Credit Repair - Where to start?

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I'm seeking your help on how to repair credit myself.

<My situation>
In 2009, I got laid off for a while and was not able to keep up with all the payments. Now on my credit report, I have:

1. Three judgements which was settled at less amount
2. Five credit card accounts which were also settled with less amounts
3. Two collection accounts which I'm still paying monthly
4. Late payments on student loan, verizon, etc

<What I've tried so far>
1. I've opened a couple of secured credit cards. Also I'm an authorized personals for three of my wife's credit cards.
2. I've just opened an auto loan with my wife (very high interest rate)
3. I've tried to dispute negative records through SKyBlue (credit repair agent) for almost five months. They removed two of my judgements in one or two credit Bureaus, but that's it.
4. Never missed a payment for the last two years.
5. Now I joined myFICO to get your advice

<Goal>
My house mortgage with high interest is really killing me. My goal is to refinance in one or two years.

I was very disappointed by SkyBlue. I've tried to google on how to dispute myself, but no luck so far. Also I see a lot of comments that accurate negative accounts can never be disputed. Even though it can be done by "Jamming", it's only temporary.

Now I'm trying to do it myself, but I do not know where to start and am seeking for your advice.

Thanks in advance!!!

[Anonymous]

Welcome, first thing you need to do is set aside several hours each day for the next few weeks while you read all of the recent posts here and learn as much as you can about the process. You will eventually want to get your *real* FICO scores, either from here or somewhere else. Don't rely on sites like Credit Karma or Credit Sesame for score. They are fine for monitoring reports but their scores can be way off - thats why they are known as "FAKOs"

[Anonymous]

I would highly suggest requesting a paper copy of your credit report from all 3 credit agencies. While you are waiting to receive your reports read, then reread, and read again .  You will also want to make sure that you have a good organization plan (you will need to keep copies of everything you receive or send). Once your reports arrive, use you new found knowledge to develop a plan of attack.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, rfjanderson!

Acutallly I already got all three credit reports and gathered all the dispute candidates. SkuBlue helped me with this. Now I'm not sure how to plan next.

1. My first question is whether I need to plan to dispute the negative records. According to this article (http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/clean-credit_report-dispute-jamming-1270.php), it sounds like there is really no way to dispute accurate records. Even though it can be done by "jamming", it's only temporary. Is this true?

2. If it's possible, now I need to plan to dispute myself, and I need people's advice on how to do this. SkyBlue already tried to dispute all of my negative records at least once, but they were not able to remove any of the negative credit card accounts, so I wonder how to do this more aggresively. Is there any article that explains about this process. Again, i'm not trying to remove errors, but the accurate accounts that have been charged off or settled with less amounts.

Thanks so much for your time!

[Anonymous]

Hello, first of all, welcome to the MyFICO Forums!

I hope that we can be of great assistance in getting your scores up to where you'd hope.

Some advice to start off, I notice that you've paid off quite a bit of the Credit Cards that went into collection..

Have you attempted to GW (GoodWill) Letter Request that these items be removed from your credit history? 

Consistancy and diligence goes miles here, as you will never have any success if you don't try. 

Google Search or Ask here on these fourms for specific Creditors suggested Emails or ways to contact these companies to remove this information!

With the two Collections that you are paying monthly, have you already reached an agreement with the Collector or Original Creditor for this payment plan?

While it is not always successful, at times when the collection is past your states SOL (Statue of Limitations) on Debts, you can request a PFD ( Pay for Delete )

on these accounts in return for payment of the debt or a portion of the debt owed. Although not required to be past SOL to request this in return for payment, you have more negotiating power in this situation. This will result in all information of this Credit Line being deleted from your account.

Although it will remove any positive history, it greatly outweighed by the fact that the collection and all history of lates will be purged from your history. 

In regards to the Lates..

You can also begin looking up or requesting information from the community here in regards to emails or physical addresses to send out GW Letters 

to delete information on your credit history from late payments. Obviously good continuous history beyond these lates would greatly help in your success here. 

Don't think you'll have much success requesting a GW adjustment to your history if you have been habitually late with their company. 

As far as not being able to remove negative information from your Credit History??

HA!

It can be done, and HAS been done by many here on these forums! 

The only way it CANNOT be done, is with a lack of effort in trying to improve your scores! But asking for advice here is a first step into achieving your credit goals!

Please allow us to help you here, and I know there are amazing people on these forums who are more than willing to help you in anyway they can!

Hope to hear back from you soon!

P.S

It is not the suggestion of anyone on these forums to Dispute ANY information from your Credit Reports if it is legitamate. 

This could have negative consequences so please refrain from doing so. Credit Repair agencies have a bad tendancy of doing this, when they should be sending out DV (Debt Validation) letters to these companies instead.. but then again, why pay someone to do something for you, that can easily be done yourself