topic Re: What to expect when rebuilding in Rebuilding Your Credit

What to expect when rebuilding

tparks5961 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:00:30 GMT

Just like other things in life, obtaining and managing credit are both an aquired skill and may take a few attempts to get it right. What you've been through and no matter how bad it seems, the first thing you need to understand is that many people have been in your same position or much worse.

I will post somethings that I've experienced during my rebuild in the hopes that I can prepare you a little about what may be coming your way.

#1 The decision to final take control of my credit.

After many years, I was finally brave enough to check out the condition of my credit. I signed up for Credit Karma and Credit Seasame..

My credit was a hot mess and needed some serious work.. I had 23 negative items spread across all 3 bureaus.

#2 Credit repair and taking charge

I signed up for a credit repair company and after my second payment, and understanding that their job was to stretch out the process for as long as possible to get their monthly fee, I cancelled the service and started working on it myself. It took me a little time, but after reading and studying the forums, I started making a lot of progress rebuilding and improving my scores. I know you've heard this before.. but anything they can do, you can do as well. There is no reason or excuse as to why you shouldn't try to handle it yourself. Take the time, it'll be worth it in the end.

#3 Improving scores, collectors starting to emerge

This is what I wasn't prepared for.. with my scores imroving from the mid 500's to 806 at one point, people started requesting money from my past. I had collectors calling me about debts and judgements from 2002, 2003.. The reason why a lot of bill collectors are based out of califorinia and certain states.. its because they can just file for judegments over and over (from what I read) and report and updated judgement on your reports essentially forever..

Collection agencies will run regular updates on your report and play the very long game. These guys would call me and know exactly how much available credit I had.. Talk about being ***ssed off.. It was pretty upsetting to finally make significant progress and have people contacting me about debts that we 17 and 18 years old for payment.

In the end, I paid them all.. I just didnt want to take the chance of something showing up on my credit report from 20 years ago.. Although debts that old I was able to settle for half the amount and probably could have settled for less.. I just didnt want to take any chances.. and in the end, these were my debts, and paying them back gave me the sense that I was doing th right thing in handling my business.

Collectors from your past will come back to you (Sorry)

#4 Low limits and rebuilding trust

Although I've had some success with higher limits from Regions bank, (Which holds my primary accounts) Expect to get very low and slow to grow limits. This is ok.. I put myself in this position and understand the decision to start me off "low and slow". Larger limits and higher scores will come in time.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Re: What to expect when rebuilding

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:24:10 GMT

If a debt is over 7 years old, nobody can report it anymore. If it's outside of statute of limitations, it can't be sued for. Collections for debts that are older than those are bought by junk debt buyers in the hopes you will pay anything. You simply have to tell them to stop contacting you. They'll sell the debt and you'll have to do it again. The only benefit to paying them is stopping the calls.

Re: What to expect when rebuilding

OmarGB9 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:26:49 GMT

Great post! I agree with all of your points. Settling/paying is good, and yes, rebuilding is a slow process that takes time. Higher limits come with time. That said, some CUs will open the flood gates even if you are rebuilding (i.e. NFCU).

Re: What to expect when rebuilding

tparks5961 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:32:06 GMT

Yeah, I assumed this was the case, but coming from where Ive been and for the small amounts they were asking for, I just paid em off.

I'll post this from an article that I found about california judgments:

13 Jun How Long Does A Judgment Last In California?

Posted at 21:09h in Bankruptcy Basics by Douglas Jacobs, Esq. 0 Comments

Once someone obtains a money judgment in California it will last for 10 years. At the end of 10 years, the judgment is no longer enforceable, unless it has been renewed.

California laws specify that you can renew a judgment during the tenth year. Thus, between the end of the ninth year and the end of the 10th year, you can file a simple document with the court where the judgment was entered and breathe another 10 years of life into it. This can be done repeatedly, ad infinitum, and therefore, in theory, a judgment can last forever.

Don’t be fooled by the 10 years. That means specifically the judgment must be renewed during its 10th year. If the judgment was entered into on February 1, 1998, it can be renewed anytime between February 1, 2007 and February 1, 2008. If you wait until February 2, 2008 it’ll be too late and the judgment expires.

Rarely, however, do judgments last forever. Usually the creditor loses track and misses the time deadline so the judgment expires, or it gets paid through an estate or a refinance or sale of a house, or if the debtor files bankruptcy.

They had me at infinitum..

I just didn't want to take the chance for sub $1,000.00 bills

Re: What to expect when rebuilding

FireMedic1 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 19:23:43 GMT

Nice job. Congrats on being persistant in your building credit.