o.k. guys, here is a question....my husband and I both received our credit reports from the CRA's and well lets say his compared to mine is considerably better seeing he has two charge offs for a total of like 150. plus a good line of credit still open and I have like 10 charge-offs (some duplicated) with over 2000. ( with the same good line of credit) now we have been paying some off and I now know that is restarts my 7 years, but for the others that are about 4 years old should I wait until they drop off or pay them? No here is the snag, we want to buy a house in about 2-3 years. We are military and can use VA, or first time home buyers, but with our credit history what kind of chance does that give us? I have heard that bankruptcy's that are 2 years old can get mortagages, what about charge off's paid for at least a year, and proof of savings of about 15,000 in the bank? ( not all used as a downpayment because of closing costs etc.) I mean anyone out there have any clue what are chances could be? I know this is long and sorry....Teresa
RE: wanting a mortgage in two First, get an absolute accurate amount that you owe and to who, then notify all three CRAs of duplicates, you might also dispute them first. After you determine where you are notify the creditors that you will pay them if they agree to give you a letter that they will delete the items from all three CRAs once they are paid. Do not pay a penny until you get the letters. You should have pretty good luck getting most, maybe all of the collections removed. Some collection agents will tell you that it is illegal to remove information, that is not true -- tell them you know better. You have plenty of time to get yourselves credit worthy for a mortgage. VA wants to see a clean report for at least a year, two would be perfect. FHA and FannieMae are pretty much the same.
RE: wanting a mortgage in two Teresa, You might find this information useful. I copied it from Experian's web-site. They have question/answer forum with questions answred by their VP for Consumer Education. Someone asked her about how long negatibe=ve information remains on a credit report and she said "I probably hear your question and ones like it more than any other. Figuring out when negative information is removed from your credit report can be very confusing â?? and understandably so. I am going to take this opportunity to answer your question and many others by listing the most common types of negative information that appear on credit reports, how long each remains on an Experian credit report, and from what point the time is measured. I hope this helps. Delinquencies: Payments made from 30 to 180 days after their due dates are considered delinquent. A record of this delinquency will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of the missed payment. This is true even if you later bring your payments up to date. Collection accounts: If you fail to pay your bill for three to six months, the credit grantor may decide to turn the account over to a collection agency. These so-called collection accounts remain on your credit report seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the collection. When a collection account is paid in full, it will be marked "paid collection" on the credit report. It's important to remember that the collection account will remain on your report even if you later pay the account in full. Charge-offs: When a credit grantor decides a particular account will not be paid, he or she may decide to write off the account as a loss rather than turn it over to a collection agency. These accounts remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the charge-off, even if payments are later made on the charged-off account. Closed accounts: Accounts no longer available for further use are considered closed. They may or may not have a zero balance. Closed accounts without a balance will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date they are reported closed, whether closed by the creditor or by the consumer. Closed accounts with a balance will remain on your credit report for seven years after you make your final payment. Lost credit cards: When you report a lost credit card, the credit grantor will close your account. If there are no delinquencies, the account will continue to appear on your credit report for two years from the date the card was reported lost. If there were delinquencies before the card was lost, the account will continue to appear on your credit report for seven years from the delinquency. Bankruptcies: Chapters 7, 11 and 12 remain for 10 years from the filing date. Chapter 13 remains seven years from the filing date. Accounts included in bankruptcy will remain seven years from the date they were reported as included in the bankruptcy. These time frames apply even if the bankruptcy is dismissed or satisfied. Child support judgments remain on your credit report seven years from the date the judgment is filed. Civil and small claim judgments remain seven years from the date the judgment is filed. City, county, state and federal tax liens remain seven years from the filing date of the lien. Inquiries: Inquiries are notations in your credit report that someone â?? you or an Experian customer â?? has asked to review a copy of your report. There are different types of inquiries, and they remain on your report for different periods of time. Most inquiries remain for two years. All inquiries remain a minimum of one year from the date the inquiry was made. Some inquiries, such as employment or preapproved offers of credit, are seen only by you. All negative information on your credit report will be deleted with time. That gives you the opportunity to resolve your credit problems and rebuild a good credit history. Positive credit information remains on your credit report indefinitely, making your credit report a great benefit for you in obtaining and using financial services." Thanks for asking, Maxine Sweet is Experian's vice president of consumer education
Keith.... So Keith you are saying that when a creditor does a charge off, meaning a loss by grantor then from when the first initial missed payment that led to the charge off is when the account will be taken off the report well 7 years from that date? Lets say that there is duplicates of an account with different agencies, so each will be seven years from when they took it over or still 7 years from when the original payment was late to the original creditor. Is it legal to have 3 collection agencies claiming the same account? I should not have to pay all 3 amounts. I have the hardest time even trying to track down who holds the account let alone get a response and a current bill...the stuff drives me nuts when I know I have had a previous bad history but now it is harder the h_ll to get back on top...thanks for your advice.
Teresa...it's not so bad Go to the original creditor who sent the account to collection and go from there. The CRAs must delete any duplicate accounts, you do not have to pay each one. I cleaned up my mother's report by going to the original creditor and making arrangements with them. They agreed to send deletion letters to the CRAs and notified the collection agencies to do the same. It took many calls and some grief but I was able to get them all removed. The seven year clock starts from the time the last payment was made on the account, not when collection agencies take it over. Just take one item at a time and you will be successful
RE: Keith.... According EXPERIAN it does not matter when the collection agency took over the account. The negative report must be removed 7 years from the date the FIRST missed payment occured that led to the delinquency! The grantor can pass the account along to numerous collection agencies but the 7 year clock does not start over. That's why it's important that you know this date. You can dispute if you think it's incorrect. Now let me blow your mind about this issue. EQUIFAX says something a little different. I received a copy of my credit report from them. Enclosed was a letter explaining this issue. It said and I quote exactly... "On accounts charged to profit and loss or placed for collection PRIOR to 01/01/98 seven years from the date of last activity. "On accounts charged to profit and loss or placed for collection AFTER to 01/01/98 seven years from the beginning of the delinquency that lead to the charge-off or lead to the collection" Do see the difference? If the charge-off or collection occured after 01/01/98, the date of last activity does not matter. The 7 year clock can be be re-started. The grantor can pass the account to whomever. The clock started when the missed payment that lead to the delinquency occured. If the charge-off or collection occured prior to 01/01/98, the clock can re-start if you make a payment after the charge-off or collection! Clearly EXPERIAN and EQUIFAX have different policies! As far as the grantor passing the account to numerous agencies...Call all the CRA's and dispute! dispute! dispute! This will force the grantor to either remove the item or pinpoint which agency is to handle the account. Once an agency is pinpointed, the CRA's must remove all others. I had a grantor who turned an account over for collection. Both the grantor and the collector were on my report as OPEN accounts. I called and disputed and the CRA removed the grantor and left the collector. the collector is still showing as OPEN. This still is not correct! I am now disputing again. The account should closed! This is important because an open deleinquent account is supposedly worse than a closed delinquent account. We must learn our lesson and not get into this position again! Get some positive things going and clean up the mess! And never let it happen again! Eeveryone deserves another chance but it's a fool who keeps making the same mistakes! Good Luck to you and me!
RE: Keith.... Ooops1....TYPO in the above message! Paragragh 5 should read as follows... Do see the difference? If the charge-off or collection occured after 01/01/98, the date of last activity does not matter. The 7 year clock can NOT be re-started. The grantor can pass the account to whomever. The clock started when the missed payment that lead to the delinquency occured.
