I've looked everywhere and haven't found anyone with this problem, but I'm sure some of you could help me. I'm looking for short- and long-term solutions. I just moved to new area, wanted to trade my car in for a small SUV, found one I loved hadnâ??t even got into serious negotiations when they ran credit check and Ford dealer said there was nothing they could do for me. I expected to pay a higher rate, thought credit was below average, but doable because of solid recent history. Guy buys my incredulous look when he says I have a repo, prints out portion of report and shows me with score: 495, and voluntary repo in September of last year with GE Auto. Bought Mustang in 1999, 60-month. Late a couple of times, but only got phone calls from lender, and was current entering final seven months of contract. Missed payment, set up automatic online payment, left country for two months, thought everything was cool. Returned to find online payment didnâ??t go through, never found out why, didnâ??t care. Called them, they said â??you owe two months, next month due in a few daysâ? and I paid immediately. Then made last four monthly payments as scheduled, and they informed me the title is in the mail. Any guess how that shows as a voluntary repo? No discussion with GE Auto, no paperwork about situation, never turned in car or even talked about doing something that ridiculous, and car was never repossessed. Obviously I need to dispute this, and assume it will be changed, but I wonder is there anything that can be done immediately as I really want to buy this car. Itâ??s a lousy $16,000 finance, and I make 90K at new job (30 days), upgrade from 60K at old job. Also, as a rookie idiot at paying attention to credit, how did my score get this darned low? I have only two credit cards, a corporate AmEx, and a lousy Orchard Bank MasterCard ($300 limit) for free Hyatt stays that I pay entire balance every month. Went through breakup and got in trouble with a couple of cards (Cross Country, Providian and Cap 1) in 1998/99 but total is under $3,000, Iâ??ve just been lazy in dealing with it, because I was upset about the fees, and I havenâ??t had to apply for credit in such a long time. Silly me didn't see they were hurting me. Where do I start?
