I would like to know how to go about doing it, hints, advice. When I was a few years younger, I was impulsive and foolish with money. No big debts, but piddly little ones that got me in trouble. I am working in a fairly good, steady job now and I would like to buy a car. Trouble is I can't get a loan. I've tried two different places, my bank and The Lending Tree and they turned me down. Does your credit need to be perfect to get a simple used car loan? I checked out my credit report on Equifax, it has 3 "pays as agreed" things on it (2 credit cards with high balance ratios and one closed health club account) and one "chargeoff settlement" from a Ward's card from a few years ago, with a zero balance. My FICO is 637, according to them "well below average" but it sounds like I might be in better shape than some of the other posters. My Experian report has my two current credit cards, the Ward's chargeoff and some obscure $25 collection thing that I have no idea what it's for. I just sent for my Transunion. I'm trying to get the Ward's chargeoff taken off all 3 (I'm assuming it's on all 3) and I contacted the number for the $25 collection thing to see what it was about. I left a message saying that if it was my debt, I would pay it if they would take it off my credit report. Again, I am a complete novice at this so any advice would be appreciated. This seems completely unfair, my credit really doesn't seem like it's that bad, the only thing I'm lacking is a lot of history.
The best thing I would do is take no more action until you take a few days and just explore this site. Questions like yours come up daily and are answered in various ways. Also, I would make no more phone calls but send validation letters (especially to the $25 dollar account). Sample letters are on this site and are searchable. My impression from your letter is that you are about to do the "shotgun approach" to credit repair by calling everyone and seeing what may happen. I would vote for the "planned" approach by disputing with the CRAs first then follow up with validation letters. Hope this helps.
Thank you Toothman. I guess I have a lot to learn. About a year ago, I discovered a discrepancy in my credit report and called them to have it fixed and they fixed it, so I guess I just assumed it was fairly easy. I know we really need a car. Problem is that my fiance's credit is about in the same boat as mine because of his divorce of 11 years ago. He's still recovering. The good thing is that he owns a house and we always make the payments on time. Would he have an easier time getting a loan or being the primary borrower than I would? Are there legitimate auto loan companies out there that work with less than perfect credit? Sorry for all the questions.
