How Can He Start?

[Anonymous]

My brother, who is 23 next month needs to start building credit. He was in the military for nearly 4 years stationed overseas. We looked at his report couple of days ago and it has two items on it. This is Equifax information below.

An Installment account - $2000 loan from BOA paid off in full with no lates.

Date Open: 10/2005

Date Paid: 06/2006

Capital One

Current Status: Charge-Off

Date of 1st Major Deliq - 08/2004

Date of Last Payment 10/2005 -

Comments: Settlement Accepted on this account. Charged off account.

Both accounts are CLOSED.

0 OPEN ACCOUNTS.

3 Inquiries in the last two years.

He applied for Citi cards but go declined.

I am not sure what his Credit Scores are because for some reason, Equifax does not let us purchase it online.

How can he start? I would really like to get him into this credit score building process.

[Tuscani]

Is there any inaccurate info you can dispute? You really need his scores to establish a baseline and see where you stand.

[Anonymous]

That CapOne is the negative account on his report. All those lates, he said, are accurate because when he was away, our father was using his card and didnt pay on time.

[Boswd]

I would first go to annualcreditreport.com  and get all three credit reports and get the scores.  Even though they may be FAKO, except for Equfax, it will still give you a general Idea of where he stands.

just to be sure that all reports are the same, since not everyone reports to all three credit reporting agencies.

Is the Cap One charge off in the process of being resolved?   If not I would have him start to get that taken care of.  Either settle for less or getting into a payment plan.    If it hasn't gone to a CA yet then it would be wise to get it resolved before it does, because if it does, and it will,   it will be a double whammy on his credit report.  One for the OC and one for the CA, not good.  

I'm assuming he has a bank account.  If not he should set up a checking and savings account.  Potential lenders love savings account so if he doesn't have one set one up.  

After he has done all that then I would go back and look for a credit builder card.    There are alot out there, but you two have to be very diligent on your search, since many have insane fees, from processing fees, to high annual fee's to application fees,  so shop around.   Orchard Bank and BoA seem to get the highest praise for credit building cards on this forum.  

If all three Credit reports are reporting the same, it looks like he has one goodie and one badie, once the badie get's resovled he will be in better shape, not just credit wise but for his own financial reasons.      He is young so he will be ok.     

[Anonymous]

That account was paid in settlements. It has been closed.

Just found out that his Experian Score is 578.

[Boswd]

Ok not great but definilty nothing to jump off the bridge over.   He is young and has plenty of time to get it higher.   

Does he have a bank account?    If so I would first have him check his bank to see if they offer any credit building cards.   I would go after an unsecured first but if he can't get that then a secured credit card is a very good option.  

[Anonymous]

Isn't their an exception for people in the Military? If they were late or extended late because of the call of duty, they may be given an opportunity to make good once they get back and have the neg's removed. I don't know, just remember reading special situations on some web page before.

[sl]

Have your brother right a GW Letter to Capital 1. Also, have him put in his CB that he was overseas in the military and that the person he trusted with his accounts abused the cards. Also put that in the GW letter to Capital 1. A lot of times being in the military overseas has a lot of pull with credit card companies.

[Anonymous]

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ilovepizza wrote:
Isn't their an exception for people in the Military? If they were late or extended late because of the call of duty, they may be given an opportunity to make good once they get back and have the neg's removed. I don't know, just remember reading special situations on some web page before.

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Not that I've ever found in either FDCPA or FCRA. It would only make sense, but heh that's Congress for ya.

FCRA has some things for military personnel regarding Fraud Alerts. Theory being one could place a Fraud Alert to protect oneself while deployed. It's a good theory, bad implementation. FAs are a mild hassle but should in no way be considered a safeguard. I speak from experience having an FA that I put there.

[Anonymous]

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Irvin wrote:

My brother, who is 23 next month needs to start building credit. He was in the military for nearly 4 years stationed overseas.

Capital One

Current Status: Charge-Off

Date of 1st Major Deliq - 08/2004

Date of Last Payment 10/2005 -

Comments: Settlement Accepted on this account. Charged off account.

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Have him try GWing Cap 1, but be forewarned they are souless. I like to eschew the words always and never, but the reported history of GW and Cap 1 ain't good.

Was the Cap 1 settled for less than the full amount owed? If so, that's a good thing. It's leverage that could be used to negotiate a PFD. If the initial GW letter fails, try a second GW letter. In the second GW letter, offer to pay some of the money still owed (difference between amount owed and amount settled) in exchange for a deletion. Don't offer to pay the full amount even though they might demand it. Leave some room for negotiation. If you give away the whole farm, they might just say no.

That he is military and this happened while he was deployed will help out a lot, in theory, if you can get to one of the humans at the Cap 1 hive.

Do a recon on the Citi denial.