Hi Guys, While i wait for my Experian CR to be mailed to me and response from my Cap1 application for a CC. I'm reading more on here in the mean time and started finding any old notices i had gotten from Collectors, statements etc (although they are way old, some from CA's that aren't even on my 2 reports, do i need this stuff?). Any one have tips on how to organize paperwork? How do you Organize yourself? What papers are most important to have. Do you have a system (checklist, excel, paid program, Credit monitoring?) to track progress? Thanks in advance for any input. Double thanks for anyone that has made no attempt at repairing credit for 5+ years and had to dig up paperwork.
If you are starting the process from scratch, I would personally "let sleeping dogs lie" if they aren't showing on your credit report, they may have transferred or sold the account in the mean time. The best thing would be to take it in a size that is manageable for you. There are some who prefer to work on one thing at a time, others who want to jump in with both feet. There are advantages to keeping records electronically, if you are adept at Word/Excel. Again, this comes down to how you are comfortable.
I agree w/ Jam - an Excel or Google Doc helps me organize most anything clearly. If nothing else you can cross off the things you've gotten to without losing track of the small stuff. Plus, it does the math for you if that's part of your process. I'd also agree that I would stick to the stuff on your report versus digging up old notices and things like that. From the sound of it, you've got a lot on your place already and there's no use adding to the stack. Start knocking off the most recent issues first, and if anything older appears later on then worry about it then.
Thanks for the responses. When you say use word/excel .. what do you mean? As a check list, too keep track of dates letters are sent and received? or scanning documents into them a a log? I was initially thinking in terms of separating actual paper folders to keep paper work like copies of DV letters and responses back and CRRR etc.. I thought about just using my scanner to keep electronic folders on my computer so i wouldn't have boxes of stuff to sort, don't know if i would have to produce originals in courts or if copies alone would be okay. In what ways do you use Excel /word? Thanks!
The way that I would use Excel would be to keep track of what step you are on for each one of your accounts. That way you can see the whole picture of the disputing process, or whatever. It depends on your personal style. Are you going to focus on each account one at a time or work on all of the accounts at the same time? If you are going to work on them at the same time then I would keep track of each step on a excel spread sheet. Thanks! Heather at BoostMyScore.NET
I think one at a time might work best for me. I just started listing out all account on one excel file and looking at it, I have about 23 Negs to work out. Some Are OC's that have charged off and are about to expire within 6-18 months. I'm not in dire need for credit right now so i thought it might be best to focus on Newer items that would be expiring in 2015-16. It seem this whole process takes a LONG time and i rather focus on lessening the impact of recent Negs. Maybe once that's done CRA might be more willing to remove the other as they approach closer to fall-off dates..? ist that a good strategy? - Following up on what someone said earlier about letting sleeping dogs be It may seem stupid but i have no idea what you mean by keeping track of the dispute.... like writing date items were mail, green cards, responses? I was mainly concerned with what to do with responses back from like DV letters and also When can/do CRA send you a copy of your Credit report when changes are made , should that be kept as proof in case the disputed item returns? BTW Heather love the boostmyscore idea. as i clean this mess up it looks like something i would def look into!
Good call. I think she just means keeping track of the dates and all the steps in the process. For instance, if you had a date column in Excel, you could list the date and then "filed dispute" under it. Then next time you got any correspondance, put what it was under the next date. Or (for example) if you sent a DV letter to a CA, you could put the date you sent it (by certified mail of course) and maybe put the confirmation number in there as well (of course, hold onto the real thing too.) Then, when you get the return receipt from the CA, update your spreadsheet with the new date and the name of the person who received it. When you get a response, same thing etc. etc...
Yeah i figured, I'm getting a physical folder bin and separating each File buy Creditor and then i will have 3 separate one for the CRA's. I'm a paranoid person ever since i lost months of quicken data when a hard-drive crashed. i'd probably do the excel thing and still print it out... I'm still going ever so slowly because i do have some things that will reach their SOL in a year or 18 months and i don't want to wake those guys up because i definitely wont have the funds to pay. Slow and steady, so if anyone still has input as to a system that works from them please feel free to share! Thanks
