topic Re: Child Support Question in Rebuilding Your Credit

Child Support Question

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 00:36:32 GMT

Child support is very confusing.
My husband was out of work for 6 months in 2010.
He got behind on his child support. He is and has been caught up since. No arrears.

His support was in Alaska at the time he got behind.

Right now it shows 0 balance due but has a history of late payments more than 120 days late.

They reported it as being behind in 2011. But his first date of being behind was actually 2010.

How long will this be on his report?

Does the click start the date of his first missed payment? Does this clock ever end because this is a bill that has to be paid regularly for 18 years?

I read that child support doesn'teffect your fico.
And I read it does. Which is it?

We want to get a loan for a home but his credit score is in the low 500s.

Sometimes it feals so hopeless.

Re: Child Support Question

lord_kinbote — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 01:10:48 GMT

On the myfico site, it clearly states that it does not impact your FICO score, but the late payments will be listed for 7 years and creditors can still view this information. I am not sure of the true impact, but maybe someone with experience on this issue will chime in.

Re: Child Support Question

lord_kinbote — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:45:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

We want to get a loan for a home but his credit score is in the low 500s.

Sometimes it feals so hopeless.

Sorry, I was short on time last night. I am guessing there has to be more to it? My child support is listed on my CR as an installment and my scores were in the 760ish range on EQ/EX/TU before my recent app spree. On the myfico site, click on "learn about scores" at the top of the page, "What's not in my score" on the left side of the page. This is what it states in regards to child support;

"Any items reported as child/family support obligations or rental agreements."

4 1/2 years ago I had late payments due to 2 year stay at a federal prison camp. When I look at my credit report specifics on myfico, it lists the child support obligation under revolving accounts and when I click on "Revolving Accounts", and then click on "Negative" the only thing that shows up is my child support. When I click on "more info" for the account, the status on EQ/TU state pays account as agreed, but EX has "Current account/was delinquent 180 days or more past due date" and I also see late payments on EQ/TU/EX for the time period I was away. I really do not know if those late payments are impacting my scores since they are "child/family support obligations", but again I was in the 760 range accross the board, so whatever impact was minimal.

I was going to dispute, but with my scores there is really not much of a point. I will just let the lates fall off in 2.5 years as I doubt they are impacting.

Re: Child Support Question

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 15:16:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Child support is very confusing.
My husband was out of work for 6 months in 2010.
He got behind on his child support. He is and has been caught up since. No arrears.

His support was in Alaska at the time he got behind.

Right now it shows 0 balance due but has a history of late payments more than 120 days late.

They reported it as being behind in 2011. But his first date of being behind was actually 2010.

How long will this be on his report?

Does the click start the date of his first missed payment? Does this clock ever end because this is a bill that has to be paid regularly for 18 years?

I read that child support doesn'teffect your fico.
And I read it does. Which is it?

We want to get a loan for a home but his credit score is in the low 500s.

Sometimes it feals so hopeless.

What else is on his report? Might want to post up report info minus any personal info and you will get a wealth of information on here.

Re: Child Support Question

fishbjc — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:00:51 GMT

Wish there was a more definitive answer to this question. If 120 day lates are showing, it's definitely an issue.

Those lates stay approximately SEVEN years. With 120 day lates this recent, it's doubtful that you'll be purchasing a home in the near future.

Since he's 'caught up'....try writing a good will letter for removal?

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/unpaid-child-support-affecting-credit.html Maybe this will help.

Re: Child Support Question

lord_kinbote — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 17:07:44 GMT

@fishbjc wrote:
Wish there was a more definitive answer to this question. If 120 day lates are showing, it's definitely an issue.

Those lates stay approximately SEVEN years. With 120 day lates this recent, it's doubtful that you'll be purchasing a home in the near future.

Since he's 'caught up'....try writing a good will letter for removal?

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/unpaid-child-support-affecting-credit.html Maybe this will help.

That is what I am perplexed about. FICO states that "Any items reported as child/family support obligations or rental agreements." are not included in your scores, so that should entail any late payments impacting your CR, no? I would think so, since my scores were in the 760+ range before I opened 10 new accounts on my app spree. It would be nice to have clarification on this. My late payments were 4 1/2 years ago, so maybe that is why they did not have much of an impact if they are in fact factored in. I may call myfico and ask a CSR and see if they have information on this. If the late payments are impacting, then I will attempt a GW. However, I doubt that is going to happen in a situation of this nature.

Re: Child Support Question

lord_kinbote — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:22:08 GMT

Just got off the phone with myfico.com and spoke with a CSR about this issue. In my case, as I indicated, they have it reporting as a revolver vs an installment. The CSR at first recommended that I should open a dispute with the CRA's to change the type to installment - this way, the mix would help my credit. He verified that the utilization from the child support obligation was NOT being factored, but that my lates WERE impacting my score - the impact was negligible because the last 4 years have all been on time.

He stated that once the late pays fall off the entire revolver should go away. I am not sure how he came to that conclusion? But I remember on an old CR that I pulled from annualcreditreport.com, which had is slated to fall off in 2016 and that would correspond to about 7 years in regards to late payment dates. He then revised his statement and said that he would not dispute the type, because it may have some other adverse reaction that causes something to reset in regards to the payment history - basically leave it alone since it is only having a small impact and should be dropping off soon.

So there you go, that's about all I have on the issue. Looks like late payment history does impact, but owed amount does not factor into utilization. I am going to pull another report from annualcreditreport.com and see what it is reporting in regards to fall off date, since it has been over a year since I last used that service.

Re: Child Support Question

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 23:18:48 GMT

I'm going through same thing. I have my cs on auto bank draft and they have reported 7 charge offs and it revovling account. My equifax score is 517 while my other 2 are about 15 to 20 from 600. It also has a 120 days pass due on the child support.. I called my cs office they said they show I'm have not been late on any payments. So I called today and dispute it with equifax. But base on my other 2 score those charge off are killing my equifax score. I just came out of bk this month and have no debt .