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Finally recovered from Identity Theft and got my scores back to normal - So now what do I do?

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ngerasimatos
Valued Contributor

Finally recovered from Identity Theft and got my scores back to normal - So now what do I do?

So, its been a long time. Many years in fact. But I finally have almost all of the negative items on my credit reports removed that were due to Identity Theft.

 

It has cost me thousands of dollars and thousands of hours. I dont really care about the money, but the countless hours of dealing with creditors and collection agencies gets very tiring and causes stress.

 

Unlike some people, I was lucky that they actually caught two of the individual and prosecuted them. One was a repeat offender for Identity Theft, so with his prior strike against him he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. The other was a first time offender was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. I personally dont feel either of these sentence were long enough, but I should be happy that they at least caught the individuals. I am sure that they are both going to come out and do the same thing again. Even the prosecutor said that is usually the case. if you take a tiger out of the jungle, it doesnt make it any less of a tiger. Does it...?

 

In any case, there are only 2 items left to be removed from my reports, both items are large collections. One is a $2500 collection and the other is a $5000 collection, both are fairly recent (within that last year) so I assume they are affecting my score tremendously. My scores are currently hovering around the low-mid 600 range, though I am not sure what my EX is "exactly" as I can only base it on what their own website shows. After these collections are removed and my CC balances update (paid everything off this last month) I am sure my score should be right back to where it was many years ago (mid-high 700's)

 

The only CC's and loans I currently have are as follows, all CCs are paid off and no lates showing. My credit history goes back roughly 9 years. I live in CA:

 


Capital One $1500
HSBC $750
Continental Finance $500
Plains Commerce $500
Toyota/Lexus (installment loan for my Lexus) - balance owing is $32k, orig amount financed was $54k
Student Loans (Dep of Education) - 18k in repayment 

 

 

 

So, where should I begin? Its been so long since I have had decent credit I dont know where I should start to get a good credit card with a decent credit line. My annual salary is 150k, am not married, have no kids. I guess this is probably why I never felt the "burn" from having bad credit. My income always kept me afloat. 
In any case, I looked on www.whogavemecredit.com and reviewed the information on whom applied at which banks, and their outcome. However, I would rather hear from my fellow MyFico members about who they recommend.
Also, as a suggestion. Perhaps MyFico should put together a packaged for members and people like myself whom suffer from Identity Theft, allowing us to pull our credit scores at a lower rate. I know the benefits of pulling my reports through MyFico helped greatly. I loved the dispute letters. It made it much easier to submit my disputes and view things in a much more logical fashion as compared to many other reporting sites. 

 

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value
Albert Einstein 1879 - 1955

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