Credit Inquiries

I was reading all of your info about how I can raise my score up.... I had only 2 major credit cards so I applied for 3 cards on the same day...I as turned down for 2 of the cards but was approved for a Master card...I have been watching my credit score, the next day my credit scored dropped from a 585 to a 572 just like that... I understand its because of all of the inquires with in a period of time.... How long will it take for the inquires not take effect on my credit score????
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12 months will jump your score 50 -80 points with the new good credit not maxed out

how do you force them to honor the 7 year removal

What I am curious about is how do you force them to honor the 7 years. There is 6 things on my credit that are over 8 years old-actually 12 years. 2 things that are from 1970-which can not possibly be mine since I was only 14-but can not get them to remove them. They just ignore my letters-the 3 credit bureaus.
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file a complaint with your state attorney general

Want to puchase a home will pay for credit repair

The information on your website is very helpful, but I have to admit it is also a little overwhelming. All the information is great. My wife and I want to purchase a home, but my credit score is being reported at about 550 and we are having difficulty getting a loan. I wish I could raise this soon. Do you offer any paid services to assist me in raising my credit score rather quickly? If so, I’d be interested in doing whatever it takes to make the most positive difference in the quickest time possible.
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i do not offer any paid service
all of my tips are free on on my site
in a nutshell pay off debts, after validation and negotiations for removal of late payements
have good reported, to a major bureau, credit that is at least 12 months old and, less than 80 some say 50 percent owed against your limit

Debt coming back up after 7 years by a collection company

I had a debt sold to a collection agency and put on my credit report, it was removed after the 7 years, now that I am trying to reestablish credit, the collections agency wrote me a letter demanding the money or they would report to the credit bureau again, can they do this again?
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validate that debt legallydemand accountability with chian of ownership aqnd your signaturecontact state attorney general if they fail to validate properly

how does this affect a credit score vs Settled In full for less than the amount owed

Bo, how does this affect a credit score vs Settled In full for less than the amount owed.
My wife's score is a 778,and we are short selling our home. We are closing with only one late payment on her credit.
What do you think????
Have you ever heard of a bank taking this off after the fact for a little extra money????
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maybe
IF
you have never had a late payment and they reach a settlement then there may be NO after effect but, i am not sue and cannot advise 778 is for all practical matters a perfect credit score if you were never late and get a settlement i would think you could go no lower than 680 which is still a good score but one can never tell for sure as scoring algorithms changes all the time

need advice on charge offs

Thanks very much for your blog. I learned a lot from it. However, I have a uniquesituation where I can proceed in 3 ways....
I have 6 credit card charge offs that have occured in the past 2 years. I also havea citibank credit card just about to go that route too. The total I owe on the 7cards is about $120k (I am guessing of this amount, at least $40k-$50k is from thoseexcessive 25%- 30% interest rates which put me into this quandry). I get 20-30calls a day from collection agencies which I never pick up.
I definitely do not have the money to pay them all off and have resigned to thepoint of not really needing the good credit rating anymore (my assets are in mywife's name). However, just to consider the situation more, I can go through theseroutes:
1) Settle with the credit card for 30 to 50 cents on the dollar (borrowing fromparents) and save probably $70,000. Can I increase my credit rating this way? CanI get the Charge off designations off of my report sometime?
2) Arrange to pay close to 100% of the debt (also borrowing from parents) - willthat get my credit rating up significantly (I'm guessing it to be around 450 orless). Will the charge-off designations disappear?
3) Leave the debt alone. This is my current course - though I don't know for howlong. I am self employed and not worried about garnishments, own my house (in atrust). So even with judgments, they won't really affect me because I have no realassets (at least in my name).
Of course I would like to clean this up - but if it is not favorable to me in someway, I would just leave them as be. If I proceed through 1 or 2, would thecharge-off's disappear somehow?
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i would gofor number one if i couldthat way you would be done and your accounts will show zero balances.
number two you might be able to negotiate all the lates removed if you reopen and reafirm each accounts but it is the most to pay. number three you might end up with collections and possibly litigation number has the possibility to help your scoe the mostand number come in close secondnumber 3 leaves you open to all the world of collections and possible trouble later

filed chapter 7, removing lates

My attorney advised me to stop paying all debt since I was declaring Chapter 7 so I did. The lates are still reflecting on my credit which really doesn't allow it to go higher. One of the credit agencies told me that the others should not be reporting the lates, It should only state included in bankruptcy O balance. Is this correct?
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i think it should state included in banktruptcy
not sure about the zero balance thing
i guess it should show that
or charged off in bk for X dollars zero balance
for sure the past bad credit entries will not come off your report totally

I have two erroneous addresses on my credit report.

Two addresses are showing on my credit reports that don't belong there. How do I get these removed? 4444 Lamp Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 809164610 --- I've never lived at this address 4444 N. Powerbuilt Blvd, PMB 137, Colorado Springs, CO 833333 was a UPS box I used for a Business Account; not personal.
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the first one i guess you dispute say never been there
the second i would ask if you ever used it when you applied for credit, rent, checking accounts
someone might have been trying to get credit in your name or maybe a creditor typed in the wrong social, when someone else tried to get credit
i assume their is nothing else crazy on that
you should see some crazy inquires you never tried also if these addresses are less than 3 years old

lien notice. what do i do

I sent out validation letters. One company just sent me a copy of the lien notice from the orignal towing company. That doesn't constitute validation right? I never heard back from any of the others. I also sent out the letters on the bureau level too. Many were deleted from my credit reports. Some were not nor validated. What do I do about the one that sent me the original information? Do I negotiate with the towing company and tell them that the collection company failed to properly validate the debt?
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i would call the towing company if i was able to or thought i might pay and see what happens
yes.

Get a mortgage with bad credit

I need help. I am having to relocate due to a new job and a divorce. After two divorces, my credit score is low…. About 522 or so. I have several credit cards that have been closed and are maxed out with untimely payments. I also have 2 car loans and a credit card with good payment history. The credit card is about 6 to 7 months old and is used for business so it may be maxed out for 30 days and then paid down to zero – about to pay it off again to zero. One car loan I have had since September of 2007 and it has always been paid on time. The other car loan I have had since 2004 and also has all on time payments with only about $4,000 left of a $26,000 loan. All of the other credit cards will be paid off in full over the next 7 days. I have now seen where I should negotiate to have these removed from my credit – what exactly do I need to do in order to accomplish this? How much can I expect my credit score to raise? I make a little over $100,000 a year. I have opted to NOT payoff the car loan that has $4,000 remaining but instead to continue making the remaining monthly payments. After next week, the two car loans are the only debts that I will have. I will also have approximately $15,000 to put down on a home and another $5,000 in the bank. I have found a house that I want and it is going to cost me approximately $145,000 (not including the $15,000 down payment). Got to love Midwest housing prices! Is this achievable and how much would you expect to see my credit score raise and in what time frame? Any suggestions appreciated as I am up against the wire in a town with no rental options…
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many mortgage lenders will insist the old outstanding debts be paid in full befor they can finance youi would ask if you can pay them offhow much they areand how old is the date of last activity you might consider a higher interest rate loan to start with for people with bad credit, but a god job and low debt to income ratio.I want to say it was a baqllon type loan where all i paid was inerest and is easier to quailify forand after6 mos, a year, 2 year try to roll it back into a conventional mortgageusually a local banker will work with local people who have god jobs to get them started I did this with traders national bank in tullahoma tni cannot remember what my score was but not good enough to go straight to conventional mortgageafter only 6 months i was rolled into another conventional loan and i did have to jump through as many hoops as I had been approved and paying on the house for 6 months. the only problem here is most cannot report your payment activity to a major bureau and thus your score is not helped in the least. go talk to a local banker recommended by some home builders.they know how to get people financed and where to go.

715 FICO score, how can i raise my credit report score

I have pretty good credit (715 middle FICO score) but I have a lot of debt. I mean like $100,000 in credit card debt. I know, I know, what was I thinking. It's a combinations of stupidity and despiration. I was young and stupid and put college on credit cards and then later a divorce and just life in general got me here. Having said that, I have never made a late payment on anything no matter how many jobs I had to have to do it. I just seem to hang on with God's help. I have a question for you that I don't think I have ever seen addressed anywhere. I wondered if you had run across anything that might help me. I have a lot of old accounts that are in good standing. I'm wondering if I should ask the credit agencies to take them off my report. I'm not sure if they hurt me because they are just hanging out there as potential credit that I could tap into one day. I haven't in the past 7 years, but they are still there and available to me and I'm wondering if that factors into my score. Is there such a thing as too much available good credit?
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680 FICO score is average
you are above average and should be happy with a 715

if you want neon super credit person, you might get it down to one credit card and one home loan.
plus your home loan should be less than 80% owed
and your card should be less than 50 % owed against high credit limit
so you can have a low balance debt to high credit ratio

but i doubt it hurts your score much to have very old credit you might possibly use one day

i have seen very few 800's
most haveonly about 3 lines of credit with almost nothing owed on them

715 is a great score and i like the flexibility of having open credit myself

Car dealer shotgunned my credit and inquiries are getting me turned down.

I bought two cars, about two months apart. I realized this would be a temporary negative mark on our credit, but never expected what I am now seeing...
This dealership sent our credit out to eight different companies for the first car, and then NINE different companies for the second car purchase. At the second car purchase, I had actually specifically requested that they work with one lender in particular (our credit union) and they said they would contact them first. Now, seeing my inquiries, it appears this is the only lender that they DIDN'T contact.
A few months later, we applied for a small credit card to use as a bill-payer, to keep increasing our credit. The CSR denied our application, and was very sweet about it. He said, the ONLY thing that was keeping us from being approved was this massive amount of inquiries for the autos. (verbatim)
Now, as I read, the credit scoring system is supposed to take into account these multiple inquiries and group them together when made in a 14-day period. However, this apparently isn't happening on our report, or the other credit card rep's system would not have automatically denied us.
I have read that this "shotgunning" approach is illegal, but I've also read that it's just an icky policy. Which is the truth? And, how do we go about either removing this mass of inquiries, or consolidating them via correct coding or whatever so they won't all count as individual inquiries?
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shotgunning is not illegal
you should hae trid to set up finance before you went to the dealership
your credit must be bad OR there would have been no reason to shotgun your application
you must not have a copy of your credit report or know your credit score
almost NEVER is one truned down over inquiries
My bet is your credit is bad AND has many inquiries.

check your credit and get back to me
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My credit card went to collections and now two entries are on my report

i have a credit card on my credit report, but they sold my debt to a collection agency. i called the agency and have made arrangements to pay off this debt. my problem is i have two enteries on my credit reporting the same debt, that of the original credit card and that of the collection agency. what can i do to get one of these removed?
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you should validate the debt then
negotiate before you pay
then pay even if they will not negotiate
i would try to re open the credit card and, go for good credit with themNext: dispute one account then, the other and hope one falls off, and if it does not, call and try to get a signed letter with company letterhead that says you paid as agreed and were never late. most of the time, this part does not work on the original creditor, but can work many times with the collections company
get and keep good rated credit at least 12 months, that reports to a major credit bureau.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy still showing on my report after 7 years

Wow, thanks for your response, but just to clarify, you see that this (BK) was discharged on my Experian report in 1999? Yes, the 1st BK was 7 years according to old CO law, and effective 10/2005 it is now 10 years. So it sounds like the BK from 1999 should have fallen off last year. I need to have this removed (fall off).

Also, can you tell me if items that were included in the BK in 2005 should still be showing, and reporting that I paid them late, it seems that other debts,
simply do not report or show on the credit report due to the BK. HSBC and I think Premier Bank or Bank one are still showing up as negative/late pay items.
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if you filed chapter 7 then all of your past bad credit should be falling off right now
dispute anything and everything that is over 7 years old on your report.
say reported incorrectly, out of date, statute of limitations has run out

went to Verizon when our Cingular contract was up

In December of 2007 our 2 year contract ran out with Cingular. We decided to go to Verizon and called Cingular to make sure our contract was up, etc.

We switched to Verizon on 12/23 - our contract was up with Cingular on 12/17. We had opted out of monthly paper bills and always received notification our Cingular bill via email and would then log in to pay it. To make a long story very short - we were not able to log on to pay the bill since we no longer had cingular service. We called customer service and they told us that our bill was $260. Our bill should have been only a 1/2 month bill - possibly about $150. They refused to send us detail of our bill - and yes I do mean refused. Finally after fighting for a 1/2 hour they send they would send up something in the mail for $5. In 2 weeks we received a one page statement of the amount we owed with no detail.

There is no way we owe that much for a 1/2 of month of service. Even if we did I would have no problem paying it if they could just show us what the charges were for.

It has now been turned over to collections
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Go to the local Cingular office and negotiate a plan to pay and get the collection removed completely, signed, on company letterhead and, pay them. Ask for credit help.
If Cingular will not do this after talking with a manager and some effort then, pay them anyway and be done. For some reason you saw fit to argue a half months service and let the bill get that far.
Utilities have been the most troublesome type of bad credit, "I have found" to get any help on. In the end the collection was not worth the half months service right or wrong and is not hurting your credit report score.

I need a credit score of 680+ to keep my investment job

My credit score according to American Cred Co (mortgage credit check) is 680 EXF, 610 TU and 610 EXP.

However when I checked each bureau individually my credit score was over 700 with each one.

Without a 680 score across the board it is making my investment career impossible.
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you have no data for me to analyze mark
drop balance ratios to less than 80% 10% if you want to be super credit man
if you have tons of credit lines
consolidate them down to as few as possible

i assume you have no late payments

Car repo on my credit report. How can a fix my credit report

I have a repo on my credit report. I tried really hard to keep my car. I fell behind due to my mothers death and leaving my job to care for her. I got a job offered to pay them the $ I owed now that I was settled I was really not that behind just couldnt get caught up. They refused my offer and sold my car and sent me a check for the difference. I sent them a letter as you stated in your web site. They told me there was nothing they could do "it is a repo and we cant make it go away it really happened". Is there anything else I can do? How bad is this on my credit report? I would really appreciate your help in this matter at your convience.
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hes right, there is nothing to be done now
it over and done with
they have no financial motives now that the matter is over

car loans usually don't help with credit anyway
so forget it and go on
get new good credit

remember that once the repo becomes 24 months old and you have new good credit it will not hurt your credit report score as much as the new good credit will help your score.
some lenders, cars, homes, will not accept applications that show a repo so you may have to pay a little more interest if you choose to get a new car or home withing the next 7 years but for the most part good new credit will over come this mishap

I'm implementing all of your suggested methods to improve my credit

I'm implementing all of your suggested methods to improve my credit. (I was recently turned down for a car loan.) My biggest problem is that my credit is young, so that can only be fixed with time. However I did have one question. How does a deferred student loan affect my credit? It appears as pays as agreed on my report, however it also appears in the debt to available credit ratio. Any idea?
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i dont know what your score is now at all three bureaus
or what else is one your report.

but i would guess 10-40 points maybe
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well my credit's in the crap hole to be honest. It's only 10 months old, each one of my cards has a late mark on it (60 days or less, nothing more). I have paid off and cancelled one card that was paid as agreed. I currently have three, $500 limit cards, and after seeing your site I will not be charging them over $400. All three report to my credit report. I have one student loan that is marked as paid as agreed.

Also there was one collections placed on my account, but it was paid, and I'm trying to get it removed. It was a medical bill, that was covered by my health insurance ($56) that I never knew about, so it went to collections. I paid it before I saw your site, so I'm trying to have it removed since it wasn't really my responsibility.

Thanks for all the help. Sadly, my credit score is barely 500.
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the insurance company should be on the hook for that
and the hospital should show, SOME help with a "this not my fault" transgression
i would open the bad closed credit card back up with the same account number
10 months of credit on a credit report does not a credit report make
12 months is rated credit so expect your score to go up if you pay these current accounts on time
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reassesed a debt that is over 7 years old

A company on my credit report reassesed a debt that is over 7 years old. Im trying to fix it but they say its mine... I have disputed the bureas and heres the thing - Its been 30 days and it still shows on my credit reports that the items are still under dispute? What can I do ?
Should I write to the bureaus and tell them to remove the items disputed because its been longer than 30 days???
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you should get a written response from the bureaus
wait for 35 days
after that
\ DO IT AGAIN
certified delivery mail

Credit fraud Experian: can't get no answer from a human

A year ago I tried to get my free annual credit report from all three bureaus. Experian was the only one who would not give it to me. I recently graduated with an Engineering degree and started looking for a house. A mortgage company I was trying to get a good faith estimate from called me asking me about a house I was buying and the car I was paying on. My car is payed off and I have never bought a house. They said after further investigation that there was another social security number and name on my Experian report. For six months after that I tried to get a credit report from Experian, however, the information I gave them would decline me. Finally, a few months ago they gave it to me, but all it has on it is the last three addresses I gave them during my failed attempts to view my credit report and my birth year was wrong. I disputed my birth year, but nothing has changed with my report. I even verified with the two banks that I have student loans with that they indeed report to Experian. I have 30 years of credit, and I still have an old Experian report from three years ago that reflects this fact. However, I have been unable to rectify anything with Experian. I feel like someone stole my identity, but nothing on Equifax or Transunion proves it. All I know is that, for some reason, Experian has lost my credit history and nobody I call or email has been able to help me fix it. All I want to do is buy my first house. Please help me! What do I need to do?
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calling those folks is pointless in most cases

but try this way

Experian F 800-493-1058 Say "yes"; enter report #; enter social security #; say "yes"; say "agent" then "yes" to confirm at prompts thereafter.

call your state attorney general or file a complaint online

one of these will work

Chapter 13 shows account over 60 days late after bankruptcy

We filed a chapter 13 (it was completed and discharged in Jan. 2007) We pulled a credit report on ourselves and relized that during the full length of our chapter 13 BOK reported our payments as 120-180 days delinquent. According to my bk attorney that is not leagal and they have to report payments as made post petition. Can you help me find the law that requires this? BOK say it is their policy to report it that way because we were "contracturally" late due to the BK. I want to dispute it but I want to be able to quote the law that they are violating
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go to yahoo groups
credit repair

there are a bunch of lawyers that trawl that group
one might have a law they can recite

I do not know law

i do know that is not right and probably illegal
they should say included in bk and no further credit activity

or call your state attorney general and / or file a compliant with your state attorney general online
that should nip it
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Have not received my credit report in 90 days

Hello, I have not received my credit report and it has been almost 3 months
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send this free credit report without a credit card letter
wait 35 day
no more

free report with credit report score from all 3 three bureaus.
cancel in less than 7 days

$88.00 car insurance bill went to collections. I want to negotiate to have it removed

I have an $88.00 car insurance bill that has been passed on to a collections agency. I contacted the agency and tried to negotiate a full payment for the removal of all bad marks on my credit report involving this debt. They told me that they can not do this without the approval of the insurance company. I then contacted the insurance company and they said that they can not remove any past marks on my credit report unless an error was made. They said that the Federal Government prohibits this. I have done some research online, including your site, that tells me that this is in fact possible, so I am not sure what to do now. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
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you bump into this all the time
mostly with utilties

everything they said is true. By law they would be calling themselves liars if they said you were late once then came back later and said, "ooooops he was never late".

some creditors will work with you, some will not. 80.00. I would think thye just don't care enough about your 80.00 so they just wack you with and don't care if you pay. It's on your report.

My suggestion is to pay the collection and try to make sure the collection does not go on your credit report and make sue they 80.00 shows paid on the original account. If not this could last forever and 80.00 aint no money to mess up your credit over and over. pay and be done

defaulted on 9 student loans and am now in garnishment

I have a question. In the past I was very careless with my credit and now am reaping the "rewards". How do I fix these problems. My score is 613 and shows I have 18 negatives on my acct. I had defaulted on 9 student loans and am now in garnishment. The loans have been sent to Texas Guareented and I am in the process of rehabing my credit. Each loan shows up as well as the previous creditor that originally owned them as "paid collections" or "transfered to another lender". I also have charge offs from credit cards. And I have 1 collection agency on my report. I do have an instalment that is up to date as well as two credit cards that are perfect. Should I negotiate with the two credit card co. to pay and remove the item and what about the original student loan creditors. Any help will be appreciated.
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i would first try to get lucky and dispute some of he old student loans and, hope maybe a few fall off.

I would validate the collection with debt validation and they do not comply call the state attorney general
see what i did with my charged off BP oil on my credit card
- Show quoted text -
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appreciate your help. I am disputing some of the closed accts. due to length of time (over 8 years) and are validating 3 others due to I don't know who they are. I hope it all works and thankyou again for taking the time to return my letter.
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What score do I need to get a 7% on my car loan

I am in the market for new transportation and I have recently had my credit repaired.
When I started on the Credit Repair Program my score was around the 590 mark and this was around March 2007.
In June 2007 I paid off 4 of my creditors, and I have been on time with the few I still have.
Since completing the program with this company which I was impressed with the job they did.
My wife and I are both on a few accounts together which are in good standing and I am told that has and is helped me also.
My question is I have not pulled my credit since March 2007 and I am wondering what my current score is and what is a good score to be at to get a car loan in the 6-7% range or whatever the going rate is today.
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I cannot estimate what your score might be
You need to get a free credit report now and cancel in less than 30 days and find out yourself.
CARS......AHHHHHH........did that for 12 years. Many credit unions will approve 7% range around a 640-650
the upper tier is 720-740 plus
car finance rate sheet
it on my FICO beacon score page
Here is a car loan rate sheet at a major bank and the acceptable credit scores.
775+ Preferred
25-774 Platinum
724-700 Gold 680-699 Standard
640-679 Standard 2
639-620 Standard 3
Don't submit any deals with beacon credit report fico scores lower than 620

Here is a car loan rate sheet from a major name 2nd tier credit bankCredit scores700+ Super Preferred rates in the
7's 660+ Preferred rates in the 8"s
659-620 Standard rates in the 11's
619-580 Special rates in the 13's
579-560 Regular rates in the 17's
Don't submit any deals with a score lower than 560
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thank you

now if one is not a member of a credit union can one still go to a good credit union and apply for a loan for a car if their score is in the low to mid 600's


1. If I go to free credit report.com and request a copy of my credit report I can cancel in less than 30 days? why would one do that?

2. If I know I am not going to make a move to buy until late summer, maybe even late this year, when would be a good time to go to free credit.com to request a copy of my report?
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our credit union "Accend" in tullahoma tn, will let any one in, that is a senoir citizen. So sign up your granma for 5 bucks, then you sign up then you are in.
go here to get your free credit report and cancel in less than 7 days. If I am not mistaken you get all three bureau scores.
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ok thanks for your help now being that I am in the state of Texas would that prevent me from joining being I am so far away

also if I know I am not going to make a move to buy until late summer, maybe even late this year, when would be a good time to go to free credit.com to request a copy of my report?
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there is a credit union near you
find one
find out how to get in
get in

or take your best shot with a local car dealer
i would recomend having your financing ready before you walk in and ask them if they can beat the rate.
they would have to pull our credit themselves first
then another with whatever bank they send it to.
ask them not to shotgun the deal. They can send it to 2 banks max. that would be 3 inquiries

go to autotrader or cars.com and they have financing
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thanks and I had already planned on joining a credit union and I will look into it for sure

funny you mention cars.com, I have found a couple on those sites I like but I did not think of going through them for financing

and I said a car but it really a truck I am looking to buy between now and the end of this year

thanks again for your help and professionalism and have a good day

Medical collections, paid off, duplicate accounts, 7 years old, refi my home

I went to the bank 2 weeks ago to refinance my home and add a couple of bedrooms to my home... I was told that I need to get my credit score up to 600 to get the loan... I have disputed a lot that is on my account.. I had 2 account that have been paid off 3 years ago, they are showing up as 5 separate accounts with same banks in 5 different city's... I had 2 medicinal bills I paid off 2 weeks ago how longs will it take for them to come off of my credit report??? They emailed the reporting agencies after I paid them... I received a phone call about 15 min's ago, it was from a collection agencies that they had a old bill, wonted to know if I wonted to work some type of Payment options out so it will not go on my credit record... I asked the girl what was the date of the bill... It was to a local hospital dated December 6, 1999.. Can they still report this to the credit bureau???? thanks for the info

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last question
if the bill was sold for pennies on the dollar to the collection's, they can collect, but not put it on your report or threat to sue.
second question
those should take no longer than 30 days.
some of those duplicate accounts might come off. I would call the original creditor and talk to them about this action. three states, or cities, or accounts or whatever and find out if you can get some of that merged (deleted). Thell them you will which of the duplicates you will dispute so thye don;t have to do any work juts dont respond.
pay down any balances that might be more than 80% or your high credit limit

need to get my credit score up to 600 to refinance my home

I went to the bank 2 weeks ago to refinance my home and add a couple of bedrooms to my home... I was told that I need to get my credit score up to 600 to get the loan... I have disputed a lot that is on my account.. I had 2 account that have been paid off 3 years ago, they are showing up as 5 separate accounts with same banks in 5 different city's... I had 2 medicinal bills I paid off 2 weeks ago how longs will it take for them to come off of my credit report??? They emailed the reporting agencies after I paid them... I received a phone call about 15 min's ago, it was from a collection agencies that they had a old bill, wonted to know if I wonted to work some type of Payment options out so it will not go on my credit record... I asked the girl what was the date of the bill... It was to a local hospital dated December 6, 1999.. Can they still report this to the credit bureau???? thanks for the info
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last question
if the bill was sold for pennies on the dollar to the collections they can collect but not put it on your report or threat to sue.
second question
those should take no longer than 30 days.
some of those duplicate accounts might come off. I would call the original creditor and talk to them about this action. three states or cities or account or whatever and find out if you can get some of that changed. Thell them you will which of the duplicates you will dispute so thye don;t have to do any work juts dont respond.
pay down any balances that might be more than 80% or your high credit limit

Raise my credit score fast and free

Thank you for having such an informative credit help site!
To let you know a little about me,
I HAD a 612 credit score in September 2006, since then my score to 637 points.
I’m new to the credit card game. I just established my first credit card about 2 years ago. I did very well with it and was able to open 3 more. I fell into a financial situation and used them OVER their limit, and now my credit score has been affected. I’m I the process of getting the limits down to 50%. The second thing that made the score drop was a JUDGMENT that has just been satisfied as of 2 Friday’s ago. In the interim 30 parking Tickets showed up on my report…talk about detrimental!
I wrote the Mayor in my city to let him know that totally ruined my CREDIT! What should I do? Should I apply for another credit card to transfer the balances of the three? None of of my credit card limits are over $300 (thank goodness)!
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got to pay it all off
thats all i know to say
only 300 per credit line?
pay them off.
get and keep 3 12 months plus lines reported to bureaus credit

how long it will take them to be removed from my credit

I love your site! In 1 month my lowest score has come up from 455 to 508 (which is still bad but better). Anyhow, I sent some letters to get items removed if I paid them off etc. I got them back signed and so i am going to pay them off but I am wondering how long it will take them to be removed from my credit report? I need to get to 560 in in the next month or so...I opened a credit card but it is not yet reported on my credit either. Is there any way to push this through....the payments...and removal from my report? Thanks!
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takes 30 days from recipt #10 on 12 steps to credit help
no matter the answer, you can dispute them if you have the signed letters and a copy of your bank statment showing the check was cashed. You would just dispute the acount first with no documents and prompt the bureau to call thise creditors. They should all say it was a mistake or just not respond within 30 days and the accounts should come right off your credit report and raise your credit score. If any of these are less than 24 months old, your score could jump WHOPPER. If at first you don"t succeed use the documents you have and get it all removed.
So
i am saying 33 days max. 10 if your lucky or someone is efficient.65 days if stuff happens
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Oh cool....its everything from under 2 years RPTD that is on my report! I cant wait!
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then you should get a big fico jumper

Do they have 30 days to respond or remove clean delete the bad credit

Bo after the company receives your letter they have 30 days from the date of receiving the letter to validate. If they do not what should I do next.
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what company
what letter

if you dispute with a major credit reporting bureau the bureau sends the dispute to the account holder who then has 30 days to respond.

if you are using debt validation you send the letter to the account holder and they have 30 days
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If it an account validate to collections company. If they do not respond in 30 days what is the next step?
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send the debt follow up letter
make sure you send the letters certified delivery

if they do not respond, then use the dispute form

if nothing seems to work call your state attorney general or file an online compliant about illegal use of your credit report.

Credit Card is lowering our limit raising interest rates for being close to our limit

My husband and I have a unique situation regarding a single credit report error that wasn't, to the best of my reading, addressed on your website. Although we have a high amount of debt ($90K), we have an excellent credit score (800+) due to many years of diligent, timely payments.

However, in 2002, we learned of a bad mark on our report (which we feel was in error), and we wrote the attached letter to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (which explains all the details). My husband swears that this had been taken care of in 2002, but we just received a letter from two credit card companies that due to having approached/reached our credit limit, along with a report recently viewed on our credit report, they are lowering our limit and raising our interest rates.

We just purchased another copy of our credit report and were astonished to see this mark still on our report. We cannot locate any other documentation other than the attached letter, and the company through whom we made the purchase (and who made the billing error) is no longer in business.

The details surrounding our circumstance are fully explained in the letter (the only change is that our personal info has been blocked out).
Since our case is beyond validation and negotiation (and the debt was paid eight years ago), is there any course of action we can now take to remove this mark from our report and convince these two credit-card companies (to whom we've been loyal customers for many years) that the mark was an error and to lower our interest rates?
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you dispute it with the dispute form

if your score is 800 who cares?
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I see your point (in fact, that's what we thought), but I guess two of our credit card companies seem to care about that negative report. They just decreased our limit and raised our APR by 7% - based on 2 things: the fact that we reached our limit, and this negative mark they saw on our credit report.

How can a dispute for a negative report 7-years old be judged in our favor when the reporting company has been out of business for 6 years? And if we send this dispute form to the bureaus, how can we expect different results than the first time we disputed it?
---------------------
Also, hubby corrected me on our score - we're at 714 (last night, he told me 800).

Anyway, interested in your thoughts on trying to dispute our situation.
----------------------
Credit card company rules, always state, they can raise your rate for going over the limit or being one day late on any payment. AND THEY ALWAYS DO. i know I've done it over and over.
They also state they can raise your rate for any darn reason they can conjure. If you read the print.

about the old stuff.
that doesn't make sense over here.
Dispute form the items is all i know.
if your score is 800 it means NOTHING.
714 is 6 less then Perfect, Can't get any better, top tier, best credit you can get practically.
so

Did you not see on the msn page just a few days ago that BOA was now raising rates for no reason at all right now.
Did you know Delaware is credit card, title loan, pawn shop, friendly. Like Nevada lets you strip and gamble

Student loan listed 4 times on my credit report

would like some information on student loans. I only pay 1 monthly payment but it is listed under 4 different loans, how do I get that to come off or just show as 1?
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most student loans are renewed time and time again
these renewals stay on your report in most cases for 7 years
if it is the same account number, same rptd date, same date of last activity DOL
THEN
this would be something you would dispute as same account or a duplicate account.
you can always dispute stuff on your credit report that you don't think is right. just don't EXPECT and positive outcome. You might get lucky though.
These accounts should show 0 zero account balance if they were renewed. So if they do not show zero balance, they would be considered in error and should be disputed as such by certified delivery mail.

Am I beyond the statue of limitations on a credit card?

I was just wondering how do I figure out if I am beyond the statue of limitations on a credit card? Or if credit cards even apply? On my credit report it states that my credit card became 30 days overdue in April/2004, meaning the last payment that I sent in was March of 2004. Is it safe to assume the statue of limitations has exceeded?
--------------------
no
not sure if statute of limitations is the right term but 7 years is the magic credit goes away number.
7 years from date of last activity. DLA DOLA
so that would put you at April 2011
Watch out for collections on unpaid credit cards, if the card was not paid in full.
2004 does put you 2 years past today which means the lates have relatively little weight on your credit score. Make sure you have good open and rated credit now with no lates the last 24 months.
-------------------
Thanks. The card is already in collections and they are threatening to sue. It is the only thing on my credit report so I will call and see if I can get a settlement for less than what they say I owe.

Also, I read on your website that I should ask for it to be deleted from my report after I pay it, is that correct?
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you always should ask, but not expect, to get something removed if you pay in full, unless, it is a second party or duplicate account on your credit report.

Collections? are collection threatening suit or whats going on here.
If the original credit card, charged you off, then sold this account, for pennies on the dollar a collections company should not even be able to put the collection on your credit report or threaten to sue.

the original credit card can sue and report bad.

this is why the debt validation form is so needed. Make sure any second party collection has legal cause and documentation for suit.
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I received a letter from Gordon & Wong Law Group PC stating that there is a pending legal action in Superior Court and I have 30 days to respond. On my credit report it says that the account was sold to another lender.

Should I send in the debt validation form?
----------------------
you need to talk to a lawyer.
but yes you need to know what they know if you can

Experian verified my debts and my score is low 800's

Let me thank you for helping me to raise my scores to the low 800s on two of the 3 reports.As you would expect, Experian had come back and said all the debts were verified. This was about 8 months ago and we all know you can't dispute a second time online. My question, what would you recommend I do? Do you have a second dispute letter? I'm afraid there just going to say it's already been verified. (All the old debt has been paid in full.)
-------------------------
your 800 for goodness sakes
forget about it
a 720 is platinum what do you want?

Sent letter one month ago asking to remove mistake. What do I do?

I sent to a creditor that was paid as a agreement asking them to remove this from my credit report. It has been over a month and I have not heard back from them. What is my next step.I also sent a letter to a company I owe money to to settle in full it also has been well over a month I have heard nothing. What is my next step.
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hopefully you sent it certified delivery so you can prove they got the letters
the next obvious thing to do would be CALL THEM and ask.
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certified return receipt I have the returned receipt. What do I tell them on the phone?
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what the hey
fix it

Relative opened a credit card without my knowledge, it messed up my credit

A relative of mine opened an account without my knowledge and it messed up my credit and also a mortgage loan with late payments was my them also. How do I get the credit bureau to take this off my report.
----------------------------
a relative?
a husband or sibling is about all that get away with this stuff
ask for your signature. ask the creditor. threaten to put in a complaint to your state attorney general

and how you could get a mortgage without your knowledge just doesnt sound right.
i need more information.
but the same would go for the mortgage.

on the surface this sounds fishy
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The mortgage is in my name but they live there and were suppose to pay the payments but due to illness have not been able to pay it on time a few times. The credit card account was under my name and social #. I just need to up my credit rating as my husband passed away and I need to move but my loan rate is 619 or so. I don't want to prosecute .I just want some way to get my credit repaired.
------------------------
under your name how
on the credit card first
the home loan second

did you sign for either
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I did not sign for the credit card and by the time I found out it had a high balance in it. Yes the loan is in my name but they make the payments and live there. It has been late a few times but is currently paid up and will stay that way. The credit card debt I am paying but I just want that to be on my credit report that I am not responsible
--------------------------
I will have to say
even prosecution will not repair your credit in most cases. But if you plan to get monies back off a credit card deal, one always has to file a police report and go to court. period

as far as the house goes. if you let someone move into a home in your name with your loan on it expecting them to pay it and they did not then you are screwed. There is no law or inference that says just because you were not living somewhere that you had a loan that you are not responsible for the loan. You should have kept up with the payments yourself and made them if they were going to be late, and kicked theyre butts out if they didnt pay. doesnt matter if they were sick or even if they died. all that matters is if you made payments on time
-----------------------------
on the credit card, if you file a police report and go back on the card and whoever signed your name.
then
you can get that one off your credit in most cases. it will take work

on the house
if
you can catch these up and get the late payments behind more than 24 months behind you, then your score will go up.
i would suggest you selling the house NOW and eliminate further possible complications and, ensure you can get the late payments behind you.
-----------------------------------
softer landing help your credit score information.
plus
you need 3 open good lines of reported credit that is at least 12 months old. I do not think this is your problem but thought I would mention it to make sure.
plus
you need to make sure all of your reported credit shows less than 80 balance owed to high credit limit.
----------------------------

i know the prosectution sounds harsh. But what is worse, you taking the fall for someoneleses misdeeds or them.

another thing
if you are wishing to move or buy another house. Your debt to income ratio has to be less than 45% so you almost have to sell that other house in many cases unless your income is super duper
-----------------------------
I hope I am not being charged for these e-mails. The house payment has only been behind 2 times out of a 5 year period. It has been paid on time for the last 15 months. If I could get a document signed that I was not aware of the credit card fraud ( which by the easy I have on my credit report) do you think that will work.
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i dont charge anyone for anything ever

well you are about 9 months from the house payment not hurting your score with good reported credit the last 24 months. 15 months is behind you on your house now and that counts as one good line of credit. So your score will jump 20 or 30 points in 9 months more than likely. The only bad thing about a house loan or car loan is the late payments will show on your report until the day you pay it off in full and 7 years after that. it doesnt hurt you on your score if the lates are old. BUT they will show as one time in the life of the loan you were late. thats really sucks. It happend to me on a toyota car loan. Thats why I say sell the da.. house or refi the thing or something to stop this from happening

the only way to get the credit card off your report or the lates on the credit card off your report is to
and i have tried things of this sort myself plenty before
you have to show the error was on the creditors side. PERIOD.
You can do that if you can show or prove you did not sign nor ever meant to sign and they took an illegal signature for a relative? I feel sorry for the relative but more for you. If this relative means that much to you then just take the heat. but you cannot have it both ways i am afraid.
------------------
the best thing for now
get your balances on all your open accounts to less tha 80 percent 50 if you are great
if you have a few of these, then your score will go up right now. promise

disputed some collections, asked asked Discover if they would re-open my charge off

My average score is 627, my highest is 650 with Equifax. I have a few things in the works right now and I was wondering if you could tell me maybe how much my credit score will jump if these things get through. My girlfriend and I are thinking of buying a house. Her credit is 800+ but I make more money. Do you think we'll have trouble?1. I have disputed some collections on my report and sent letters to the bureaus. I have not heard anything back yet. It's only been a few days though. Most of them are paid (there's like 4 total) and I know they probably won't come off. 2. I have sent a letter to Citibank (student loans) to ask they remove late payments as I have paid on time for the last 24 months. The late payments were from 2005 - I have turned around and paid over the maximum every month for 24 months. 3. I had/have a charge-off with discover. I called and asked if they would either re-open my account if I sent them money, or remove the item from my report if I paid. They said all they could do was report "paid in full / settled" on my report. I said that was fine. I finished paying that off yesterday. They have sent a letter to the CRAs to update the status. How much can I expect my score to jump? Only #3 is the "for sure" thing, the others might not happen.
----------------------
you could go up to 700+

if
nothing shows negative for the past 24 months with citi bank
and
you have 3 lines of new good credit paid down to less than 80% balance owed to high credit limit.

Injured while active duty AF 1977, placed of TDRL, medical collection judgment

I was injured while serving active duty in the AF in 1977. I was placed on TDRL (Temporary Disability Retirement List) and sent home to work a regular job and receive a 50% comp, while still a member of the USAF. In 1980 they medically retired me. The Veterans Admin, then picked me up. I had worked close to 75 jobs between 1980 and 2003. I had been fired from every one of them due to my memory problems and double vision (up close) caused by being hit by a fire truck while taking Air Force documents to the city's courthouse from my base. I was in a coma for several months and the hospital for nearly a year.

My credit was excellent until I lost my last job in late 2003. In January of 2004 the VA re evaluated me and concluded that my disability had gotten a lot worse, and raised my percentage to 100%. The only income I have is my disability monthly checks. All 3 of my past due bills were taken out while still working and receiving 50% comp. I now have 2 judgements against me and another one I expect to be filed anytime. I can not work, and my disability will never get better. I am "totally and permanent disabled". The judge that handled my judgements told me that I have a case for a "total and permanent disability discharge", but nothing could be done because no action has been taken to garnish my wages or any other action.

I talked to the local Bar Association yesterday and they told me that these debts are "non collectable secured debts". Since I started receiving my 100% compensation my credit has been excellent. It is just the 3 debts that I acquired before my total disability. Is there any way to get these debts removed? My credit scores are 587, 588, and 446. I also can't understand how 2 can be where they are and the other one so low. Any advice for me? I would appreciate any guidance. The bar association also told me that they could never touch my disability income. But if I would like to buy a small house someday, I want to have decent credit. Thank You

------------------------

all i know is dispute, validate and negotiate the debts and hope
you also have to keep 3 rated lines of 12 months good credit
all that disablitiy stuff is not really credit. I can't help much there.

placed on TDRL (Temporary Disability Retirement List. Collections

I was injured while serving active duty in the AF in 1977. I was placed on TDRL (Temporary Disability Retirement List) and sent home to work a regular job and receive a 50% comp, while still a member of the USAF. In 1980 they medically retired me. The Veterans Admin, then picked me up. I had worked close to 75 jobs between 1980 and 2003. I had been fired from every one of them due to my memory problems and double vision (up close) caused by being hit by a fire truck while taking Air Force documents to the city's courthouse from my base. I was in a coma for several months and the hospital for nearly a year.
My credit was excellent until I lost my last job in late 2003. In January of 2004 the VA re evaluated me and concluded that my disability had gotten a lot worse, and raised my percentage to 100%. The only income I have is my disability monthly checks. All 3 of my past due bills were taken out while still working and receiving 50% comp. I now have 2 judgements against me and another one I expect to be filed anytime. I can not work, and my disability will never get better. I am "totally and permanent disabled". The judge that handled my judgements told me that I have a case for a "total and permanent disability discharge", but nothing could be done because no action has been taken to garnish my wages or any other action.
I talked to the local Bar Association yesterday and they told me that these debts are "non collectable secured debts". Since I started receiving my 100% compensation my credit has been excellent. It is just the 3 debts that I acquired before my total disability. Is there any way to get these debts removed? My credit scores are 587, 588, and 446. I also can't understand how 2 can be where they are and the other one so low. Any advice for me? I would appreciate any guidance. The bar association also told me that they could never touch my disability income. But if I would like to buy a small house someday, I want to have decent credit. Thank You
------------------------
all i know is dispute, validate and negotiate the debts and hope
you also have to keep 3 rated lines of 12 months good credit
all that disablitiy stuff is not really credit. I can't help much there.

wanting to clean up my credit in order to purchase a house

I am wanting to clean up my credit in order to purchase a house. I especially don't want to have to pay a high interest rate. I have several delinquent credit cards on my record but it's all over 2 years. I have plans to pay all bad dept off in another year. But I read from your web site after 2 years even if the dept is paid, it wouldn't raise the fico score very much. In spite of the bad credit reported, I do have 2 current credit accounts that are excellent which are on my recent file.

My question is ... would I do better by leaving the 2 year old bad dept unpaid? I'm afraid if I paid the bad dept off, it wouldn't reflect on my credit report as paid. I don't trust any collection agency's promises unless it's in writing. And I have had collection agencies refuse to put any negotiation in writing. At least, I was smart enough not to take their word at face value. I didn't pay the agency.

Also, can I dispute the amount I am being charged to only the credit bureaus and bypass the collection agency all together? There are stock piles of late fees and late charges that I feel I shouldn't have to pay. For example: In reality, I may owe only $600.00 but after the late charges from the creditor and fees from the collection agency, my dept increases to $1000.00. Is this even legal?
-------------------------------
the original creditor is the only place to negotiate
collectors cannot sue or threat to sue
and they can not put sold collections on your report in MOST cases

valdiate these debts
and call file with your state attorney general is they do not compy which they can't
most collections were sold for pennies on the dollar to help the first creditor.
it is illegal for them to threat to sue and to put it on your credit report
--------------------------
Will 2 year old bad dept affect your fico score, especially when you have good credit that's been paid on time and has existed over two years?
-----------------------
i dont know
what is your credit report fico score at all three bureaus?
what does it need to be?
many times a home or car loan will require one to have all past due outstanding debts paid in full.

Once settle and pay a collection they will not delete from credit report

I am in the process of paying off old debt that is showing on my credit report. Here's my question, I have 2 debts from NCO-Medclr. One for $539 and another for $314. I have spoken with a representative for agreement on settlement of this debt. First off, they stated that they will not send an agreement letter stating what amount we have agreed upon. Secondly, I asked them once this debt is paid in full (which I was willing to do over the phone) will they then delete this information from my credit report. They stated they cannot "delete" the information but mark it as "paid off". Is this true?
---------------------
they do not have to remove bad credit from your credit report just because you pay them. it was still a bad credit issue at one time.
they can remove items and do remove items many time if you do pay in full. Not sa settlement for less. in full with fees. much stonger postion for credit help.

one way or the other I adivise everyone to try to pay off stuff no matter what.
the least they could do is not give a more recent date of last activity if you pay them off.

recieved letter from collector, they will not respond being frivalous

Thank You for the advice about the dispute letter. I have just recieved a letter from a collector that has told me they are not going to respond to my request because I am being frivalous. Now, should I send my debt validation letters to the credit bureaus in this case or send the validation follow up letter? Thank you.
-----------------------
ok
dsiputes go to bureaus, who then send them to creditors. bureaus usually respond with a "frivilous", not creditors.
debt validation lettters go to collectors or collections and most collections are not legal. These collections are sold for pennies on the dollar in many cases and provide a very high rate of return if the collector can actually collect. Collection agancy's can try to collect BUT, you cannot be sued or threatened of a possible suit and the collection cannot be placed on your credit report, if, the item has already been put on your report by the original creditor.

so send the debt validation letters to the collections

Bad or No credit credit cards help my FICO credit score

Get a new credit card, keep the credit card open for at least 12 months and your credit report FICO score will jump 10 to 50 points.
I had a BP oil gas credit card charged off for 350 dollars in 1992. I paid the charge off in full after calling and talking to a manager and explained I wanted to re open the same account and be a good credit citizen. Once I paid the charge off I called the same manager up again and said I would send them 300 dollars to re open the credit card. I wrote a check, mailed it to BP Oil and waited till it cleared my bank account to call the manager again. They said a BP Oil credit card under the same account was on the way.
I charged my gas each month and sent in an extra 20 or 30 dollars each months for 12 consecutive months.
I then called a BP oil manager and and asked if they woul report only the past 24 months of my revovling credit on this account and they did.
My FICO jumped 100 points in 12 months.