Friend has a very thin file and its all bad

[MyDataMyChoice]

My friend has a credit karma score of OUCH..... 511 (Five Hundres Eleven)....

He is young...

He has federal student loans.... all which show as >120+ days past due 

and some are with a collection agency

I told him to call them up and ask about a rehabilitation if possible... (he is paying them something like $5/mo)

in 2008 he opened a college credit card with BOA.... had a small limit of 750... he would max it out and PIF

He had that until 2013.... he lost his job and couldnt pay off the 750 he had on it...

Now its almost 2015... he never paid them back... (still looking for a job)....it shows charged off/collection. and there is a new collection account from the agency

Thats it... very thin file..... 30K in student loan debt (which shows as collection) and 750 credit card

What should he do?  He wants to build his credit....

obviosly he doesnt have 30K lying around to pay off his loans.... but should he try good will?

Especially with the BOA?

Or should he just dispute everything

[Anonymous]

He needs to get into a rehab asap with the student loans. Have a secured cc open and take care of that. How old is the collection on his BOA. Try paying for delete. There are a lot of things  that  can be done. First and foremost get thise loans in rehab.

[WEShinego]

Okay, I used to be in a very similar situation about three years ago.  The first thing he should do is get ahold of the federal government to rehabilitate his defaulted loans.  Your friend should be able to find information at myeddebt.com.  Eventually, after several months of smaller payments, he'll be able to transfer his loans to a loan servicer that moves them out of default.  Usually, the government will agree to remove the poor payment history on the only defaulted acounts once the loans are in good standing with a non-profit servicer.  PM me for more details.

[Anonymous]

First things first - he needs to obtain steady employment before even worrying about rehabbing his credit. Just sayin.

Otherwise he is going to be right back where he is in no time at at all.

[MyDataMyChoice]

He does know this...

he will only be putting his gas (using it as a debit) to rebuild credit

He doesnt have any other credit...

he also cant get a job.... as he thinks the credit is affecting his ability to get a job

Should he open a fingerhut account?  (fresh start).... I'm willing to buy some coffeee k-cups ($50 worth) itll be his xmas gift  that i get to keep HAHA!

[Anonymous]

An employer cannot check your credit without asking for permission. Is he giving them permission to check his credit? In nine states the use of a credit check for employment consideration is limited. What state is he in?

There are articles on the web on how to deal with this issue.

[Anonymous]

Also note that they can see your FILE, but not your score. So if he thinks that is an issue, positive credit lines to boost his score is not going to help, he would need to work on clearing derogs, and turning unpaid items into paid items (yeah I know catch 22, tough to pay with no job).

[huck1081]

Bad credit will only prevent him from getting certain jobs. Trust me, I had bad credit and got a terrific job 3 years ago. Any eating establishment, gas station or grocery store. Depending on where he lives, needs to look for oil/gas/railroad jobs. What good is new credit if you can't pay for it? I wish him luck, but I can't emphasise enough how he must get a job, any job.

[MyDataMyChoice]

True... he works at barns and nobel part time...

and somehow he had his car reposessed..but there is no record of it

Once he gets a job he wanted to know how to get out of this hole

[RobertEG]

"FCRA 604(b)(2)   Disclosure to Consumer

(A) In general.  Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a person may not procure a consumer report, or cause a consumer report to be procured, for employment purposes with respect to any consumer, unless =

(i) a clear and conspicuous disclosure has been made in writing to the consumer at any time before the report is procured of caused to be procured, in a document that consists solely of the disclosure, that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, and

(ii) the consumer has authorized in writing (which authorization may be made on the document referred to in clause (i)) the procurement of the report by that person."

The exclusion of subparagraph B pertains to applications by telephone or mail, and provides separate means for the consumer to consent, but still requires consumer consent.