So confused!! Rebuilding credit after history of late pays,...

[kivtao]

Hi!

I am having a hard time understanding these boards!!!  LOL!!  I am going to keep trying, though!!  We are trying to raise our credit scores.  We have a history of late pays, after adopting our daughters overseas 2 years ago and having lots of debt, paying it late and the cycle started....I just ran off my husbands report (124 pages) and I am completely overwhelmed.  Our score is 604.  We have paid down almost all of our debt/Installment loans but have many late pays and only about 1500.00 in open credit.  Where do I begin?  Can I dispute late pays?  We have a couple medical collections I have set up pay arrangements with today.  They should be paid in the next couple months, but I didn't know they were there so I need to wait to get them cleared up.  What can be disputed?  We have so many closed accounts listed on there.  Most are paid in full, some 5 years ago.  HELP!!!!!  Is there a step by step instruction guide?  I LOVE reading these boards and you all are so helpful, but I have so many things specific to our report that I need to figure out.  We just sold our home and moved out of state and would like to get out of renting as soon as that is possible. 

Any advice would be so helpful!

Mary

[InvincibleSummer3]

124 pages? Wow!

Okay. Let's start here:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Your-Guide-to-Credit-Scoring/m-p/718550#U7185...

This will tell you how scores are calculated. How long ago were your most recent lates?

I would caution you that it's not wise to dispute accurate information with the reporting agencies; only dispute if there's truly an incorrect entry. (I know other boards will tell you to do it, but it's not worth it most of the time.)