2 year credit repair goal for a mortgage

[iyoulow]

Hi All,

I've been on the Forum for about a month and have been inspired reading all of these topics. I'll give you a little backgound and my current situation as I am looking for advice on how to tackle my baddies with the goal of getting a mortgage in 2 yrs or so.

I am a 41 year old Air Force veteran of 9 years. I split with my 1st wife about 5 years ago. We have both since remarried. I have a 1 year old little girl with my new wife and a 19 year old daughter with the ex. When I left the Air Force in 2000 I was able to find a job after 6 months and build/buy a house a year after that. Things were going well but we were always living on the edge financially. As the years passed and we refinanced with an ARM, we starting falling behind. I controlled the finances and didn't do a very good job and she didn't understand the concept of living within our means. As is so common with money problems, it eventually got so bad that we went our seperate ways and let the bank take the house through foreclosure. At that point my last concern was my credit. I even tried a Chapter 13 BK to try to save the house just before the split but I let it get dismissed because she wasn't on board with the program.

Once I met my new wife and we got married, we were doing well financially and living it up. I should have started tackling my negative credit history while we had the disposable income. Of course when the baby came last year and we lost her income, it was a wakeup call. Therefore, I have since started the repair process by getting copies of all 3 credit reports and moitoring my FAKO scores through Credit Karma (TU), Credit Sesame (EX) and Experian Credit Check Monitoring through USAA.

I am moving to a more affordable residence at the end of the month as I'm trying to free up funds to deal with these bills and to save for a house. Unfortunately, I don't have any extra cash now so I want to work on improving items I don't need $ for.

I had a number of medical collections removed recently with PFD. This is what is left:

Collections

Convergent Outsourcing (NE Utilities) - $460 - opened 12/2012 (EX and TU only)

Convergent Outsourcing (NE Utilities) - $1036 - opened 12/2012 (EX and TU only)

Credit Management LP (Charter Communications) - $162 (all 3)

IC Systems (medical) - paid, closed (paid at doctor's office) (all 3)

IC Systems (medical) - paid, closed (paid at doctor's office) (all 3)

Credit Cards

BOA - charged off $968 (1/2010) - last payment 8/2009 - current balance $1510 (I assume the additional is interest)

GECRB/Mohawk - BK/never late - no balance listed on TU or EX. TL not listed on EQ

GECRB/Tweeter - Last payment 8/2007 - Debt included in BK/$905 past due as of 12/2008 (EX) - no balance listed on EX, TU. EQ lists balance as $1508 with $905 past due. 

DFS (Dell) - Last payment 8/2007, EX - Discharged through CH 13 BK, TU - Charged off/BK dismissed $2801 balance, EQ - CH 13 BK dismissed $2801 balance.

Loans

HSBC (mortgage) - Last payment 3/2007, EX - foreclosure procedings started $15,141 past due as of 5/2007/$206,455 balance reported (house sold 2 to 3 years ago), TU - foreclosue initiated/120 days past due/$0 balance listed, EQ - foreclosure started - $206,455 balance reported (house was sold 2 to 3 years ago).

• I'm assuming this TL shouldn't show a balance since the house was sold.

Public Records

Chapter 13 BK - filed 9/2007, EX - dismissed (drops 9/2014), TU - dismissed (drops 8/2014), EQ - dismissed/closed

Civil judgement - filed 1/2010 - $428 - paid per the court order - only listed on TU

I have the following open cards

Cap One - $300 (14% util) - mine

Cap One - $500 (36% util) - auth user

Cap One - $750 (78% util) - auth user

Kay - $4400 (0% util) - auth user

SOL is 6 years in my state

Scores as of last month through Experian (USAA) - EX 609 - EQ 634 - TU 601

Thanks in advance for any advice 

[iyoulow]

Really? I realize I wrote a book but nothing? No one has any advice on how to tackle some of these items?

[Dapper_Dan]

It's a rough day for everyone I guess.

Try to get that paid judgement removed from TU - that's a least a freebie.

Also, I'm not sure if I read that correctly but it looks like you're an authorized user on a credit card that has a high balance.  I'm not sure how that's helping you.  It may be better to drop that.  And if you can pay off the card with the small balance.

And for extra fun, try to get the paid collections removed.  That won't cost you anything.

The other items are very old - 2007.  They should fall off by 2014 unless the ch13 bk somehow attaches them and sits for 10.  And since those debts are outside SOL in your state, I would let them roll off.  No need to poke the bear.

[iyoulow]

Thanks Dan. I have a debt payoff plan in place and should have the high balance card paid down in the next few months. It is my wife's account. I was looking to add the positive payment history.

I agree about the judgement. Any idea what to do about the mortgage? That account has all of the late payments. I don't know why it lists a balance on 2 of my CRs.

[Dapper_Dan]

As for the mortgage, I've had my share of homes but I'm not a real estate guru or mortgage pro.

It looks like the home was sold and there was an outstanding balance due of $15k (past due payments or loss from the sale?) which was possibly in a recouse state.  If it's a non-recourse state, then I beleive the loss is on the bank and not you.  However, if the last reported date of activity for this mortgage was from 2007, then it leads me to believe that it will fall off in 2014.  If they are still reporting and the home was sold a long time ago, then you need to make sure you have your escrow documents from the sale just in case you need to go to battle.

At this point, perhaps someone who's been through that can chime in.

I think a lot of people went through hell in 2007/2008 and I believe that 2014 would be a great year to get back into real estate for me personally because many more buyers will hit the market after that 7 year fall off on everyone's credit reports.