@tekn0pumpa wrote:Greetings everybody,
I’ve decided to start my credit repair journey after about a month of research. I have a pretty good grasp on quite a bit of information I’ve read but I also have some questions. I did utilize the search button and I got a lot of conflicting results on this board and other boards. I was hoping to post a summary of my current situation and get some input from you credit repair vets. Additionally I had a few questions I would be very grateful for some guidance on. Welcome to the Forums! I will offer my advice in red and I others (more seasoned) will chime in.
Sorry for the long read but I just want to try to give some detailed information. I’ll stick to the points.
At this point I have not started or done anything beyond research. I wanted to acquire knowledge before I just started shooting out dispute letters.
I am 24 years old, never married. Most of my bad credit comes from disregarding medical and utility bills with some late payments on my CC and Student loans and closed accounts sprinkled in. I also have a 3k judgment for a broken apartment lease. Good for you! I wish I would have thought about credit rebuilding at 24.
Currently my credit scores according to Identity Guard are:
09/01/2013 11/04/2013
Equifax: 504 523
Experian: 506 552
Transunion: 531 554
I’m guessing my bump in score over only a couple months is by cracking down and paying all my balances down. Also, I had a few inquiries fall off. I’ve been diligent over the last year or more about not applying for any credit. Keep your current cards open and make timely payments
I’ve posted some questions below, some include excerpts from information I’ve read around the boards and some are question I have come up with on my own.
I sincerely thank everyone in advance for any help.
The whole key to the credit repair procedure is that if a credit bureau cannot verify information on your credit report within the time allowed by law, they must remove it. For instance, if a collection agency is reporting a collection on your report and they cannot verify the information, the credit bureau must delete the entry.
What qualifies as “verification”? My girlfriend had sent out disputes and all they sent her was a copy of her old bills. old bills were sent to verify the debt
What is “the time allowed by law”? disputes through annualcreditreport.com 45 days and CRA disputes 30 days.
What if you send a “not mine” dispute and they don’t respond in “the time allowed by law”? CRA will delete it if it isn't verified by the CA or OC
Also, if your creditor has NOT notified you of negative information they have recently placed on your credit report, they are currently in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. You can use this to pressure the original creditor to remove the listing by reminding them they are in violation of the FCRA by not notifying you.
What qualifies as “Notification”? Do they need to specifically state that they HAVE ALREADY reported negative to the CBs or that they MAY or CAN?
How long can I go back and claim they never notified me?
General Questions:
How long is “Account Status” i.e. “Paid or paying/Was 30 days past due 2 times” stay on report? Is this corrected if I dispute ever paying late? if it isn't verified
What is “Prior Delinquency” they show as codes on my report. 201210, 201305, 200811?
Does 24 Month payment history become less of a FICO factor the further away in the past the delinquency occurred? Yes
What does ownership mean? i.e. I, J? Individual, Joint..,
Is “Filing Date” or Date Opened” the date the clock starts for the negative information to fall off report? (7 years in my state) (Idaho) No. Date of First Delinquency is when the clock starts ticking.
Do I send my first round of collections disputes to the OC or the CA? Are these your accounts? Are they legit?
Do I send my first round of late payment disputes to the OC or CBs? I would send them to the OC, Don't mess with CRA disputes unless you can't work with the OC, the CRA is going to contact the OC anyway....up to you.
Does a verified dispute restart the 7 year fall off date? Is there anything I can do other than acknowledge and make a payment on the debt that can restart this clock?
Do I need to dispute an item with each CB or just one? As I understand it, if the CA takes it off they will take it off all three, but if the CB takes it off I may have to go to each one. All three.
My student loans (which at one point where noted at 150+ days past due) were recently “transferred” from US DEP EDU. To another company, I am currently in deferment so I’ve stopped the bleeding but I’m curious, since the accounts have been opened under another company now can I have the old US DEP EDU ones removed from my report instead of “Closed or transferred”? I am not sure; I have the same deal, not sure if I would lose the account age from the older ones...anyone? anyone?
Lastly, I see there are a lot of “begin here” threads but I actually never got a clear picture of where to start. Is it best to start be disputing just collections or just late payments? It depends...are the collections yours? before you dispute, i would send a debt verification letter....then see if they respond, if they don't then you could dispute through CRA. For the lates, you may be better off sending goodwill letters asking for a goodwill removal vs. telling them you weren't late if you really were.
My plan is to do one big shipment of certified “not mine” disputes on all collection accounts to the CA’s and a big “never missed a payment” disputes shipments to the OC’s I’m still in good standing with as a place to start, just to see what gets taken off that way. Then when I start to receive responses, I can plan for the next round of disputes for whatever was not taken off.
I’m open to any and all feedback, thanks so much for all the information you all have posted thus far on these boards, I’m really trying to get my credit straight so I can buy a home for my family in the next couple years and I hope this all helps. I was young, dumb and in the Army with money to waste and credit to ruin, now I just was to turn it around.
When you are ready to take care of the judgment, let me know...I just finished paying mine and I am working on getting it removed now. I would start with the judgement, then charge offs, then collections, then late payments. Start with unpaid, then work your way through paid. Your goal is to get baddies removed...
012019 Fico8/Mortgage Score: 
I would try to dispute the charges through the gym first, and if you are unsuccessful, then I would dispute the charges through the CRA.
