After joining this forum in November 2012, I've learned a LOT. I read and read and read about everything I needed to do to improved my husband's and my credit in order to buy our first home. I was discouraged at first because my husband's credit seemed impossible to repair - 19 unpaid collections and 4 unpaid judgments. Mine was only a little better - 12 collections, 1 paid, and 2 unpaid judgments. We both only had a $200 secured CC from Capital One, but that was it. My plan was to apply for a mortgage on my own to buy at least a condo of our own with our 3 kids.
I had an app spree in November also, where I was approved for a Target card $200. Hey, it's a start! Then all the GE cards followed. 10 cards approved in that spree plus I added a secured Visa the month before.
I was hesitant about contacting the CAs at first. Writing PFDs was a little embarrassing for me. I am ashamed of my financial history. But reading about everyone's success and failures made me realize that I'm just like a lot of people here. So I decided to send my first PFD letters in March 2013. I got positive and negative responses from the CAs. But the positives kept me going... to the point where I was having fun sending letters. LOL! I was having more success than I expected, so I started writing PFDs for my husband. And holy cow! It was working! Not all CAs were cooperative, but I got through to a lot of them. That started my addiction to credit repair. 
Fast forward to July 2013... I apped for a mortgage with a lender I had previous contact with. I just wanted to see what else we needed to do to prepare to buy a house early 2014. But I received an email repsonse after 2 days - APPROVED! What?!?!?!
If you're interested, you can read about all the stress I went through trying to close on our house from my previous posts. But part of that stress was paying the rest of the creditors off. So I dug up some money and paid a total of $5000, which covered the rest of the collections and judgments. The ones that were left, I just paid in full (except for Midland). Previously, it was about $12,000 total (if I remember correctly), but it was reduced by the PFD letters.
Today, we own our first home. I was recently approved for Amex and Chase cards (2 each). My husband still can't get approved for them. I haven't tried, but I'm sure he'll be denied due to the judgments. He was approved for Barclay's NFL Ravens Visa $750 - his first major unsecured credit card in 15+YEARS. I checked his TU report today - all 4 judgments are now reporting as paid. His only other derog is his WF auto loan that has 2 30d lates. All CA accounts were deleted. I haven't checked the other 2 CRs, but to go from 19 collections to ZERO in 7 months? AMEN!
I have a lot to thank the members of the forum for. I probably would have waited til everything fell off my reports before even thinking of buying a house, which was my ultimate goal. My credit is not where I want it to be yet, but it's way better than it was before. My Walmart TU score is 705 this month! My first time reaching 700! Well, last week, Amex told me my TU score was 705 also, but I'm still in shock. I'm sure this is my highest one. My DH's Walmart score is around 680. When he was approved for the card in May, his score was 618.
So those of you who feel like giving up or fixing your credit is not worth the time or taking too long, please reconsider. Yes, it does take some effort, but not much. You can use the PFD letter for all CAs, just change the amounts and whatever applies to that particular account. Once you have your template, it's easy. Spend a little money on stamps. I only made 2 or 3 phone calls the whole time, if that many. I hate talking to an actual person about something embarrassing like this. Do the letters. It'll be worth it in the end.
Thank you, MyFico FAMILY!
Hi, everybody. I'm a lurker. First post. 
Ravens, thank you for posting this today. It's funny how the universe puts things in front of our faces in exactly the right times. This is exactly what I needed to see. Right now, today.
I've read of several of your successes, and came close to contacting you a few times in the past few days, because I have just pulled my CR to find two collections-- one of which is from Credit Control Corp, from a closed Cox account. I know you had success with them very quickly, so I wonder if you wouldn't mind PMing me and telling me how you went about approaching them. This is my first attempt at contacting a CA, and I'm feeling kinda overwhelmed by the "what do I do first?" and "what should I say?" stuff. You've inspired me to take action ASAP-- I'm hoping you point me in even the slightest right direction with your experience and success with them.
This board is just about as rich in good information as I've ever seen-- about anything. I am deeply grateful to have found it, so that I can empower myself to "change the things I can."
Thanks, y'all.
Wow how did you get all the CA to delete the trade line after paying them lol that is unheard of. I have one from Portfolio and i've been trying for almos 6 months with no success, I settled with them and they still won't cooperate to delete it.
That's amazing! Congrats! It certainly is inspiring to hear of peoples success stories. I am looking at purchasing a house in spring / summer of next year with my fiance and I've been in the process of getting things cleaned up as well. I do have to be honest and say that I have been dragging my feet with the PFD letters myself. I just had some disputes deleted (from only two of the credit reports) but it's a start. I've had my PFD letters written for weeks but I guess the embarassment of it all has held me back from sending them. But with your story, I think I'll be doing it tomorrow! Again, congrats and keep going!
@tonyjones wrote:Wow how did you get all the CA to delete the trade line after paying them lol that is unheard of. I have one from Portfolio and i've been trying for almos 6 months with no success, I settled with them and they still won't cooperate to delete it.
Not all were successful. I'll admit, a few of those accounts were scheduled to fall off, so I left them alone. And one of them was Portfolio. They're still sending us letters. My DH's TU is the only one that's "clean." The other 2 are still in dispute (updating accounts to "paid."). I'll update when I find out what his EQ and EX look like. I've had some luck where I disputed an account to update to paid, and it was just deleted. LOL!
@NibblesTreats wrote:That's amazing! Congrats! It certainly is inspiring to hear of peoples success stories. I am looking at purchasing a house in spring / summer of next year with my fiance and I've been in the process of getting things cleaned up as well. I do have to be honest and say that I have been dragging my feet with the PFD letters myself. I just had some disputes deleted (from only two of the credit reports) but it's a start. I've had my PFD letters written for weeks but I guess the embarassment of it all has held me back from sending them. But with your story, I think I'll be doing it tomorrow! Again, congrats and keep going!
Been there, done that! I held off for months and looking back, I wish I hadn't. Good luck with the PFDs!