PLEASE HELP!! to get score up fast, trying to get home loan.

[Foxx]

Hi, I'm hoping to get our score up fast. Well specifically my husbands.

4-7 years ago we had some bad luck. Lost jobs, defaulted on cards ect. 

In the last 2 yrs we have had almost perfect credit.

We have been trying to get the old stuff removed but it is a long process and they just keep bouncing the debt to new JDB's..

Equifax true FICO is 748 because we have everything fixed on there.

The other two I can only see truecredit's scoring and it's WAY OFF says EQ is only 633 TU 618 EX 589 and I know that is not even close to right because the truecredit score for EQ is 115 LOWER then the FICO for EQ

Currently we have just paid down some balances and received a line increase to help with uti :

Cap1-$300/$1000 but reporting $1000/$1000 (Never Late open 1yr8m)

Citibank -$200/$500 reporting $400/$500 (never late opened the same time)

HootersCard-$200/$700 reporting $600/$700 (never late opened sametime)

NFCU Navchek line of credit $2000/$4000 reporting $1500/$1500 (never late opened 2yrs)

With EQ thats all they have other then closed accounts that are old that had perfect history over 5yrs ago

On TU and EX there are 2 piggyback (AU) accounts that have been open for 8yr+ and have less then 10% util (around 8k and 25k credit limits)

Also there is a car loan that was 30 days late about 5 times in the last 4years most recent was over 10months ago. The loan was through RoadLoans and bought out by Santander who is also reporting the SAME info so it seems that I have 2 accounts with the late payments.... but NO one will fix that. I have disputed it through RoadLoans the CRA's and Santander...

The bad stuff...

On TU and EX there is about 10 bad things..  HSBC shows as having 2 accounts with them with different numbers both being charge offs one account is from 2006 one is from 2008

Premier bank card from 2007

The rest are collections that will fall off sometime between now and 2013 I think maybe one that won't fall off until 2016

They are all small under $500.. The highest one is from a appartment collection agency for $6600 for breaking a lease but that will fall off in less then 6 months.

The only REALLY bad thing is a new Collection that originally came from Time Warner cable. It was JUST added to TU and EX a few weeks ago. They say it is for equipment that was never returned, but the cable guy came to our house to turn off service and took it. We switched to ATT's Uverse service.. I have no idea how to fix that because it's for $1000 ... it says its from 2009 but it just showed up recently... I've disputed the collection but it just came back verified.. 

Debt to income ratio is perfect under 10% so no problems there.

We just started to work on the uti. Thanks to the credit increase from NFCU and paying them off (trying to get under 10%uti)

So I guess I need to know where to go from here.. I know lenders take the middle score, but I can't see the true FICO from TU or EX.. I haven't had a chance to get the account with myfico.com fixed because they are closed on the weekends and the account is locked due to fraud alerts (from disputing ect)

In everyones opinion whats the best thing to work on to be approved by FHA for a home loan. 

We need to get this fixed in the next couple months and we don't have the money to pay for delete on everything and pay the current cards down..

Thanks!!!!

[RobertEG]

Your major FICO impact seems to be delinquencies and major derogs in prior payment history, not high % util.

Before making any plan to address them, I suggest the following:

First, disregard, for this step, any CO or CA in your CR. Those are additional, cumulative major derogs.  Focus first ONLY on your OC accounts

For each OC account in your CR, list the date of each and every monthly derog reported, and its level of delinquencvy (e.g., 30/60/90+)

Include all OC accounts, including those that were later closed,  charged-off, or placed for collection.

Those that have not passed 7 years from their individual date of delinqueny are still hurting your FICO score, and may give you a focus for GW deletion efforts.

Second, then turn to your charge-offs and collections.  These are MAJOR derogs.  How small or large the debt might be, or whether they are paid or unpaid, are not significvant FICO considerations (but if you app for a mortgage, the lendor will almost always requrie payment of unpaid debt prior to loan approval.  They dont lend based on FICO scores).

For each CO and CA, go back to your OC account records, and determine the DOFD for each.  Add 7 1/2 years to the DOFD on the OC account, and that will give you an idea of how long the CO or CA will remain in your CR, if you do nothing.  If you want removal prior to that date, then PFD is the only viable option, other tht dispute of the debt itself.

I know that is a whole lot to throw at you, but until you have all of that before you, I dont see how you can prioritize.

Not to be discouraging, but disputes, if you see them, or PFDs, if you try them, will normally take months.  And PFD offers requrie no response at all, so expectation of immediate PFD deletion is not high.  I, unfortunatley,  dont see a couiple of months as a realistic clean up expectation.

And I would also expect the mortgage lendor to require payment of the COs and CAs prior to loan approval, regardless of FICO score improvement efforts.

[Foxx]

Ok as for OC that are negative.. there are 2 HSBC accounts, one I know of the other I have no idea..  

HSBC "Derogatory" "Collection" Balance $948. This is the HSBC account I know of, it was an orchard bank cc but the original cl was only $300... How it is $948 I have no idea.. Also it reports that I have been paying this until Nov2009 which is when they first reported the 30days and then so forth.. this is also wrong, the card was closed back in 2008..

The other HSBC account I do not know what it is and it reports "Closed(paid)" "Collection" Balance $0 from 2008...

There is a Plains cc states  "Derogatory" "Collection" Balance $444 again it was only a $300 limit card.

There is a FSTBK? cc states "Closed(paid)" "Collection" Balance $0 

There is a Premiere cc states "Closed(paid)" "Collection" Balance $0 

And thats it for OC that are negative... So how do I pay or take care of any of these? They are older and all have been transfered to collections. The ones that do show a balance should/could I PFD ? Whenever I have tried to discuss the other closed/collection accounts they just refer me to the CA so I really have no way of dealing with them..

I'm sorry what is GW deletions? Good Will? I am unsure what that means or how I would do that?

[RobertEG]

Hi. Foxx

Maybe we are miscommunicating.  Stay with us.. we are trying to help!

What I was trying to convey was  that the issue is not "negative accounts."

It is one of each and every individual delinquency and derog reported on any OC account.  Derogs are cumulative.  One derog (a 30-day late) can be componded by a later derog (e.g., a 60-day late). then a charge off, then a collection. Later addition of harsher derogs dont remove prior derogs.

FICO does not score based on account status.  It scores each and every derog that preceded, on its own

Take, for example, one OC account you refer to.... the apparent CC you had with the OC, Orchard.

When did you first become delinquenct with them?

Dates of any 60/90/120+ lates reported by them?

Did they do a CO?  And then refer to a CA? 

If so, on that one OC account, you could easily have five derogs to deal with, each having its own drop off date.

A GW is a letter offered to a credtior who previsously posted derogs to your CR, that you have paid.  It asks them, based on their good will to you, to go back and delete this prior reporting, and thus delete the derogs from your CR.  Most GWs have a very low acceptance rate.

[Foxx]

I'm sorry I guess I'm not understanding.. (also I had no idea FICO would score more then once on each account I thought a chargeoff account was same whether they reported lates or not)

Dealing with just the one HSBC orchard card. It reports the lates only on EX 30days started Oct 09/60days Nov 09/90days Dec09/120days Jan10/150 days Feb10/CO the rest of the dates.  The issue I have with this is.. this account was closed in 2008 and I have NOT paid on it at all in 2009 so how do they have me paying on it until Sept 09..

It's now as a profit write off loss/ chargeoff... How could I possibly resolve this account? One the information is wrong for this specific account( I have disputed it before) and would paying and writting a GW letter do anything positive? Same goes for the rest of these accounts..

[MattH]

---

@Foxx wrote:

Hi, I'm hoping to get our score up fast. Well specifically my husbands.

4-7 years ago we had some bad luck. Lost jobs, defaulted on cards ect. 

In the last 2 yrs we have had almost perfect credit.

We have been trying to get the old stuff removed but it is a long process and they just keep bouncing the debt to new JDB's..

Equifax true FICO is 748 because we have everything fixed on there.

The other two I can only see truecredit's scoring and it's WAY OFF says EQ is only 633 TU 618 EX 589 and I know that is not even close to right because the truecredit score for EQ is 115 LOWER then the FICO for EQ

Currently we have just paid down some balances and received a line increase to help with uti :

Cap1-$300/$1000 but reporting $1000/$1000 (Never Late open 1yr8m)

Citibank -$200/$500 reporting $400/$500 (never late opened the same time)

HootersCard-$200/$700 reporting $600/$700 (never late opened sametime)

NFCU Navchek line of credit $2000/$4000 reporting $1500/$1500 (never late opened 2yrs)

With EQ thats all they have other then closed accounts that are old that had perfect history over 5yrs ago

On TU and EX there are 2 piggyback (AU) accounts that have been open for 8yr+ and have less then 10% util (around 8k and 25k credit limits)

Also there is a car loan that was 30 days late about 5 times in the last 4years most recent was over 10months ago. The loan was through RoadLoans and bought out by Santander who is also reporting the SAME info so it seems that I have 2 accounts with the late payments.... but NO one will fix that. I have disputed it through RoadLoans the CRA's and Santander...

The bad stuff...

On TU and EX there is about 10 bad things..  HSBC shows as having 2 accounts with them with different numbers both being charge offs one account is from 2006 one is from 2008

Premier bank card from 2007

The rest are collections that will fall off sometime between now and 2013 I think maybe one that won't fall off until 2016

They are all small under $500.. The highest one is from a appartment collection agency for $6600 for breaking a lease but that will fall off in less then 6 months.

The only REALLY bad thing is a new Collection that originally came from Time Warner cable. It was JUST added to TU and EX a few weeks ago. They say it is for equipment that was never returned, but the cable guy came to our house to turn off service and took it. We switched to ATT's Uverse service.. I have no idea how to fix that because it's for $1000 ... it says its from 2009 but it just showed up recently... I've disputed the collection but it just came back verified.. 

Debt to income ratio is perfect under 10% so no problems there.

We just started to work on the uti. Thanks to the credit increase from NFCU and paying them off (trying to get under 10%uti)

So I guess I need to know where to go from here.. I know lenders take the middle score, but I can't see the true FICO from TU or EX.. I haven't had a chance to get the account with myfico.com fixed because they are closed on the weekends and the account is locked due to fraud alerts (from disputing ect)

In everyones opinion whats the best thing to work on to be approved by FHA for a home loan. 

We need to get this fixed in the next couple months and we don't have the money to pay for delete on everything and pay the current cards down..

Thanks!!!!

---

First, as others have noted improving this situation will likely take much longer than "a couple months," because the best answer to nearly all such issues is time.  Second, however, I am deeply concerned by your saying you don't have the money to pay for delete.  Most lenders are gonna require proof that old debt (unless they are so old as to fall under the Statute of Limitations) have been paid, because quite aside from their FICO scoring impact the lenders fear such bed debts might turn into judgements and those judgements might turn into claims against the property.  As some on these boards have learned, buying a house causes debt collectors to come out of the woodwork because home ownership means you have an asset they can go after in court.  So a new homeowner whose past debts haven't been resolved can be in an extremely vulnerable position.

If I were you, at this point neither my FICO score nor my dreams of home ownership would be top priority right now.  Top priority right now is cleaning up your finances: get those old debts resolved, get credit card balances down, and build up enough emergency funds that life's nasty surprises will not turn into new debts.  Which will require above all addressing the root causes of the past history: fixing the underlying issues is much more important than a FICO score.

Owning a home can be very rewarding -- my wife and I are still glad we bought our current residence in 2002 --  but it can also require substantial money on short notice for which one had better be prepared.  Among the things my wife and I have had to pay on short notice are: replacing the A/C compressor, replacing the furnace, replacing the hot water heater, replacing two toilets, replacing various kitchen appliances, and several Special Assessments from our Condo Association for things like fixing the roof.  Over the long term, owning a home can pay off in many ways, but over the short term it almost always costs MORE than renting comparable space does.

[RobertEG]

To try to address your confusion over the various reporting dates, and their apparent inconsistencies, I must agree that your CR appears to be, at first review, inconsistent.

The reason for that is usually simple.  The consumer credit reports you get are just plain crappy. 
They mix dates and balances, without deference to which account it was actually reported under, or who reported. It usually doesnt mean fraudulent reporting to your credit file.

Take, again, the example of your OC account with Orchard.  You had 30/60/90/120/150 day delinquencies with them back in 2008.  They then closed the account in 2008.  They then did a charge-off of the bad debt, and then posted this CO  to your CR in 9/2009.  They also, at that time, apparently posted a $0 balance on their OC account.

When they posted a $0 balance. that did not mean that a single penny was paid on the debt.  All it signified was that the debt was sold, after their charge-off,. to someone else, who was then responsible for collection of the debt.  Orchard was legally out of the picture.

You then apparently learned, in 11/2009, who had bought the debt when the CA posted to your CR.  When the CA reported to the CRA, it established a wholly new, and separate account with the CRA.. 

The 11/2009 reporting was not done by the OC. Since the CA now owns the debt, they posted its amount and collection authority to the CRA,  Totally proper.

For credit reporting and scoring purposes, both the CO date of 9/2009 and the CA reporting date of 11/2009 data are kinda meaningless.  The OC/CA reporting, for drop-off calculation purposes under FCRA 605(c), goes back to only one date-certain, which is the DOFD on the OC account.  Probably the date of reporting of the 30-day late under the OC account.  Early 2008?  Add 7 1/2 years to that, and that is the CO and CA drop off date.

If you want more than just a crappy consumer-vended credit report to identify your credit file in more detail, I suggest that you order your free annual credit report by logging onto annualcreditreport.com.

[Foxx]

This info is directly from Experian.com    I can't imagine there's a better source? The issue here.. This account was CLOSED in 2008 they show it as being opened in 2008... This is so confusing and even HSBC hasn't offered any help.

Status: 

Account charged off. $304 written off. $948 past due as of Jul 2010.

Status Details: 

This account is scheduled to continue on record until Jul 2016. 

This item was verified and updated on Jul 2010.

Date Opened: 

11/2008

Date of Status: 

03/2010

Reported Since: 

12/2008

Last Reported Date: 

07/2010

Type: 

Revolving

Terms: 

N/A 

Monthly Payment: 

$0

Responsibility: 

Individual 

Credit Limit: 

$300

High Balance: 

$948 

Recent Balance: 

$948

Recent Payment: 

$0

Creditor's Statement: 

Account closed at credit grantor's request.

Account History: 

Charge Off as of Jul 2010, Mar 2010 

150 days past due as of Feb 2010 

90 days past due as of Jan 2010, Dec 2009 

60 days past due as of Nov 2009 

30 days past due as of Oct 2009

Balance History: 

04/2010 $948 

03/2010 $948 

01/2010 $904 

12/2009 $813 

10/2009 $516 

09/2009 $458 

08/2009 $382 

07/2009 $289 

06/2009 $279 

05/2009 $279 

04/2009 $289 

03/2009 $290 

02/2009 $308 

01/2009 $296 

12/2008 $274

[Foxx]

In response to MattH

I understand that the debts need to be paid or the SoL needs to be past. I also understand that you think homeownership is a nice thought for us.

The issue we have here and the main reason I am now looking to get this taken care of in the next few months as opposed to doing it over time is this:

We have been renting for 4 years from the same guy. Our rent is actually $500 MORE then it would cost for a mortgage of a comparable home. 

To make matters WORSE the home owner is in Forclosure on not just our rental but FIVE total... Luckily he has been keeping in contact with us and I know where to keep an eye on when it is actually going to court. In our county the Auctions are 2 months out. After it actually goes through forclosure/court we legal have 3 months.. BUT legally we HAVE to keep paying him rent....

I know our credit was messed up several years ago. We have been working on it slowly. It is finally getting to a decent spot but now we are limited in time...I believe we have around 6months + but it could be more...

So that is the issue..

Debt to income ratio is less the 15%.. Uti will be under 10% soon (1month) the rest is what I need to figure and work on...

The most practical means possible..