topic Re: I need motivation!!! in Rebuilding Your Credit

I need motivation!!!

js0319 — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:20:21 GMT

My wife and I have been working on repairing for the last 3 months, and we've made some progress. However, it just seems like everything is moving at a snails pace. We pay out the wazoo for the credit we do have (high auto loan rates), and we know we're suffering the consequences of our past credit woes. We need some guidance as to how we should tackle the remainder of what we owe - at least to the point where we can start using new credit to show lenders that we are worthy of it and that the past does not necessarily represent our current financial situation.

A couple of things we are working on: Asset Acceptance has sent us offers two months in a row to settle for approx. $1700, and we will be settling the judgement next month and getting the judgement vacated for approx. $1500. I am also in a rehabilitation process (I'm in the 2nd month) with my student loan through the university where I pay back all past-due interest over 9 months and all the negative TL's and any key-derog's will be deleted - then I can just make my normal monthly payments.

Here's a snapshot of me and my wife's credit:

Wife's:

Collection Company

Account Type

Status

Original Balance

Current Balance - As of 02/12

SOL Passed?

Falls Off

Bexar County (Citicards CBNA)	Credit Card	Judgement	$4,234	$4,234	N/A	N/A
~~Capital One~~	~~Credit Card~~	~~Collection~~	~~$1319~~	$0	Yes	09/2014
Citicards CBNA	Credit Card	Charge Off	$3,400	N/A	Yes	09/2014
DSNB/Macy's	Credit Card	Collection	$600	$630	Yes	12/2014
LVNV Funding	Credit Card	Collection	$469	$772	Yes	09/2014
Credit Systems Int., Inc.	Utility	Collection	$406	$406	Yes	03/2014
~~Commercial & Medical Credit~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$57~~	~~$0 (Deleted from CR)~~	Yes	08/2015
Healthcare Funding Solutions	Medical	Collection	$224	$224	No	08/2015
~~Business & Professional Services~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$48~~	~~$48 (Deleted from CR)~~	No	11/2016
Louisiana Bureau of Credit Control	Medical	Collection	$24	$24	Yes	11/2013
Louisiana Bureau of Credit Control	Medical	Collection	$32	$32	Yes	11/2013
Credit Adjustment Co.	Medical	Collection	$30	$30	Yes	09/2017
Merchant Professional	Medical	Collection	$384	$384	Yes	09/2014
Diversified Credit Systems	Medical	Collection	$597	$597	Yes	08/2012
~~Financial Control Services~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$105~~	~~$0 (Deleted from CR)~~	Yes	03/2014
Hollis Cobb Associates	Medical	Collection	$270	$270	Yes	04/2013
Sarma Collections	Medical	Collection	$154	$154	Yes	02/2015
Sarma Collections	Medical	Collection	$133	$133	No	12/2015

Mine:

Collection Company	Account Type	Status	Original Balance	Current Balance - As of 02/12	SOL Passed?	Falls Off
~~Bank of America~~	~~Credit Card~~	~~Charge Off~~	~~$600~~	$0	No	06/2015
Discover	Discover Card	Charge Off	$1,500	$2,444	Yes	05/2014
University	Student Loan	Collection	$6,000	$7,397	N/A	N/A
~~TX Guaranteed~~	~~Student Loan~~	~~Collection~~	~~$986~~	$0	N/A	06/2015
~~TX Guaranteed~~	~~Student Loan~~	~~Collection~~	~~$798~~	$0	N/A	06/2015
~~TX Guaranteed~~	~~Student Loan~~	~~Collection~~	~~$662~~	$0	N/A	06/2015
Asset Acceptance	Credit Card	Collection	$2,559	$4,853	Yes	10/2014
~~Seattle First National Bank~~	~~Student Loan~~	~~Collection~~	~~$4,255~~	$0	Yes	08/2012
~~Credit Adjustment Co.~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$86~~	$86 (Deleted from CR)	No	06/2017
~~Credit Adjustment Co.~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$54~~	$54 (Deleted from CR)	No	03/2017
~~Credit Adjustment Co.~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$81~~	$14 (Deleted from CR)	No	02/2017
~~Enhanced Recovery~~	~~Utility~~	~~Collection~~	~~$71~~	$0	No	08/2017
~~Credit Protection~~	~~Utility~~	~~Collection~~	~~$148~~	$0	No	05/2015
Collections Inc.	Medical	Collection	$237	$237	No	06/2016
~~Credit Systems Int., Inc.~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$69~~	~~$0 (Deleted from CR)~~	No	N/A
Midland Credit Mgmt., Inc.	Credit Card	Collection	$4,997	$6,196	Yes	06/2014
~~Sarma Collections~~	~~Medical~~	~~Collection~~	~~$168~~	~~$168~~	No	09/2015
Healthcare Funding Solutions	Medical	Collection	$371	$371	No	10/2015

Re: I need motivation!!!

AndySoCal — Sat, 12 May 2012 03:57:10 GMT

First of all you have done a llot of work in just three months keep going! Conisder this process a marathon and not a sprint stay determined to reach the goal!. With the medical collections you can try if you have the $$ contaccting the original creditor. Offer to pay in full in exchange for pulling the account back from the collection agency. This should result in the collection agency deleting the reporting of the account to the credit bureau.

Re: I need motivation!!!

AZHeather — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:13:58 GMT

You have made AMAZING progress in such a short amount of time!! Stay the course and you and your wife will succeed in reaching your goals. You should be really proud of yourself for taking on this Herculean task and doing so well. Hang in there!

Re: I need motivation!!!

thankfulheart — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:51:17 GMT

As the PP said, slow and steady wins this race. Looks like there are a lot of medical collections; Google "hipaa method" and give it a whirl, it worked for me. All of my collections were medical and all are now gone. It's a good feeling and can spur you on if commitment lags.

Have you started any rebuilding credit? Secured CCs? those can help inch your scores up as well. What helps me is to keep reading the boards, learning all I can, and seeing other people being successful. Each situation is different and some are quicker than others, but knowledge is power.

Re: I need motivation!!!

js0319 — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:00:36 GMT

I opened a Cap1 secured CC in February, and was approved yesterday for an Orchard Bank unsecured gold CC. My DW has no cards currently in her name that are open.

Our experience yesterday at a CU was what really made us realize how slow the progress is. We opened a checking and savings so we can drop BofA and Wells Fargo since they don't do anything for us in the way of credit. Since the CU had already done a HP, we tried to see what else we could be approved for with the same pull. Our respective TU scores were 538 for me, and 514 for DW. We tried refinancing our auto loans since our rates are 20% for my car and 15.83 % for DW's. We were approved for 12.4% on both, but because of our scores they could only finance 75% of the retail value. That would have meant paying down $4000 on DW's car, and $5000 on mine - which isn't feasible at the moment with our baddies we need to take care of.

We also tried for a $1000 unsecured CC and were denied, but we're given the option of a secured CC.

I think what we'll do since DW will be paying the judgement next month, is open a secured CC jointly for $2000 or $2500 to more than cover the cost of paying the judgement ($1500 to settle) and use the CC to pay the judgement, and pay the card off over two cycles. This way, she can get a reporting revolving TL sooner than later, and she can take care of her judgement. After that, we can continue using the card to pay off the other baddies and pay it off monthly, or increase the line if needed to cover those that may require more money to pay off. In the end, we'll have a CC with a higher limit reporting - potentially opening the door in the future for a higher limit unsecured CC with the CU, or graduating it after 9-12 months (which the CU does do).

Re: I need motivation!!!

ladydeac — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:54:14 GMT

Keep pushing...as others have said, you've managed to gain some tremendous strides in just a small amount of time. This time next year you'll be looking back and patting yourselves on the back. Good luck!

Re: I need motivation!!!

js0319 — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:37:37 GMT

Update (also updated chart from original post):

Thanks to some motivation, I was able to do the following:

- Got rid of BofA & Wells Fargo

- Opened accounts with RBFCU and Texell FCU

- Approved for Orchard Bank Gold Unsecured MC - $300 CL

- Me and DW each approved for $1k personal LOC (0% loan) through Texell

- Used the $2k from LOC for Texell FCU secured VISA

- Refinanced my car (was 20% through GM Financial) at 8.74% for 42 months - reducing term by 16 months through Texell

- Refinanced DW's car (was 15.83% through Cap1) at 10.74% for remainder of original term (63 months remaining) through Texell

- Sarma collection for $168 deleted after a PFD letter was sent out - and I didn't have to pay it either

Re: I need motivation!!!

js0319 — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:54:10 GMT

Even better news today. I received a call from the credit union letting me know that my VISA was partially secured at 80%, so my CL is now $2500 - secured with $2000. Any future funds used to secure will result in an additional 20% match - so if I add another $400 in secured funds, my limit increases by $500.

Re: I need motivation!!!

Repo-ed — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:47:05 GMT

In time, provided you keep everything else clean, all of this will dissapear.

Great work thus far!

Re: I need motivation!!!

Anonymous — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:56:20 GMT

Good work! As others have said, you have made a tremendous amount of progress in a short amount of time. I have found that I stay motivated if I keep a running log of all credit moves and make sure that I spend time at least once a week looking and my progress and taking action on any outstanding items. Eventually you will end up with a weekly day that you send out GW requests to remove the past baddies that are still hanging around after all your financial obligations are met.

Good job with the CC accounts! It looks like you are on your way to building some serious positive credit history. Just keep your utilization low!

Re: I need motivation!!!

AndySoCal — Tue, 22 May 2012 01:55:47 GMT

Here is a couple of more ideas. On the wifes credit report the there is a colleciton for $30 collection agency is Credit Adjustment inc . Contact the original creditor and see if thwey will take payment in full in exchange for pulling this back from the collection agemcy PFD the CA. On Your report Collections Inc for $237.same Iidea. The reaosn I suggest this is. With The FICO score the more recent the derogatory item is the greater the impact on your score. If you can get these tow accounts removed you should gain some points (how many not sure). My suggestion if sucessful would put most of derogatory infomration 2 or three years in the past or more. Keep going you have made good progress!!!

Re: I need motivation!!!

novabama — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:10:44 GMT

Hi js0319!

I know this is an old thread, but I can't find much on Credit Bureau Systems Int and I have them as a CA as well. Were you ever able to get them off your CR? If so, would you mind sending me a PM as to what you did? Thank you!!

PS I am about where you started in february so this is pretty motivating for me!

Re: I need motivation!!!

LoveGoodCredit — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:27:56 GMT

I would like to put my 2 cents in and say what a great job you have done so far!!! your credit report looked like mine! I am down to 4.

Do you or does anyone on this thread have contact information for Louisiana Recovery services? I am trying to get them removed

Good luck and great job!