Which to attack first...please help!

[jzsnow]

I'm working really hard on cleaning up my and DH's credit! I've done a substantial amount of work on mine, but it was all easy stuff! Like getting AU accounts off of my credit, and obsolete accounts deleted. So...now the hard work. I'm going to list what we have, and please tell me which dragon I should attempt to slay first!

1. DiRec Management-JDB. They are still reporting every month, though this is from an old chase credit card. Due to fall off 9/2014. I think they have re-aged the account by a few months because the dates don't match with the OC. 

2. Portfolio Recovery & Affil. This is reporting monthly and is an old power bill from 2007. I'm almost a million percent certain the SOL is up on this. It is $236 and I can PIF if they agree to a PFD. This should come off june 2014. Reporting to all 3.

3. Bank of America. CO. They sold the debt, we got sued by midland for this debt, and midland LOST! This is set to fall off 6/2014, but i'd love to work on it now since only the OC is reporting.

4. University of Mobile. Private college loan. Paid in full. Due to come off 6/2017. Really need this off by 2014 since we are trying to buy a house! This is a somewhat small private college. I might could GW since it is paid in full. Paid in full 4/2011.

5.Credit Protection Association. Balance $157. Mediacom cable bill. DOFD 10/08. They have not reported since 09.

6. Eastern Account Systems 1. Cable bill from oct 2007. Amount is $193. Can PIF if they PFD. Comes off Feb 2014. 

7. Eastern Account Systems 1. Cable modem from oct 2007. Amount is $500. Refuse to pay because I turned it in! I disputed it, it came back verified in 2 days. I have no proof I returned it since it's been  5 years...but I KNOW i did! This ages off feb 2014...i'm willing to let is just age off if need be because I am NOT paying it.

There are a few OC with CO's, but i'm doing those last since that will be purely an uphill battle since its just GW and prayers that will help me!

What do you think? I'm ready to do this right, and start today!!

[StartingOver10]

Why are you trying to remove old paid accounts (University of Mobile)?

You want those to remain because having an old account that is paid will show some age and help with your AAoA. (Average Age of Accounts)

If you get rid of all the old paid accounts it will hurt your score

[Autumnslight]

I would actually start with the "easy" goodwill letters for the COs you mentioned. Get one good letter together, then just tweak it as needed for each of the others, and send them all out. You might have to do several rounds of them (every 30 days or so) before having success, so just start the process now.

Next I'd attack the college one. I assume this is a late payment? Since it's paid in full, you can hopefully get them to do a Goodwill deletion. You could try giving them a call and see if you have success over the phone, or send them a GW letter. For that situation, I'd personally try to play the "human interest" angle. Explain why you were late, how things have changed so that you won't have that sort of problem again in the future, and that you're trying to buy a house and this is holding you back. Say something about how your experience at the college helped you so much in preparing you for the future, and you hope they can help you out one more time by extending you this measure of goodwill and removing that negative information.

I'd go after any that are actively trying to collect and that you're willing to pay in full next, as they may be more agreeable to a PFD. I'd do it starting with the most recent/longest time left to report. Again, you could call and try to be nice and convince them. Otherwise, send a "nice" (non-confrontational, but still covering yourself)  letter asking for a PFD. If that doesn't work, then you could start playing "hardball", with sending a DV, disputing if there is a valid reason for it, etc.

I don't know the best way to handle the BoA CO, but I'm sure someone else will have an idea on that one. Good luck!

[StartingOver10]

It will actually hurt your score more to delete an old account with one late payment from years ago than to leave it on there and show the late pay.

That is if the account is actually old.

When did you have the last late payment and when was it paid in full?

[jzsnow]

This old paid account is still listed as a collection and is negative on my account. The account was opened in the collections as of 2011. I think it would still be better to delete it off.

[StartingOver10]

I agree. I didn't know it was a collection account. 2011 is not that old so it wouldn't help from that angle either.

[jzsnow]

This is my goodwill letter for the school.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter in order to request your help and understanding. A few years ago I consolidated all of my student loans. Apparently the University of Mobile loan in the amount of $3,000 was not allowed in the consolidation process. I had no idea! Apparently, I defaulted on the loan at some point. I’m not sure when because I never received notification until 2011. I graduation from UM in 2004…so I have no idea when it went delinquent. I really thought it had consolidated with my other federal loans. Anyways, as soon as I got a phone call alerting me to the delinquent debt, I paid it. I never meant to not pay the debt, as I am fully aware that was my school debt to pay back! I hope you can see that in my error I was not being deceitful at heart and corrected it as soon as I found out.

The accounts are showed “Paid in full but was collection” but still are collection accounts and hurting my credit scores They are listed on Equifax and Transunion. My husband and I both graduated from UM in 2004 and have some really wonderful memories of the school. We are about to have our 5th child and we would never have even met if it weren’t for UM! We are currently trying to find a house, our first house, for our growing family and this being reported on my credit report is hurting our loan chances. I do not dispute the collection account, rather I would like to request that University of Mobile have some mercy on me and please make a “Goodwill Adjustment” and remove the collection account from the credit reporting agencies. Your kind gesture would be sincerely appreciated by my family and me. I would like to thank you in advance for any help you may provide. You may contact me through my address above or email at xxxxxxx or by phone at xxxxx. Because I am a homeschooling mother to a 3rd grader and a K’er, along with 2 other littles and a very pregnant belly, I would prefer e-mail.  Thank you again!

Yours truly,

[jzsnow]

any other thoughts on what to do? 

I've not had any response on my GW e-mail.

[Lasardo]

Great letter.There sure is a lot of detail there! 

You have been given some great advise and I know you can get this all fixed. Mind you mine were mostly medical but I started with 27 negatives on my report and TU is down to 0 (554-708) I had to build good credit history though and that may be what you will need to do. Get 2-3 secured cards and start now by using them and paying in full every month. While getting rid of the negative items you will be putting some healthy payment history on there at the same time. 

Good luck 

[jzsnow]

I went personal on the e-mail because UM is a small Baptist college. I think there are only maybe 2000 students. I know everyone in the registrars/business office, so I wanted to 'connect' with them. I'd never offer that much info for anyone else! But i've had no word from them However, it is the start of a new school year, so maybe they are just super busy.