Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to stop by and officially say "hi." This forum is a wonderful resource. Thank you all that provide their expertise, support and encouragement.
I'm looking to get my first mortgage later this year, so I'm working on a couple of derogs. I'm hoping to create a log of my activities similar to p-'s excellent log to show the steps I took. As of 11/2012, my report(s) looked like this:
Negatives:
- 84% total utilization
- 1 judgment (expires 6/13)
- 2 derog accounts (most recent derog - 9/07)
- 1 CA (expires 3/13)
Positivies: (all never late)
- 4 active CCs
- 1 active auto loan
- 4 inactive CCs
- 1 inactive auto loan
Scores:
EQ: 660 TU: 636 EX: 629 (lender pulled 11/2012)
EQ: 734 TU: 740 EX: 721 (12/2012 TC Vantage)
Plan of Attack:
- I've already PIF all revolving accounts, so my utilization will show as 0% by mid month for all accounts. I believe this was the biggest factor in FICO scores. My reasoning is that I had mid 700's in 2011 and haven't had any baddies in 5 years. When those reports were pulled in 2011, I had 0% utilization too.
- Have the judgment show satisfied / get it removed from report. Judgement was satisfied, and it appears it should fall off report due to CRTP rules for NY judgements once the status is updated based on information I've found in this forum and the internet.
- DV the CA (OC was Time Warner). I'm fairly certain, the account is a mistake. When I'd turned in my TW equipment, they said I was PIF, but I don't have a receipt. If valid, will attempt a PFD, then PIF. If it is a valid account, the CA is also reporting DOFD almost 1 year after the TW account was closed, which is incorrect. It seems that any positive action from CA should cause this to fall off my reports. Either way, if it's valid, I'll ensure TW gets its money.
- GW letter to BoA. Had 4 lates from 12/06-9/07. It was the only time I really got behind on my finances since having a "real" job. I have a perfect history with them with the exception of those lates. I've found a few BoA GW successes in these forums and am hoping I'll be lucky.
- GW letter to Honda Finance. I wrote previously in these forums about my experience, but they have been unwilling to remove derog even though it was their mistake. They claim that my past history (a few lates 2+ few years prior to this issue), is preventing them from removing this. I got busy the last time I attempted to deal with this and haven't followed up, but my previous history shouldn't be held against me when it was their mistake.
Starting Score: EQ: 660 TU: 636 EX: 629 (lender pulled 11/2012)
Thanks p-! Until I found your log, I felt a little bit lost and doubted some of my plan of action. Your log gave me the confidence about the order I planned to take in re-building my own report. Happy New Year!
p- wrote:
Hopefully you learn from my mistakes
I believe we all can. The detail you've left is amazing!
Update for 1/3-1/4
2006 Judgement:
- Spoke with Clerk and gave me information about the case. He said it was satisified. I explained the situation that led to the judgement and he said I had a reasonable shot at getting the whole thing vacated. Since others have suggested this will show on my lender report even after the seven years, I'm going to attempt to get it vacated by contacting the OC.
- Sent a check to obtain a copy of the records for the case and a letter stating it's been satisfied.
2006 CA Account:
- After asking a separate question and doing more research, I've decided that DV is the appropriate next step for this account. I'll be sending that letter out shortly CMRRR.
Awesome! I hope you keep up with this. This will be very inspiring to me, especially now that I've found my big boy pants and want to fix some early college mistakes.
Very cool!
I love threads like these. Great for learning and for inspiration. Especially p-'s!
How old are your positive accounts? Just curious.
Starting Score: 580loviedovie wrote:
Very cool! I love threads like these. Great for learning and for inspiration. Especially p-'s! How old are your positive accounts? Just curious.
Thanks loviedovie, I got a lot out of p-'s. Once I'm done, I hope to consolidate my findings and take-aways into something that's easy for others to read through.
My accounts are as follows: Chase CC - 6 yrs, Barclay's - 3 yrs, Amex (AU) - 8 yrs. Also have a 1.5 yr old Chase auto loan. BoA CC is 8 yrs, but I have 4 badies from 2007. I let an account from 97 get closed due to inactivity 