Hello, I'm just starting out on my road to credit recovery. I didn't have much credit at all in my early 20's, then became an authorized user on some of my husbands credit cards, took out some student loans, and eventually worked my way up to having my name on car loans.
That being said, my credit is not so good. Our 20's were reckless and stupid and we're paying for it now.
Here is where I am now:
FICO (obtained from our credit union) is 634
FICO (obtained from my Barclay account) is 621
Pretty big difference between those two!
I also have Credit Karma, and while I don't take a whole lot of stock in what most refer to as FAKO scores, they show 658 for TransUnion and 668 for Equifax. Both have been steadily rising for the last few months, as I paid off some credit cards with our tax return and a few credit cards increased their limits which brought my overal utilization down. FICO isn't really rising despite the work. Maybe 1 point each month, if that.
One of the biggest things that I am dealing with, and part of why I am posting, is late payments on my credit report. Credit Karma only shows 8-12 (depending on the report) but I pulled a hard copy of my report recently, and tallied up all the lates from the last 7 years and have a whopping 24!!! However, 12 of those are for one Navient (used to be Sallie Mae) account that was divided into 4, and each has 3 late payments. So while I paid my account late three times, it shows as 12. (I'm sure many people on here are familiar with that)
Of my late payments, if we go by the 7 year rule, 7 should be removed in 2016, 10 in 2017, 4 in 2019 and 3 in 2020.
Obviously that's a long time to wait to see an improvement on my score.
I've read a little bit about Goodwill letters, I am not really sure where to start, and I'm not sure if the companies that I am working with would consider it. (Navient/Sallie Mae, Capital One, and Wells Fargo Auto) Has any one had success, or advice?
Another issue is that I have one account in collections (Only showing on one credit report, not all of them) from an ambulance ride back in 2009. It shows that it was last reported May of 2011. I'd like to get it taken care of, but I'm afraid that will reset the clock and have it show up on my credit report for the next 7 years. Is there away to pay it and have it taken off the report?
My next question is about Convergent Outsourcing. They have pulled my credit twice in the last year, but I have never received a letter from them indicating why. They call me constantly but it's a robocaller and it either hangs up or doesn't leave a voicemail, and so far no real humans have tried to contact me. I've heard horror stories about these guys, so I don't necessarily want to call and deal with them. I don't believe it's related to my ambulance bill because that's being handled through Credit Bureau Systems. The only other debt that I think they could be calling about was from when I had my daughter, so I called the hospital directly today and just paid it through them. They said it had been sent to a debt collector but did not indicate which one, but I was still able to pay it through them and they would call the debt back from the debt collector. However, I just have a gut feeling that isn't the case, and something fishy is going on with Convergent. (Edit: I did some digging and one debt was sent to Medicredit, the other to State Credit. Neither of them were through Convergent)
Anyway, I am sure I will have a lot of questions isn the future, and I'm sort of glad to find other people to talk to about credit rehabilitation because I'm pretty sure my friends are tired of hearing about it.
Oh! I am a brand new user and while trying to look at old posts in regards to some of my questions, and I wasn't able to understand most of them do to the high use of abbreviations/acronyms, so you might have to spell it out for me. I am quite certian I will learn all the phrases eventually. Or if there is a cheat sheet, that would be helpful too 
@Anonymous wrote:Hello, I'm just starting out on my road to credit recovery. I didn't have much credit at all in my early 20's, then became an authorized user on some of my husbands credit cards, took out some student loans, and eventually worked my way up to having my name on car loans.
That being said, my credit is not so good. Our 20's were reckless and stupid and we're paying for it now.
Here is where I am now:
FICO (obtained from our credit union) is 634
FICO (obtained from my Barclay account) is 621Pretty big difference between those two!
I also have Credit Karma, and while I don't take a whole lot of stock in what most refer to as FAKO scores, they show 658 for TransUnion and 668 for Equifax. Both have been steadily rising for the last few months, as I paid off some credit cards with our tax return and a few credit cards increased their limits which brought my overal utilization down. FICO isn't really rising despite the work. Maybe 1 point each month, if that.
One of the biggest things that I am dealing with, and part of why I am posting, is late payments on my credit report. Credit Karma only shows 8-12 (depending on the report) but I pulled a hard copy of my report recently, and tallied up all the lates from the last 7 years and have a whopping 24!!! However, 12 of those are for one Navient (used to be Sallie Mae) account that was divided into 4, and each has 3 late payments. So while I paid my account late three times, it shows as 12. (I'm sure many people on here are familiar with that)
Of my late payments, if we go by the 7 year rule, 7 should be removed in 2016, 10 in 2017, 4 in 2019 and 3 in 2020.
Obviously that's a long time to wait to see an improvement on my score.
I've read a little bit about Goodwill letters, I am not really sure where to start, and I'm not sure if the companies that I am working with would consider it. (Navient/Sallie Mae, Capital One, and Wells Fargo Auto) Has any one had success, or advice? Im not up on exactly how student loans work but you could try the GW letter
Another issue is that I have one account in collections (Only showing on one credit report, not all of them) from an ambulance ride back in 2009. It shows that it was last reported May of 2011. I'd like to get it taken care of, but I'm afraid that will reset the clock and have it show up on my credit report for the next 7 years. Is there away to pay it and have it taken off the report? For medical debt, try in the ordered number.
1. Call the OC and ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
2. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
3. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help
My next question is about Convergent Outsourcing. They have pulled my credit twice in the last year, but I have never received a letter from them indicating why. They call me constantly but it's a robocaller and it either hangs up or doesn't leave a voicemail, and so far no real humans have tried to contact me. I've heard horror stories about these guys, so I don't necessarily want to call and deal with them. I don't believe it's related to my ambulance bill because that's being handled through Credit Bureau Systems. The only other debt that I think they could be calling about was from when I had my daughter, so I called the hospital directly today and just paid it through them. They said it had been sent to a debt collector but did not indicate which one, but I was still able to pay it through them and they would call the debt back from the debt collector. However, I just have a gut feeling that isn't the case, and something fishy is going on with Convergent. (Edit: I did some digging and one debt was sent to Medicredit, the other to State Credit. Neither of them were through Convergent) I would fire off a DV to them and try to see what its for, if its for "zombie" debt (ones that cannot be reported on your CR and past states SOL) you can either settle for a low amount less than 20% or send them a C&D. If its a legit debt collectors can attempt to collect forever so it could end up being sold to another JDB. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Debt-Validation/m-p/7133
Anyway, I am sure I will have a lot of questions isn the future, and I'm sort of glad to find other people to talk to about credit rehabilitation because I'm pretty sure my friends are tired of hearing about it.
Oh! I am a brand new user and while trying to look at old posts in regards to some of my questions, and I wasn't able to understand most of them do to the high use of abbreviations/acronyms, so you might have to spell it out for me. I am quite certian I will learn all the phrases eventually. Or if there is a cheat sheet, that would be helpful too
Welcome to the My Fico family
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks for your reply!
I think I may call the hospital tomorrow (It looks like it was the hospital that facilitated the ambulance fee) and see what they say. I would love to see that off my credit, or at least no longer worry about it coming around as zombie debt.
As for Convergent, I'm not even 100% it's me they are looking for. But the fact that they did a pull on my credit on the 5th of February and phone calls started coming from them on the 6th seems pretty telling. I just don't know what they want, I haven't received any letters. Do you think sending them a letter without knowing what they are inquiring about would work? The only other thing I can think of is back in 2003 I was in a car accident with my step mother and was checked out at a local doctors office. It wasn't a large fee, and that doctor has long since left the area, I'm not even sure if he is still practicing anymore. I believe all of my other debts were paid off or not under my name to begin with.
Since they have HP you I would send a letter demanding to know what its about, could even be done with a modified DV
Thanks so much for all of your help
I sort of wish there was a way you could restrict who looks at your credit report. Even if it's a soft pull, I have seen so many inquiries that don't make sense. Capital One pulls my credit every single month, despite the fact that I pay on time. Other banks that I have never heard of are also pulling frequently. I'm guessing these are how the pre-screened offers keep ending up in my mailbox.
I checked my husbands reports, and same as mine, he has Convergent on there several times, although they have never tried calling him, and the last time they checked his credit was over a year ago. There was also an attorney on there from a year ago, but he never received letters or phone calls from that inquiry either.
We financed a vehicle on 2/04/15, and Convergent did a soft pull on 2/05/2015 and it looks like my first phone call from them was 2/06/2015. I can only wonder what they are up to.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for all of your help
I sort of wish there was a way you could restrict who looks at your credit report. Even if it's a soft pull, I have seen so many inquiries that don't make sense. Capital One pulls my credit every single month, despite the fact that I pay on time. Other banks that I have never heard of are also pulling frequently. I'm guessing these are how the pre-screened offers keep ending up in my mailbox. Yup they are looking to possibly make you an offer. Your current creditors will pull on a pretty even schedule at least the big banks will. If you dont want preapp or prescreen offers you can opt out.
I checked my husbands reports, and same as mine, he has Convergent on there several times, although they have never tried calling him, and the last time they checked his credit was over a year ago. There was also an attorney on there from a year ago, but he never received letters or phone calls from that inquiry either.
We financed a vehicle on 2/04/15, and Convergent did a soft pull on 2/05/2015 and it looks like my first phone call from them was 2/06/2015. I can only wonder what they are up to.