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Rebuilding

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Rebuilding

I made a lot of dumb mistakes that could have easily been avoided when I was younger and now I am trying to fix them now that I'm almost out of college and my credit is seriously smacking me in the face. From my reading, CreditXpert scores aren't that accurate? I have been paying monthly for www.selectidtheftprotection.com to monitor my scores and activities. If this isn't such a good place, can anyone give me a better www? I like being able to pull my report monthly.

I have three dings left on my report, one that I'm hoping will fall off within the next year (December is the 7 year mark) that is an apartment broken-lease fee. I am not sure if it will fall off, though because on the experian credit report on selectiftheftprotection it says date opened is 06/2011. The other two say date opened 12/2004. The amount is for $7,528 so I'm afraid of contacting them!

The other two are minor but according to the credit score what-if stimulator they will not have any effect on my score if I pay them off? One is for Credit Systems International that says opened 04/2005 for $196. I can PIF. Last one is for EOS CCA (medical) that was opened 02/2006 for $85. Like I said, a lot of dumb mistakes that could have been fixed.

I just opened my first secured credit card with Capital One ($49 deposit and $200 limit) and I disputed one account and closed another a few months ago which raised my original scores of 560, 574, and 589 to 613, 642 and 643. I do know this score isn't accurate because when I got the first three scores I tried for a bank credit card and they told me my middle score was 555. My experian score tracker is 498, although I'm not clear on exactly what this is.

Tips about the remaining 3 debts? Wait for the $7500 one to fall off or try to set up payments? Any other tips regarding which www to sign up for in order to get accurate FICO scores or for raising scores more? My goal's a FICO of 720 or up within a year if possible.
Message 1 of 21
20 REPLIES 20
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

What Steps Do I Take - great for learning the repair process.

and Example letters - PFDs, GWs, DVs, etc.

 

 

CreditXpert scores are accurate for CreditXpert scores. Challenge is that no lenders (that I know of) use them. Lenders predominately use FICO scores. In comparison to a FICO, your CreditXpert FAKO score could easily be higher or lower, even well into the double digits.

 

The services (we call them CMSs for credit monitoring services) you are using isn't that bad. I personally have subscribed to the same service through Wells Fargo, IIRC. However, I ignore the scores. I use the service to monitor my report content instead.

 

Unfortunately, there is no service anywhere that allows you to get all 3 FICO scores together, except from a lender. Experian blocked consumer access to your FICO score a couple of years ago so it is difficult to gain access to that FICO. The only place you can get your other two FICO scores together is myFICO.com.

 

Who is reporting the apartment fee? A CA? If so, ignore the open date. That's the date they took over collection and that date will not re-age the debt to make it report any longer than what it is now. The 7-yr clock starts at the DOFD of the debt. If you get your EQ report from EQ (and a couple of other places), you'll see the DOFD. If you pull your full reports from the CRAs (or from annualcreditreport.com), you will usually see a drop off date.

 

I'd be afraid to mess with a $7k debt too. I'd look up your state's SOL and see if SOL expired.

 

I can't speak for CreditXpert scoring since it is totally different than FICO, but I will also say the same that paying off COs or CAs won't help your FICO. You'd want those items deleted (usually).

 

Send DV letters to Credit Systems and EOS-CCA. If they verify and you agree, then mail PFDs. If they agree in writing to the terms of the PFD, then pay it and they'll delete.

 

 

Message 2 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

Thank you! At least wtih the CreditXpert scores I know approximately what a ballpark number my score is. If it's going up, its going up!

The apartment fee is a CA and the SOL is way over. From the open dates I see, they were opened December 2004 so I'm praying that from December-March sometime it'lll be off. Empasize on the praying1

I mailed PFD letters to Credit Systems and EOS-CCA because I already knew about the debts and know exactly what they're for and the amounts so I skipped the DV. Credit Systems replied back saying somethign along the lines of "This does not solve the issue, please pay via phone, online or mail for the amount, by law we have to inform you that a negative on your report yada yada yada" but the letter said nothing about deleting it? What should I do after this? No reply from EOS-CCA yet, I mailed the PFD letter on August 1st.
Message 3 of 21
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!


@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you! At least wtih the CreditXpert scores I know approximately what a ballpark number my score is. If it's going up, its going up!

The apartment fee is a CA and the SOL is way over. From the open dates I see, they were opened December 2004 so I'm praying that from December-March sometime it'lll be off. Empasize on the praying1

I mailed PFD letters to Credit Systems and EOS-CCA because I already knew about the debts and know exactly what they're for and the amounts so I skipped the DV. Credit Systems replied back saying somethign along the lines of "This does not solve the issue, please pay via phone, online or mail for the amount, by law we have to inform you that a negative on your report yada yada yada" but the letter said nothing about deleting it? What should I do after this? No reply from EOS-CCA yet, I mailed the PFD letter on August 1st.

I have used CreditExpert.com for a long time because it is from EX and they update quickly. However, the score is very misleading. I would agree that IN GENERAL your Plus Score and FICO move in the same direction but I suggest you don't make much more assumption than that. My Plus Score has moved up 73 points while my FICO moved down 7, then up 3. Currently EX Plus 767 with my EQ FICO at 701. The only differences in the info on the two reports is that EX shows 27 accounts vs. EQ 25 accounts with two closed 10 year accounts still hanging on EX.

Message 4 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

ok wow, thats a huge difference! guess its time to pull my FICO scores.
Message 5 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

The scores for both weren't that far off. CreditXpert was TU - 613 and EF - 645. I just ordered FICO scores and TU is 628, EF 631. One's higher, one's lower!

The apartment open date was December 16, 2004.
Message 6 of 21
GregB
Valued Contributor

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

I'm assuming you just pulled both FICO scores from myFICO.

 

The EQ FICO should match exactly what a mortgage app would get you as that version (EQ FICO Beacon 5.0) is ubiquitous in the mortgage industry. You called it EF in your post.

 

The TU FICO will match some mortgage apps. More of them are using a newer version that isn't available anywhere at this point AFAIK. The score you pulled helps, but not as much as if you could get the TU Classic FICO '04 version.

 

What is most important at this point is figuring out if there is any info from one CRA that is wrong and if the three have similar information.

Message 7 of 21
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

I still have a lot to learn! Everything matches up and the three negatives I have were negatives I already knew about and am trying to work on.

My question now is where do I go RE: the response letter about the PTD letter I sent? Their letter did not say they would delete it, it just asked for payment. Should I send another differently worded letter or go ahead and pay it then ask for a GW deletion?
Message 8 of 21
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!


@Anonymous wrote:
I still have a lot to learn! Everything matches up and the three negatives I have were negatives I already knew about and am trying to work on.


Did the TU FICO match?

Message 9 of 21
Booner72
Senior Contributor

Re: 6 months ago 560, now 630 and stuck!

Don't assume your Fako score is a good estimate of anything.  CreditKarma was off by 100 points for my husband, and that was LOWER than his actual scores were.

STARTING: 11/24/10 EQ-584 EXP-648 TU04-595
CLOSED FIRST HOME 8/19/11 EQ-630 EXP-691 TU04-653
CURRENT: EQ-701 EXP-??? TU08-720
Message 10 of 21
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