I have visited this site, and I guess been a little intimidated to post. I have been reading for hours, and trying to find a situation that pertains to mine. Either I am blind or dumb! I had alot of shitty luck in my life, and therefore bills went unpaid. I have a total of five credit cards. Two of which are paid off. I found the letter to use in that case. I have 30,60,90 day lates on all of them over different peroids of time.These cards never went to a collection agent, and there are all with the Oc. What letter would I use to write to the credit card companies that I am current with but have NOT been paid off yet. All of these cards are closed. The reason I was intimidated for posting was I never knew a website like this exsisted, and I wasted my money on a credit repair company. Please keep the laughs at a minimum. I have already ben made fun off since I paid $300 to have one negative mark removed over four months. I also was in CCS, and can that be removed. I am looking to buy a home. I have put myself through school and make a nice income for my age, but I do not get approved for anything. Someone through me a bone. Thank-you in advance Ricky
Ricky, I read your post and I am pretty pissed that they took this situation. Anyone with any advise or help towards your future goals on this is probably thinking the same thing here. I have about $50 of total debt between 7 credit cards and it makes about as much sense as CCS taking my situation. Anyways, back to the problem here I'm not sure where you stand at this point. I can also be dumb and have the same luck at times. Do you have any credit cards open at this time? Are all 5 credit cards reporting some kind of negative information? Is it the 3 credit cards that are closed with balances your only negative problems right now? If you are a little more detailed on this you can probably get the right directions to what you are looking for here. I understand you probably didn't want to make this a very long post and to hard to follow being your first one. But more details are needed here to get the right directions. Good luck! Oh ya, how long has it been since you have been late also?
Thank-you for replying! Here are the details: Aspire Visa-30,60,90 This is closed, but current Orchard Bank-30,60,90 This is closed, but current Aspire, and Orchard still have balances Verison Visa-30,60,90 This is closed, and paid off Macys-30---This is open and current with a balance 1st Premeire---This is open and current with a balance--No lates on this Beneficial Loan-This is current, and there is still a balance. No lates on this These three (Beneficial, 1ST, and Macys) I am using to help rebuild my credit. I use them and pay them every month. I have not been late in over a year. I have the letters For the paid and closed accounts. Macys will be paid off in the next two months. The question is where do I find addresses to mail these letters to? Can I do it on line somehow. I have read that specific letters are better for certain situations. I just do not want to ruin my chances of having these removed by sending the wrong information. Once again thank-you for responding and making an emabarrassin situation a little bit easier to handle.
Your best bet at a mortgage with conventional rates will likely be FHA. Do a search using FHA and you'll find many threads where CN'ers with awful scores have gotten conventional rates. FHA is not score driven.
Thank-you for the useful information. I will look them up during my workday. I do not think my credit scores are that bad. All three are around 650. My best friend is a mortgage broker, but I am embarrassed to have him help me bc of my lates
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! Hey Ricky, Don't be embarrassed...we all learn from EVERY situation, right? So with that, stick with this board. We are kinda like a love-hate relationship here! or disfunctional family--you be the judge over the next few months!! Anyhoo....you asked...."The question is where do I find addresses to mail these letters to? "... --what are you wanting to do here with what type of letter? I think I know what you want to do, but am unsure. Are you wanting to have these lates removed? If so you need to be careful. That is called a 'goodwill adjustment' and in my experience they rarely work, especially if you only have 1 year og no lates/and good add'l credit. It's also considered risky to mess with an otherwise decent TL, especially if it's and older one because they sometimes tend to get deleted altogether, and nearly impossible to get added back! Lates are not good, but they are not as bad as most think. My advice is to just keep paying down any balances and keep everything CURRENT untill you get to the 2yr mark, and have NO negatives that occurred in that 2 yr period. That's what mortgage lenders look the hardest at. You did not mention if you had any charge offs, or judgments. If not, this is a great positve too. Do u know your scores? That is a good way to start too. You'll need current CR's too, from all 3 CRA's. No accounts with a CA is good! I wish I could have said that when I joined this board! Keep us posted!
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! Thank-you for your reply! I am trying to remove any negative mark possible on my credit reports. I have never had a judgements or had anything in collections. The lates that I have was listed in the above post. I also described what the current status is at this time. My credit scores are all around a 650. I have not checked them, but I will once I figure out a game plan here. I do no think I have a good enough relationship with any of the creditors to write a "goodwill" letter. I was looking for another approach. My goals is to have the negative marks removed (espicially the 90 day lates) My question is what letters do I use for my situation, and do I dispuite them as invalid/incorrect. Do I write them letters through the mail. Can I do it online. Thanks again
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! Ricky, A "TL" is a "trade line" and a trade line is each individul listing on your credit reports. I am not a long timer here - but is sounds like you need to dispute directly with the CRAs. Thats the best first step when dealing with original creditors (rather than collection agencies) There are follow up steps if things are not corrected. But that is where you start. You can do this by writing a letter, or by doing it online. If you don't already, you do need a credit report from each of the three (4) CRAs to be able to do this. If you decide to write the letters, they are simple and listed almost everywhere on the site. The entire process for disputing an original creditor TL is listed somewhere here. Basically you just say..."Account # XXXX is wrong" for whatever reason "never late" "not mine" "closed" "open" the list of reasons to dispute a TL goes on and on. If you decide to do it online - its very easy too, and the CRA websites pretty much walk you through the process...just make sure you keep copies of everything, for your records. Most often the best way to dispute a very bad TL is to go the "not mine" route... because if you use the "never late" way first... it becomes very difficult to say "not mine" later. The CRAs delete TLs that are not verifiable. But in your case, you may want to try to keep the trade lines, if you can turn them into a positive. (you do still risk a complete delete though) I am sure someone who has been here longer and has done more work will give you more information. But since most of my stuff is still with the Original Creditors as well, I thought I would throw out the little I know.
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! Hi Ricky! Just to clarify real quick... What Tonyd was trying to tell you, is to be careful before disputing these trade lines with the CRA's because even if you just dispute them as "never late", you still run the risk of them deleting the entire tradeline. That might hurt you quite a bit. Lenders only look at the last two years (as Tonyd was saying) and then, what they are most concerned with is that everything is paid and/or current. It sounds like your report is pretty clean really! Have your friend check it out... he has seen a lot lot worse! Good luck! NuB
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! I agree with everyone else... letting em age is a sound plan. Just keep current with everyone. The other option is writing to the companies and asking nicely if they would change the listing. Its been known to happen. Look for the "goodwill" letters.
Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! If i were to do this would this ruin my chances down the road. Wouldn't I be verifying that I was legitimately late on these accounts, and then that ends my chances of cleaing this up. I know I could be in worse shape. Its the ccs program that I went through, lenders view this as a bankruptcy. I appreciate all the help from everyone. Still a little confused, but I am getting there.
Re: Re: Re: So confused---Go easy on me!!!! **If i were to do this would this ruin my chances down the road. ---Not that I am aware of but you do run the risk of the CRA accidentally delting the TL in it;s entirety, and that can lower your score and harm your overall picture in the long run. I know in this credit repair game, we all would jump at TL deletions being that easy, but not the good ones!! **Wouldn't I be verifying that I was legitimately late on these accounts, and then that ends my chances of cleaing this up. ---Possibly but not really...and even if you did admit it, the debt is paid, or current. I would not worry about the lates, Ricky, seriously. Mortgage lenders are VERY different that auto lenders and CC's; most mortgage lenders would be glad to get a candidate like you, I am sure. If you are mid 600's that is considered 'FAIR' scoring, or about middle of the road. **I know I could be in worse shape. ---YES YOU CAN! You need to pull your scores and see where you are. **Its the ccs program that I went through, lenders view this as a bankruptcy. ---I am sorry but I dn't know much about this and why they view it like that, but you are on the righ track. It's unfortnate but a reality. oh, and you really should dispute anything in writing, via USPS (US mail) with a CRRR (certified return receipt requested)...@ $4 and change per letter, it's well worth the money.
