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Good morning everyone. I am looking for some guidance about repairing my credit report. I have not been great in the past about my credit. When I was 19- 25 I was terrible. Things like (2) $300 credit cards are charged off, medical bills currently paying through collection agencies, been taken to court but paid the collection items. I got approved for a car loan for $15000, but it seems like that is not good enough. My fiance and I are looking at purchasing a house together within the next year but I know I have to get my score improved. I am looking at how to do it correctly. I also have a website, My Credit Atty, helping me file to the credit reporting agencies since November 2010. I currently have a credit score of 546. That is embarassing to say. My fiance has a credit score of 789. I know this will impact her in life if I dont straighten this up. She is aware of my situation as well. Right now I have an extra $100 per month to spend on debt or collections. I have about $2000 worth of debt out there from collections and/or charged off accounts. What can I do to help rectify my credit score to get it better before we buy a house? I am in desperate need of guidance. I have little amounts too. But will it do any good to pay those if it already has been charged off? Some are from 5 years or so ago. Some get resold to another collection agency and then they get re-reported on my credit report so it starts a new 7 year period. Please help me as I am really trying to do better to help myself in the future and get what I need to get a better credit rating. Thank you all for your help!
I will post some information from my credit report when I get home this afternoon.
MORE SPECIFICS. Read my reply to the identical post in the mortgage forums.
Okay here is my credit file in a nutshell.
Total Revolving accts 1 in all three bureaus
Balance 109 out of 300
DtC Ratio 36%
Total other accounts 0 EQ 16 TU 0 EX
Balance 0 EQ 4,041 TU 0 EX
Total open accounts 3 EQ 20TU 2EX
Total balance 17,570 EQ 21,756 TU 18,239 EX
DtC Ratio 95% EQ 70% TU 96% EX
Total Open accounts with a balance
3 EQ 18 TU 2 EX
Length of Credit History 7 yrs 1 mo EQ 7 yrs 4 mos TU 7 yrs 4 mos EX
Installment Accounts 99% EQ 81% TU 100 EX
Revolving Accounts 1% 1% 1%
No mortgage accounts
Other accounts 0 EQ 19% TU 0 EX
Negative Accounts 9 EQ 20 TU 6 EX
Open accounts--Installment Capital One Auto Finance, CAR LOAN Balance $15,332, Acct status: Paid As Agreed, Monthly pymt $327
Installment Direct Loans, Student Loans, Balance 2,129; Acct status: Paid As Agreed, Last Delq--02/2010, 12/2009
7 yr history for student loans 30 days=6 EQ 3 TU 0 EX
60 days= 6EQ 3 TU 0 EX
90 days=20 EQ 14 TU 0 EX
Installment-Globe Acceptance, PAID OFF CAR LOAN Balance was $115 now 0 Last Delq-02/2009 1-30 day past due TU
Revolving accts--Credit One Bank, Bal $109, Account Status: Paid As Agreed, Limit $300, Last Delq-08/2009-CC Amt High Credit Limit EQ
08/2009-TU
Closed Accounts:
First Premier
Charged off 7 yr history 30 days Past Due-3 EX 60 days Past Due-2 EX 90 days Past Due-3 EX
PAID OFF IN FEB 2011 through Collection Agency, settled for $179 not for full amount owed.
Household Credit Services
Account Status, Collection Balance 0
Paying currently through a different collection agency $33 per month
Other open accounts:
All these are TU:
AFNI-original creditor Qwest Date Opened 01/2010 Balance $114 COLLECTION
CBE Group-original creditor Mid American Energy Date Opened $04/2009 Balance $101 COLLECTION
CRD PRT ASSO-original creditor Mediacom, Date Opened 08/2006 Balance $248 COLLECTION
CRD PRT ASSO-original creditor Mediacom, Date Opened 07/2005 Balance $0 PAID COLLECTION
Credit Mgmt-original creditor, Cox Comm, Date Opened 03/2010, Balance $381, COLLECTION
General Service Bureau-original creditor Alegent Hospital, Date Opened 06/2007, Balance $196, paying $35 per month almost done paying off
2 of them NCO Fin/99, original creditor, IA Mercy Hospital, Date Opened 08/2007 $91 and $99, COLLECTION
Univ Rev Serv, original creditor, Seldin Company, Date Opened 04/2009, Balance $574, COLLECTION
Negative Accounts are also listed as the ones listed on open accounts as well.
Okay to sum it up I need some help with this, any ideas? My credit score is 546. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you for reading and replying to this long history and my credit report. I really want to do the right thing and get a better score to help for my future.
Welcome to the family here at myFICO,
It's almost midnight and it's time for bed so I'll answer a few questions and let other help answer some too.
Because a debt is sold/assigned to another CA or if the debt is paid off, the CRTP (credit reporting time period) does NOT start over again. I know that info is out there, but you have came to the right place now, to learn about credit repair and rebuilding.
The 7 to 7.5yrs starts from the DoFD (date of first default) from the OC account.
OK things to do. First get current CR's If you haven't already,get your Free CR's from annualcreditreport.com
You get 1 free CR, from each of the CRA's, every 12 mos.
Know your states SOL (statue of limitations) each state varies, most are 3-6yrs.SOL is the time period, they can take you to court and win.
Also know the DOFD on each of the OC accounts, If you look on the EQ CR you should find the DOFD.
Well bye for now, good luck to you. Oh BTW. Check out the common abbrev, so you'll know what we are talking about.
Suggested reading What Steps Do I Take? DV? PFD? and Credit Scoring 101.
Frequently Requested Threads also has some great information.
ETA: Date Opened is not an important date, it's the date the CA received the debt
The things hurting you the most are your recent (you have a bunch in 2010) negative items. You can start by sending a GW letter to each late. You're unlikely to get GW on the SL ones, but it's a stamp and an envelope, so do it anyway.
Figure out how much money you have to pay off collection accounts and chargeoffs. Attack them newest first. Once you have enough cash available to pay the newest one, send that CA a DV. If they send you an itemization and you agree, send them a PfD for that amount (or a percentage) - you could also just pay them and then GW them. The higher the percentage, the more likely they are to agree. Some CAs don't do PfD at all.
Your current utilization is 36%. Ideally, you want this under 9%. Once you've taken care of any delinquent debt, you'll want to open a couple more cards. If you've been successful at your GW and PfD efforts, your score will be higher by then and you'll qualify for better cards.
Make sure you go to optoutprescreen.com - it will help prevent lurking, non-reporting-yet CAs from popping up when they see activity on your credit reports.