Credit Scoring 101 - START HERE!

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have some questions from observing the other threads:

1. Why dont we sign any of the letters?

2. Why dont we put our social security numbers on the letters to identify ourselves?

3. Can any loan be "rehabbed"? Or just student loans?

Thank you!!!!

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Hi, welcome to the forums! I'll take one and two --I think three is going to vary a lot with individual situations.

#1 Don't sign letters to CA's (collection agencies), or anyone that you fear might try to create a fraudulent document. Random fourth-graders now could scan your signature and paste in on to a brand new typed agreement where you promise to do whatever the CA might like you to do, and there's your signature down at the bottom.

Do sign goodwill letters, or other letters where you are making nice with the recipient. Also, don't send GW letters CMRRR (certified mail, return receipt requested.) CMRRR implies that they must do something in a certain time frame, or that you are forcing them to acknowledge something, or other legal maneuvers. Think how you react when you sign for certified mail --you don't want that frightened/ angry/ defensive reaction from someone that you are asking for help.

#2 Don't put your SSN on a letter, because if you supply this to a CA, or someone who sell s info to a CA, you've just made their work much easier, when they try to find something else to hit you with. Even if you're sending this to a "good guy," who knows whether it will be treated with respect for your privacy, or instead will be left lying around for the cleaning crew or co-workers or random passers-by to see?

[Anonymous]

I love Credit Scoring 101, but am still confused.  In September, I attended a workshop at which the staff applied for new credit cards for attendees.  As a result, I got several inquiries and several new cards, which lowered my score significantly.  Now I have a bunch of unused cards, and a few with 0% interest.  I transferred all my debt to those few with the 0% until I'm ready to pay everything off, driving them close to their limits while the others remain unused.  Here are my questions: 

Should I be spreading the debt over all the cards to lower the % on each? 

What will happen if I close some of them?  Bad idea or good?

Do I need to use them all to avoid having them closed by the issuers?

Thanks, Carol.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, I have been reading through these forums for quite some time and I am amazed with the openess of everyones comments. I feel very fortunate to have a collective wealth of knowledge look over this and was hoping to get any insights on my current situation.

To make a long story short, I have managed to bury myself with almost $70,000 in credit card debt. A very unfortunate event occured when I purchased my new home and it has been killing me every since. I did not want to file bankruptcy because I am only 25 and I am planning on getting married within the next few years. I have been able to pay around $1,500 a month towards credit cards consistently which usually cover a little more than the minimum payment. I was doing the math and even with getting interest lower this is going to take me anywhere around 8-10 years to pay this off especially with the planning of a wedding, etc.

So I decided to join a debt settlement program that allows me to pay $1075 a month for 36 months and it will get me out of debt by settlement. I have never been late on anything before but this month I have been advised by the company I decided to work with to stop paying the creditors. Does anyone know if the debt settlement companies send pfd's or are they just trying to settle and get their share? What are somethings that I should expect to happen to my credit in the next 3-5 years? Does anyone have any success stories about settling their debt? I am just trying to sleep good at night knowing that this could work and hopefully make me realize all the "what not to do's" once this is paid in full.

Also, are there any additional steps that I should take in my own hands even if the debt settlement company has negotiated a settlement?

Any help is much appreciated...my first debt settlement payment is going out tomorrow so wish me luck on this next chapter in my life...

[Anonymous]

thanks for the information,  i am desperate to raise my fico score... here is my dilemma  i ordered my scores from all three reporting agencies, through triple credit report.com and then from my fico.com  the scores  from myfico are higher than the ones from the triplecreditreport.com,  why is that and which one will the mortgage lenders use?   they are from the same agencies, different websites, so i am confused.  also , i have medical bills unpaid and reported on my credit reports,  if i pay them off will that raise my score,  i will have to use my down payment money for a house in order to do this. they are several years old, and say they are closed accounts.  will it matter now?

thanks again for your help

mary

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

thanks for the information, i am desperate to raise my fico score... here is my dilemma i ordered my scores from all three reporting agencies, through triple credit report.com and then from my fico.com the scores from myfico are higher than the ones from the triplecreditreport.com, why is that and which one will the mortgage lenders use? they are from the same agencies, different websites, so i am confused.

also , i have medical bills unpaid and reported on my credit reports, if i pay them off will that raise my score, i will have to use my down payment money for a house in order to do this. they are several years old, and say they are closed accounts. will it matter now?

thanks again for your help

mary

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Hi, mary, welcome to the forums! Your triplecreditreport.com scores are FAKO's. Check back on the very first post on this thread by Tuscani on page 1 for the FICO's vs FAKO's explanation. FICO scores have a dorky gold seal on them. No seal = FAKO. Glad to hear that your real scores are higher! (My belief is that the credit monitoring services know that we consumers are aware that we need to know our "scores", so they cobble together some sort of formula to generate a score, which they can then sell. That's why they're cheaper: they're meaningless.)

Are your medical bills in collections, or are they still with the original creditor (physician or hospital)? Generally you can negotiate a PFD (pay for delete) on medicals, where they will withdraw negative reporting to the credit bureaus in exchange for your payment. You want to get this in writing first, though. Check up at the top of this forum in the pinkish area and click on "Frequently Requested Threads." There are several threads there about PFD. Please do a bunch of reading first, as you want to start this out correctly.

If you have any more questions about paying these medical bills, please start a new post on General Credit Issues.

[Anonymous]

your the one I would luv to ask this question:  HOW TO GET A CREDIT SCORE TO GO UP?

Credit Score going down due to credit card payment plan coming to an end and Credit Card Accounts are closed at the end of the payment plan.

My first Credit Card was payed off, and with in a week my FICO is now down 77 points!!!!

I have 3 more cards that are going to be payed of in 3 months time.  I am afraid that each card is going to take a way from my score 77 points each card.

HOW TO GET A CREDIT SCORE TO GO UP?

appy for a new card each time one is payed off, and closed?

desperate for answers

[Anonymous]

Excellent post.Thank You!!!!

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, xava, welcome to the forums! Sorry I missed your post.

Since your credit situation involves coming out from a payment plan, you would do better to start a new thread, probably in General Credit Issues, although maybe in Credit Cards, laying out specifically what you have, what's going to happen when you finish the plan, etc. You can also type debt management plan into the search box here on the forums and see what comes up.

We have several members here who have gone through debt management programs, and they have very detailed info as to what happened with them, and how they dealt with it. Right now, my brain is drawing a complete blank on names, other than marty56, who definitely knows his stuff.

I don't know how these programs work, and I'm afraid that I would give you bad info. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

The scoring algorithm is based on the fundamental theorem of the calculus.  You would

need to hire a mathemetician to develop a simulation to mimick the scoring metric.  Guessing

the derivation and integration in each of the different scoring ingredients would be too time consuming.

[Anonymous]

I consolidated my student loans several years ago but they all appear as separate accounts and bring my credit score down because it looks like I have so many open. Is there a way to correct this? I can't even pay on the individual accounts anymore so I don't know how to make it better.