Questions

[MrFlmbynt69]

Good morning everyone, I am a long-time lurker, first-time poster.   I am looking to purchase a home in the next 3-6 months and need to clean up my credit first.  My scores as pulled by my credit union are 567/589/617.  I have 4 open trade lines; 2 CCs, an auto loan and a warranty which the lender wouldn't roll into the auto loan, but worked out well, because the contract is 0% interest and 18 months at the same amount it would have been for the duration of the auto loan.  None of my open tradelines have ever been late, the CCs have a perfect 3 yr payment history with 1% and 9% utilization respectively.  

Unfortunately, I have all the major baddies; Midland, Portfolio Recovery, LVNV and a few other that escape my memory at the moment.  I understand the dispute/DV process, if/when they come back validated and I go the PFD route is there a magic number to offer(aside from PIF)? I only owe about 4-5K and have the money to PIF, but don't want to if I don't have to.

I don't have the CR in front of me but I believe Midland has the highest balance, which is about $3100 and about 5 years old; It was originally a Providian Card, but now has WaMu as the original creditor which is hilarious because I have a I currently have 3 Chase Accounts, which were initially WaMu Accounts, opened online with no docs required.   I know that I ultimately have no one to blame but myself, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I may have to pay upwards of 3K to pay off what was initially a $300 card.   Oh young me, if I could only talk to you now!  Considering all the shifts in banking i.e Providian/WaMu/Chase, would a DV be worthwhile and has anyone had recent success?

My other baddies are minor things most less than $200, and one that is maybe $600 or so; all of which I hope to PFD.  If PFD is not possible, as far as scoring is concerned, would it be better to PIF or settle?

I know each situation is different, but would it be reasonable to hope for 650+ all around, by the end of the year?

Thanks in advance.

[Breakthecycle2]

PIF or settle doesn't really matter as far as scoring goes. If an underwriter manually reviews it, they will see it, but that's about it. As far as your past WAMU balance. I would try and take care of it because Chase will take the money from your account eventually. They did it to me lats month. I had a Wamu account a few years ago that I apparently owed $156 on.

[mauve]

I'd DV before PFDing, at least to try to establish current ownership of the accounts.  It can also prompt settlement offers, which would be a good starting point for your PFD offers.  Also, the $300 -> $3100 - were you over limit, or is that 90% interest and fees?

[MrFlmbynt69]

The old Providian/WaMu card is collections with either Midland or Portfolio Recovery. I've had a WaMu/Chase account for almost 3 years with no problems whatsoever, so I'm not overly concerned with them taking the money. My father passed in June and due to insurance, 401K, multiple pensions et cetera I have a very tidy sum in the bank, but I don't want to over re-pay, if that makes sense. Ideally, I'c like it to come back not validated, but barring that I'd like to PFD and if that's not possible, to PIF/settle then GW. I can PIF everything, but I want to at least attempt 1-2 round of PFDs.

[MrFlmbynt69]

Mauve, 

That's all interest and fees.  I'd like to offer about 2-4 hundred dollars, if not less, but I don;t know if such offers are deemed insulting or frivolous and subsequently ignored.

[Anonymous]

I just went through the same thing with pinnacle on a citbank card, the SOL had run out so they couldn't sue me and win. I discovered it on my credit report, DV'd em it came back with errors, I offered 25% of balance and mention the SOL had run out Pinnacle accepted the money but would not delete so I refused to pay, they called me and broke a few other FTC rules I wrote a nice letter to them stating the vilolations and also mention i had made complaints / reported to the BBB/FTC and AG and magically it disaapeared. It took about 5 weeks from start to finish.

Good Luck

[mauve]

I would personally try calling the OC first and seeing if they can pull it back.  I'd offer them the full amount originally owed. 

[MrFlmbynt69]

Mauve, 

So as Providian and WaMu are no more and I bank with Chase; I should contact Chase and ask them to pull it back even though it was charged off and sent to a CA years ago and offer them the original $300 or so?

The other small things appear to still be with either OC or smaller CA, so I will contact them and offer to PIF for deletions.

[mauve]

Yeah, I'd try contacting Chase, but I'd read up on the forums as to where / how other people have had success with them.  I am pretty sure that people have been having success with Midland as of late for PFD kind of things, but I don't remember about LVNV etc...

[MrFlmbynt69]

I'm sure we've all been through this, but when I look at my CR,  NOTHING I bought was worth the heartache now.  Not to mention the shame; my credit is my dirty little secret that I hope my friends and family don't find out about.  My dad had a Platinum Discover Card with a PERFECT 20 year payment history; 50K limit and $0 balance;after he died they called and asked if anyone in the family wanted to keep the card, I said sure and everything was going well until they pulled my CR; the agent told me there was no point in her even completing the application because she knew by my CR it would be denied.  

That was the tipping point for me.