Rebuilding my credit, the first steps...

[Anonymous]

Starting my credit repair journey. I need to pay off my debts, I have a secured Capital One Mastercard on its way to me in about 2 weeks, I just paid the security deposit for mine, and my husband just recieved his today. He is starting from nothing, but I however have outstanding debts from my first marriage. We moved to our current house in Late September, my Step dad is friends with our landlord, and he lived in this house but moved away to be with a significant other before renting to us. He and his girlfriend had issues right before christmas wanting to move back, needless to say my mom was able to get them to reconcile, but has advised us to move. We have moved way too much in the past year. And we want  to buy our own place, we are tired of dealing with landlords. We thought we in a more permanent home, and decided to have a child. I am 5 weeks pregnant. And my mom has encouraged us to move. We just began looking into buying a couple weeks ago. The rent around here is rediculous for what the average salary for. Where I live most people barely make about minimum wage, and cant afford $700 a month for rent, and mortgage every month is a more affordable and stable option. Now on to my credit. I pulled my scores right from the Experian Website, and I was able to get a copy of them. They say they are FICO but I am not sure of this. My debts follow as

Capital One - $1,195 - TU, EQ, and EX
Verizon Wireless - $357 - TU, EQ, and EX

CBE Group/Directv - $830 - TU, EQ, and EX

AFNI/Directv - $830 - TU(I think TU just behind on updating, the status was last updated 2 years ago this past novermber)

MCPS/Medical -$65 - EX and EQ(2 accounts are my Ex husband's, and one is mine. 

First Bank -$291 - TU, EQ, EX (Also account my Ex husband is resposible for.)

I got all of this off Experian, it says FICO Powered by Experian. It has all my scores listed as EX 485, EQ 496, and TU 483. However I applied for a Capital One unsecured card before I found at my score and information, and it put my Equifax score 522, and my Credit Karma account has my score at 536. So I am unsure of my real score. I also have a settlement agreement signed by the judge stating what my Ex Husband has to pay. Now my questions

Is myFICO the only places I can get my actual score?

How long will it take me before I can get to point where I am approved for home loan, FHA or regular mortgage?

Where should I start on paying off my debts? 

Is it better to start with largest one? 

What about the smallest?

Once paid how long does it update through the credit bureaus?

Will paying off my debts increase my score?

[Anonymous]

"Is myFICO the only places I can get my actual score?"

IMHO, there is no such thing as "your actual score", there is only whatever score you (or a lender) are looking at, at a particular time. Trying to relate a score from one source to a score from another source will drive you insane. There are a bunch of different scores - FICO alone has 49 different scoring models - and each has their own metrics and weights for different things in your files. None of them on their own has any more or less relevance than another. The only thing thats relevant is whatever score a particular lender uses at the time you apply. You may or may not be able to figure out what scoring model they will use.

If you want to monitor and track scores, do so from ONE place. But understand that a given lender is not necessarily going to look at that particular scoring algorithm.

The REALLY important thing is to concentrate on whats in your files, both positive and negative. Work on removing ANY negatives, and build the positives.

"How long will it take me before I can get to point where I am approved for home loan, FHA or regular mortgage?"

Really this is impossible to answer. Some people achieve remarkable results in just a few weeks while some people don't see signifigant result for a year or more. Just depends on how much effort you put in and how lucky you are with getting creditors to accept deals.

"Where should I start on paying off my debts?"

There's no hard and fast answer here. You do want to address thing that have a possibily of worsening - Charge offs that have not gone to collections, collection that have not yet reported, and collections that may turn into lawsuits. All other things being equal, addressing the most recent items helps your scores the most.

"Is it better to start with largest one?"

Maybe, maybe not. Other factors may come into play.

"What about the smallest?"

Sometimes - smaller more recent debts are often easier to get removed.

"Once paid how long does it update through the credit bureaus?"

This varies greatly, anywhere from a few days to a few months.

"Will paying off my debts increase my score?"

In general no, but a paid debt always looks better than unpaid when eyeballs are actually looking at a report. And you'll never be sued for a paid debt.

[Shokk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Starting my credit repair journey. I need to pay off my debts, I have a secured Capital One Mastercard on its way to me in about 2 weeks, I just paid the security deposit for mine, and my husband just recieved his today. He is starting from nothing, but I however have outstanding debts from my first marriage. We moved to our current house in Late September, my Step dad is friends with our landlord, and he lived in this house but moved away to be with a significant other before renting to us. He and his girlfriend had issues right before christmas wanting to move back, needless to say my mom was able to get them to reconcile, but has advised us to move. We have moved way too much in the past year. And we want  to buy our own place, we are tired of dealing with landlords. We thought we in a more permanent home, and decided to have a child. I am 5 weeks pregnant. And my mom has encouraged us to move. We just began looking into buying a couple weeks ago. The rent around here is rediculous for what the average salary for. Where I live most people barely make about minimum wage, and cant afford $700 a month for rent, and mortgage every month is a more affordable and stable option. Now on to my credit. I pulled my scores right from the Experian Website, and I was able to get a copy of them. They say they are FICO but I am not sure of this. My debts follow as

Capital One - $1,195 - TU, EQ, and EX
Verizon Wireless - $357 - TU, EQ, and EX

CBE Group/Directv - $830 - TU, EQ, and EX

AFNI/Directv - $830 - TU(I think TU just behind on updating, the status was last updated 2 years ago this past novermber)

MCPS/Medical -$65 - EX and EQ(2 accounts are my Ex husband's, and one is mine. 

First Bank -$291 - TU, EQ, EX (Also account my Ex husband is resposible for.)

I got all of this off Experian, it says FICO Powered by Experian. It has all my scores listed as EX 485, EQ 496, and TU 483. However I applied for a Capital One unsecured card before I found at my score and information, and it put my Equifax score 522, and my Credit Karma account has my score at 536. So I am unsure of my real score. I also have a settlement agreement signed by the judge stating what my Ex Husband has to pay. Now my questions

Is myFICO the only places I can get my actual score?

How long will it take me before I can get to point where I am approved for home loan, FHA or regular mortgage? Impossible to answer.  Credit rebuilding is definitely a marathon.

Where should I start on paying off my debts? I would start with anything you can PIF.  Especially the small medical debt being so small.  Offer to PIF for a deletion.  Getting a divorce decree stating your ex's responsible unfortunately doesn't absolve your responsibility to the OC or the CA. If he isn't paying what he is required to, need to take that up with the courts.  I know at least EQ has an option to dispute as 'not yours due to divorce decree', but it doesn't always work.

Is it better to start with largest one? 

What about the smallest?

Once paid how long does it update through the credit bureaus? I would give it 30 - 90 days.

Will paying off my debts increase my score? If you're talking about credit cards, yes.  Lower utilization will help your scores.

 Are the debts you listed all negatives?  Charge offs or late pays?  Or current cards?