What a Mess!

Hubby and I are about a year out of Ch 7 bankruptcy, and are attempting to improve our credit scores in order to get a better rate on a sub-prime mortgage (we already qualify for a 100% loan, which we needed a minimum score of 580 for, we're just trying to get up to about 620-640 in the next six months to get a better interest rate before closing). Our scores, right now are 574, 583, and 589 (his) and 525, 574, and 590 (mine).

We went to a credit repair clinic and one-on-one with the mortgage lender last night, who offered some suggestions to us, mainly along the same lines as what is offered here on the forums (write, write, write, and dispute, dispute, dispute). We've done a lot of reading, but are still confused about a lot of things and wanted to get some input from the experts here who have been through the same stuff we are going through.

She gave us a copy of our 3-in-1 last night, and man, were we SHOCKED by the amount of stuff that's being reported incorrectly. Would love some advice about what approach we should take with these, so we can write the proper letters. With that intro, here are my questions.

1. We have a current auto loan with Americredit (which we got AFTER the bankruptcy was discharged) which is showing as being included in BK. We've never been late with a payment. How do we get shown as a current loan and what kind of documentation do we need to include?

2. In the same vein, we have listed on our credit report a car loan that was reaffirmed at BK, which shows as a current loan that we still need to pay off. Again, how do we get this updated as an installment loan that we have paid off completely?

3. The person we were working with in getting the house told us that if an account is included in bankruptcy, it should show N/A, and then all the lates should be converted to 00 00 00. If it's showing as included in bankruptcy, but it still shows the lates, is there any way to get them to update that to 00 00 00?

4. Old lates. Should we dispute them, or just let them roll off in a year or two? Would it hurt our credit score or help it to do that? Or would it not make a difference at all?

5. We've got a CitiFinancial (Sofa Express) account that is showing up as a charge-off submitted to collection rather than as included in BK. How do we get this converted?

6. We had a past due phone bill w/ Bell Atlantic that was paid off in 1998. Even though it was paid off at the time we filed for bankruptcy, we included it in the listing of creditors so our bases would be covered. It's STILL showing as unpaid and submitted to collection. How should we approach this one? Should we insist it be removed because it was paid 5 years ago? Or should we have them update it to included in BK?

7. When we declared bankruptcy, our lawyer told us to stop paying on our credit cards (we were completely up to date, no lates at all) during the two months it took from filing to discharge. Because of this, on some of the accounts that are included in bankruptcy, we have 30-60-90 lates. Should we dispute this?

8. Hubby's Best Buy card is showing 30-60-90 day lates when he in fact wasn't late at all on that one. Any way to dispute this?

9. Speaking of which, the majority of lates that are on our credit report are the fault of the c**ksuckers at CCCS, who were SUPPOSED to be paying our creditors at the time, but weren't and racked up a bunch of lates on our accounts. So most of the lates are their fault, and are exactly why we voluntarily removed ourself from their program. This (the CCCS voluntary discharge) shows up on our credit report as a derog. What should we do about this?

10. One of hubby's derogs (Sears) is having a notation as "acct included in bankruptcy of another part". We assume it's talking about me, but I was never on that card. Should I dispute this?

11. We've got a paid utility bill listed in the derogs (we paid it in '99) listed as "charge off; paid". Should we send a nutcase letter to have this removed?

12. Old phone bill included in bankruptcy is showing up as "submitted to collections". What next?

13. Old fitness club collection that was PAID before bankruptcy, but included in it just to cover our rears is showing up as "account submitted to collection", and is showing up as a charge off. Should we have this converted to incl. in bankruptcy, or removed completely because it was in fact paid?

14. There are 46 total derogs. Should we try to get them all removed or changed?

15. In the good section of the report, it's showing a joint item of a Bon-Ton account of hubby's deceased father that was opened in 1965, two years before hubby was born. It's a positive item, so should we leave it there (it can only improve the score, unless someone notices the date), or remove it because it's inaccurate?

16. Should we send one long letter to the CRA's detailing the problems, or several individual ones?

As for what we've done to build our credit since BK, we've financed a car through Americredit (we're 10 months in on that one), and hubby recently got a Cap One Platinum card ($500 limit - 0.0% intro rate, 9.9% fixed after 6 months) which we've been keeping at <50%. We've both also got student loans, and mine are on deferrment while I'm in school. Any other things we can do now to boost our score? Any cards that are friendly to people post-BK?

Sorry for being so long winded, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us, and are overwhelmed with where to begin and which areas to focus on. Thanks in advance for the time you take to answer our questions.

Becke and Paul

 

So far so good -- we talked to Americredit last night, and they said that the same thing happened to like 2,000 customers. They updated with the 3 CRA's on April 7th, and they said it would be off the report in 30-45 days after they report. They're also sending a letter that explains the mistake. Let's hope we get all the points we lost back after they fix it.

Becke

 

No, I mean the points we lost because of the Americredit screwup. When hubby checked our scores before the whole Americredit fiasco happened, my middle one was at a 620, his was over 600 too. So since nothing else changed, we're assuming the Americredit screwup cost us about 30-40 points each.

Still overwhelmed at the huge task facing us, but for now we're going to focus on the biggies that we are able to change without verifying the bankruptcy (i.e. the charge-offs that aren't really charge-offs because we paid them before BK, the car we paid off showing up as a paid in full instead of an open tradeline, and hubbys student loans showing up as current (which they are) instead of closed.

Don't know which way I'll approach the other ones. The fact that we have a BK is obvious -- with the "included in bankruptcy" being listed on about half of the derogs, and it being listed in the public record section. If we ask them to verify it ore remove it, it won't be that hard to do -- all of our creditors that were included in BK have a copy of the paperwork, and it's a matter of public record anyway. Not sure, though. Has anybody ever tried this with their bankruptcy derog entries?

Becke