Newbie here, needing some advice

[Anonymous]

I will start with sharing my credit history.

Divorce 2 years ago

TU is 533 (from TU)

EQ is 520 (from myfico)

And my EX (according to true credit) is 505

according to true credit these are my fico's

TU 533

EQ 570

EX 505

What do I believe here with the EQ? That 50 point difference makes a huge impact. Anyone with any info on the difference? And where can I pull TRUE fico's from? I understan that this site does the true fico for EQ, truecredit is for TU but who does EX score accuratly? And does anyone know how to cancel the EQ and EX options on truecredit?

Recently obtained 4 credit cards (within the last month).

Rewards 660 with a $300 limit

First Premier with a $250 limit

Contenental Finance with a $300 limit

Tribute with a $300 limit

I am done applying for and obtaining credit for the next 6 - 12 months.

Only one (First Premier) of the credit cards is reporting to the CA's (any suggestions on how to get the others to report, or if they will automatically report after so long?)

Here are the bad accounts on my reports:

A car reposession that is paid off from 2005,

$3291 in student loans (current and always has been) from 2004,

Chargeoff student loan,

apartment complex for $738 (this is inaccurate and only shows on EQ),

Another 2 charged off student loans (they have all actually been transferred to the current one in 2004),

2 student loans reporting as too new to rate but have been on my report since at least 2002 that I know of with a $0 balance and showing closed,

Southwestern Bell for $204 on EX and EQ chargeoff(double reporting),

$78 for a collection account that was paid to the origional creditor before they even turned it over to collections,

$1597 for something that I have no idea what it is who the creditor is or anything. It is not mine and just showed up on my EQ today and lowered my score too,

another collection account that is not mine for $434,

a collection account for $1800 showing paid that is not mine,

$362 for medical, collection for $101 medical also,

$459 collection for something that isnt mine from a vet clinic,

$30 bad check from a gas station (divorce time when the ex drained the account and had me bouncing checks all over town),

$228 in medical,

Wal-Mart bounced check for $108, but paid in full in November of 2005,

And a judgement of $1204 from a health club from 7/2001.

Ok, what is your advice? I have sent in disputes online with TU and EX so far. EX verified the judgement, but that is all so far. I just disputed on 4/21/07. What else should I do, should I start paying these off, or just dispute my little heart out first. I am totally clueless and have been scammed by a couple of so called credit repair agencies, who did nothing more but take my money - didnt even send one dispute letter, so I have decided to take matters into my own hands. My goal is to have my FICO at least at a 620 by the beginning of 2008. Is this possible? Thanks!

Message Edited by Fritz on 05-06-2007 12:59 PM

[Anonymous]

You are facing an uphill battle, but at least you have the four CCs. That's a breach in the enemy's fortifications...use it well. And yes, they will all report. New accounted generally take about 30 to 60 days to report. But report they will.

The bottom line is you can't change your credit past. Even if you settle every account, it won't help your credit score. A popular saying back in the Seventies was "the solution for pollution is dilution," and this is true for bad credit. You can't erase bad credit. All you can do is dilute it with good credit.

Use the new cards very sparingly. Keep your utilization (the percent of the credit limit you have charged) below 20%. Make sure you always pay on time. This will establish good credit history. This is what I had to do.

When I began the process last year at this time, all I could get was a secured BofA card. I had bad credit, no good tradelines. Now, after faithfully paying on time and getting my utilization below 20%, they graduated the card to unsecured and raised the CL to $1000. My FICOs are up approximately 60 to 90 points. I am about due for a CLI on my CapOne card. According to the projections, my FICO should rise another 30 points by the end of the year (and this is without factoring in increased credit limits).

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much, it is good to know that I am on the right track. I guess my plan of action would be to keep my CC's in the sock drawer and keep them paid down, bring them out maybe once a month for a tank of gas or something, and then pay them back off, but keep the balance low. GOTCHA there! Then dispute my patootie off. The judgement should fall off in 7/2008 - thank GOD! We are looking to buy a home in the fall of 2008, and hoping to be able to have the rest of my credit cleaned up and actually get my husband a credit score of some type (he has one credit card, that he got almost two months ago - Cap1 card).

What is the best way to start the dispute process? I have read where some places say to start with disputing past addresses and inquiries and then get the actual accounts while others say the opposite while others say to just dispute everything and keep disputing it all. But I dont want to be flagged by the CA's, so how do I go about this dispute process. I want to get as much off as I can within the next year, and work on keeping my new good credit good.

[Tuscani]

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Fritz wrote:

Thank you so much, it is good to know that I am on the right track. I guess my plan of action would be to keep my CC's in the sock drawer and keep them paid down, bring them out maybe once a month for a tank of gas or something, and then pay them back off, but keep the balance low. GOTCHA there! Then dispute my patootie off. The judgement should fall off in 7/2008 - thank GOD! We are looking to buy a home in the fall of 2008, and hoping to be able to have the rest of my credit cleaned up and actually get my husband a credit score of some type (he has one credit card, that he got almost two months ago - Cap1 card).

What is the best way to start the dispute process? I have read where some places say to start with disputing past addresses and inquiries and then get the actual accounts while others say the opposite while others say to just dispute everything and keep disputing it all. But I dont want to be flagged by the CA's, so how do I go about this dispute process. I want to get as much off as I can within the next year, and work on keeping my new good credit good.

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I would not dispute valid inqs unless you want to risk getting a fraud alert. You should update addresses and then jump right into disputing accounts. If this is your first dispute start by doing a "blanket dispute" which means you dispute all derog info at once.

[Anonymous]

Fritz,

Scores from TC are FAKOs, Vantage scoring. Only scores from MyFico are true FICO scores. 50 point difference between a FAKO and a FICO isn't unusual.

That said, I use TC rather than MyFico--however, I'm mostly interested in daily monitoring rather than knowing my FICOs. At $11.21 a month, I've been happy with TC.

Give TC customer service a call. They should be able to cancel EQ and EX for you. If not, try corporate.

TC Customer Service (800)493-2392

TC Corporate (866)212-2170

What are the balances on your CCs? It's OK to charge them up near their limit, but just PIF each month. If there's a balance on them already, try to bang 'em down. All the CCs should start reporting within the next month or so. Be patient.

For the $78 collection, dispute it with the CRAs. Tell 'em it was PIF before it ever went to collections.

For the $1597 debt, who is reporting it? CA or OC?

For the three collection accounts ($434, $1800, $459) that are not yours, DV them immediately. As a matter of fact, for the collections that you know to be yours, DV them. Always DV a collection. Doesn't matter if you owe it and you know you owe it. DV.

On the $738 apartment complex debt that is inaccurate, what is inaccurate about it?

You listed a couple of student loan accounts as adverse TLs, but they sound current. Make sure you leave all good TLs alone. Don't mess with 'em.

Find out the SOL on all your debts.
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statuteLimitations.shtml

And find out the DOFD on everything.

Because there are some bounced checks, I recommend you check your reports on the smaller bureaus. Under the FACTA amendment, you're entitled to a free annual copy of your credit report from them. Do NOT pay them for your report.
http://www.innovis.com
http://www.telecheck.com
http://www.teletrack.com
http://www.chexsystems.com

[Anonymous]

Tuscani,

Hate to ask but what is "Fraud Alert" because I noticed it on mine...and I had been disputing an LVNV for the past two years to no avail.  Now they are calling me frivolous and I've provided proof that my DV was never responded to, but was received.

Thanks!

[Tuscani]

The frivilous has nothing to do with a fraud alert.

A fraud alert simply flags your file as possible ID theft. They generally last 90 days and can make it a pain for you to obtain new credit.

Couple of things to note..

- A FA does not impact your score

- You can added a FA to your report at anytime (You can usually call and get it removed as well)

- There are temp and perm FAs

A FA obviously helps you if you are a victim of ID theft as any new requests for credit are scrutinized and require thorough identity verification.

More info: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/con_steps.htm

[inzaghi]

If you want your true credit account removed or want any changes to it.

Just email them..I recently had my account deactivated by doing this.They usually respond the same day

[Anonymous]

Thank  you.  Honestly, I'm not sure why it appeared on the one report

Thank you!

I'm about to pull my credit and I can see by all these pages the best way to jack up a score is to pay OFF credit card balances to about $20.

Thanks everyone!

[Anonymous]

Wife and I added FAs to our CRs. It was contrived. We wanted to use it to bang a few things loose from our reports.

Thing about FAs, creditors are supposed to call and confirm with you before extending credit, but many (some report most) do not. Wife got a store card at Children's Place yesterday. She had to talk to 'em over the phone and confirm her name, address and SSN. Well duh. She gave that to y'all.

FAs, by and large, are a paper kitten. Bit of a PITA for instant credit and a few other things, otherwise no big deal.