All Debts Are Paid- Now About That House...

[Anonymous]

I paid off all the debt that my ex-husband incurred for me during our marriage.

Now what I am left with is 4 "potentially negative accounts" on my reports... One of which I am disputing because I paid it in full in February this year, but it still says it is currently open and charged off. I am assuming I may end up with it stuck on my report, but with a "Paid in Full" label of some sort.

The other 3:

Toyota Fin. - Past late payments of 90, 60, and 30 days. Been on time with all payments since Aug. 2008

Univ. of Phoenix- Charge off- Paid in Full Feb 2009

Bank of Am- Credit card- Closed 2006 by grantor, a few late payments in past. Paid in full Feb. 2008

I really don't know what to do now... I do not know my exact Fico scores, but I have a 597 on Credit Karma... I know it probably doesn't mean much though.

I want to know how to bring up my score as much as possible by the en of the summer, as I am trying to buy a house for my children.

More info: I do not have any other negative info at all on my report other than I have 4 credit inquiries [my own] since December [bad, I know]. I have two accounts in good standing- student loans totalling >$5,000. My auto loan still has about $11,000 balance. I do not have any open credit cards.

Any help and advice as far as what I should do next would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Are all your negatives reported by the original creditors or any by the CA?

You can send GW letters to see about getting lates removed and paid collections.

As for COs, it is a little more tricky GW'ing them. You can ask for the entire account to be removed, but you'll lose the age with it as well.

Most would say not to apply for any credit before applying for a home, but adding a CC could give you a nice boost. Seems I got around 30 points when adding mine. However, study hard on the CC forum before deciding what to app for, so you don't have to app multiple times to get an approval. A secured card might be a better option, but without knowing your scores, can't really tell.

I would purchase your TU and EQ FICO scores here on this site. Google "myFICO" discount code and save a few $ before purchasing.

[Anonymous]

 Ok, here's an update...

I disputed the Electric bill that was charged off, and they didn't respond, so it fell off. My score went up!

I found out my Equifax score is 530.

On my Equifax report, the 90 day lates don't show up at all for Toyota.

For Bank of America, the account was reported as closed, but still being reported. I called them and they said the account was blocked, not closed, but it cannot be opened or reactivated. Since it is only 3 months older than my second oldest account, I asked them to close it. It should be removed entirely, according to the rep.

So that leaves me with only two "negative accounts".

UoP was reporting my status as "Charge Off" even though I paid it off and was told that the status would update to "Paid in Full" or something to that effect. So I disputed that as well, asking for verification of dates of payments and the status of the account. I don't know WHAT to expect here.

My debt/credit ratio is 60%. I guess that is pretty bad. I recently got another student loan of $500 because I am continuing my education. I plan on paying off the student loans in large chucks soon. My payments are about $50 and on defferment so I figured if I pay the $50 plus apply $500 each month to the pricipal, I can pay them down very fast and reduce my ratio.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks guys!!