cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

Please know that I have spent many hours researching,reading,calling companies and on this forum. I apologize in advance if I'm asking questions that have already been answered. I'm just starting to get frustrated, so I figured I would post and maybe get a personal answer to my specific questions.

 

 

So I'm 25 yrs old and when I was about 20 I had to choose between roof over my head and food or pay credit cards bills. I chose what I had to do to survive, now I'd really like to get it fixed. Me and my Girlfriend are trying to purchase a house in march of 2018 and my credit is pretty much the only thing holding us back. As of right now I have 3 accounts in collections and 2 other accounts that say "Charged off account Account closed by credit grantor" and 1 other account with a $0 balance but it states "charged off"

 

What have I done so far? I just recently applied and got a secured card from capitol one ( I figured that would be a start to rebuilding my credit ). Now I'm trying to pay off the debt collectors and I have the money to pay everything off in full with no settlement if that is needed. My issue is I'm really nervous about paying the debt collectors I don't trust them and the things I've read about other peoples experiences scare me even more. What I don't want to happen is to pay them and then nothing gets removed or they "accidentally" charge me again etc... So today I decided to hire some help I called a few debt settlement companies and they won't even deal with me because I don't have enough bad debt, go figure. My total debt with collections is $1,435 by the way. Honestly what I'm looking for is a safe way to just pay it off, a middle man that can go to bat for me if they try to pull funny stuff or don't hold up  their end of the deal. To be honest for the last 2-3 years I have been more than financially stable to pay them off, it's more of the head ache with the aftermath and nervous of getting scammed that's held me back. It's my understanding that after they get the money they don't really care about you or your credit.

 

The next thing I did was call credit repair companies, I ended up signing up with Lexington Law, the first lady I talked to there was so helpful and pleasant and everything was going great until I got transferred to their "legal" department this gentleman was nice and polite as well. I spent about 1hr and 45mins talking to the both of them asking millions of questions.The gentleman from the legal department said one answer that threw up a red flag. I asked "Do I pay you guys and you pay the debt collectors?" He's reply was "oh you don't have to pay for your bad debt we will dispute them and they'll be removed" First flag, I owe these debts, they're real I know I owe them so I don't understand what there is to dispute? Second Flag, I'm very inexperienced in this field (which is why I'm here)  but when you dispute a legitimate bad debt don't they just come right back within a couple months or so? This one answer out of all the questions I asked, made me go from feeling safe to skeptical. I have been researching them for the last 3 hours now and I don't like what I see.

 

I'm trying to get my credit fixed as much as I possibly can in the next 8 months. I'm more than willing to pay a service to do it for me not because I'm lazy but because I own and run two businesses and currently work about 75hrs-85hrs a week  (I sleep eat and work pretty much). All I want to do is SAFELY(removed with no surprises later) pay off my bad debt and then for the next 8 months work on rebuilding it with secured cards and any other suggestions anyone has.

 

 

 

Did I make a mistake signing up for Lexington Law? Does anyone have any recommendations? Or do I need to figure out a way to make time to do it myself? I just know with my schedule and working for myself it will be a very long time before I get it done. I will gladly pay to have it resolved quicker than what I have time to do.

 

Sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to give as much details as possible to get specific advice. I guess my main question is where do I start? and how do I do it in a way where It won't come back to haunt me?

 

Thank you all so much in advance and thank you for all the information on this site.

 

 

P.S. - I never knew it was so complicated/unsafe to pay off bad debt.

Message 1 of 14
13 REPLIES 13
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

I have never used Lexington but I understand there method is something like dispute it til it goes away.   What you going to need to do is pay for delete.  Basically you pay them and they agree to remove it from your file. You need to build up  a positive credit file to buy a house.  As a self employed person many lenders will want a larger down payment. 

You need atleast 3 credit cards reporting positve.  Cap 1 easy to get, Discover possibly secured or may unsecured, Bank of America secured.  All of these will grow and probably graduate to unsecured. You probably are over a year out.  What are your real scores from myfico or cct? DW and   I own a small biz.  After varying experiences over the years with lenders  who had no problem with self employmnet and others who just would never loan to selfemployed without a dna sample.  we paid cash for current house. Our scores  are in the 760 range and our track record for self employment  goes back 40 years and still lenders wanted 20% to 40% down to get their best rates.   

Message 2 of 14
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

The FCRA dispute process requires that the consumer identify a specific inaccuracy in the information reported to the CRA.

Any dispute that does not identify an actual inaccuracy can be dismissed without any need for referral to the furnisher of any reinvestigation by the CRA.

It is dismissed as "frivolous or irrelevant" with no need to verify or delete anything.

 

Additionally, even if there is an inaccuracy in their reporting, if the inaccuracy is not one of owing the debt, verification, correction, or deletion if they cannot verify or corrrect, does not apply to the entire account or collection.  Thus, resolution of the dispute will only result in correction, verification, or deletion of the information identified as being inaccurate, and wont result in any deletion of other accurate reporting.

 

Credit repair often involves the request for good will deletions, such as pay for deletion offers.

If you file frivolous disputes, that may act to build a feeling of ill rather than good will in any future efforts to obtain deletion of derogs and collections.

Message 3 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.


@Anonymous wrote:

I have never used Lexington but I understand there method is something like dispute it til it goes away.   What you going to need to do is pay for delete.  Basically you pay them and they agree to remove it from your file. You need to build up  a positive credit file to buy a house.  As a self employed person many lenders will want a larger down payment. 

You need atleast 3 credit cards reporting positve.  Cap 1 easy to get, Discover possibly secured or may unsecured, Bank of America secured.  All of these will grow and probably graduate to unsecured. You probably are over a year out.  What are your real scores from myfico or cct? DW and   I own a small biz.  After varying experiences over the years with lenders  who had no problem with self employmnet and others who just would never loan to selfemployed without a dna sample.  we paid cash for current house. Our scores  are in the 760 range and our track record for self employment  goes back 40 years and still lenders wanted 20% to 40% down to get their best rates.   


 

Is dispute it till it goes away a bad method? I would like to do a pay for delete but is there any company out there that I can hire to be the middle person and make sure they actually delete it? Honestly I'd prefer to not deal with all the hoops and arguing that debt collectors put me through and just pay it and if I have to pay a fee to have it done I would do so. My concern is I don't have money or time for an attorney to go to bat for me after the fact or the time or the proper knowlegde to go to bat for myself if it wasn't removed. 

 

Also thank you very much for the tips with self employment. We plan on having a min of at least 20% down. My girlfriend is also self employed but she also works full time as well with an actual pay stub and her credit is around 740's. In your opinion do you think we could still get a mortage once I get my credit fixed? Our combined income is roughly $90k-$100k a year. She's gotten her debt ratio down to 15%. It would also be our first house so I wasn't sure if we could look into a first time buyer program? My credit score is currently 520's for both Trans and Equifax.

 

 

I really appreciate any help or advice and I REALLY appreciate your time. I know I created this mess for myself but I truly apreciate your time and help.

 

Thank you!

Message 4 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.


@RobertEG wrote:

The FCRA dispute process requires that the consumer identify a specific inaccuracy in the information reported to the CRA.

Any dispute that does not identify an actual inaccuracy can be dismissed without any need for referral to the furnisher of any reinvestigation by the CRA.

It is dismissed as "frivolous or irrelevant" with no need to verify or delete anything.

 

Additionally, even if there is an inaccuracy in their reporting, if the inaccuracy is not one of owing the debt, verification, correction, or deletion if they cannot verify or corrrect, does not apply to the entire account or collection.  Thus, resolution of the dispute will only result in correction, verification, or deletion of the information identified as being inaccurate, and wont result in any deletion of other accurate reporting.

 

Credit repair often involves the request for good will deletions, such as pay for deletion offers.

If you file frivolous disputes, that may act to build a feeling of ill rather than good will in any future efforts to obtain deletion of derogs and collections.


Hey there,

 

Thank you so much for you time and help. If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly. What they're doing isn't a good idea for me to rebuild my credit?

 

I'm sorry I've reread what you wrote about 5 times and to be completely honest a lot goes right over my head. I'm trying to read up on everything so I can better understand the responses. I just feel pretty lost right now, I want to pay off my debt I just want to do it safely is all.

Message 5 of 14
rmduhon
Valued Contributor

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

Talk to a mortgage lender and see what they'll require you to do for an approval. While deletion is best scorewise, you might just need to have them show as paid. I'd avoid LL if I was you. A friend used them and the things they got deleted (1 every month) came back within a few months. And you want 2 more revolving accounts for optimal scoring, opened at least 6 months before you start the mortgage process.
Message 6 of 14
medicgrrl
Valued Contributor

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

Dealing with collection agencies isn't really that scary. Type up a letter stating you wish to pay them in full in return for them deleting the account. They'll either say yes or no. If they say no, they'll probably offer you a lower settlement amount. The sooner you get these paid, the better. Right now, your credit report is basically updating every month to show that you're currently past due. You want that to stop as soon as possible. I think people run into problems with credit report updates when they bypass the collection agency and pay the original creditor instead. You're then relying on the OC to update the collection agency and that doesn't always happen.

Paying the charge off's is even easier. They are the OC. Just call them up, ask them to email you the current payoff amount. Get everything in writing with the collection agencies and the OC's.

If you list your collection agencies you'll get more information on whether they're open to pay for deletes or not. Some are more receptive than other's.

You need to open 2 more cards and look into the Alliant SSL technique on here. You also need to go to the mortgage forum and post information about your self employment, credit etc and ask for advice on various loan types.

Ask a the questions you need to, we're all here to help in any way we can!


EQ 778 EXP 782 TU 729
Message 7 of 14
jdxprs1
Frequent Contributor

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

Who are the debts with? What amounts.
Last app 1/2/2017.
In the garden until at least 6/2/2017.
Message 8 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.


@jdxprs1 wrote:
Who are the debts with? What amounts.

Hey there,

 

I will reply later with more information and questions but I'm working at the moment.

 

To answer your question briefly I owe the following :

 

$186 - ASSOCIATED CREDIT SERVICES INC

$701 - MIDLAND FUNDING LLC

$571 - PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES

 

These are the accounts that are in collections.

 

The following are accounts that say "Charged off account Account closed by credit grantor" :

 

$1137 - SYNCB/WALMART - "Charged off"

$687   - CHASE CARD         - "Charged off account Account closed by credit grantor"

$0        - SYNCB/TJX CO      - "Charged off account"

 

 

Each account was opened in 2012-2011

 

 

Message 9 of 14
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Looking for Help,Guidance, Advice. Not sure where to start with my bad credit.

Do you know or can you get the date of defaults? What state are you in?  Some may be getting close to sol.  I personally suggest the Pay for delete method for  the reasons listed above.   If you elect to buy a house with gf just make sure that you can make the payments without her.  I have seen umarried couples buy a house then one thinks the grass is greener over the septic tank splits leaving the other one stuck in house they can't afford by themselves.  

Message 10 of 14
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.