Need Help** Advice for repairing score after BK

[jwbicki]

Hello everyone, new to the site and need some help and advice. I will try not to make a long story and make it to the point for quick reading. I had to declare BK 1 1/2 years ago getting close to 2 yrs. due to massive paycuts at my job (Airline) and wife lost job due to co. going out of business. We had to move inorder to keep my job.  I have been working very hard to restore my credit and scoring in order to repurchase a home and get our life back. We reaffirmed with our cars and our home which we sold when we moved as well as several other lenders. But some Items we could not. I waited alittle time before I  pulled my credit to start a repair process and to allow  the BK to settle a score with where I stood. I pulled the credit report and was amazed on how many items were not being reported accurately. They were not reflecting "part of BK". and several were still showing late with a balance or charged -off which they were not. I started my process of contacting the credit bereau's and disputing, some have worked while others  I am not have very good luck with even though I have proper doc's. Or what seems to happen it will change and show properly then a month later it goes right back to what it was. The one main cc is Providian that is giving me trouble even though it was part of my BK. They will not even let me talk to there BK dept. I have not wrote them certified letters yet as I am not sure how to write them and not sure where to look.

I have watched my score make some good jumps from the low 500 range to 660. But then it would drop to the 553 and I have done everything I felt to keep it going up and not down. All bills are paid on time and payed off 2 cars, paid off one credit card and a new balance of 120.00 on another card. How long does it take some lenders to report? Also we recently did buy a home sub-prime and we feel very thankful that we were able to finally buy a home and in hopes that the on time payment of the home will help my sore increase but it seems no scoring has been reported yet on the home as well as a couple of others. My goal is to get out of the sub-prime loan and refi to a fixed rate and keep my score on the upward scale. I understand there are no quick fixes to the BK but just want items to reflect properly and be scored for the good items. Are there any good credit agencies here in Atlanta?  

Thank you very much for any help and advice     

Message Edited by jwbicki on 09-30-2007 09:20 AM

[Tuscani]

Welcome.. Please read the Scoring 101 thread:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=ficoscoring&thread.id=2654

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Good IIB letter for TLs that have a balace:

You
Address
City,State Zip Code
Phone Number

OC
C/O Bank President Name
Address
City, State Zip Code

Tuesday January 27, 2004

This letter is to inform you that you are reporting incorrect information in my Equifax credit report. The account in dispute was discharged in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 2002. My Equifax credit report shows that you have this account listed as "Charge Off/Bad Debt". This is totally inaccurate information. The Fair Credit Reporting act allows only for completely accurate information to be reported. You are in complete violation of that act by reporting this account as "Charged Off". You are also reporting a balance of $16,320 and $7,539 as past due. By Chapter 7 US Bankruptcy law, this account was granted a full discharge of all debts and obligations. This means that the balance and past due amounts should be $0.00. This is another violation of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and US Bankruptcy laws. I disputed this account with Equifax on January 2, 2004. They notified me by mail that this item was verified as accurate by you this month, January 2004. This is another violation of the FCRA. The FCRA allows for statutory damages of $1000 PER violation cited. Since this requires no investigation by you, I demand the complete deletion of this information from my Equifax credit report within 15 days of the receipt of this notice. I look forward to resolving this matter amicably without pursuing legal means.

You

[jwbicki]

Thank you Tuscani, I will start there and get the ball rolling!!!

Message Edited by jwbicki on 10-01-2007 09:32 AM

[Anonymous]

Does the CRA's really respond to letters like this?

[Anonymous]

Yes, they do,because they are required to by law. If you don't get the correct response contact your BK attorney. He/She should be willing to write an "official" letter for you. You can then have that letter sent to the proper authorities.

Message Edited by Freedom4 on 10-01-2007 03:09 PM

[rizeninme]

The same thing has happened to us- several companies that were included in the BK are showing us as charged off, delinquent, etc. One creditor is even showing that a vehicle was repo'd even though we personally turned it in (it was a lease) and it was discharged in BK.

I am about to send out a slew of letters today asking for these accounts to be reported properly to the CRA's...we'll see what happens. I disputed them all online with the CRA's and at the same time am disputing them via snail mail with the OC's, sort of a "double whammy" scenerio because we are buying a house and want this stuff all taken care of.

[Anonymous]

I had US Bank listing my car lease as $1645 balance and a charge off, after my bankruptcy.  I disputed it and it immediately was changed to $0 balance and IIB.  My Fico at Equifax went from 586 to 616 when that was fixed.  I disputed it by the letters generated at Myfico.com when I did my free trial.  I'm still waiting for Experian to be fixed, should be this month.  Well worth disputing. 

JC

[Baybreeze]

I had the same thing happen after my BK, though I had no clue about any of this until about a year and 1/2 ago. (my BK was discharged over 4 yrs ago). Every account I had that was IIB was reporting incorrectly, they all showed past due amounts, in collections, no mention of IIB anywhere (except that my BK was showing in the Public Records section).

So I got all my reports, typed up all my letters, sent everything certified mail, etc...and lo and behold, everything was updated correctly on all 3 CRA's. My FICO's went up drastically after that! And luckily none of it has reverted back since then. I even have some accounts that have dropped off my reports, even though I don't believe they were due to yet, (and I never disputed them) but I wont complain about that!! Just whatever you do in your disputes, make copies of everything! Keep records of all the dates that you do any correspondence, whether it be by mail or internet. Keep copies of all your credit reports, too.