EaglesFan2006 wrote:
Beacon FACTA - EQ - 00632
Fair Isaac - EX - +0590
Empirca - TU- 00601
0038 - Serious Delinquency, and collection filed
018 - frequent delinquency
016 - lack of recent info on revolving credit
020 - recent deragotory collection
What do the differences in scores mean? What can I do to help myself and where do i really stand?
some points...i have no open credit cards, my recent collection is in dispute and should drop off, and my student loans appear as 8 different trade lines...4 show past delinquent accounts and 0 balance, 2 are current and show balance and past delinquency, and 2 show balance and are current with no negative history. All this negative info is over 4 years old. I'm not sure why i have so many different TL's for loans when they are all the same company. I've been working hard to fix this, and this is a little discouraging. Any help is appreciated.
I'm guessing that these are from a mortgage pull, right?
The difference in scores are probably due to two things:
- each CRA commissioned its own FICO score formula, and they weight things differently.
- people often have slightly different info on each report --an account present or missing, different dates, different degrees of lateness, and so forth.
I think that the negative codes are listed in order of descending importance; in other words, the most important listed first, like on the FICO score reports.
Student loans are maddening in that you get a new TL (tradeline) for every semester, or whenever you re-sign papers. Once you consolidate loans, they will appear as one open entry, and the others sometimes keep reporting as closed, and sometimes just plain vanish.
So they have you on frequency and multiple accounts, plus severity, plus recency for the one that you're disputing, plus lack of current revolving credit. Not a whole lot you can do about the lates, other than try goodwilling the lates and see if you can get some off. When your the collection is removed and your scores come up a bit, I would go to a local credit union that offers CC's and see if they will give you a secured card. If they won't, and you have to go to one of the rebuilder CCC's, get one card and stop. You don't want to be stuck with a bunch of obnoxious cards that you feel obliged to keep once your scores start rising.
Is there just the one, recent collection, or is there an older one as well?
Things to keep in mind: sure, GW everything negative on your reports, but what will benefit you is getting off:
- more recent negatives
- all the negatives from one account, so that you have fewer accounts with negatives
- any lates 90 days or greater, or 60 day lates within the last two years. These (along with the collection/s) put you in a serious derogatory score bucket. Not a fun place to be; that's where I am now.
Do look for one revolving account once the collection comes off. I would let it post a $10 balance every other month; otherwise, have it post $0 by paying online before the statement drops. (Be sure to find out if the CCC charges for online payments; some vultures do.
) I would always have in savings the amount of your CL, to make sure that there is no conceivable way that you won't be able to pay your bill. You need to get a string of squeaky-clean revolving history going, which will also boost your scores.I understand that many people hit hard times that make lates inevitable, but you must now commit to doing whatever it takes to never be late again. I'm dragging around a bunch of 30's, a 60, and a 90, and it will be many years before my reports are clean.
Again, all you need for now is one rebuilder. Don't burden yourself with multiple cards from First Premier and their ilk. It will just make you nuts over time. Let the rebuilder card work for you, and with time (6 months - 9 months - 1 year, depending on the recency of the lates), you should be able to move on to better stuff, although not the big boys yet.
See if there is a local CU you can join. Put $500+ ($1000 or more is better) in a savings account and either get a secured card or a "credit rebuilder loan."
If you get the CC, make sure that the CU's policy is that is will unsecure after X number of months.
Since you have no open revolving TL's, opening one should definitely bump your score. Plus, you can start building a relationship with a CU, and when you're ready to buy a car, they'll be more willing to work with you if you have demonstrated a responsible payment history. In short, use the card, and PIF every month.
Starting Score: 540 EQ 517 TU on 11/17/08