After reading many inspiring journals, I decided I am going to start one too. A few weeks back, I found myFico and I have to say I have been glued to this thing. I have read so many inspiring stories that it has inspired me to start my own rebuilding process - and be hopeful that I can get it done.
Here is my situation:
I have 2 student loans which went in default back in 2007. They have since been refinanced/rehabbed and are still in deferment. Those two loans were assigned to a collection agency and their status shows as “Paid Collection” with a balance of 0. They are set to drop off in 05/2014 (according to Equifax credit report).
Next baddie on my report was an old Tmobile account – in the amount of $389 reported by Midland (tried to dispute it with CRAs, they verified). It is scheduled to drop off in June of 2014. Midland sent me a settlement offer for $233 and change, I countered with a PFD offer of $150. Still waiting to hear back. This is set to drop off in about 6 months anyway, so if they don’t accept, oh well. Consequently, this same account is being reported by another agency on my Experian report called Sunrise Credit Services. I called them, and they don’t have any information or anything on my name or under the OC Account number. So I sent them a certified DV letter (they received it last week), awaiting their response.
The above mentioned accounts are not my biggest concerns. Here are the other 2 which are more recent and have me a bit worried, but I am definitely not giving up.
I have a charged off account from Pathfinder Credit Services/Career Path. The charged off amount is $4152. They sued me in May of 2013, but no judgment was entered. At the appearance, because the contract had an arbitration clause, we agreed to make monthly payments of $200.00 until the balance is paid in full – with a stipulation that if at tax time I come into some money, we could negotiate to settle this account and it would be dismissed with prejudice. So as I prepare for the new year, I sent a letter to these guys proposing a settlement of $1500.00 to consider the account paid in full (letter was pretty detailed including the reminder of the conversation I had with the attorney at the courthouse), and to ask them to delete any reference of this account from my credit report. Until March of 2014, I would continue to make monthly payments as agreed. They countered with the offer of about $1,666.65 (50 cents on a dollar of the balance remaining at that time) and agreed that they would remove that from the credit report. This agreement was done on the phone but I have no reason to doubt that they would not honor it, plus we agreed to get back in touch around March and draft a new agreement that shows account paid in full and that they will direct the CRAs to delete any reference to this account. I was also advised that at times, CRAs have been known to take some time (sometimes up to 90 or more days). Is this true? I don’t care if it takes 90 days, honestly – better than 7 years. This CO happened in May of this year, and it is scheduled to remain on my credit report until 2018 based on DoFD. So I am hopeful this will be good.
The next one is the one I am most worried about. It is vehicle repossession, done back in January of 2012. Can’t you tell that I had some issues in my life around that time? Oh well, the past is the past – I can only learn from my mistakes, not change them. The balance shows $3665. I’ve been reading a lot about this, and the lender is apparently required to advise you about their plans for the vehicle. They never did. They never notified me of the auction/sale. They also never notified me of the deficiency balance – I only found out about the balance remaining after I pulled my credit report. So I am preparing a letter to them (to be sent sometime in February, 2014). In that letter, I am going to propose a settlement for a PIF and PFD in the amount of $3,000.00. I am also planning on pointing out the issue outlined above – to hopefully entice them to accept my PFD. I am willing to even pay the full amount if needed, as long as they will remove any reference to this account from my credit files. You think this will work? Any suggestions of what I should include on this letter to up my chances of the offer being accepted?
My scores when I first started this were as follows. All FICOs pulled from here.
EQ: 589
TU: 599
EX: 589
Current FICO scores (as of 12/2/2013)
EQ: 609
TU: 619
EX: 629
I have applied for and gotten approved for a Capital One Secured Card ($1000.00 CL – was approved for a $49 deposit for $200 CL – deposited more to bring to $1000) – Opened in September – UTIL 10%
Next card I got was CreditOne Bank - $300.00 CL. I know, not the greatest card, but beggars can’t be choosers, right? I pay my cellphone bill with it, and pay it in full (established early this month) and that is the only thing I plan on having being charged there automatically). I have added myself to another person’s Capital One Card (2 years of perfect history with $2000 CL and about 10% utilization) this month so I am waiting to see what happens when it reports on January 3rd 2014. I used the shopping cart trick with Amazon.com and got approved for a $700 CL online just last night, and with that in mind, I also got a bit app happy and applied for the Walmart Card (since it is issued by the same bank) and got the 7-10 day message. I called and was told the application got denied. Oh well it was a long shot anyway – at least I will get a free credit report out of this. So, no more apps until at least July of 2014 (after the top 2 things are scheduled to drop off) – I am gardening (wow! never thought I’d be using that term). I am excited…
I have signed up for the ScoreWatch and I will be updating this thread each month as I get. The plan is to get new FICO scores at least every 3 months (since I have ScoreWatch).
In the end, I want to thank every member of myfico community who was courageous enough to post their story in here. You are all an inspiration to those of us who are just starting out.
Hey Todd99,
Thank you for your reply. I figured it would be a long shot with walmart but since both amazon and walmart are issued by the same bank, I figured I'd give it a shot. Oh well, you live and you learn, right?
Great idea ptilda
I was planning on doing just that when I receive my income tax return. And open a "savings/money market/CD" account with them, and use that as a collateral to get a credit-rebuilding personal loan. But I figured it would be better to see if I can PFD those baddies like the CO or the repossession. What are your thoughts?
Thanks again,
Ok so I just wanted to post an update (taking a break from all the gift opening and stuff).
I woke up this morning to a SW alert saying that EQ score has dropped by 2 points. Looks like the new Amazon.COM Store card has made its way to my EQ report. 2 points for an additional $700 CL, I'll take it, I think. It will bounce back soon. I had 3 apps during December, and 2 were approved, and one declined. So we shall see what happens when Fingerhut shows up.
The Capital One to which I made myself as an AU will report just after the 1/1/2014, so I am waiting to see how that will affect my score. I am also waiting to see how it reports (will it backdate the entire account history, or will it start reporting as of right now).
That is it for today
Ok so, remember that Sunrise Credit Services CA that was reporting on my Experian file but they had no record (sold the debt to Midland). I had called them to inquire why they are reporting and they couldn't even find my file. So I sent them a nice DV letter earlier this month, and guess what - IT IS GONE!
My Experian Report no longer has that account listed. At least according to Quizzle (just signed up for them - it is free after all so why not! This full report shows all my other TLs including Amazon Store Card. No Fingerhut yet though. So it has to be accurate.
I know there are some conflicting reports about if Fingerhut actually reports to Experian or not, but we will find out.
So 1 down - still waiting to hear back from Midland on the PFD offer. We shall see what happens. Should I call Midland to ask them if they received my letter (although letter was certified and I got confirmation that they received it - little green signature return card? Or should I just stay put and see if they respond?