Yea! Progress....but some questions

[Anonymous]

Hi All

Quick update but some questions.  Goal is to be able to pre-qual for a mortgage in July

Started actively tracking credit Jan '12 because I wanted to buy a house; but couldn't seem to get out of the mid 500's.  1 step forward..2 steps back it seemed.  While I was actively tracking; I wasn't actively working. Just got really active in Feb '13 and started pursuing remedies on my own (some success; but blind leading blind so also made some mistakes).  Discovered MyFico in March '13 & re-doubled efforts w/some of my new learnings.  Here's where I'm at and where I could use some guidance

Quick score history run down

1/10/13: 569, 569, 555 (Experian, Equifax, Transunion...all FAKO's)...didn't know that at the time

2/25/13: 604. 602, 601 (Lender pull)

4/12/13: 603, 610, 593 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

4/20/13: 648, 638, 602 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

5/10/13: 648, 627, 636 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

Yes! Progress!

Here are my 'baddies' and what I'm working on for each.  Guidance much appreciated if you think I'm off track or should pursue anything else

GM Financial - Charge Off (Date closed Sept '08. Date of last activity Sept '09. Not sure what either means). Balance due $20K.  I sent them a combo PFD and GW letter explaining the circumstances and proposing a settlement w/a removal of the tradeline.  Waiting to hear back. It's been about 2 weeks.  Age is pretty old now; but the balance seems to be the killer

Chase Auto - Charge Off (I think around July '11?).  Balance due $5400.  Again, went with sort of a combo PFD / GW letter.  Offered $2500 to settle the balance in trade for removal of the tradeline.  Still waiting for a response

Paid judgment - This is only showing on my Equifax report.  Transunion removed it in April.  Experian was never reporting it.  Paid Feb 2009.  Equifax updated from paid/satisified to abstract judgment.  No clue what that means.  It's almost 5 years old now and I'm seriously thinking about trying to vacate it; but is it worth the effort?  I couldn't locate the plaintiff attorney name (my state doesn't offer online case search).  Should I dispute the status?  Try to locate the original case docs and pursue a vacate through the court?

Comenity Bank - 1 30 day late (Sept '11).  I must have had a brain freeze...no reason at all to pay late.  I've sent them 2 GW's asking them to remove the late; but haven't heard back yet. 

1 Collection from May '12.  Paid.  EX & EQ showing paid.  TU still showing balance.  I've sent 2 GW's to collection company so far.  Waiting to hear back (General Revenue Corp).  Should I continue to press the GW's?  How about the balance still reporting on TU?  Leave that alone in hopes of good willing or should I address the balance error as well with TU?

Lastly, in my early recovery stages I disputed and had deleted some 30 day lates from old accts and they just removed the tradelines altogether.  That ended up negatively impacting my average acct age which actually hurt me more than helped me.  I've opened 1 secured Visa w/a $1000 limit (opened March '13) and was added last night as an authorized user on a Capital One unsecured card w/a limit of $1800 and $0 balance (acct has been open since 2005).   Neither is reporting yet to any of the CRA's.  If I can't make anymore progress on any of the 'baddies', will these good tradelines (once added) make enough of a difference to push me past a 640 and through a manual underwriting process?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

DaBears & Guiness - am I on track here or do you see any potential errors in approach or 'gotchas'?
Thanks

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All

Quick update but some questions.  Goal is to be able to pre-qual for a mortgage in July

Started actively tracking credit Jan '12 because I wanted to buy a house; but couldn't seem to get out of the mid 500's.  1 step forward..2 steps back it seemed.  While I was actively tracking; I wasn't actively working. Just got really active in Feb '13 and started pursuing remedies on my own (some success; but blind leading blind so also made some mistakes).  Discovered MyFico in March '13 & re-doubled efforts w/some of my new learnings.  Here's where I'm at and where I could use some guidance

Quick score history run down

1/10/13: 569, 569, 555 (Experian, Equifax, Transunion...all FAKO's)...didn't know that at the time

2/25/13: 604. 602, 601 (Lender pull)

4/12/13: 603, 610, 593 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

4/20/13: 648, 638, 602 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

5/10/13: 648, 627, 636 (MyFico for TU & Equ; Experian FAKO)

Yes! Progress!

Here are my 'baddies' and what I'm working on for each.  Guidance much appreciated if you think I'm off track or should pursue anything else

GM Financial - Charge Off (Date closed Sept '08. Date of last activity Sept '09. Not sure what either means). Balance due $20K.  I sent them a combo PFD and GW letter explaining the circumstances and proposing a settlement w/a removal of the tradeline.  Waiting to hear back. It's been about 2 weeks.  Age is pretty old now; but the balance seems to be the killer  Date closed is the date the creditor closed your account.  When they CO'd the account it was closed.  Date of last activity could mean anything and really has no relevance to anything unless it was a payment.  That could restart your state SOL.  What type of account is this and do you know the DoFD?

Chase Auto - Charge Off (I think around July '11?).  Balance due $5400.  Again, went with sort of a combo PFD / GW letter.  Offered $2500 to settle the balance in trade for removal of the tradeline.  Still waiting for a response  Good, just wait to hear from them.

Paid judgment - This is only showing on my Equifax report.  Transunion removed it in April.  Experian was never reporting it.  Paid Feb 2009.  Equifax updated from paid/satisified to abstract judgment.  No clue what that means.  It's almost 5 years old now and I'm seriously thinking about trying to vacate it; but is it worth the effort?  I couldn't locate the plaintiff attorney name (my state doesn't offer online case search).  Should I dispute the status?  Try to locate the original case docs and pursue a vacate through the court?  Paid is better than unpaid but no PR is definitely better.  Whether it makes a difference in your score or not it would be much better to not be there.  I would see if your state allows to vacate for satisfaction.

Comenity Bank - 1 30 day late (Sept '11).  I must have had a brain freeze...no reason at all to pay late.  I've sent them 2 GW's asking them to remove the late; but haven't heard back yet. 

1 Collection from May '12.  Paid.  EX & EQ showing paid.  TU still showing balance.  I've sent 2 GW's to collection company so far.  Waiting to hear back (General Revenue Corp).  Should I continue to press the GW's?  How about the balance still reporting on TU?  Leave that alone in hopes of good willing or should I address the balance error as well with TU?  I would send the CA a GW letter and see if that gets you anywhere first.  Then if it doesn't you'll have to dispute as paid.

Lastly, in my early recovery stages I disputed and had deleted some 30 day lates from old accts and they just removed the tradelines altogether.  That ended up negatively impacting my average acct age which actually hurt me more than helped me.  I've opened 1 secured Visa w/a $1000 limit (opened March '13) and was added last night as an authorized user on a Capital One unsecured card w/a limit of $1800 and $0 balance (acct has been open since 2005).   Neither is reporting yet to any of the CRA's.  If I can't make anymore progress on any of the 'baddies', will these good tradelines (once added) make enough of a difference to push me past a 640 and through a manual underwriting process?  You may or may not see a bump in score when the TL are added.  Over a 6 month to year on time payments your score will go up.

Thanks

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[Anonymous]

Thanks Guiness.  Not sure what the DoFD is for GM; but i'm guessing Sept '07.  This was for a car loan that I voluntarily turned back in.  The activity in '09 couldn't have been a payment.  I never made any additional payments after turning the car in.

[Anonymous]

Got a call from GM today.  As a reminder, I have a defaulted car loan from 2008 that's been CO'd w/a remaining past due balance of $20.1K still reporting.  They've agreed to settle for $10K and will update my CR as paid in full.  They didn't agree to remove the tradeline; but baby steps with the agreement to at least note it as paid in full.  Even though this acct is nearing 5 years old, I know I'm going to need to take care of it to get a mortgage this year.  It'll take a knot from the house down payment I've saved; but I think it's a good deal, right?  Hopefully the $0 balance will provide some positive traction in my score; but either way it'll be nice to have settled up with them.  We'll see.  I'm going to send them their money next week.  Still no response from Chase though...I'm off to send more letters their way...

[Anonymous]

Just in case anyone's following along on my journey, thought I'd provide an update

Starting scores in March = 603 / 610 / 593

Scores today = 648 / 651 / 636

• GM Financial CO for $20K.  Still reporting both a balance & past due balance of $20K.  After sending what had to be 20 letters to them, they agreed to settle for $10K and mark as paid in full.  Sent them their check last night. 

• Chase Auto Loan CO still reporting balance & past due balance of $5500.  No response to letters.  Emailed new CEO Friday night.  Got a call this morning.  They have accepted my settlement of $2500; but will only mark as settled for less.  They will report the balance due as $0

• 1 paid collection.  No response to any of my GW letters; but I'm going to keep inundating their exec's.  Sending 2 letters a week

• Added as an authorized user on a capital 1 card...statement cuts today so I'm hoping this reports within a week

• Have a secured Visa from my bank that's stil not reporting after 4 months - still trying to figure out the problem here

Will let everyone know what kind of score impact each of these has as they play out over the next few weeks.  Thanks

[Anonymous]

GM Financial showed me MUCH love!  Pulled TU through Walmart & myFICO.  Scores for TU now at 666 / 657 respectively.  That's up +39 / +21 points from 30 days ago.  Only change was to my GM Auto Loan TL.  Now noted as Paid after charge off, paid / paying as agreed.  $0 balance.  Experian & Equifax haven't updated yet.  2 credit cards are still driving me crazy though.  Neither is reporting yet - no clue what's going on there & not getting many answers.  We'll see what happens once those report & my Chase Auto settlement posts an update.  More to come....