Advice Needed.

[los_west]

Hi.  My husband and I want to buy a home.  He has his own business, and so-so credit.  I work full time for county government (15 years), but my credit isn't good (585).

We live in CA.

I just ran my credit reports from all 3 major bureaus.  I have several charge-offs (HSBC), and collections (LVNV Funding and Portfolio Recovery).  All of these are from accounts opened in 2006, and went into collections around 2008 when I hit financial rock bottom.  There isn't any bankruptcy or judgements on my reports, thankfully.

Those of you who have successes in repairing your credit, what would you recommend I do to put myself in a more favorable light when I decide to apply for a mortgage loan?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[InvincibleSummer3]

Hi - welcome to the forums.

I started here:http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Your-Guide-to-Credit-Scoring/m-p/718550#M1168...

This'll show you how FICO scores are calculated. Particularly important is having "good credit" reporting. You haven't said, but do you have any revolving accounts that are in good shape? That was a huge boost to my scores. And of course, working toward PFD of collections & charge offs are important too.

[aces33]

Dispute what isn't accurate. I live in CA also. Those CO's from from 2006 - dispute for SOL. They shouldnt be on your report.  My score is 640 and am also looking for a house soon so i had my cousin add me as a joint user on his wells fargo CC and both of my brother CC and his wife CC also.  That's the fastest way- the best way is to build your credit.  Hopefully when they all report i'll be over 700. GL

[guiness56]

If the COs and collections didn't happen until 2008 then they can be there until 2015.

[InvincibleSummer3]

If the accounts were opened in 2006, but not charged off until 2008, that changes the landscape a bit. SOL refers to how long someone can be sued over a debt, and in California that's 4 years. CTRP is different, and los_west is still within that for a while.

[los_west]

I read a few threads on this forum before joining, so I am currently disputing the negative marks on the credit report.  I figured that was easiest to try and get started on.

I have several good revolving credit lines, and just finished paying off my student loans and one of our cars.  All of those payments were made on time.  I have $4300 on one credit card and $1700 on another left to pay off...I hope to slash both of those by 50% within the next 3 months.

As for SOL, what were you referring to?

[guiness56]

You need to have a valid reason to dispute the negative items. 

SOL is the suing statute of limitations that each state has for certain debt.  Say a credit card debt SOL would be 4 years, so if they were to bring a lawsuit they would have to do so before the 4 years was up.  The 4 years normally starts from the DoFD but if you made any payments since then, it could restart the SOL.