topic Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed in Rebuilding Your Credit

Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:51:07 GMT

I recently pulled my credit report and am feeling a little overwhelmed at all of the information.

I have 12 collection accounts (1 medical) and want to start paying them off. What is the best route for paying them off? My score is 545, which is really low. I need at least a 650 in order to qualify for a land only loan.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

All of the collections are within SOL, that I do know.

Thanks again,

Jennifer

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

bschmidt — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:27:23 GMT

The medical one is easy - google "hipaa process". Need more details on the other ones. How old are they? What state are you in? Are you able to pay them now? Name of the creditors or CRAs may also help...

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:03:25 GMT

I live in TN and they are all within SOL. Most of them are 2006-2008. I cannot pay them off right now, but am hoping to pay off some of them in January. Do I pay them in full or ask for a settlement? Which is better?

AFNI, Inc Owe 612

Automated Collections Owe 120

Enhanced Recovery Corp Owe 227

FAC/NAB Owe 277

Fox Collection Owe 151

Fox Collection (medical) Owe 1072

Hunter Warfield Owe 153

Law office of M N Kay Owe 328

Merrick Bank Owe 1058

Midland Credit Mgt Owe 774

NCO/FIN 27 Owe 65

Security Check (papa johns) Owe 39

Trident Asset (Hecht’s) Owe 74

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

bschmidt — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:20:54 GMT

You're going to want to see if you can get them to do a PFD (pay for delete) - don't do a settlement. Settlements will stay on your report for the whole 7 years and don't look good. The goal is to avoid having even a paid collection on your report. With a PFD, you're basically asking them to remove the item from your report if you pay in full. They're not obligated to do so and it's completely up to them if they do, but you'll probably have the best luck with your smaller accounts and that's probably where I'd start if I were you. I'm relatively new here as well, so I don't want to give you any misinformation on how to go about the PFD process. There are many threads on here about it. IIRC, you request DV first (debt validation) from the creditor - basically you asking them for details on the debt and to verify it's yours. Sometimes you may get lucky. If they can't document the item, they're required to remove it at that point. If it comes back good, that's when you request the PFD. You'll send them a certified check in return for them removing the item from your report. Make sure you do everything in writing via certified mail and see if you can work with the original creditors first instead of the collection agency.

Just trying to give you a high level overview of the process. Like I said, there are many threads on here that document the process in greater detail that I would refer to to help you more. Others may also chime in here. In any event, I hope this helps somewhat. Good luck!

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:30:05 GMT

Afni and midland were easy for me to get deleted after a pif.

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:30:28 GMT

Also NCO deleted very easily for me as well.

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:07:40 GMT

I will start doing the DV letters in December and see what comes back.

I do have a question about a CA that has contacted my husband on an old CC. We received a summons on Monday to appear in court over an old CC from 2007. I called the attorney's office to see if I could work something out with them to get the debt paid without a judgement going on my husband's CR. The lady allowed me to break the total amount due into 3 payments and told me that there would be no judgement put against him at all as long as this was paid like we had set up. My question is, Is it too late to ask them to do a PFD? Can I go ahead and send them a PFD and request they delete once we make the final payment in June or am I too late since we have already made the 1st payment?

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:26:38 GMT

You can request PFD at any point before final payment.

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Schoolbuskid — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:55:56 GMT

I would start by DV'ing the small collections first, and if they validate i would offer them a PFD. Just know that since you're within SOL you can be sued at anytime. Good Luck!

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:07:42 GMT

Excellent point. Only DV debts that are either past SoL or that you can PiF if necessary.

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:05:09 GMT

Thanks for the info on DV and to do it before my final payment. We have the final payment scheduled June 16th. I will be sending a DV letter next week to them. Hopefully they will delete it once the account is paid off.

I just looked back at his credit report and seen that Credit One Bank still owns one of his accounts, but we've been getting letters from a collection agency. Should we send correspondence to the original creditor or the CA?

Thanks for all your help!

Re: Newbie and wanting to rebuild credit but feeling overwhelmed

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:57:38 GMT

If the OC still owns the account, see if they will work with you. It is always better to work with the OC over the CA.