titanofold's Credit Rebuild Journal

[titanofold]

So, since many others have done a journal, I thought I should start my own, and I have decided to call it:

titanofold's Credit Rebuild Journal

I am now 32, and compared to some, I have peachy credit. Compared to most others, I'm a terrible person.

My file is rather thin. I adopted the attitude that credit cards and anything related to debt is bad unless it's a mortgage. Wow! I did not think that through as now that I'm looking open a mortgage 2 months ago, I realize that I need a bit more.

So, I started out with this as of September 2013:

• Equifax 640 (FreeCreditReport.com [FCR])
• Experian 630 (BEACON, lender pull)
• TransUnion 588 (Credit Karma[CK])

What was on my reports (as far as potentially negatives are concerned):

• ACS (student loan); many lates of various severity
• CareCredit; Open; $500 limit; $500 high; 2 consecutive lates
• FedLoan (student loan); many lates of various severity
• Frontier Communications; Charge-off September 2012; $381
• Swain Co (On behalf of IRS); filed September 2010; Public Record; $13,053
• Wings Financial Line of Credit; Closed January 2010; $600 Limit; $612 high; eight 30- to 60-day lates; Paid

I have a total of 4 student loans (3 on 1 bill, 1 on another) and 1 credit card that are open and current.

The first thing I did was dispute all the lates, and charge-off as not mine. (This was probably not a good idea, but we'll see.)

So, the first thing I did was run down to the local IRS office. I got the installment agreement reinstated with direct debit. What I owe is significantly less than what's on my CRs. In fact, if everything goes according to plan, I can file to have the lien withdrawn at the end of January without having paid everything yet.

Next, I drafted up GW letters.

Then I called Frontier to ask for a PFD. I got a runaround, and was talked down to while I was at it. (Yeah, it may have been a year, but who's the one who initiated contact here?!) They say it's $392 I owe, not $381. So I drafted up a rather harsh PFD.

So, with all this going on, a couple interesting things happend. My CK score jumped up to 648. My FCR score dropped to 604.

CareCredit was no longer affecting my score on FCR, but was looking like I never paid late on CK. FedLoan is not listed on CK anymore, but is still listed on FCR...mostly. Only 2 of 3 of the FedLoans are listed for right now. ACS only shows 1 late on CK. FCR doesn't say.

About a week after I sent the GW, I got a phone call from CareCredit saying they received my dispute and that my account was under review. A week later I got a letter from CareCredit stating that they've made the adjustment to the 3 CRBs.

Wings Financial responded to my GW by mail a couple weeks after I sent it. "Unfortunately we cannot remove the lates as they are correct." Bummer. "However, as a onetime goodwill adjustment we will remove the most recent late." \o/ (This may not seem like a big deal, but I've been disputing the lates for years with no favorable result.)

I haven't heard anything from ACS, FedLoan, or Frontier Communications.

I'm going to give ACS and FedLoan until then end of this week before I start doing more GWs. With Frontier, I'm going to try sending a much softer letter. I'm not offering a PIF. but what company continues having a service available at an address that hasn't paid a cent for over a year?

As of today:

• Equifax ?
• Experian 639 (FCR)
• TransUnion 648 (CK)

Accounts:

• ACS 1 60-day late January 2013
• CareCredit: On time since it opened in June 2009.
• FedLoan: 4 consecutive lates (60-150) November 2010 through February 2011
• Frontier Communications: Still there...grrr
• Swain Co: 3-4 months until withdrawl
• Wings Financial: 7 lates

 So, that's where I am.

My goal is to get above 640 on all of my scores, not have any lates or baddies within the past 24 months, and have the lien removed by March so I can open the mortgage by April. My fiancée has scores in the 680s, but we need to get her utilization down from 60% to below 30%. (Definitely doable, but we also need to save our cash for the downpayment.) So, I need her for her scores, and she needs me for my income. The lien is what's really holding us back.

[myjourney]

Welcome to the forum 

Sorry for the late response

We look forward to seeing your progress and bravo on what you have done thus far.

Keep moving forward and best wishes 

[titanofold]

Thank you!

I've signed my second round of GW letters to ACS and FedLoan, and PFD letter to Frontier. This time I'm mailing them to every address they have publicly listed on their "Contact Us" page. (3 for FedLoan, 3 for Frontier, and 2 for ACS.) If I don't get a response back within 2 weeks, I'm going to email and fax the same letters.

For the GW letters, I specifically cited the months that I want the adjustments on this time since the last time I looked the lates were too numerous to enumerate.

I've softened up the PFD a great deal and crafted it closer to my GW letters than the original PFD; no deadlines, no "or else" statements. Just a simple, "Hey, I want to open a mortgage sooner rather than later." I left some language in from the PFD template that I felt appropriate in my circumstance. Additionally, I didn't do the CMRR on it. I really don't want this to feel like an attack. I really want them to either accept my offer, or counter with their own as long as it means it gets deleted.

In other news, I've opened an account on Credit Seasame and my score with that is 662. FC still says 639, and CK is still at 648.

[myjourney]

Good luck it only takes 1 yes to be successful 

[titanofold]

Well, for the first time in a long while I've been pre-approved for a Capitol One Platinum card with an APR 2 points better than the high end (22.99%) and no annual fee.

My trigger finger is feeling itchy...don't think about it...don't scratch...don't think about the itchiness....

[myjourney]

---

@titanofold wrote:

Well, for the first time in a long while I've been pre-approved for a Capitol One Platinum card with an APR 2 points better than the high end (22.99%) and no annual fee.

My trigger finger is feeling itchy...don't think about it...don't scratch...don't think about the itchiness....

---

Apply liberally to affected area and to don't scratch ...Lol

[titanofold]

Well, I called the IRS today because no money had been drafted out of my account for the first debit. It turns out something went awry. The surprisingly friendly agent I spoke with said if I call back with the form ready, I can fax it in and they'll expedite the paperwork.

She also said it doesn't take terribly long to process a lien withdrawal.

[titanofold]

So, I called back, and indeed someone had been assigned to handle the direct debit. Here's to hoping that they start debiting this month.

I haven't heard anything back from Frontier Communications, ACS, or FedLoan.

Does anyone have alternate contact information for Frontier Communications?

I sent emails to ACS, but I discovered something funny yesterday: On Equifax and Experian the 60-day is reported for January 2013, but on TransUnion the 60-day is reported for December 2012. The CSR also said that I wouldn't have any negative entries if I double up my payments and get caught up. I did just that for 3 months starting in Februaury. So, I included these details in my emails, and we'll see what happens now.

I'll be sending emails to FedLoan tonight.

[titanofold]

Here I am a month later and my report has held steady.

I've rewritten my GW letter to FedLoan Servicing/PHEAA, this time I addressed it to the executives at PHEAA Headquarters.

Frontier Communications has not responded to either letter. I'm sending out another round, this time addressing the executives at FC HQ as well as the collections manager and offering PIF.

[titanofold]

Okay, so apparently someone is paying attention to their emails at ACS, but I didn't getthe desired response. I received a form in the mail today requesting that I clarify the nature of the dispute.