Helping Friend Rebuild

[Anonymous]

I've gotten into credit deep via this forum... So now I'm helping a buddy who thinks his credit is pretty much permanently crap. He's had a couple debt settlements (auto loan and a credit card). Currently he has only 2 open accounts, a mortgage and an AU on one of my cards (we live together, so he pays bills on my cards after paying me, so I earn that sweet cashback and helps his score).

He grabbed Credit Karma and his ol' fako scores are good on TU, 750. Adding him as an AU leaped him 61 points on TU (mix credit my guess, uti 2%). His EQ... not so much, around 670. Taking a look through, EQ is showing 5 closed accounts, 4 of which are over 10 years old. I'm sure removing these would boost his EQ to match his TU levels.

What would be the best way to go about getting these removed? TU already dropped them, I thought they should auto-drop after 7 or 10 years, but one of them is FIFTEEN years old. I have no idea about EX... Don't have a way to see either fako or FICO for EX for him.

[FireMedic1]

First off ignore CK scores. Get the real FICO scores. Secondly. You want the old accounts to stay on reports as long as possible. That helps credit, not drop it. There is no boost on having old reports fall off. You want them. So are the judgements paid off? That helps better than owed. You could ask for PFD if they're paid.

[Anonymous]

I think a simple dispute as being too old for reporting should work. I would call the bureau and talk to them to get them removed.

As for EX, just go and get a $1 trial at www.creditchecktotal.com and cancel within 7 days. Or you can have him sign up for Experian Credit Works to get the info.

Edit - I’m assuming the old reports are negative. If they are closed positive, then as FireMedic1 said, you want to keep them.

[Anonymous]

I know to pretty much ignore CK scores, but he doesn't really understand the difference in Vant3 vs FICO like I do. He said it was a settlement on one or two, might have been a write off (he defaulted on an auto loan and CC, both went to court), I'm not sure. Saying keeping them is helping, I'm not quite sure since they seem to be derogs. His oldest is a long mortgage though, so AAoA is no problem, unless it only considers revolving. The only other closed account was the mortgage, refi last year.

I've heard of the $1 trial but I NEVER remember it, thanks for that, I'll poke him about it this weekend to get some real FICOs and convince him his credit is saveable. I pointed out earlier to him (by grabbing CK myself) that CK scores aren't to be trusted. CK had my TU at 718 (4 new cards last month), whereas my FICO was 742 even after them.

[Anonymous]

Your friend can also get his EX FICO score from discover scorecard for free - no account needed.

[FireMedic1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've gotten into credit deep via this forum... So now I'm helping a buddy who thinks his credit is pretty much permanently crap. He's had a couple debt settlements (auto loan and a credit card). Currently he has only 2 open accounts, a mortgage and an AU on one of my cards (we live together, so he pays bills on my cards after paying me, so I earn that sweet cashback and helps his score).

He grabbed Credit Karma and his ol' fako scores are good on TU, 750. Adding him as an AU leaped him 61 points on TU (mix credit my guess, uti 2%). His EQ... not so much, around 670. Taking a look through, EQ is showing 5 closed accounts, 4 of which are over 10 years old. I'm sure removing these would boost his EQ to match his TU levels.

What would be the best way to go about getting these removed? TU already dropped them, I thought they should auto-drop after 7 or 10 years, but one of them is FIFTEEN years old. I have no idea about EX... Don't have a way to see either fako or FICO for EX for him.

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My first post was due to this line. I saw the 2 paid judgements.  Thought you were wanting to get them all deleted. Yes for the judgements. No for the good accounts is what I meant.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, that's what I figure now. Keep goods, kill derogs, pass out kudos. Not savvy on the whole calling them thing though, that means speaking with someone...

[FireMedic1]

Like the poster said above. Discover Scorecard is free for anyone. Dont have to be a customer. If there past 7 yrs 180days. Dispute them as too old for reporting online. Dont have to call really. Online by disputing online. Dont have to talk to anyone. Good Luck!