Almost Done Rebuilding!

[felyasocal]

Howdy People! I am grateful that you are taking the time read my inquiry and would really appreciate some feedback. It’s been a long road, but there a lot more to be done!

I started rebuilding my credit 2 years ago. After some serious hardship and really not having a grasp on how credit really worked I was at mid-500s with ALOT of negative crap on my credit. After spending month or two to clean things up, pay off past debts, remove errors, pay off collections, getting new credit, being 100% perfect on all the new credit, two car loans, and some really careful planning, I am back in control, almost. My FICOs range from 690 to 720. CreditKarma with their Vantage score is showing me in the mid to high 700s. 

I removed almost all the bad stuff from my credit, but there are a few things that are killing me and just pissing me off. I have 4, old credit cards that I settled about 5 years ago for about 75% of the amount owed. Unfortunately, back then I did not understand the process completely and they are showing up as derogatory now. I have all the records for the settlements, and I am pretty sure they told me that these settlements would not show up as "negative" on my credit, but I have no way to prove it now. Disputes and GWLs have not worked. The other derogatory entries are from Nelnet (May be they rot in hell). It’s a loan that was dispersed by DeVry more than 10 years ago by either faking my signature or using another method. They have since dropped this and I don't owe DeVry any money, but part of this loan was with Nelnet. There are 4 nasty entries on my credit from them showing 120+ late payments. I was not even aware of any of this and by the time I found out about it, the loans were transferred to US Department of Education and I have been paying off the loan 100% on time since then. Disputes and GWLs have not worked in this matter as well = ((The CCs will be removed in about 2 years, while Nelnet will be on for another 4 years. It’s really upsetting because we are hoping to buy a house in the next 3, 4 years. 

My questions: 

1. Is there anything else I can do in regards to the baddies on my report? Are they less "damaging" now and will they become even less consequential as time passes or are they going to hurt me until they are totally removed?
2. Is there anything else I should be doing to build up my credit and make it stronger than ever so the baddies don't drag me down? I have 2 crappy CCs, 2 decent CCs, and a few store\gas cards, plus two car loans. I would like to get one solid CC with a high limit and rewards. Should I wait until my score is higher?
3. Is there anything else I need to be doing to continue my climb to 800?

[gdale6]

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@felyasocal wrote:

My questions: 

1. Is there anything else I can do in regards to the baddies on my report? Are they less "damaging" now and will they become even less consequential as time passes or are they going to hurt me until they are totally removed? As they age in time the less of an impact they have on Fico, they will have a negative effect and cost points all the way to exclusion.
2. Is there anything else I should be doing to build up my credit and make it stronger than ever so the baddies don't drag me down? I have 2 crappy CCs, 2 decent CCs, and a few store\gas cards, plus two car loans. I would like to get one solid CC with a high limit and rewards. Should I wait until my score is higher? I dont know what you mean by crappy cards, if they have AF or MF get rid of them at the one year mark or beyond. At minimum you want 3 bankcards and 1 store card. Appears you have the store/gas cards covered. I would just continue to add better cards over time to bulk up your portfolio.
3. Is there anything else I need to be doing to continue my climb to 800? Keep your reported CC util low, pay your bills on time and keep working on getting your derogs cleared.

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[felyasocal]

Thank you for the reply!

I am sorry, not sure what AF and MF stand for

[gdale6]

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@felyasocal wrote:

Thank you for the reply!

I am sorry, not sure what AF and MF stand for

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Annual and monthly fee      http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Guide-To-Common-Abbreviations/m-p/224988?jump...

[felyasocal]

Thanks. I looked at the abreviation list, but didn't see these =)

[gdale6]

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@felyasocal wrote:

Thanks. I looked at the abreviation list, but didn't see these =)

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Well Ill be, they are not there, will have to send a memo to see about getting them included. Thanks for the heads up.

[felyasocal]

= ))

[Anonymous]

" I have 2 crappy CCs, 2 decent CCs, and a few store\gas cards, plus two car loans. I would like to get one solid CC with a high limit and rewards. Should I wait until my score is higher?"

Can you be more specific as to what revolving lines you actually have now?

[felyasocal]

I've my mom's AMEX since I was a kid. I am AU on it, but I don't use it. I just have it for age of the credit of report.

I have a Premier Bank card with 500$ limit and CapOne with $1200 limit. I got these two about 3 years ago when my credit was really bad. No AF, no MF, not secured. 

Once my credit improved, I got a Barclays card with $5000 limit and Discover card with $5000 limit.

Chevron cars, Macys card, and two car loans