New to the board. Question...

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone!

I've been reading the boards for the last few days trying to learn and absorb information. I can't believe how much information is here on these forums! I was wondering if anyone could offer a bit of advice. I know that no two situations are alike but I am just trying to figure out the best way to take care of our credit. 

My wife and I have quite a bit of negative credit on our reports. We had really good credit at one time but several years ago, our business went under and we were not able to keep up. Now we are getting to a point where we have some extra funds and I am seeing conflicting information about how to proceed.

I see some people advocating sending in dispute letters to have items removed from their credit while others are sending letters offering paid to delete settlements. The dispute letters would obviously be much cheaper but it seems like paid to delete letters may work faster. 

My question is, if speed is not an issue, which it is not at this time, which is the best route to go? I know there is not a simple answer to this question but I am just wanting to get some opinions of why you may prefer one option over the other. I will continue reading these boards as well but if you have any good threads bookmarked about these scenarios (such as how often to send letters, when to send them, how much of the debt to offer as payment, etc.) I would love to read them.

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

For me, the first thing is to figure out what is still in the SOL and what is not.  The ones within SOL are the ones you must proceed carefully on because they can still sue you for those.  There are far more experienced people than I on here but I just started this process and I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly everything works if you follow the advice of others who have done so much already.

Since I have a security clearance to consider, I have to address every single unpaid item but I have had quite a bit of success with pay for deletes on medical collections and items that are about to fall off my credit report.  For the others, they have offered settlements but will not delete and for anything still within SOL, I pay in full and try a goodwill letter.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the thing you need to pay attention to most is the SOL. I did a lot of reading on these boards and elsewhere before deciding on my plan of action. And it also comes down to the CA and the OC. Some respond to DV. Some don't. Some agree to PFD. Some don't. Some will even PFD for a small percentage of the account. And some respond to GW. Some don't. I bet every OC and CA you have, someone on this board has dealt with that company and shared. The Search box has been my friend.

Once you come up with a plan, share it on here and people will give you feedback. And ask questions. That's what's worked for me.

Good luck!

[RobertEG]

Whether or not to file a dispute is dependent, first and formost, upon whether you have documentstion of an error in specific informtion they have reported.

You cant simply file a generic "dispute" and compel any investigation.  The consumer has the initial burden of establishing a basis for an assertion of inaccuracy.

Otherwise, the dispute can be dismissed as "frivolous or irrelevant." withput any investigation.

In review of your credit reports, do you have inaccuracies in repoted information that you can document?

Additionally, if a debt collector has reported or contacted you, you can consider filing of a request for debt validation.

A DV request does not have the burden of showing an error in reporting, and can thus be sent to any debt collector, but does have a timelinwss requirment.

For collections, how long ago did the debt collector send dunning notice?