stage the amount probably doesn't even matter; $500 or $1000 should be a start. Initially it will probably drop your scores some, but you want to build up the positive history, so the sooner you start, the sooner it will move from a negative to a positive effect. Your initial terms may not be great, so just don't carry a balance. Try to avoid annual or any other fees. Also, how old is your new mortgage? If it is less than a year, it may be pulling your scores down, but as it gets older, with a longer payment history of on time payments, it will start pulling your scores up. Regardless of anything else you do.
My situation with the orthodontist is the following: I was paying them monthly, I fell behind 45 days so they sent me a letter from CA, which they say once it goes 45 days they send it to the CA. I took that letter to the OC and paid them, within days of the delinquency. They said they would take the payment and to ignore the CA. The CA never bothered me again so I forgot about it. I then followed the treatment, which ended last May. I pulled out my report (last year) and it showed up then. I wrote a letter to the CA telling them that I had never dealt with them, that I had paid the OC directly, to please remove from CRA. They never responded. I also wrote to the CRAs and they say that the TL was verified and that it would remain. ( I didn't know about this verification letter you guys have here) I am now trying to have the OC remove the TL, but that office is a mess, the bookeper is a young girl who doesn't know what she is doing and who obviously doesn't care. I have already called 3 times this week since I joined your forum because I am all fired up about deleting these items. They will not be open tomorrow but I plan on going personally on Monday. Should I do that, or not ??? I think they are responsible for not having notified the CA that I had paid them. Ufff. What a mess.... Thanks for listening. My new mortgage is not even a year old....
