Newbie with a few questions

[illlili]

Hey guys, I am in the process of buying a home and aware of my subprime credit I managed to save $50k over the years for a down payment in effort to offset my not so great credit.  However I was urged to spend a few months cleaning up my credit and bring my score up 40 points to qualify for a much lower rate.  So google brought me to this site and now I can see all of my negative marks.  I have several charged off accounts and wondering how exactly I go about 'fixing' them.  I spent nearly 4 hours browsing the forum but feel I went in a full circle as far as what to do.

Here is what Im looking at ...

    Accounts

Company Account number Date opened Balance Status Negative Indicator? [?]  

Matresgint		9/2006	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Chase		8/2003	$12,404	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Discovr Cd		8/2006	$2,696	Bad debt/collection		Details
Amex		8/2004	$1,012	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Aac		12/2012	$3,531	120+ days past due		Details
Chase		12/2006	$3,324	Bad debt/collection		Details
Cap One		8/2003	$945	Bad debt/collection		Details
Portfolio		5/2011	$840	120+ days past due		Details
Thd/Cbna		1/2008	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Gecrb/City		1/2005	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Gecrb/Whte		2/2004	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Sears/Cbna		4/2005	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Bk Of Amer		3/2006	$0	Bad debt/collection		Details
Chase		10/2007	$0	Bad debt/collection		Details
Gecrb/Lowe		1/2008	$0	Bad debt/collection		Details
Citi		12/2004	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Cap One		3/2005	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details
Amex		8/2004	$0	Pays account as agreed	No	Details

Thanks for any feedback!

[DaBears]

Hi illlili, and welcome to the forums, I would suggest getting your credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com and compare all 3. List your most recent collections/charge-offs/liens if any and we can tackle them one by one 

Community Leader, 

Dabears

[illlili]

Thank you so much for your reply!  great community here!

I just pulled my experian, however transunion says I have already checked which I dont recall but must have.

So with the data from equifax and experian should I be looking to put an order between the two reports of negative strikes from most recent to oldest? 

Credit Items:    Select the account name to review details

ASSET ACCEPTANCE    Date Opened: 12/2012  Status: Collection account. Date Opened:  12/2012 Date of Status:  02/2013 Reported Since:  02/2013 Last Reported Date:  07/2013 Type:  Debt Buyer Terms:  1 Months  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $3,452 High Balance:  N/A  Recent Balance:  $3,531 Recent Payment:  $0

BANK OF AMERICA    Date Opened: 03/2006  Closed. $3,452 written off. Date Opened:  03/2006 Date of Status:  02/2010 Reported Since:  04/2006 Last Reported Date:  12/2012 Type:  Credit card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $3,500 High Balance:  $3,787  Recent Balance:  $0 Recent Payment:  $0

[illlili]

CAPITAL ONE

Date Opened: 08/2003  status:  Account charged off. $945 written off. $945 past due as of Jul 2013. Date Opened:  08/2003 Date of Status:  12/2010 Reported Since:  08/2003 Last Reported Date:  07/2013 Type:  Credit card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $500 High Balance:  $945  Recent Balance:  $945 Recent Payment:  $0 Creditor's Statement:  Account closed at credit grantor's request.

CHASE BANK USA

Date Opened: 10/2007  Status:  Closed. $3,168 past due as of Jul 2011.     Date Opened:  10/2007 Date of Status:  07/2011 Reported Since:  10/2007 Last Reported Date:  07/2011 Type:  Credit card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $3,000 High Balance:  $3,374  Recent Balance:  N/A Recent Payment:  N/A

[illlili]

CHASE BANK USA

Date Opened: 12/2006  Status:  Account charged off. $3,324 written off. $3,324 past due as of Jul 2013.     Date Opened:  12/2006 Date of Status:  03/2011 Reported Since:  01/2007 Last Reported Date:  07/2013 Type:  Credit card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $3,000 High Balance:  $3,324  Recent Balance:  $3,324 Recent Payment:  $0

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SVCS LLC

Account Number:  xxxxxxxxx....  Date Opened: 08/2006  Status: Account charged off. status:  Account charged off. $2,696 written off. $2,018 past due as of Jul 2013.     Date Opened:  08/2006 Date of Status:  02/2011 Reported Since:  08/2006 Last Reported Date:  07/2013 Type:  Credit card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $3,000 High Balance:  $3,189  Recent Balance:  $2,696 Recent Payment:  $0

GECRB/LOWES

Date Opened: 01/2008  Status:  Closed. $730 written off.     Date Opened:  01/2008 Date of Status:  05/2011 Reported Since:  01/2008 Last Reported Date:  05/2011 Type:  Charge Card Terms:  N/A  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $438 High Balance:  $730  Recent Balance:  $0 Recent Payment:  $25 Creditor's Statement:  Purchased by another lender.

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES

Date Opened: 05/2011  Status:  Collection account. $840 past due as of Jul 2013.     Date Opened:  05/2011 Date of Status:  08/2011 Reported Since:  08/2011 Last Reported Date:  07/2013 Type:  Debt Buyer Terms:  1 Months  Monthly Payment:  $0 Responsibility:  Individual  Credit Limit:  $730 High Balance:  N/A  Recent Balance:  $840 Recent Payment:  $0

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

What Steps Do I Take - great for learning the repair process.

and Example letters - PFDs, GWs, DVs, etc.

If I had those, this is what I would do:

On your first post, do not mess with any account that is not showing a red flag. This means that FICO sees it as a positive account. Anything with a red flag means that FICO sees it as a negative account.

For BofA, Chase (10/2007), and Lowes, send GW letters. 

For Discover, Chase (10/2006), and CapOne, you could try sending PFD letters. If they agree in writing to the PFD and you pay it, then they'll delete.

One word of caution on GWs and PFDs...know your AAoA (average age of accounts) and know how it works. AAoA is the average age of ALL of your OC accounts. Having old accounts removed can potentially lead to a FICO decrease if they were older than your AAoA. However, sometimes the negative aspects of the accounts far outweigh the positive benefits of the age of that account, hence removing baddies most usually helps. If you had to focus on any individual accounts, do the newest ones first.

Finally, there's zero benefit in having AAC (asset acceptance) and Portfolio reporting. Send both DV letters. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD.

Aside from the above, make sure either SOL expired on any given unpaid debt -OR- make sure you have 100% saved up for that debt before tackling it. If you start sending letters on unpaid debts then they can decide to sue if they wanted to and you could always pay it off to avoid a judgment.