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Rebuilding for One Month

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Anonymous
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Rebuilding for One Month

I've been rebuilding for about a month. I have had horrible credit my entire life, mostly due to my own irresponsibility when I was young, but also partially because I have always been a freelancer and have never had medical insurance, so my medical bills and those of my kids have eaten me alive over the years, plus my ex destroyed my credit several times.

 

I had given up on EVER having decent credit (mainly because of an INSANELY high federal tax lien from the early 2000s that is still unpaid and still haunting me) until I got a pre-approval offer in the mail from Bank of America for the 99/500 card, which I jumped on. Since then, I've been working on starting over.

 

The only FICO I have is my TU that I got free from Discover, which is 541.

 

My CK scores are currently both saying 534. They've been oscilating WILDLY because of new accounts being added and such. They've been as low as 499 and as high as 560ish lately.

 

Here's what I have:

 

Fingerhut/WebBank - Started with FreshStart at $180, graduated to $500.

Bank of America 99/500 - 100% UTIL because of an emergency bill Smiley Sad

Discover IT Secured - $200 

Credit One Unsecured - $300 (just approved, haven't received, may close after seeing bad reviews)

Simply Be SCT - $200

New York & Company SCT - $250

Self Lender "Loan" - $500

 

I have less than 10 derogs on each credit report. Mostly medical bills from when my children have had to visit the emergency room and didn't have insurance. (OUCH.) Also some random utility bills from when we were homeless several years ago, and a T-Mobile collection for $69 on an account I tried to cancel online, but they said it had to be done over the phone even though I told them specifically I could not do this because I had no voice at the time due to severe illness. (It was pre-paid and they canceled me before the month started, so I flat out REFUSE to pay this bill. Maybe a goodwill letter would work, since I believe I saved the chat transcript where I tried unsuccessfully via chat to cancel the account before the billing date.)

 

Where do I go from here? I have enough open accounts, but most haven't reported yet.

 

I'm thinking of getting a credit repair company to help with some of the derogs because HOLY CRAP it takes a lot of time to do all these disputes. I managed to get one medical collection off TU so far with an online dispute, but the other two won't let me file disputes online for some reason.

 

My goals are:

 

* Refinance our car loan, which is at nearly 20% interest and eating us alive at $333 per month.

 

* Qualify for some way to finance a new laptop for my business without an outrageous interest payment.

 

Someday I'd like to get a mortgage, but saving for a down payment with a family as large as mine is daunting. It feels nearly impossible since we have no savings and every time we DO build up some savings, something happens like car repairs, medical expenses, etc.

 

I'm working on getting my income up, and my husband's been working as much overtime as they'll give him, but it still feels like I'm spinning my wheels. There's so insanely much competition in freelancing that it's getting harder and harder to get work, because even my long-term clients are fleeing to overseas people who will work for a third of my lowest possible rates. And I have no education, so getting a job outside the home would pay even less.

 

Should I just garden for a few months while I try to get my income up? 

 

I'm working on my husband's credit, too. His will be easier to repair than mine because he has no liens, just a car repo (voluntary surrender because they refused to honor their "warranty") and a few collections all under $1000 each. Our scores are similar, but his debts are a bit newer than most of mine.

 

 

Message 1 of 2
1 REPLY 1
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Rebuilding for One Month


@Anonymous wrote:

I've been rebuilding for about a month. I have had horrible credit my entire life, mostly due to my own irresponsibility when I was young, but also partially because I have always been a freelancer and have never had medical insurance, so my medical bills and those of my kids have eaten me alive over the years, plus my ex destroyed my credit several times.

 

I had given up on EVER having decent credit (mainly because of an INSANELY high federal tax lien from the early 2000s that is still unpaid and still haunting me) until I got a pre-approval offer in the mail from Bank of America for the 99/500 card, which I jumped on. Since then, I've been working on starting over.

 

The only FICO I have is my TU that I got free from Discover, which is 541.

 

My CK scores are currently both saying 534. They've been oscilating WILDLY because of new accounts being added and such. They've been as low as 499 and as high as 560ish lately.

 

Here's what I have:

 

Fingerhut/WebBank - Started with FreshStart at $180, graduated to $500.

Bank of America 99/500 - 100% UTIL because of an emergency bill Smiley Sad (not good at all for your Fico score, anything over 89% util is a pretty big ding in Fico 8, you want to get this down below 90% ASAP)

Discover IT Secured - $200 

Credit One Unsecured - $300 (just approved, haven't received, may close after seeing bad reviews) You are going to take the hit from the inquiry and new account I would keep it 1 year then cancel it.

Simply Be SCT - $200

New York & Company SCT - $250

Self Lender "Loan" - $500

 

I have less than 10 derogs on each credit report. Mostly medical bills from when my children have had to visit the emergency room and didn't have insurance. (OUCH.)

 

For unpaid medical debt that is reporting on your CR:

 

1. Call the OC and see if you qualify for Charity Care
2. If not then ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
3. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
4. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help

 

Also some random utility bills from when we were homeless several years ago, and a T-Mobile collection for $69 on an account I tried to cancel online, but they said it had to be done over the phone even though I told them specifically I could not do this because I had no voice at the time due to severe illness. (It was pre-paid and they canceled me before the month started, so I flat out REFUSE to pay this bill. Maybe a goodwill letter would work, since I believe I saved the chat transcript where I tried unsuccessfully via chat to cancel the account before the billing date.) I would send your story along with chat copy straight to the office of the CEO.

 

Where do I go from here? I have enough open accounts, but most haven't reported yet.  Garden and use your new cards, you eventually want no more than 1 card reporting a small balance each month to the CRAs and the rest at 0. Your goal is going to be paying no interest at all to the banks as well.

 

I'm thinking of getting a credit repair company to help with some of the derogs because HOLY CRAP it takes a lot of time to do all these disputes. I managed to get one medical collection off TU so far with an online dispute, but the other two won't let me file disputes online for some reason. Forget the repair companies they cannot do anything more than you can do yourself, they are also expensive to use.

 

My goals are:

 

* Refinance our car loan, which is at nearly 20% interest and eating us alive at $333 per month.  See if you can get into a CU and refi this loan with them after 4-6 months report on your new cards.

 

* Qualify for some way to finance a new laptop for my business without an outrageous interest payment.

 

Someday I'd like to get a mortgage, but saving for a down payment with a family as large as mine is daunting. It feels nearly impossible since we have no savings and every time we DO build up some savings, something happens like car repairs, medical expenses, etc.

 

I'm working on getting my income up, and my husband's been working as much overtime as they'll give him, but it still feels like I'm spinning my wheels. There's so insanely much competition in freelancing that it's getting harder and harder to get work, because even my long-term clients are fleeing to overseas people who will work for a third of my lowest possible rates. And I have no education, so getting a job outside the home would pay even less.

 

Should I just garden for a few months while I try to get my income up? 

 

I'm working on my husband's credit, too. His will be easier to repair than mine because he has no liens, just a car repo (voluntary surrender because they refused to honor their "warranty") and a few collections all under $1000 each. Our scores are similar, but his debts are a bit newer than most of mine.

 

 


 

Message 2 of 2
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