The new forums are a good idea. I do agree not to split up the prime from the sub-prime as some of it can cross over. There might be a piece of info that one group posts that could benefit the other and could possibly be missed. I for one, would probably not venture on to the prime board for awhile. There is just too much good information that we share with each other in that respect so it probably would not be beneficial to divide that topic. A possible split would be to spin off a forum for mortgages or another for car financing along with the other newly created forums (credit repair, letters) and just keep prime/sub-prime in the same forum. But, it would probably get too messy if you subdivide into too many forums.
Your points are all well taken. Allow me to elaborate on the subprime vs. prime forums. Perhaps this will help better illustrate our point-of-view. There is no question that there is some crossover between subprime and prime. A quick glance at the recent messages alone validates this claim. Messages which have crossover value should be posted to the subprime forum. However, not all prime-related questions bear relevance to the subprime market. For example, if a member has questions about balance transfer rates on various prime cards, or wants to discuss and compare benefits of prime cards, does that message bear any relevance to the subprime market? Should that message not be posted to the prime forum? In our view one of the reasons the ratio of suprime to prime is so large is precisely because we do not provide a separate forum for primers. It is obvious from posts and comments in the past that there are indeed primers visiting Straight Talk, but they find little value if any in the discussions because these do not apply directly to their credit standing. Our goal is to accomodate visitors across the credit spectrum. We suspect that introducing a separate forum for primers would encourage and faciliate discussions pertaining to prime credit. After all, just because their credit is good/excellent does not mean they have all the answers. Please feel free to comment on any of this. Sincerely, pbm
Hi, I'm a newbie to these forums and a sub-primer to boot. I find the prime posters remarks exciting only because they *are* primers, which I hope to be someday. But as previously noted here, I haven't been able to learn much from them. What I do find is that oftentimes when I come across a primer's post who started on this forum as a sub-primer, I' very much like to review his/her history on this board to follow the trail of how they did it. Maybe you could have a forum called "Made It!" or something to give the rest of us hope (no pun intended). Also, is there any way to jump through the index of topics to a specific month/date, etc? I'd like to read some of the earlier posts, but I find I can only go back page-by-page and with my dial-up connection it just takes to long to do it. Thanks! The main thing I've found here is how silly it was for me to think that I was the only one in the world with bad credit. It's funny, but 2 months ago I used to cringe when the caller ID showed "out of area", and hated to go to the mailbox. Now, I can't wait to skip out to get the mail and answer my phone with confidence (it's always salesfolk--sheesh, I never knew!) Hope
Message boards for Lexington, Junum, etc. would be great, and I'm sure that Lexington would benefit from the exposures. But, it does seem like people are about 50 times as likely to complain on message boards as they are to compliment. Lexington gets from 10 to 12 gushing client compliments a day by email (they send me copies of every one) and they receive very, very few client complaints. However, on the board, I see a disproportionate amount of negative feedback. That made sense ten months ago, before Lexington put so much effort into having outrageously good client relations, but now? I was, at one time, suggesting that Lexington host their own board to carry client feedback, now I don't know if that's such a good idea. I think they'd just get beat up by the tiny, but vociferous, minority. Perhaps part of the problem is that old clients who didn't experience Lexington's best efforts at client relations linger on the board, often repeating their woes. Getting the feeback from board posters has been invaluable to Lex (it fueled their complete client relations retooling,) but can they afford to take the beating at the same time? In any case, it's in the pbm's hands. Suggestions?
pbm, I think the high ratio of subprime credit members compared to prime credit members has nothing to do with a lack of topics of interest to people with prime credit. It has to do with the fact that when one has prime credit you just take it for granted. Until 1998, I had prime credit and used it without ever thinking about it. Separating the forum into prime and subprime would be a headache for posters here.
You know the more I think about it, the more I think I understand why there are not more postings about prime credit, and it has a lot to do with Jim's comments just now. People do tend to take prime credit in stride, and while they might search the internet to find answers to a question or two every now and then they don't really have enough interest in the subject to read through past messages on a board like this one. There is a lot of talk about prime credit here, but at first glance it seems like there isn't. When I was fed up with my credit a few months ago and was searching around for resources I came across this service. Before posting anything I stayed up until 6 in the morning reading every single back post because there is so much information here. I got a feel for the subjects and personalities here and then began posting. If I came here for a quick answer to a prime credit problem, I wouldn't have taken the time to read all of the messages I did, and I probably wouldn't have participated at all beyond posting my question and waiting for an answer. BUT --- It's up to the administration here to decide which type of person they want to attract. Do you want the quick "hit and run" questions or do you want to encourage people to stick around. I guess the answer depends on where the revenue stream comes from to keep the lights on. More quick visits lead to more unique hits and possibly more clickthrough on banner ads. A community atmosphere might lead to fewer unique hits, but more of a tendency for members to want to hit your banner ads. I know when I get the courage to apply for my next card I will go out of my way to clickthrough on one of your ads (if you are advertising what I want to apply for), where others might call on the phone, apply by mail or go directly to a company's website. I'd do this because I appreciate the service provided here. I don't know if others feel the same way. I can't say for sure, but I think I would be less likely to participate if the topics were split. Maybe I'm wrong and I would certainly be willing to give it a try. The reason I think it would not be good for the community is that while I'm sure all of the subprime people would read the prime board, I just don't think the interest is there for the prime people to read the subprime board. I like the fact that we're kind of all in here together now and I learn a lot from the prime people who still post. Well, this was longer than I intended. The administration here should do what they think they need to do to pay the bills. If it's two forums I'll stay to give it a try.
The reason I like the prime with the sub-prime is this: I am sub-prime but only a few items that are old are keeping me there. I like to read the prime folks opinions of which cards are better, which are troublesome and may drive me back to sub-prime level, which advantages are worth the fees, which cards report what info so I can begin re-building my credit once repaired...etc . I would not mind too much having to read a separate forum for these answers, I am just saying it's nice to read them and get "prepared" for primeville. Maybe we can focus on what we are trying to solve here...Is the reason for splitting the forums into more than 1 forum, convenience or # of messages that are handled in one massive list or "forum"? I ask because I am wondering if it is for the fact that people have too many messages to "sift" through before they get to a topic they are interested in, what # of group forums will solve that 2,3,10? If it is convenience, than what # of forums added - begin to detract from the convenience...Ie a forum for many different topics that one person must then read 4 or 5 forums to get the information he/she is interested in. Just wondering what people feel is the main DRIVEing factor for wanting multiple forums. If you could, maybe people could list what they are trying to solve or what the problem is (ie I find that reading 50 threads to finally get to a topic on Lexington is tedious), not what the solution is or outcome would look like (ie I would like 4 forums 1 for juno/lex, one for prime, one for sub-prime, and one for sample letters). Small difference I know but if we better knew the problems of posters it may clear the path to a better solution. -Dave
I want a sample letter forum, junum/lex forum, and credit forum. If it has to be that sub prime and prime are together, so be it. My preference has already been stated.
Perhaps a FAQ that will be read only? Something along the lines of what the Yahoo bulletin board has, but more specific and up to date? This way people can go about their business based on what their needs are. This should be some type of step by step process.. for example, questions to ask yourself and answers you need before you can start your credit repair process. 1] Do you have copies of your 3 reports yet? 2] Are there duplicates? 3] What is the SOL on your listings? 4] What type of innaccuracies are listed and how old are they? 5] etc. Something along the lines of that.. not sure if this really falls in the section of msg boards or not, but perhaps a read only section where newcomers can read that FIRST before throwing questions that have already been answered before..
Jason, your points are very valid.. however, at the same time I think that the feedback from the people on this board will definitely be helpful for those that consider if they would want to go Junum or Lexington or for any other credit repair company for that matter.. I would not suggest only a Junum or a Lexington for that matter for the reasons stated already for having too many topics, but moreso just a general one for credit repair companies and how effective they are. it is very encouraging to hear insight from people that are getting good results and bad results based on their choices. If Lexington does start getting a lot of negative feedbackhere, perhaps it would spur better customer service? For me, I am working on my own credit repair but still hearing from other experiences is interesting indeed..
Instead of having a subprime vs prime section - how about putting those two into one section and splitting the credit repair vs credit rebuilding. The differentiation ni this is that credit repair is based on validation, verification, dealing with judgements, CA's, etc. including issues with prime. Now credit rebuilding or building in general would deal with optimizing your chances in getting higher scores.. this means techniques such as getting a $1k loan and back it with a CD and do this for multiple banks or which mix of cards is optimal, or how to raise your score, etc.
I wonder if the FAQ board is a natural compliment to the templates section... I mean, could they be combined
Based on the overwhelming feedback we will not split the prime from subprime. Instead, we will keep these two categories in one forum. It is also obvious from the feedback that a Sample Letters forum would be welcomed, so this will be the first addition. We have collected several specimens which were contributed to this board and are preparing them for inclusion in the initial rollout of said forum. We will request feedback on the Sample Letters forum in a separate thread. As for the other proposed forums such as mortgages, credit repair, and credit building, feel free to discuss these in further detail. We are standing by and listening. Thanks for your time. pbm
pbm, What about a place for vocabulary? I mean, the difference between verification and validation. OR APR, grace period, etc. This might go along with Ender's suggestion of a FAQ forum, and maybe this can go into the sample letter's area. Just a thought.
PBM, I have a question for you, I registered for straight talk last month when the new board format rolled out. We were thinking of other forums right about that time, also. I guess my question is: Once we are registered for one forum, do we need to register for all of them? I mean, if we do have to register for 5 other forums (for example) there are 5 other passwords that we have to remember. Just wondering! Thanks in advance. You and the Admin do such a great job with this board. I'm very impressed. Thanks for all of your hard work.
Most of the time I find it easier to just lurk because usually by the time I can get around to answering an existing post, someone else has already answered it in much the same way that I would. However, I think it would be a mistake to separate prime from sub-prime. The denizens of each can learn from the other. And hopefully, with time, those in, as Erica says, "Sub-prime Hell" will escape Purgatory and become part of the "Prime" world. Those in prime heaven can learn from the experiences that those who are sub-prime have and also glory in the successes as well. Seeing the prime world mixed with their's shows those who are sub-prime that there is a brighter future available and a worthy goal attainable...Prime Paradise The other divisions I think are excellent and I would be in favor of them and the suggestion concerning Credit Repair companies is also very good too. Fla-tan
No. Registered users will have access to *all* forums, not just this one. Furthermore, your registration also gives you access to online chat once we roll that out. So you should be good to go on all fronts. Sincerely, pbm
Erica, When you registered for the forums, you registered for everything in the Straight Talk section of the site. This means that no matter how many forums we add, you'll only need that one login. Also, when we add chat (coming soon), it will also use the same username/password. Edit: Yeah, what pbm said.
