Ready to Attack!!! Where do I go from here? Hi everyone! I am very fortunate to have found this community of folks with insightful advice on credit repair. I have read all the getting started links and have been lurking around here for a week or two. I'm sure my situation is not unique, but I was unable to find a post similar to it. Perhaps I should look harder Anyhoo, I got out of school last may with student loans that were daunting to say the least. As of now, I owe around $70k. I applied for a special consolidation program through my state that would save me an enormous amount of money (monthly payments drop from $700 to $400), but was denied due to my credit. I then went ahead and pulled all 3 of my credit reports. Everything was peachy except for two negative items. #1This was from my school in the amound of $330 dating back to May 2000. I did not pay it initially, because I was hotly disputing the validity of it. I eventually refused to pay after they would not budge on the issue. So now, it's with a CA (dating back to May 2001) with a running balance of $397. #2 I really have no idea what this is. It apparently was some sort of credit account (store charge card perhaps) with Conseco Financial. It states that my last activity was in 9-2000 and was closed in 9-2002 BY THE CONSUMER, which puzzled me. Would the creditor close it instead of me? I think I owe $249 on the card, because it read "high credit" 249 and credit limit $300. It also showed that I was 120 days past due (in Sept 2002). I did dispute this debt with Experian, and after a month, it showed that the debt was valid. Regarding #1, I moved soon after the initial charge on my school account and was never notified by the school (OC) or the CA. I'm not saying they didn't send anything, but rather that I never received anything. I didn't even know it was with a CA until I checked my Fico score a few months ago. Should I just send in a generic validation letter to the CA, or should I add the fact to the validation letter that I had not received any corresponce and became aware of the collection only after checking my credit report recently? Regarding #2, How do I go about getting contact info for Conseco Finance? Should I call the CRA and ask for their contact info? Would it be wise to call them (Conseco)to find out more about this account or should I just send in a validation> I'm dying to find out what the heck this was. Since it's the OC, can I assume they would be more friendly then a CA? Whew! Sorry to make all of you read this tome of a post!
Where do I go from here? Thanks for the bump lbrown! Anyone have any suggestions or advice on this matter?
