I will begin by saying none of this would have been possible without the help of this board. I have posted maybe once or twice, but spent my time soaking up all the knowledge and using what was practical for my situation. THANK YOU!! My husband and I became unemployed at different times in 1996 for a period of 3 months, it was this time frame of lates I was working on, everything since 1996 is current. Things were very bleak in 1996 and our options were to file BK or a program and we went with GENUS managment counseling to stop the calls. If any of you are interested it worked for us and never IN OUR SITUATION did it show up on any of the credit reports as consumer counseling, but what did show up was a total of 47 negatives. Since that time we have maintained a perfect pay history and finished the GENUS program. We did not try to establish any new credit. Last year my husband had to have a credit card for his job travels, which we applied for and could not get; thus began this one year journey. We started with him becoming an add on to a relatives card and we charged and paid each month; then I started contacting all the creditors and asked them since the account was paid in full and it had been since 1996 would they clear the negatives off our reports, this is where I had the best luck, the majority of them said yes, the rest I started the disputing process of certified mailings and online disputes. I spent a lot of time and money mailing things out, but it has been worth it. I have 2 negatives left, MBNA and a tax lien, which should come off next year, nothing will remove these. Last week I started applying for cards, hoping for the best and this is where we are today the total reflects cards for both of us. AMEX Blue- 24K CITI Plat- 7K Bank 1 Plat - 1K USA T-5K Cap 1 Plat- 5K Chase - 5K We were turned down for the Sears Mastercard Our scores range from 670 -720. Our plan from what the information I have gathered on this board is to rotate the cards to show usage and pay history to maintain and elevate the scores. I hope this encourages some. There were times when I would get frustrated and not read the board or even try, but then I would start again. Like most people, we did not choose to ruin our credit, we fell on hard times not of our doing; if you have never been there, count yourself blessed and be kind to those who are. I want to personally thank George, Breeze and Psyhc Doc for information that I found to be useful; no I did not try the nut case letter. Thank you again.
