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The only thing I can offer on all of this, (there a many other members who will be able to help tons!) is to def not get off of the parents card. That showing as the oldest TL and in the best standing, removing it will hurt!
Some observations:
1. You still have a significant amount of debt it seems. Before you even think about buying a house, you should focus on getting your debt down to reasonable levels. That $1500 balance on the first card screams to me, "you're not ready yet." You also have a car loan which you are $16,000 in the hole for and paying late almost every month and I don't see how you'd be able to prove to the lender that you can handle a house payment when you can't even pay your car on time. Pay it on time going forward or sell it for a loss... that seems like a monster going against you.
2. You can basically try a goodwill deletion of lates on any of the accounts that are paid off.
3. What are the Dates of First Delinquency on these debts? You might want to see that date because if they are say 2005 or so, then they are set to drop off your credit report soon and you won't have to do anything with them.
4. I would say set a realistic timeframe such as 2 to 3 years and in that time, start writing goodwill letters and paying down your debt. A secured credit card with a $500 to $1000 limit couldn't hurt. And you must make a pact with your guy that going forward neither of you will NEVER be late again.
5. If you rush this process, you are going to set yourself up for failure. You made a lot of mistakes and correcting them is going to take time. Count your blessings if you make fast progress, but don't hold your breath. It is really all about changing your patterns going forward. Don't ever be late on that auto loan again or any other debt for that matter. You need at least 2 years of solid payment history at minimum and little to no debt. I don't think you guys are ready for home ownership in my opinion, not until you tackle some issues. Getting a secured help could help, but if you are making late payments on everything else, don't bother getting it until you can start paying everything on time.
I have to agree with Johnny here. You really need to get a hold on that outstanding debt first before you make the biggest purchase of your entire life. At the very minimum they are going to want to see a full 12 months of on time payments for a mortgage.
As for the paid/settled/closed accounts, like he said, you can probably GW them. Email/fax/call/write, do whatever you have to. I personally like to saturate their means of communications. You can of course dispute with the CRAs for any inaccuracies... of any sort. If they don't respond in 30 days they are deleted.
My initial suggestion since you are just getting started is to create a master/short-longish term plan. For example, mine is to clear my reports, have two revolving accounts and buy a home by 2014. A very important tool for me has been the excel spreadsheet I made for myself. I listed all of the important account information in different columns and X'd which CRs they appeared on. If you'd like to see an example, I'd be glad to share. There are two reasons this helps me: 1-because I cross out each item as it's taken care of and it's VERY rewarding to watch your success as your list diminishes. It is also motivation to see ok I got that much done I can keep going. 2-it's easier to stay organized. I have what feels like hundreds of copies of my reports too. I keep most of them as well as any docs to/from CA/OCs in a 3 ring binder with the first page being my excel progress sheet., then a tab for each CRA as well as a tab for disputes and apps.
I know that was more advice to get started than anything... but you have to start somewhere and no one said you have to listen to me . Good luck and you should already be proud that you want to remedy the situation and move forward!
*edited for typo
Hello and welcome to the forums!
Congrats on deciding to take control of your finances. I for one understand the mistakes that are made when we were young but we're putting that behind us. The members have given you some good information. Set goals, paying off debt, getting everything caught up and cleaned up and then added good credit. You're not that far behind and you can catch up!
I'm going to put some links below that I want you to read and start your journey here. Feel free to post and we will be glad to help. Good Luck!
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/User-Guidelines-General/Common-Abbreviations/td-p/88458
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/What-Steps-Do-I-Take-Do-I-DV-PFD/td-p/337142
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Sto...
Edited: Missed a link
Your major scoring impact, at least in payment history, seems to be a plethora of lates.
Obviously, the older they are, the less their impact, but multiple lates, and particularly any major lates of 90+ days, are keeping your overall file in a "dirty" scoring categorization.
I would suggest you put together a simple table, showing in col. 1 the level of delinquency, col 2 its date of occurence, and col 3, its 7 year exclusion date.
You then have a snapshot at any given future time of what will most likely still be remaining in your payment history scoring at time of loan application.
DOFD on any given account does not appear to be relevant, as you have no collections or charge-offs.
The table will also give you an idea of what GWs would have the most FICO impact, with 60+ lates and recents taking priority.
Any accounts that are currently,or might become, delinquent may lead to new reporting, or a collection or charge-off. So potential future impact may be an issue.
As loan app time approaches, % util on each account will become a focus, and can then be fine-tuned.