I'm in the process of clearing up my credit as I am hoping to buy my first home in the next 6 months. I have spoken to a couple of loan brokers who both don't believe I'll have difficulty getting a loan but recommend an increase of my middle mortgage score by 40 points for a lower interest rate and pmi rate. I spoke to the owner of a credit repair company today but I told him I wanted to think about using their company while I see what I can do myself.
after reviewing my credit report thoroughly I've come up with several possible problems. One is the way my student loans are reporting for graduate school. The first 2 years out of graduate school my loans were with direct loans. Despite the fact that I had one account number and one payment amount, it is reporting each semester of loan separately so 10 loans in total. After those 2 yrs my loans were transfered to Great Lakes and it again has one account number and one payment but it reports as one loan on the cr.
The problem is that while I was still at Direct loans I was delinquent for 120 days. This was during the time I had taken my father in to get medical care for him. In the four months he was with me, he was diagnosed with several problems, ended up getting major surgery and then unexpectedly died a few weeks later. It was a really stressful time and as a result I wasn't diligent about send in my renewal of forbearance paperwork. Right after the funeral I finally called and got everything taken care of. My loans have been in good standing since. It was absolutely my fault that I didn't get it done and I accept that. However, because they have separated each loan, it looks like I have 10 lines of credit that was 120 days late not one account. Is this something I can dispute? Who should I dispute with, direct Loans or the credit bureau? If I contact Direct loans would this be a goodwill letter asking them to forgive the late fees or a request to just report my loans as one account and one 120 day delinquency? Would fixing this make any difference at all??
