Expert Advice Needed - Next Rebuilding Steps

[pghfangirl04]

I have worked on rebuilding for the past month since I have found this wonderful message board and have had a few successes.  I have PFD some small collections, gotten errors removed from my CR, and I am working with a person on getting some goodwill on a paid collection. 

I need to get a car before December so I am going to put all of my business out here on the board so that all of you credit experts/gurus can give me a helping hand on what I can do to boost my score up.  I think that if I can get them all to 630 I shouldn't have any problem buying a car with $2500 down (hopefully).  All of my baddies are below.  What advice do you have for me?  Let me know if you have any questions or need any more info.  Thanks!

ETA: The text in red are the issues i'm not really sure what to do about. 

Open CC
Creditor	CL	Balance	Lates	Notes
Clearview FCU	300	306	30 - Jan 11, Apr 11	Co-signer on   brother's CC how much are these effecting me?  are credit unions receptive to goodwill requests?
FPB	250	189	30 - Sep 10, Jun 11,   Aug 11, Dec 11.  60 - Oct 10, Sep 11.   90 - Nov 10
Cap 1	300	50	Never Late

Open   Student Loans
Creditor	# of loans		Lates	Notes
AES	2		60 - Jan 11, July   11.  90 - Dec 10, June 11	In forebearance during periods of late payments shown. not sure what to do, should i let it ride until 2018?
DOE/SM	2		90 - Jan 11.  120 - Feb 11.	In forebearance during periods of late payments shown. Advocate said forbearance was after lates already reported so   they couldn't be changed. Loan consolidated in July. not sure what to do, should i let it ride until 2018?
SM	4		90 - Jan 11.  120 - Feb 11.	In forebearance during periods of late payments shown. Advocate said forbearance was after lates already reported so   they couldn't be changed. Loan consolidated in July. not sure what to do, should i let it ride until 2018?

Closed   CC
Creditor	CL	Balance	Lates	Notes	DOFD
Clearview FCU	300	0	30 - Jan 11, Apr 11	Lost/Stolen CC I   cosigned for my brother
Clearview FCU	500	0	30 - May 09, Feb 10,   Dec 10	Closed paid in full.
GECRB/Amazon	550	113	charged off	Sent letter to Amazon update Amazon doesn't own this debt, refered me to CA ERC.  ERC is not reporting to CRA yet.  Received dunning a while ago, should i send them a PFD even though it's not on CRy yet?	May-09
GECRB/JCPenney	1800	0	charged off	Sent to CA - Security   Credit Service  ?? don't have funds to PIF right now.	Jul-09
HSBC	500	0	charged off	Was able to PFD with   CA Sep 2011 sent GW letter waiting on response.	Jun-09
HSBC	300	0		Settled for less than   full balance sent GW letter waiting on response.	Nov-09

Closed   Loans
Creditor	Amt	Balance	Lates	Notes
Clearview FCU	2543	0	30 - May 09. 60 - Jun   09, July 09, Aug 09	Paid in full. School   Loan - Not sure what to do
Clearview FCU	7028	0	30 - Jun 09, Nov   09.  60 - July 09.  90 - Aug 09, Sep 09	Paid in full, Car   Loan - Not sure what to do

Collections
Collection   Agency	Balance	Opened	Last Reported	Original Creditor	Notes
Credit   Collections USA	129	1/15/2012	1/15/2012	Medical	Will PFD
Credit   Management Co	288	2/27/2012	5/5/2012	Medical	Will PFD
National   Recovery Agency	276	10/29/2009	7/5/2012	Medical	Will PFD
Security   Credit Service	1293	11/24/2012	1/14/2011	GECRB/JCPenneys	??  don't have funds to pay in full right now
Univ of Pgh	3575	11/24/2004	6/29/2012		?? don't have funds to pay in full right now

[snsforever916]

WOW...It's crazy how your score is higher than mine and your file looks a lot worse. Are those FICO scores? I have 4 cards, never late with less utlization and higher overall CL's. I also have a paid off car loan with lates but not that recent. I have 3 collections not paid.  I got a car loan last June and I am paying 11% and that is when my scores were higher 620.

[RobertEG]

In broad-brush, having multiple major derogs will make significant score increases difficult until they are either deleted or excluded.

The 90-lates, charge-offs, and collections are all major derogs. 

The Univ of Pgh collection shows an open date of 2004.  Is that the open date for the OC account, or for the reported collection?

What is the DOFD on the OC account, and thus is it scheduled to die of its own old age prior to your December target date?

The two GECRB cards show no current efforts to delete.  Both were charged-off by the OC, so those are major reported derogs, in addition to any collection that has or may be reported.

You state that you sent a letter to GECRB/Amazon on their CO.  Being as they are still reporting a balance, they apparently still own the debt.

Was your letter a PFD offer for deletion of their CO?  Of concern is that they could still either assign or sell to a debt collector, so it may be another looming collection.

It would be a priority of mine, as it has the potential to get worse.  You may want to consider paying even if they wont PFD on the CO to avoid an additional collection.

The GECRB/JCPenney has apparently been sold to the debt collector, leaving you with GW offers to the OC to deal with their charge-off, and PFD your means for dealing with the collection.   Can you pay the debt collector now, and thus offer a PFD?

[pghfangirl04]

@snsforever916 - I'm not sure what to tell you but the TU and EQ scores are FICO. My EX is from Quizzle.

@RobertEG thanks for responding. On my Experian CR it says the date opened is 11/2004, the "reported since" date is 5/2008. Is that the date I should be looking at instead?

My letter to Amazon was a PFD. They pretty much ignored the pay for delete part and said that they did own the debt so I could pay them.

Here is another issue with the JCP account. I got a letter in the mail today from another CA different from the one who is reporting now. They are Mercantile Adjustment Bureau and they are offering a settlement. Should I send a DV to the CA on my CR first before sending them a PFD?

[RobertEG]

If you received a letter from a new debt collector, that is indication that the old debt collector is now out of the picture.

That does not require the prior debt collector to delete, or prevent the new debt collector from reporting.

Communication from a new debt collector triggered their obligation to provide their own dunning notice within 30-days.  Did their letter also advise you of your DV rights?  If so, you have a 30-day period in which to DV with them.  If it was just a settlement offer, then any DV would be timely.

Reasons to DV the new debt collector:

1.  To receive verification of the validity of the debt, the debt collector's stated authority, and the current amount of the debt.  Do you need/want that?

2.  Invoke a temporary cease collection bar on them, thus preventing reporting of their collection until such time as  they provide the requested debt verification.

Reasons for NOT sending a DV:

1.  The cease collection bar will, until they provide verification, prevent them from conducting any negotiations on payment of the debt, so you will be in a temporary state of limbo.  With approx 6 months until your stated date of dealing with deletion, you most likely have some time to wait them out.

2.  Sending a DV might cause them to report their collection immediately upon providing debt verification.

[pghfangirl04]

The letter does say I have 30 days from receipt of the notice to dispute the validity. The amount on this letter is also almost $700 more than when it was with the other CA. I think I'm going to send them the DV. Should I dispute the entry from the other CA or send them a DV also?

[RobertEG]

If a DV to debt collector 1 would be untimely, it is not apt to have much impact.  Their dunning was more than 30 days ago?

Additionally, assuming debt collector 1 is now out of the picture, even if your DV were timely, they would not be conducting any further collection activity.

Thus, no reason for them to do anything with a DV.

You can DV debt collector 1, but it might be kinda useless at this point if they are no longer collecting.

[pghfangirl04]

Understood. Thanks

[icanimprove]

OP, are your medical collections reporting to all 3 CRA's? Did you already send the PFD letters to the medical CA's?

[pghfangirl04]

@ icanimprove, the medical collections are reporting to all three.  I didn't PFD them but I will.