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