40yr old, plans to buy house, 2 repos, 3 collections paid off. Help please. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have been lurking this forum for some time (years actually). I always plan on fixing my credit but always tell myself, next week, next month, next life.

My credit is fairly weak. I have :

1 CC with CapitalOne $300 ($130 balance)

1 Fingerhut $900 ($120 balance)

1 Finwise Personal loan ($1950 balance) This one ONLY shows up in Transunion

4 Nelnet Student Loans ($20,000 balance total)

Should I add more secured CC?

The real bad tradelines are: 2 Auto Repos

1 Credit Acceptance $7500 (They already have a judgement, long story, divorce, etc etc)

1 Santander AutoLoan $13000

I do not understand the Santander loan, it comes up as ChargeOff/Current $0 balance sold to CFNM, the only history that has been posted since it went to default in Dec 2016 is 90 days late, and then it reports "N" from 01/2017 to 09/2017, from then on it's just blank reporting. On the other hand, Credit Acceptance reports every single months as Late.

My plan is to buy a house and I am giving myself 2 years to have my score in the high 700s. My question is, how would you tackle this?

I have been contemplating bankruptcy in order to wipe the 2 auto loans, but I just don't think it's worth it. I am planning on trying to vacate the judgement for Credit Acceptance and trying to negotiate it with an attorney somehow, but I don't know if the cost will outweigh the benefit. Regarding the Santander Auto loan I don't know what to do, should I not even touch it, dispute it, let it fall off, I dont know.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I have been lurking this forum for some time (years actually). I always plan on fixing my credit but always tell myself, next week, next month, next life.

My credit is fairly weak. I have :

1 CC with CapitalOne $300 ($130 balance)

1 Fingerhut $900 ($120 balance)

1 Finwise Personal loan ($1950 balance) This one ONLY shows up in Transunion

4 Nelnet Student Loans ($20,000 balance total)

Should I add more secured CC?

The real bad tradelines are: 2 Auto Repos

1 Credit Acceptance $7500 (They already have a judgement, long story, divorce, etc etc)

1 Santander AutoLoan $13000

I do not understand the Santander loan, it comes up as ChargeOff/Current $0 balance sold to CFNM, the only history that has been posted since it went to default in Dec 2016 is 90 days late, and then it reports "N" from 01/2017 to 09/2017, from then on it's just blank reporting. On the other hand, Credit Acceptance reports every single months as Late.

My plan is to buy a house and I am giving myself 2 years to have my score in the high 700s. My question is, how would you tackle this?

I have been contemplating bankruptcy in order to wipe the 2 auto loans, but I just don't think it's worth it. I am planning on trying to vacate the judgement for Credit Acceptance and trying to negotiate it with an attorney somehow, but I don't know if the cost will outweigh the benefit. Regarding the Santander Auto loan I don't know what to do, should I not even touch it, dispute it, let it fall off, I dont know.

Thanks

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It isn't possible to get into the high 700s with COs on your report.  You might hit the lower 700s but the high 700s...nuhuh.  These COs will stay on your report until they hit the 7 year mark and they will depress your score the entire time so high 700s just won't happen. Have these COs been paid? I am assuming not since the Credit Acceptance CO reports as late every month.  When did this CO occur?  When will it hit the 7 year mark?   You likely won't even qualify for a home loan with unpaid COs on your report.  The very least you need to do is to pay the COs.  You might also look into the Santander CO.  They were recently taken to court (a class action lawsuit) and I believe they were forced to forgive loans, etc for due to issuing risky loans with a high chance of default.  You will need to see if it applies to you state.  If you are in a state that was part of the lawsuit, this loan may be forgiven and be removed from your credit reports.  

You are also using a over 20% of your current tradelines.  Cut this down to less than 9%.  Getting another card so that you can practice AZEO could help your score some, but don't expect any miracles considering that you have two COs.  The lates won't help your score either.  It doesn't take much time to get into credit problems, but it can take years for scores to recover.

[missmignonne]

I would, if I were in your shoes, look into whether that Santander loan can be removed as suggested by PP and getting your balances down on your open credit accounts. Pay off Fingerhut, pay Cap1 down to $20 or less and apply for another secured card (I hear OpenSky doesn't do a hard pull so that might be one to look at)

Look into the cost of vacating the judgement and if it's less than it would cost to pay it off, consider it.

Also, depending on the lender, your income and how much you can build your credit back up and how long ago those repos occurred when you apply - you may well be able to qualify for mortgage with an okay interest rate.

Not awesome by any means but enough to get you in the door, literally!

I was in a semi-similar situation a couple of years ago and have cleared most of the baddies off my report. Currently working with a lender and hoping to close on a new home in the next few weeks, so it can definitely happen without completely clean reports.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much guys.

Seems like the Santander lawsuit is still being processed so I am just going to wait and update when more information is available.

I will apply to Discover and open Sky to do the AZEO method metioned here and also paydown my other balances.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Is the Credit Acceptance CO debt still in-house or have they already sold the debt to a CA?  If they have not yet sold the debt, you may be able to ask them to recall the debt/reopen the account if you can pay in full.  Don't know if this is even possible at this point, but if they can recall the debt, they may be willing to remove the charge off if you pay it in full.  Since you say that they keep reporting it as late each month, this makes me wonfer if they still own the debt and haven't sold it yet.