Hi Everyone! New here, and have been browsing the forums and bookmarking a ridiculous amount of awesome information. Still trying to put it all together and make sense of it, but I guess that's why I'm here!
I've decided that 2011 is going to be MY YEAR (dangit!) and I will have improved credit within 6 months, and even better credit by next Christmas.
That being said, I have NO CLUE where to start, but would like to begin my preparation(s).
Anyone in the mood for a little hand-holding? I feel like I don't have a brain cell left thinking about all of this 
I am one of those that screwed up my credit when I was younger (only 23 now) and got involved with some people that gave me crappy advice. Currently, my scores are somewhere in the low 500's... of course, this is from freecreditreport.com, and from reading here those are FAKO scores. Boo. So I think my first step would be to pull my REAL reports and have current, correct info? I always believed that if I paid my debts, my score would go up... silly me for thinking it would be so easy! 
I'll try my best to keep this organized:
1) I have many medical bills on there for stupid small amounts. How do I go about handling these? I can easily pay them off, but then how do I get them removed? I read all of this PFD, GW, HIPAA, etc... I don't understand when you decide to send which one? What if I've already paid a couple... any hope for those being removed?
2) Some collection accounts are "charge-offs" ... can I pay these and get them removed? Also, some of them say "closed" even though there is still a balance owed?
3) Old accounts such as Verizon/Cox/Banks... do they work with PFDs/GWs?
4) I'm currently a student and took out a loan so I can go full time and stay home w/ my daughter. Will these loans show on my credit when I start paying them down? Will these make a difference, as long as they're paid on time?
5) If I'm offered a settlement, do I take it, or is it better to pay in full? How do you handle these? Do I not pay anything until I have something in writing that the debt will be removed?
6) I had a repo 2 1/2 years ago (stupid stupid stupid) ... and have a notice from Honda/Collections that I owe 5000 something. However, I also received a letter that there was some settlement and they sent me 1500?! Does this mean I don't owe the 5000?? Even if I do, they offered to settle on 3000 something. Can I get a repo removed?! ... Ok, just looked at my credit report I pulled from October, and the repo isn't on there?! Am I looking at the wrong thing?!
7) Do I tackle the old ones or new ones first?
8) What's this SOL and why does it matter so much? (I'm in CA)
9) Here's the toughie: My ex wrecked my car in May (Happy Mother's Day to me!), and it was beyond repair. I called the finance company and was told I needed to pay the past due balance, and they would take care of it. Ok, no problem... paid it, and then received a letter 3 days later saying that I had to pay another 1000 bucks within 2 weeks or else they were going to auction it off and consider it a repo. (wtf!) So after much arguing, I gave up and requested that they send me all the statements and how much is left on the car (before auction). They refused. They refused to give me a receipt for my p/d payment as well (that was cash... I went in person). So I refused to pay them any more money. Also, on one of my credit reports it shows that the car went from 10.5K to 11.5K within the first month I had it, then it started coming down from that number (what is this all about?!??). When I asked they said it was "late fees"... BS... 1K in late fees within a month? Anyways, they still won't give me any info on the car, auction, insurance, nada... What am I supposed to do? Last time I checked, this wasn't on my credit as a repo (yet). I'm sure there's something I'm missing but this is all I can think of for the moment.
10) There are a few positives on my credit... like a car that was paid and never late on payments back in 2005 or so, and some furniture I financed that is paid and closed. I think the car the oldest thing on my credit history, and it's decent. Then things went downhill from there lol.
11) How can you tell if something was a "hard pull" or "soft pull" inquiry? Are companies allowed to pull your credit report multiple times after you have an account with them? Should I be concerned with this?
That's all for now... Thanks in advance for your help
J
Hi and welcome to the forum.
@thejessulator wrote:Hi Everyone! New here, and have been browsing the forums and bookmarking a ridiculous amount of awesome information. Still trying to put it all together and make sense of it, but I guess that's why I'm here! Why most of us have come here at one time.
I've decided that 2011 is going to be MY YEAR (dangit!) and I will have improved credit within 6 months, and even better credit by next Christmas.
That being said, I have NO CLUE where to start, but would like to begin my preparation(s).
Anyone in the mood for a little hand-holding? I feel like I don't have a brain cell left thinking about all of this
I am one of those that screwed up my credit when I was younger (only 23 now) and got involved with some people that gave me crappy advice. Currently, my scores are somewhere in the low 500's... of course, this is from freecreditreport.com, and from reading here those are FAKO scores. Boo. So I think my first step would be to pull my REAL reports and have current, correct info? I always believed that if I paid my debts, my score would go up... silly me for thinking it would be so easy!
I'll try my best to keep this organized: Yes obtaining your FICO scores from MYFICO or EQ, or TU (transunioncs.com) and also your free annualcreditreport (no score needed as it isn't a FICO score will help in your progress.
1) I have many medical bills on there for stupid small amounts. How do I go about handling these? I can easily pay them off, but then how do I get them removed? I read all of this PFD, GW, HIPAA, etc... I don't understand when you decide to send which one? What if I've already paid a couple... any hope for those being removed? The ones that are paid you can send GW's to, and or follow HIPAA process. The ones that aren't paid you can make an attempt to PFD.
2) Some collection accounts are "charge-offs" ... can I pay these and get them removed? Also, some of them say "closed" even though there is still a balance owed? Paying off the charge-off will not delete them. You can make an attempt to PFD. If the OC is reporting and the CA reporting you need to know who owns the debt.
3) Old accounts such as Verizon/Cox/Banks... do they work with PFDs/GWs? Yes
4) I'm currently a student and took out a loan so I can go full time and stay home w/ my daughter. Will these loans show on my credit when I start paying them down? Will these make a difference, as long as they're paid on time? They usually show even while deferred.
5) If I'm offered a settlement, do I take it, or is it better to pay in full? How do you handle these? Do I not pay anything until I have something in writing that the debt will be removed? It is usually best to have it in writing that they will remove their reporting for payment, but some creditors/lenders are honest with their word. Paying in full or settling depends on different factors. If settled you want the wording to be correct as to where the debt is considered settled and paid in full.
6) I had a repo 2 1/2 years ago (stupid stupid stupid) ... and have a notice from Honda/Collections that I owe 5000 something. However, I also received a letter that there was some settlement and they sent me 1500?! Does this mean I don't owe the 5000?? Even if I do, they offered to settle on 3000 something. Can I get a repo removed?! ... Ok, just looked at my credit report I pulled from October, and the repo isn't on there?! Am I looking at the wrong thing?! It could have been removed from your CR, but if the debt is still owed do not be surprised if it comes back on at a later time.
7) Do I tackle the old ones or new ones first? The newer the negative item the more it impacts your FICO scores.
8) What's this SOL and why does it matter so much? (I'm in CA) SOL is the Statute of Limitations, it matters because if the SOL has not expired the creditor/lender can sue you at any time.
9) Here's the toughie: My ex wrecked my car in May (Happy Mother's Day to me!), and it was beyond repair. I called the finance company and was told I needed to pay the past due balance, and they would take care of it. Ok, no problem... paid it, and then received a letter 3 days later saying that I had to pay another 1000 bucks within 2 weeks or else they were going to auction it off and consider it a repo. (wtf!) So after much arguing, I gave up and requested that they send me all the statements and how much is left on the car (before auction). They refused. They refused to give me a receipt for my p/d payment as well (that was cash... I went in person). So I refused to pay them any more money. Also, on one of my credit reports it shows that the car went from 10.5K to 11.5K within the first month I had it, then it started coming down from that number (what is this all about?!??). When I asked they said it was "late fees"... BS... 1K in late fees within a month? Anyways, they still won't give me any info on the car, auction, insurance, nada... What am I supposed to do? Last time I checked, this wasn't on my credit as a repo (yet). I'm sure there's something I'm missing but this is all I can think of for the moment. With-out a receipt not sure what you can do. The fee's may be for more then just 1 month since the payments have been several months late to begin with.
10) There are a few positives on my credit... like a car that was paid and never late on payments back in 2005 or so, and some furniture I financed that is paid and closed. I think the car the oldest thing on my credit history, and it's decent. Then things went downhill from there lol. The negatives from past balances such as late payments will slowly have less of an impact and eventually fall off on their own. You can also attempt to GW those creditor/lenders.
11) How can you tell if something was a "hard pull" or "soft pull" inquiry? Are companies allowed to pull your credit report multiple times after you have an account with them? Should I be concerned with this? When you pull a CR from annualcreditreport.com or direct from each CRA they give you a list of the hard INQ and only INQ's that you can see which are the soft INQ's.
That's all for now... Thanks in advance for your help
J
Patience, persistence, and a little hard work and you will be right on track to improving your credit profile. I am sure others will chime in at some point and offer some great advice.
