rckstrscott wrote:
So.. I have been spending a lot of time on the forum; making suggestions and responding to threads, so I decided to go back to my original 'Guidance' post and see what I have done to this point, which put me into the 700 club. My new text from the original post is in BOLD blue.
So; I made a lot of mistakes in rebuilding my credit. I spent 10 years in rock bands which destroyed it based on laziness, inabilty to pay and stupid decisions. I started rebuilding my credit last October, in 2010. I have had the same job for the last 3 years, and I make over 60k a year. Unmarried.
I have a varying degree of stuff on all three CR, but all have basically the same info. Right now, my FICO is 618 for TU, 558 for EQ and I have a FAKO of 620sih for EX. Lender pulls in February were 722 TU, 712 EQ and 686 for EX; so 10 months after this post.
I am going to quickly list what has been done, and what is listed, and I would like some guidance as to what I can do going forward. I have a fairly unrealistic goal of purchasing a home in February 2012. As far as finances, I have the money to pay stuff, in full. So those are always options. I am just looking for guidance from those who have been there. I will say this, I save lots of money up to tackle these debts, so I know some of this is unrealistic (I understand not everyone can just send a 10k check to the IRS, but I saved up for a while to make a move on my credit repair, and I wanted to have all avail options, including PIF if there was a chance I could be sued ect ect)
My utilization is 54% on my credit cards. I have 7 accounts listed.
Citi card = $4020 of 7700, Chase=$0 of $500, Capital One=$0 of 200,, Credit One=$172 of 300. No late payments on any of the cards listed.
I am an authorized user on the Citi (my girlfriends, but we have joint finances), and Joint on the Chase and Individual on the other 2.
In addition I have 2 HSBS charge offs for $325 dollars whcih show $0 balance, Plains Commerce for $377 dollars which was charged off and still shows a balance of $377
My util is now 6%. I removed the Citi card from my reports as I was just an AU. I have also since added a Capital One Cash Rewards card with a $1500 limit WFNB Room Place and Value City Furniture each with $1200 limit and a Macy's AMEX card with $1900 store and $3900 regular limit. I was able to GW the HSBC away, and the Plains Commerce was disputed and removed.
Also, Portfolio Recovery is listed in the accounts section, not Collections, for one of th HSBC showing a 120+ Late payment for $678 dollars. That is also the balance on that account.
I paid Portfolio Recovery, and they removed after payment with a GW letter to their standard email form. The 120 late HSBC was removed after I directly disputed that they were listing multiple account. This was a direct dispute with HSBC, not the CRA. I lucked out because they were showing TWO accounts, one with a zero balance and one with the $678. They removed that one, and after a year of GW letters to dozens of addresses, the CO came off as well.
Collection accounts:
I have several collections accounts, I have paid several off in full (before realizing the whole "it doesn't come off the report" after you pay it thing) -- These were mostly legit debts, there is nothing questionable in regards to the accounts:
Hunter Warfield = $418 dollars. Paid in full, February 2011. Scheduled to come off 2014
After about 14 months of GW effort, I was able to remove this account by doing a direct dispute with the CA, disputing the original DOFD as inaccurate. They were reporting a date 6 months newer than the actual DOFD in my estimation. My logic and belief is, since the account was paid, they'd rather delete than contact the OC to confirm information.
Fair Collections and Outsourcing = $5,285 dollars. This debt is questionable. I had an eviction in Oct 2008. They sued me and won a default judgement for $1770 dollars (but we will get to that in the next area)
I settled on this account. Still working the GW avenue, but its looking bleak. I have also sent GW to the OC on this to attempt to compel the deletion.
Santander repossiesion: $0 dollar balance, settled for less in April 2009 (this is in question too, see below)
This account was removed based on the fact I originally agreed to a voluntary repossesion with Citi, and my agreement with them was to NOT report. Santander did., and after many a letter to them, they finally agreed to remove based on the fact they are required by law to adhere to any agreement Citi made on the accounts they purchased.
Armor Collections = $105 dollars paid in full Feb 2011. Scheduled to come off 2013
Still working this one. GWs have failed. I cannot figure out anything to dispute. They do have some iffy addresses, so I might try to a MOV and hope they don't repsond. We will see. Running out of options here.
Medical Business Buruea = $277 dollars paid in pull Feb 2011. Scheduled to come off 2013
GW after the payement. Removed.
Merchants Credit Guide = $680 dollars paid in full to OC (Edwards Hospital) Feb 2011. Scheduled to come off 2014.
Merchants Credit Guide refused to remove and was verbally abusive on the phone. Called Edwards, and they agreed to recall the account if I paid them in full. I did and it is gone.
EOS Collections =$456 dollars for ATT bill. Scheduled to come off 2013. I have not paid this because they have not validated it.
I snooped around online and found a document from the state of West Virgina that had the CEO's wife, the head of consumer relations email account listed. I sent her an email, and it was removed. I have also sent this contact to dozens of people, most have had success with it as well. My email just mentioned that they did not validate and I was looking to settle this account. She stated account was returned to ATT, and it was immediately removed.
UCB Collections=$55 dollars for Meijer. PFD accepted April 2011 (hasn't come off but I have the letter)
This came off per the PFD request
American Collections Corp=$333 dollars for TFC bank. PFD accepted April 2011 (hasn't come off but I have the letter)
This came off per the PFD request
Judegments:
I have 2 judgements on my record. One is state tax lien and one is a default judgement
$1770 dollars for Courtyards Village for Eviction
I have paid this judgment which satisfied the FCO collection. Well, I guess I paid FCO and it satisifed the judgment. I sent MOV requests to the CRAs, and I was able to get Equifax to delete, but neither of the other two. I did find out last week you can motion to have judgments vacated in the state of Illinois if is fully satisfied, so I will be going to the court house on Monday.
$1260 dollars for an Illinois tax lien.
I paid this tax lien. I have contact the lien depatrment of the Illinois Department of Revenue to find out if they offer any relief to have this removed.
What I have done so far:
I paid all the debts I knew were 100% valid. I am not in the business of welching at this point. I was successful in getting 2 accounts removed with a pay for delete.
I have consulted my attorney to work on getting the default judgement vacated since I was never served for this account. Her plan is to have the judgement vacated and then contact their lawyer and attempt to settle for the $1770 (plus their attorney costs)
I was not able to achieve this. I was correctly served, I just didn't know it. My little sister receieved the summons and never told me, I only found out after we checked the paper work at the courthouse. Wound up settling the $5700 collection account that was tied to this judgment for $3900
I have been working towards a low utilization. It should be at about 10 percent in July. It was near 100% in December so I have already paid down several thousand.
This is what REALLY moved my score to the positive side. I paid from about 90 percent to 6 percent, and increased my limits to over 7k total.
Questions I have:
The FCO account is based on the default judgement of $1770. I sent a validation letter and they sent me back a lease, documents and what I consider a fairly BS itemized bull with a bunch of extra fees tied in. So how they get $5k plus for $1700 is beyond me. My attorneys idea is to vacate, then settle for the judgement amount since she is convinced if that is what they sued for, that is all they really think they can prove I owe. In that case, can FCO still legally collect on this debt, if the judgement is vacated? Or do I need to have their lawyer pull back the account? I am hoping that I can negotiate with them, and get both the judgement and collection account removed? Seem logical?
I supposed it seemed logical in my brain at the time, but it sure didn't play out that way. Good thing is, they never garnished anything, and I was able to pay them off. I am still bitter about this one, but I will continue to work all avenues to remove.
What is the success rate of GW letters to companies that I have paid in full? I didn't realize when I started paying off debts that just paying them off wouldn't help too much just paying them off. Either way, I owed the money, so I paid. Should I just started launching goodwill letters? Is there a time I should wait?
I had great success with GW. There are a handful of collections that popped after this post, in addition to these, and I had a success rate of 13 GW success out of 16 attempts.
I didn't correctly file taxes for 7 years. I have been working with a tax professional/lawyer, and we are refiling my federal and state taxes. As soon as that is done, we are contacting both Illinois and IRS to work on a payment schedule. I DID pay taxes for those years, I just didn't FILE. Will a tax lien come off when I refile, or is it just one of those things where once its satisfied (whether or not I paid it in full today or handled it through the tax guy) it will just show as paid? Any chance to get it removed?
I had to send the IRS over 10k in back taxes, and over 4k to the state of Illinois. However, I am current and will NEVER let that happen to me again. I am trying to come up with a plan to remove the STATE tax lien. It does show as paid. MOV attempts did not remove this account. I have sent the IDR a letter asking them for guidance. No response at this stage.
I am aware I will not have real solid credit for years, but I am trying to do anything I can to help out now in regards to getting a house. Is 650 resonable? My girlfriend, of course, has 740 credit (but her income is about 75 percent less than mine)
I consider 722 at the time of my mortgage application a miracle, and I do have slightly lower scores this second because of INQs and some new credit. But I am so much closer than I ever thought
Suggestions and comments are welcome!
Some things popped up while I was doing the mortgage process, namely LVNV which I defeated with a BBB compaint. Couple dunnings sent from other companies, which I paid immediately and didn't report.
2 years ago I was dead in the water. Now, I have a house, credit, an no real outstanding debt to speak of!
