Trying to rebuild, could use some advice :)

[Jon85]

Hi, everyone! I'm new to the forum. I really like the atmosphere here.

Well, I'm 28 years old... and I finally woke up from being young and stupid and decided to really tackle my debt and credit score. I'm almost too embarassed to admit was my FICO score was when I signed up to this site...please don't judge me, but it's 463. I know, ouch.

I have 7 student loans in default and one judgement. And then I owe three credit card bills (about $500 each, which I'm paying off all three next week woohoo). 

For the student loans, I have 5 from one lender, and two from another. All federal loans. So for the two, I just entered the rahabilitation program today. They said in 9 months, my loans will go back to current or something along those lines.. It kind of sounded too good to be true, so I'm thinking there is a lot more work involved later on.

And then my other 5 loans I'm also entering Rehab, starting next week.. those 5 are grouped together in the NJ Higher Education... and you know what's weird about those that I wanted to ask you all about? 

I have 5 loans from Sallie Mae on my credit report, which are valid. And then I have 5 loans from Citibank. This whole time I kept thinking "I couldn't have had 10 loans throughout college!!"--and then I realized when I looked on the FAFSA site that Sallie Mae was the servicer, and Citibank was the lender... but they're both reporting negative information for the same loan for each disburcement. For every Sallie Mae entry, there is a Citibank entry. Is that something I should dispute or would it not even matter?

And I also have one judgement from 11/2012, which I'm paying in full on Friday.

I can't believe how much I screwed up! You know, it's like, when you gain a lot of weight even though you know you should lose some... but you're like "eh, I'm fat anyway who cares?" But I'm happy I finally did and am making plans to do something about it.

I know it'll take me years and years to improve my score... Hell, at this point I set my target to be 500 on Fico lol.

I have two credit card accounts open... one with 20% balance, one with 10%.. so hopefully that'll help me.

Sorry for the rant... but any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Jon

[ktl72455]

Hello Jon , welcome to the forums!

I dont know anythng about student loans but maybe some one will chime in here with some input!

[ktl72455]

theres a section on the forum of other users with student loans that defaulted, rehabbed etc maybe this section would have many answer.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Student-Loans/bd-p/studentloans

[trix_r_4_kids]

Jon:

Good job on getting into rehab on your loans!  There are a lot of rehab success stories on the forum.  Speaking from experience, I know 9 months seems like a long time when you begin.  However, once it is done, it will be well worth the journey.  A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Once rehab is done, you may want to look into a direct loan consolidation.  It will make it a lot easier to keep track of payments.  In the meantime, just keep one foot in front of the other.

[Jon85]

Thank you all so much for the replies and support!! It really means a lot.

Yeah, 9 months does seem a long way....the way I'm looking at it is within those 9 months, I will be paying off everything else I have to, and then hopefully the waiting game to improve can start right after those 9 months are over. After those 9 months, they did say my negatives would be deleted, and then I'll just make regular monthly payments (which I can as of right now afford because my loans aren't too bad, around $20K)... 

I also have two revolvoing accounts but they're not mine, they're my sister's credit cards that she added me as an authorized user but still gets reported... I don't know if that makes the same impact as an indivudal account, but she doesn't even use the cards, she just got them both to add me so it can help me. I have the cards. As of today, one has a credit limit of $1,500 which only has a balance of $60... and then the other is a Capital One with a limit of $500, which has a zero balance. And then in a couple of months I want to apply for a secured credit card.

Ahh, so much to do... I just kind of regret having waited SO long to get on top of things... but I guess what matters is that I'm on top of it now, you know?

[ktl72455]

And then I owe three credit card bills (about $500 each, which I'm paying off all three next week woohoo).

Jon are these above in good standing or closed and charged off negative items? You didnt mention so thought I would ask.

[Jon85]

They're closed and charged off--so I just figured I would pay them and then in time they will go away or at least make less impact on my score. But I have two cards that I use (as an authorized user, but really they're my balances) that are in good standing and have been the last year-and-a-half or so.

I keep reading posts with abbrievations like to send GW lettes, PDFs, or something along those lines, and I have no idea what those abbreviations stand for or what that process is, so I have to Google now, haha. (I'm new here and love it) 

[ktl72455]

I thought they might be so figured I would ask,

GW is a good will letter that you send to the collection agency( CA) or  Original Creditor ( OC) and ask for a late or trade line ( TL) or charge off (CO) to be removed from your credit report ( CR) from the credit reporting agencies ( CRA)

PFD is Pay for delete which is what you should try with the Credit Card Charge offs. Who are they with?

Heres some links that help alot!!

Credit Scoring 101
Guide to Common Abbreviations
Other Frequently Requested Threads

[Jon85]

OMG thank you so much!!

I bookmarked those links. I'm so thankful you posted those abbreviations! Now I feel like I know what everyone is talking about without having to research it too much, haha. It was like another language! 

I'm not home right now to list the agency names, but off the top of my head the two that I know for sure are Jefferson Capital System and LHR Inc. 

But then I have three random medical collections--from Account Resolution Services in Florida who said they were due to Emergency Room visits, and I haven't visited the ER since I was 10! (Thank God)... so I disputed them across all three boards.

[ktl72455]

LOL I know I started reading the forums at first and it was all greek to me until I figured out the short hand everyone talks in :-)

When you get time post your information ( minus account numbers) for the charge offs and medical etc and anything else negative and me and other members may be able to suggest things for you to do or try.

Have you pulled your free credit report yet from www.annualcreditreport.com from all 3 Credit agencies? It is free 1 time every 12 months and contains alot of information that will help.