Experts weigh in... Guidance GREATLY appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I stumbled across this forum as I begin my quest to healthy credit. My credit has been through the ringer. For starters, my mother didn’t have a lot of credit or manage the credit she had well (mostly due to lack of finances). I started off great, no cc just installment loans (vehicle/cd secured). That began to go downhill after being laid off from my job. I had just had a set of twins and ended up leaning on credit to survive but I just as I began to be comfortable after recovering (7 years later) I suffered another blow. The firm I worked for closed and I was out of work again! This time was for a longer period of time. I ended up filing chapter 7 2/2011.

Without the tools or knowledge of resources, I did not take proper steps to recover. Now I’m learning that resources like this are available. I’m tired of not having the freedom to do the things I want because of bad credit... especially now that I’m earning 6 figures. I’m freshly separated from my spouse so it now more important than ever to make changes.

That being said my journey has begun to change that. When I started this in October, my CK score was 414. I have pulled reports and continue to dispute items on my reports and I’ve had some success. I have also paid off lots of collections accounts (mostly medical bills), I was added as an authorized user on a small limit cc ($300).

Here are my details: 

$5500 in cc debt ($4000 USAA Visa/$1500 USAA Amex CC)-husband maxed out when he left

2017 Repo-husband’s vehicle ($11k remaining)

2014 repo-co-signer on loan ($7k remaining)

$300 Capital One (autorized user)- $27/$300

$1000 Discover- $0/1000 (Brand new)

$1050 Installment loan (Self-Lender) $921/$1050

My vehicle is paid off but I NEED a new car. Looking for a 2016 Volvo XC90 (approx. $44k). Short term goal is to get decent score to purchase my car.

 Updated Scores: EQ-519/TU-544/EX-565

My current credit goals for the year are to get to mid to high 600 credit scores across all bureaus, approval for a travel credit card w/ $10-$15k limit, mortgage pre-approval (end of the year).

[egghead88]

Congrats.. you are on the road to rebuilding your credit. I’m no expert, some things to think about... the SOL on your collections accounts, PFD on any remaining collection accts, GW any paid collections accts, finding a good and trustworthy vehicle mechanic, and lastly create a log/diary to help you keep track of your journey.

[RobertEG]

The Repos are major derogs, particularly if you are seeking an auto loan.

It is noted that both still have an unpaid balance.

Are they still within SOL?  What is the DOFD and what delinquencies have been reported?

What are the plans regarding payment of those remaining debts?  Any chance you can offer a PFD?

[Anonymous]

A repo in 2017 isn't going to make it easy for you to get a mortgage any time soon.  A repo with balances due makes it worse.  What kind of BK did you have in 2011?

From what I can tell, you've gotten back on track a few times from serious credit pain but ended up right back where you were before which leads me to believe that you have no emergency savings or back-up plan for your spending patterns.  I would focus on correcting that immediately before anything else because owning a home means a lot more emergency spends that come along regularly and credit isn't the solution to solving those.

Your first step before repairing your credit is setting a budget, a real budget.  If you can't save 10-20% of every paycheck for the future, then you need to address your budget spending and income.  If you can show a future mortgage lender that you've been on track for 2 years in saving that much, you'll have a better chance of getting approvals even with some old derogatories around.

But seeing a repo in 2017 means you're most likely looking at 4-5 years out because you also need to build good credit over the next 2-3 years while paying down your bad debts while also putting away a significant chunk of income to savings.

[Sandman771]

Just a cautionary note. On the repos, depending on the lender sometimes even if you pay in full they will blacklist you. Cap One will not. GM Financial on the other hand once burned whether you par or not they are not with the program. 

[HwyMos]

Just saw your question. It’s EZ Pay - there’s one in Fort Pierce and one in Stuart. They are owned by Wallace. +1 (772) 460-4801