topic Re: New Here....Bad Credit. in Rebuilding Your Credit

New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:56:27 GMT

Hi Everyone, My credit is terrible, and my husband's credit is terrible. I'm sick of having bad credit. Where do I begin? I need to get my credit scores and my credit report. Where is the best place to get that information? I guess that is the first step in improving my credit. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Booner72 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 02:10:16 GMT

Hello - since I found this site 5/20/11 I've read thousands of posts. I suggest you do the same and you will find all the answers you need, and then some! I post my specific questions for clarification and get good responses.

MYFICOROCKS!

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

TravellingNomad — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 02:50:03 GMT

well...how ever bad your credit rating is, you have made a step in the right direction by finally telling yourself you need to fix it. i know spending money to get the process started does not sound appealing....but trust me it's worth it. my suggestion is get your TU and EQ FICO score from this website which will include your reports. then buy yourself a ream of paper and a roll of stamps. you will need those to start sending out your GW letters to the creditors/CAs that are on your report.

but take care of the easy parts while you're waiting for responses. the "controllable" aspect of fixing your credit. if you have credit cards and have high balance/utilization, get them paid down until your cc debt is very minimal. getting your overall cc utilization to 10% or less will help your score. good luck my friend. this forum will give you help along the way. you just have to be patient.

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

sobreezy — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 06:30:54 GMT

IMHO your here's what you should do:

1. Get you and your husbands CRs. Review them. Then on seperate sheets of paper seperate your collections, charge offs (CO), judgements, liens, etc.

2. Look at current CCs (credit cards) and see how you can get balance down to 1-9% of total credit limit (CL).

3. Write GW (goodwill), DV (debt validation) and PFDs (pay for deletes). Figure out which collections you are willing to pay the full amount to get deleted. Send GWs for any accounts that are already paid off to include COs. Send them CM (certified mail) it runs about $3 per letter.

4. No more inquires unless absolutely needed. Don't apply for any new credit unless you don't have a credit card at all. Then try gettin a secure credit card.

5. Be patient. It took time to get the credit history that you and your husband have and it'll take time to recover from this.

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:41:27 GMT

Thanks everyone for your input. So, this morning I ordered my credit reports. My Equifax score is 533 and Experian is 588....My biggest problem is collection agencies. All of it is really small amounts. I have a collection on my report twice. I called the agency that has it now, and they are saying that the other agency should have taken it off my report when it was sent to them. So, I called the first agency that had the collection and they are saying that they have already sent notice to have it removed, and that I should probably do a dispute. Soooo, that's what I'm going to work on now.

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:43:08 GMT

This is what I have in the "Negative" section of my credit report.

Account Type: Mortgage

Payment Responsibility: Joint Contractual Liability

Date Opened: 10/2006

Balance Date: 06/2011

Balance Amount: $55,910

Monthly Payment: $450

High/Limit: $62,611

Account Status: As Agreed

Past Due Amount: $0

Account Type: Installment

Payment Responsibility: Joint Contractual Liability

Date Opened: 06/2008

Balance Date: 06/2011

Balance Amount: $10,742

Monthly Payment: $200

High/Limit: $14,775

Account Status: Late 30 Days

Past Due Amount: $235 (This is no longer past due, I am up to date)

Account Type: Installment

Payment Responsibility: Joint Contractual Liability

Date Opened: 07/2006

Balance Date: 07/2007

Balance Amount: $0 Monthly Payment:

High/Limit: $4,507

Account Status: As Agreed

Past Due Amount: $0

Account Type: Revolving

Payment Responsibility: Authorized User

Date Opened: 06/2005

Balance Date: 03/2007

Balance Amount: $0

Monthly Payment:

High/Limit: $300

Account Status: Collection Past Due

Amount: $0

Account Type: Installment

Payment Responsibility: Joint Contractual Liability

Date Opened: 03/2005

Balance Date: 08/2006

Balance Amount: $0 Monthly

Payment: High/Limit: $11,296

Account Status: As Agreed

Past Due Amount: $0

This is what I have listed as Collections

Collector: ANDERSON FINANCIAL

AFNI, INC. Date Opened: 10/2009 10/2009 Balance Date: 11/2009 11/2009 Balance Amount: $147 $147 Date of Status: 11/2009 11/2009 Status: Closed

Collector: THE CBE GROUP INC

CBE GROUP Date Opened: 10/2008 10/2008 Balance Date: 12/2008 12/2008 Balance Amount: $147 $147 Date of Status: 12/2008 12/2008 Status: Closed

Collector: MEDICAL

CREDIT BUREAU ASSOCI Date Opened: 04/2010 04/2010 Balance Date: 06/2011 06/2011 Balance Amount: $47 $47 Date of Status: 06/2011 06/2011 Status: Closed

These two have no info listed.

CREDIT BUREAU ASSOCI

NCO FIN/99

Okay, any suggestions? LOL!

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Booner72 — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:33:01 GMT

I'd start working on Pay for Deletes with the collections. But be sure to get it in writing in case they don't take it off you can dispute. When AFNI agreed to delete, it happened very quickly (a few days) - though it took me a month to get the delete. I believe that the original creditor (QWEST) got so sick of me they called AFNI to get me off their backs.

Good Luck!

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:38:43 GMT

Are there any sample PFD's on this site??? Also, I filed a dispute about the same collection being on my credit twice. I WON!!!! LOL...Although it hasn't been deleted yet. Does the Equifax site only update at certain times? Thanks!

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:23:37 GMT

Hi Erin28,

Welcome to the forums! Looks like you are in pretty good hands with some great and helpful advice.

I see that you are an AU on a revolving account that is in collections./past due

Being an AU on an account can be helpful if the account is clean. This one is not, so it's probably in your best interest to remove yourself as an AU so it will no longer be on your reports. Do you have any other revolving accounts?

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:18:34 GMT

Hi, what is an AU?????

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:20:10 GMT

oOOOH.....Nevermind...Authorized User. LOL...How do I have myself removed?

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:26:47 GMT

Here's the Common Abbreviations from the User Guidelines threads in case you need or want it.

To remove yourself, have the card owner call in on their account and have you removed (or they can do it online). It should be removed the next time that account reports to the CreditReportingAgencies. If not, you can dispute the card as "not mine" (once you have been removed) and the CRA's should update properly.

FICO does like to see at least one revolving account - do you have any other open revolving accounts?

Re: New Here....Bad Credit.

Erin28 — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:14:14 GMT

No I don't have any other revolving accounts. Heck, I don't even know how my husband got THAT credit card. Any suggestions? LOL...I sent out two PFD's today...One to AFNI and the other to Credit Bureau Associates. Sooo, what should I work on next?