topic Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help in Rebuilding Your Credit

Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:38:42 GMT

I've been paying off old debts for the past 3 years -- I owe almost nothing. I pay my bills on time every month. I subscribe to Experian's credit monitoring service. I have watched my score slowly move up to 635.

I applied for a car loan through USAA -- was denied. They told me my Equifax score was 496! I freaked out -- they reccommended I pull my report from EQ so I did -- they gave me a FAKO score of 640!

So the disparity between the EQ FAKO and the EQ FICO was almost 150 points. I called USAA to get more info. They told me that the FAKO scores are essentially useless and provide no real indication of your actual score. I knew they were different but no that extreme!

Now I feel very frustrated and depressed because it seems 3 years of effort has yielded absolutely nothing. My "real" scores are lower than ever. I make over 80K a year and have very few bills but I cannot buy a new car. This is horrible.

So I have this EQ FICO report in front of me. Where do I begin? how do I change this? How long will it take?

Sincerly,

frustrated with the credit scoring ridiculous BS....

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:54:17 GMT

Sounds like you need to start sending out GW letters to your creditors/CAs you've paid off. Sending payment won't make the listing go away, but in fact will just update and add a more recent action which will lower your scores. A negative TL will hurt your score less over time and they have a much smaller impact after they are two years old since the last activity on them. Any collections accounts you may have paid off look like a recent baddie to a lender. The real damage is the fact that they are a collection listing and not necessarily how much you owe on it. You need to make sure you send a PFD for anything else you may still have to pay off in hopes of getting it removed all together. Also look for some of the example GW letters on these forums and start sending those out to the accounts you have already paid off. It's no guarantee they will be removed, but it's all you can really do to try and reverse the negative impact.

Message Edited by Myriad on 06-25-2009 10:54 PM

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

RobertEG — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:55:57 GMT

Hi mattmil, and welcome to the forum.

Your first pas at dealing wth your credit score is dealing with your credit report.

What derogs are reporting?

Give details on each, and then we can advise on how to address them.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:10:20 GMT

Thank you so much for the help. I'm going to hit this full force and not give up. I only wish I would have discovered the ridiculous FAKO scores scam earlier instead of wasting time beleiving I was actually improving my credit.

I'm going to focus on my EQ FICO score as that seems to be the worst and the one that a lot of lenders look at. My TU is much higher at 560. Not good but not a 496 like EQ says!

Here are my derogs:

Creditor
Amount
Status
Derog
Date Opened

What I've done

US Dept of Education
16855
Pays as Agreed
Previous Late payments

03/01/00
deferred

US Dept of Education
6898
Pays as Agreed

Previous Late payments
04/01/97
deferred

Military Star Card
1493

Bad Debt/Collection
Late Payments/default
07/01/93
PIF

First Premier

14
Pays as Agreed
One late payment 30 days
02/01/08
current at this time

LVNV Funding
0
120+ days past due
Previous Late payments

PIF

Midland Credit Management
0
120+ days past due
Previous Late payments

PIF

Pcb-Sf
0
Pays as Agreed
Previous Late payments

PIF

Sears/Cbsd
0
Pays as Agreed

Previous Late payments

PIF

Public Record Triangle Real Estate
2562

not reported
not reported
04/01/04
PIF

Public Record Tax Lien

342
not reported
not reported
06/01/07
Unpaid

-->

So as you can see I've paid off almost everything. This hasn't helped my score at all. I addition to the above I have 5 collections accounts that show up on my EQ FICO report but they all show a $0 balance. According to the report, I have 8 derog accounts and 2 public records. What;s the next step on this jounery?

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:42:19 GMT

First thing I would do is look into your states law on having the tax lien released. Search for the website of the court that the lien is filed with. Most court websites have copies of their standard forms available online. Look through those and find the one that deals with tax liens as it might state how the court handles the release of liens and may list the section of state law on how it is handled (very helpful since state laws are usually several hundred pages long). Looking up that law will help point you in the right direction and if there is a standard vacate clause then it may be fairly easy to have that public record removed. That will need to be paid, but if you do your research on the matter you can find the fastest way to bring it to a close.

For the other public record you need to get a copy of the judgment if you don't already have one. Make sure you meet all the requirements of the judgment since you will only make the judge mad if you happen to ignore a stipulation of the judgment. Next, find out how that court handles dismissing or vacating a judgment. Find out if an agreed order to vacate judgment is standard practice, or if the court has a standard form that takes care of it for you. Every state is different on how they handle it. I know Illinois has a standard vacate clause in their satisfaction dismissal form, but some states don't have that provision. If you need to do an agreed order to vacate you will have to request that in your settlement offer to the lawfirm listed on the judgment. As always, make sure to get any agreements in writing.

Next, you need to start sending out PFD letters to anyone you still owe. Make sure to get any agreements in writing before sending any payment. They are not required to accept a PFD offer, but many will just to get their money.

Finally, start cranking out those GW letters. Make them as human as possible because you're basically asking someone to do you a favor. Be polite, but persistent. As I said before there is no guarantee they will delete, but you won't know until you try.

This is the order I would do it in, but you can do them in any order or all at the same time if you feel so inclined. Best of luck and keep us posted on how it's going.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:43:10 GMT

Thanks for the advice! The first thing I'm going to do is work on the judgements, then I will send out GW letters to everyone. I only owe 2 accounts that are due to be paid next month so I will call them and request PFDs for each. Man I wish I would have found this board earlier.

I did do the online dispute with Equifax and Experian -- haven't heard anything yet from them...

Thanks again for the advice -- I will keep you posted on my progress.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

AndySoCal — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:50:03 GMT

The late that is having the biggest impact is the first premier late. Is it valid ?

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:36:44 GMT

It's not valid -- I was never late with them. I called them and they said they could not take it off. I paid via their website and it their website stated the current payment due was $0 so I did not make a payment one month -- that's when it hit my report. I argued that the minimum due was $0 but to no avail.

They have reported as OK this month but the month previous they reported 30 days late. I've never been late with them before. Do you think I could have this removed?

I'm going to take of the judgements on Monday -- I'm going down to the courthouse to see what I can do...

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:57:24 GMT

Get copies of the files for the judgment and tax lien on Monday. There is really nothing your county clerk can do in the way of clearing these up so this will just be gathering the information in order to attack these. Armed with copies of the court documents you can get to work on clearing these up. Update us on what the records say (and as always, we never need any of the personal information) and the forum members with experience in these matters should be willing to offer some advice to point you in the right direction.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:07:24 GMT

I did the online dispute for all 3 credit bureaus. I just disputed old accounts and asked them to be validated. Anyone had any success with this?

I figured that will be an easy first step before I work on the judgements on Monday...

_______________________________________________________________

TU FICO = 560 EQ FICO = 498
FAKO SCORES: TU=644, EXP=635, EQ=640

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:41:59 GMT

Even if your scores don't reflect it yet, the 3 years of work you put into paying off your debt will become very helpful to your score. Don't lose hope, you are doing all the legwork for sustained FICO score increases without having to worry about new CAs popping up on your reports.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:56:11 GMT

thanks that means a lot -- I never knew credit could have such an impact of your life. Can't wait to get this cleared up. Hopefully I'll see some improvement in the coming months...

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:55:40 GMT

Are the 2 accounts you havent paid yet still reporting each month? If so they may be what is keeping your scores so low right now. As soon as they are paid and you have no negative marks for 12 months, you should see a major boost. Possibly close to 100 points.

Message Edited by scorerise on 06-28-2009 02:55 AM

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:42:20 GMT

I had success with the online dispute! They removed the 30 day late on the one account. That boosted my FAKO score up to 656!!! Wow -- not that the FAKO scores means anything though. Next step is to attack those judgements which I haven't had the chance to do yet...

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

BungalowMo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:06:27 GMT

Matt...first, welcome! You have come to the right place to fix your credit.

Whenever I see a newcomer I always give them the same information. Do you have your reports DIRECTLY from the 3 agencies? If not, go to the free report link in my sig block. That is the only place you really get them for free!

Also, keep the abbreviations link handy, especially when folks here ask you questions in acronyms!

The frequently requested threads link is a must-read. TONS of helpful info.

To battle this credit fix, you need to arm yourself with the correct information.

And finally....unless you get your scores from one of the 3 links in my bottom sig line...it's a FAKO and absolutely meaningless!!!!!

*I take no credit for the info in my sig links. That information has been invaluable to me and I pass it along to all the new members I see.

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:44:29 GMT

wow! just from paying the balance on my CCs and from having succees with disputing 2 accounts, I pulled my EQ fico last night and was amazed that it is now 577!!!!!!

much better than 496 a few weeks ago!

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:57:37 GMT

I pulled my TU FICO and it is now 668!!!!!! Unbeleivable. I'm making incredible progess. In a month period I've got from not being able to get by credit to god/fair credit. I have a dispute pending with Experian and the 30 days will be up Jul14th. I'm hoping I will have about 5 inaccurate accounts deleted. Can't wait until Tuesday to find out...

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

BungalowMo — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:14:18 GMT

@mattmil wrote:
I pulled my TU FICO and it is now 668!!!!!! Unbeleivable. I'm making incredible progess. In a month period I've got from not being able to get by credit to god/fair credit. I have a dispute pending with Experian and the 30 days will be up Jul14th. I'm hoping I will have about 5 inaccurate accounts deleted. Can't wait until Tuesday to find out...

Congrats!!!!! That's a really nice jump you got yourself! Kudos!

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:38:48 GMT

Update: I just checked the status of my online dispute and 4 old collections have been deleted! I don't know how this will affect my score yet because for some reason I can't pull my report due to "technical difficulties" -- that doesn't mean they froze it does it?

Re: Very Frusrated -- Please Help

mattmil — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:39:40 GMT

This was my Experian dispute -- the EQ and TU disputes are still pending.