Home of my dreams and I have a 540 score. Get Financed

I found the home of my dreams,,,, I have a good stable job, but my credit score is 540. The few lenders and brokers I have contacted, treat me like I have a disease because I don’t have a 800 credit score! I don’t believe that every person with a home has perfect credit ( give me a break! ) There has got to be someone out there who can help me (either up my score, or work with me with the score I have). I am willing to work on my credit score for a few months (I really want to move by Feb-March 2009)….
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Do you know everything that is on your credit report and why your score is a 540.
The good accounts
The bad accounts
Everything 540 is below a 640 is below a 740.
homes lenders do not need an 800 scorebut they do need something stable to hang on to. Someone is going to ask your potential lender why did you lend this person money. First you must also realize that going to regular banks that regualry lend regualr people money is not where you should go.
You are irregular.
Then lets talk about the home of you dreams.
Is it affordable for you.
Do you have a 20 percent downpayent.
Have you been on your current well paying job for more than 5 years.
Have you lived in your curent area for more than five years
Have you lived at your current address for more than 2 years.
Have you considered paying too much interest to buy the home of your dreams
Like going to wells fargo for a large interest loan....... well lets start here
what is on your report
bad good ugly

Should I pay American Express or the collection CA

My charged-off account is with American Express; I owe $1,074 and can pay it in full. I have received letters from a CA willing to settle for $700. My Credit report lists only Amex. I was planning to reopen the account to replace the bad credit by paying in full. Would it report the same if I just settle with the CA for $700 and find an alternative source of credit (like Old Orchard). I spoke with Amex and inquired about any good will policy that could be implemented with payment in full – they referred me to their credit department (which I haven’t contacted yet). Since this will fall off in 2009, I want to avoid any re-dating by Amex, but I would also like to take care of my obligations.
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It would be better to do business with amex
they will blackball you forever if you do not pay them no matter what your report says
and
you can get new good credit with them.
bypass the ca, but ask amex about the ca and if you pay will the ca go away
get something in writing, on business letter head before you pay
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Credit for you. Student loans 120 days late and credit cards not reported to Experian

Hey there, just happened to stumble upon your website and read your story. I am in a similar situation now (at least I did not think i was) but let me tell you a brief synopsis about myself:
- Credit for 11+ years- Married- Have not been late on any payments for several years- Some inaccuracies on Experian report I need to square up- $0 credit card debt balances all have been paid in full and still open (4 total)
Here's my problem....
1.) I have been great at paying on time for year, but around 5-6 years ago I had student loans that I was not even aware of which went into default 120+ past days due several times. Since then I have never missed a payment. They are government lenders for Student Loans and wondering if it's possible to negotiate with them at this point because I keep paying and the balance goes nowhere!
2.) I have 2 joint Credit Card accounts with my wife in both of our names and both are missing from my report, including a huge mortgage we paid off since we sold our property last month. I couldn't believe it wasn't on the report.
I have to say when I opened up my score from Experian at 606 I was shocked. We make good money, never miss any payments for the last several years now but feel like I have been ripped off and now can't even think about applying for a mortgage at this point unless I get the score back up and feel totally helpless.
Any help or insight would be tremendous ~
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i would ask the student loan folks about the one time forgiveness plan they have on loans

you may not qualify and it you may not be able to change your past lates
but I do know they have a forgiveness program. I am not sure about details at all
just call them and ask them

your credit cards and mortgage may have been reported to the other two bureaus or just one of the other two bureaus
or none may have been reported at all
always get your report from all three bureaus

who was your mortgage with
who were your cards with. what bank AND were they a visa, master card, or american express? here again.
i would call the banks and ask if they reported
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Thank you for the reply. I will call the school loan folks and see if I can help myself first. Is it possible to settle for less with same lender and not have that show up on your report as being "settled or less"?
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not really
if you settle for less, why would someone say you paid in fullunless, they are desperate for your money and, you are a good negotiator
i would not plan on that happening.
it is good to get, the date of last activity and zero balance marked in stone though.
after 2 yrs, the settled for less becomes meaningless if you have good current rated credit and, the account shows zero balance
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I have 4 Bad charges on my credit report. Most are from a divorce.

I have read several of your blogs and very pleased with all the information I have gotten.
But I am still uncertain and unclear on how to manage my credit from the start.
I have 4 Bad charges on my credit report. Most are from a divorce and are still coming after me. I am however going to pay them in full but would like to consult with you and see if I am doing this correctly.
One is from a collection agency that has nothing else on my report from them. I am ready to send a validation letter to them is this the first correct step. This one is old since about 2003.
And do I send validation letters before I negotiate with the companies to pay them have them removed from my account?
I will be paying them all in full but I am trying to make sure I am taking the right steps to help myself out.
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yes you are right on target
i guess i should say
you might dispute them with bureaus first for the fun of itthe validate and make them provide you personal info. do not prived it for them.state name and account number maybethen negotiate to have the account removed if you pay in fullthey can do it but may not

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.

Where can I get help with my bad credit report 477

Is there some where I can go to get someone to help me with my credit report?
My credit score is 477 and I am trying to get a loan to repair my home. I thought the house would stand for its self but no one will even talk to me. Is there someone that will loan me money on the house with my credit
I was hoping that with the loan I could pay off my bad credit. I work really hard and have been at my job for almost 12 years and make good money. In the past I got in over my head and let something go unpaid, but I am where I can work on paying them off. I have already paid one off but how do I get it off my credit reoprt?
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477 is about as bad as it can be
you must have nothing open that you have paid on time
usually about a 620 is as low as they go for home loans
i would say you are 1 year away from having better credit
you could start here
pay money down to get someone to open a card or two
one year later you will have your job, a house with equity
and
some good credit
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What do you mean pay money down? On what?
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money down to open a new credit card
a 477 will not get new credit in most if not all cases
so money down should help

Utitlities nd bills not reported unless unpaid. collections

On your website you stated that non lines of credit such as insurance and phone bill collection accounts show as a negative only. How do they differ from a revolving account collection or installment account collection? Do they all have the same effect on your score or since credit wasn't extended it's not as bad on your score as a revolving or installment collection account? Also I heard that it doesn't matter the amount of the collection $10 or $10,000 it still has the same impact but relating to your debt to income ratio the amount would certainly matter right?
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revolvong credit is usually reported to at least one bureau every month positive or negative.

phone, electric, insurance, hospital bills, water are utilities and utilities are not lines of credit so they only show up on your report if you don't pay and let the account go past 90 days with and outstanding balance. then the utility will show up as a collection or and uncollectable bill.

any type of collection ,means an account has gone past 90 days late and affects your score negatively.

the last statement is true because a 10,000 collection would reflect you have a 10,000 payment due for that month.

sometimes hospital bills are looked at more leniatly than other collection because they can be accidental debts or mistakes with insurance and many times can be settled for less.

a utility is something that was charged out and used by the consumer who did not pay and shold have.

Ex husband has old bad credit and i co signed. 7

I pulled my credit report and there is stuff on there that was closed for at lest 12 years. the mortgage that I had with my ex-husband is on there from 1997. the house hasn't been mine for the last 12 years and he sold it about 5 years ago. I singed the house over to him in the annulment. how do I get really old stuff off of my credit report ? it thought that things came off on there own. What can I do ?
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The house with your name and your ex-husband's name on it was sold 5 yrs ago not 7 years and thats why it is still on your credit report.

Get new current rated credit on your credit report.

Forget that ex-husband and how he screwed your credit. 5 year old stuff does not affect your score much if you have good credit for the past 2 years.

Do you have credit from today back 2 years on your report that says you pay good.
If not get new good credit started here i like the Total Visa middle of page.
these report to bureaus. Takes 2 years to clear most all bad credit.

Dispute validate and negotiate anything that is old and incorrect.
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I don't under stand your response ????

how do I get all of this old closed stuff from 1997 off of my credit report ??
there is no other guy on my report, just he mortgage company that I had back in 1997
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You need new current credit more than you need to get rid of old bad credit.
That is my response.
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What do you think about these credit cleaning attorney online companies like creditbureauexperts.com, or .lexingtonlaw.com. Those are just two that came up on my search engine. I stopped paying my credit cards about 5 years ago, I currently have one credit card company pursing my account in court, trying to garnish my wages etc. I have no income, no job, no assets, I am a full-time mom and full-time student, unmarried. what is the best route for me to take as far as cleaning up my credit. I would like to be able to buy a car and maybe a house someday with good credit, or at least get approved to get a cell phone contract or little things like that. I have some funds to "negotiate" with the creditors to pay off my debt, and or pay a credit clean up company.what do you think?
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no income and no job means forget about credit. You couldnt pay if you wanted to.

after 2 years can a collection account be updated to new date of last activity and start the seven years over again?

I do however have a question I could not find on the website. I have heard (and this could be incorrect) that dealing with old collection accounts can actually cause them to become current and hurt your present credit score. Is this correct? I have an account that is over 2 years old but still has a balance due. I realize the collection is not really affecting my score, but I know it will look better if I have it removed. If I contact this company can they restart the clock?

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cThey can and often do IF you do a payments plan.
Pay the whole thing off, and ask for no dates to be changed.
All you want is the account to show paid of in full.
So I would talk to them before I paid.

Your website is very good in helping me understand that I may be able to build some good credit down the road.

The last time I checked my credit report was in 1999. I still have the copy. It's difficult for me to even look at the report. I have such shame for not paying these bills. At this point the reasons don;t matter. I just couldn;t pay.

Can you please give me a step by step on what to do going forward. I just don;t know where to begin.

I guess I should start by obtaining my credit report. I was advised by my attorney to not even inquire as to my score for at least 7 years from the time I stopped paying on these credit cards. That was 1999.

You web site says that after 7 years charge offs, collections, and past dues drop off. Am I too understand that after 7 years my credit report will show 'nothing'?

I would appreciate any advice you can give me.
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Yes in 7 years your report will show nothing if you owe nothing
Get 3 lines of credit
ccard
home loan
car loan
pay money up front to get started.
try a local banks' endorsed credit card Keep it one year then go for a loan
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Thanks. I'll get started.

Hello Bo, My email is in response to this statement I've seen about Capital One on your blog."They report your credit limit as being whatever you charge so you are always maxed out with them."I have two questions. First, on our credit report it shows a largest past balance and then a current balance for Capital One. This is on both of our Capital One cards. If the way they report it leaves it appearing to be "always maxed out," how does this largest past balance affect our score? Second, if the account is zeroed out but left open how does that report/affect our score? I am hesitant to close our Capital One accounts because they are the oldest in good standing accounts we have open. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks for the help!
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"majors@oskie.com" / to Captial One Card holder with a thin credit file /
I guess in your situation i would keep it open too. But never have a balance
I guess you have some other credit too.
If you do have 3 other good credit lines then the capital one should be closed.
If not then keep it open but do not use the dern thing.

Lost job and had a divorce. I have bad credit on my report.

Hello, I am calling for your advice. I have (2) charge offs on my credit report. Both are Capital One. And they have been there for about 2 years. Went through a divorce and havent' had a full time job since, therefore have not been able to pay on them.
Please help!
Thanks,
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majors@oskie.com / to Lynn / show details / Jul 3
I guess I should address that on my website
If you don't have a job you can forget about good credit.

Checked my credit report. Have lote of bad credit

I've checked my credit report, and have a score of 556, with LOTS of negative items on my reports. I've been paying, or settling a lot of them in full over the past two months, and have just now started realizing that settled in full, according to your site, is often times viewed just as negatively as charged-off in the eyes of many new creditors.What can I do?Also, How do i get the Credit bureaus to update my credit reports, based on the payments I've made, the accounts I've paid off, or settled, and so on?Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Update My credit with my payments
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"majors@oskie.com" / to update my credit report / show details / Jun 6
The creditors have to update the accounts.
Or you can have it done by disputing the amounts