I am trying to quickly raise my score to try to qualify for a FHA mortgage. I have great rental history but I am just now starting to clean up the credit. I am starting with Equifax. I have a few outdated entries listed below that are now with CA's with a lot lower balances who have not reported to Equifax (some have reported to TU and EXP). Can someone take a look below and give me some advice on where to begin and what to dispute first? Thanks greatly! Equifax * 541 Creditor * Type * Limit * Open * Activity * Balance * 30 * 60 * 90 * Stat (Notes) FUSA-NA * Rev * 7363 * 01/95 * 09/97 * ChargeOff $7363 * 7Ukn * 2Ukn * 15Ukn+3 * Bad debt/collct. (Now with CA - CurBal $1287 - is not reported to EQ) BankAmer * Rev * 0 * 01/94 * 08/98 * 90Days $9903 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 90 days past due (Now with CA - CurBal 3081 - is not reported to EQ) FLACENT * Rev * 2000 * 01/93 * 11/99 * Closed $0 * 7Ukn * 5Ukn+1 * 23Ukn+2 * Pays as agreed (Paid in full - but reports as neg.) MBNA * Rev * 5000 * 06/94 * 10/01 * Closed $9373 * 16Ukn * 14Ukn * 24Ukn+3 * 90days due (Still with MBNA - CurBal 8960 - Interest 17.5%) SunTrust * Instl * 300 * 09/98 * 04/02 * Open 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * Pays as agreed (All good here - overdraft on checking) FUSA * Rev * 7500 * 01/93 * 04/96 * Closed 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * Pays as agreed (Actually charged off - Owe $10120 - not rpt by EQ) Rhodes * Rev * 0 * 11/93 * 01/97 * Closed 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * Pays as agreed * (Never used) 1 - Collection account - Phone call should fix it. Thanks again, Koinonia
All the addresses you never lived at or are mispellings etc. Any personal information that isn't correct. Then I would emphasize the other information. Charge offs etc. and dispute any of the information that isn't correct on those.
yes, step 1 is remove all previous addresses, all misspellings, etc.. then wait for that happen, then dispute everything bad at once.. repeat as necessary.
Forgive my ignorance... but the personal details I dispute are per credit report, not per creditor correct? What is a realistic time frame to go from 540 to over 600? I'm sure this is a loaded question. ) My lease is up in August and I am trying to decide on renewing for another year, 7 months, or to attempt to qualify for a motrgage in August (under the CA's radar hopefully). THANK YOU!!!
I would suggest you renew your lease. FHA isn't score driven. You need 24 months of clean credit as well as the income, etc. The problem you have with any sort of mortgage is, no one will lend you money with a raft of collections showing. You'll have to either pay them off or, get them deleted and with the numbers and amounts you have, it'll take a lot longer than Aug.
Re: What to dispute first? -40 PTS fyi - I recd notification from Creditwatch about an update. I had disputed variations of my address. They had the same address listed as current and variations of same address as prior two addresses. This has been my address for over 4 years. They changed my address to one that I had in early 1996. Kicker . . . score went from 637 to a whopping 597.
Yes, dispute with each CRA the personal info. I know with EXP you can call and they will delete the personal/address info the same day. I disputed an incorrect addy with EQ creditwatch and it was also deleted within a few days. I am not sure about TU, but if you can get the CRA's to delete addy and personal info over the phone, it is a lot quicker than mailing the dispute.
Creditwatch flashes that I need to contact their local offices directly. You have a valid point with the telephone call . . . I have personally confirmed that they ARE ALL ILLITERATE.
