Credit Repair Help??

[APLUS]

So I just got my credit report. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't close to good. What are some of the best companies, or ways to repair my credit/ get outof debt?

 

[dirtylicious]

why do you need a company to repair your credit and get out of debt?
solution is simple.
list debts. pay them off

the companies don't do anything that you can't do yourself....why pay them good money to handle something you can do?

if they are old debts...you can try to negotiate with them...if they aren't...then you'll most likely have to pay them off.


and just so you know... if you use a debt consolidation company...when you apply for a mortgage/loan...lenders will treat you like you have filed bankruptcy.

 

[ras clot 89]

Yes all of that is true. Is your debt that unbearable? Do you owe multiple credit cards and such?

 

[703 hwy]

I'm not trying to be an a-hole or nothing but people really don't understand the importance of spending money you don't have. Simple, DON'T DOIT. But in your case pay off your debts before you buy another pair of shoes, jeans, hell even a snickers. All available money should be going to your debts nowhere else. And once you get straight (if ever) don't eff up again.

 

[kingtre]

on this topic i want one of those credit simulator programs the specialist have

i paid $150 and got a 20pt jump in 3 days and got qualified for a better program when i was getting my mortgage

depending on how bad your stuff is it sometimes its worth using the specialist...alot of it is a hassle and there are methods for dealing with eachcreditor...but again its nothing you CANT do yourself so its just a matter of looking at the pros and cons...the lady i dealt with charged $300 but the brokertook care of the bill

 

[da r entertainment]

Go to this website and you will not regret it:

Credit Forums

The cats on that board are very helpful and insightful. They help me get alot of derogs off my CR. Good luck.

 

[young dr0]

^ good look on that link ...

 

[wwsyndicate]

What exactly is wrong with your report?

I have a few errors on mine that I had to dispute since my father and I have the same name, unless pops was opening up accounts with my social when I was a kid

I never took credit seriously until one day I tried to get a private $500 loan for school and got denied, so I got a credit card from Circuit City, copped somestuff and started paying on time and even early while always maintaining a balance on it, cleared up the disputes on my report and I got accepted for a creditcard last week for $3000 with 5% interest, I'm gonna work with that card for a few months and go for a car loan. The key is just being responsible.

 

[grandaddypurp415]

dont fall for one of those companies. all they do is harass the companies till they give up. Instead do it yourself its easy.

All I did was fill out official dispute, which you can print online to all three(equifax, transunion, experian) agencies via "certified mail" Alsoinclude a letter explaining that this is the 2nd or 3rd time you've disuted this item and that if they dont remove it you will contact a consumer lawattorney. All but one thing was removed from my report.


Got that tip for some money making mag.

 

[lilpro4u]

Creditboards.com is where it's at no joke.

I be on there more than NT these days.

I got 10 credit cards since Jan. 08.. And my fico scores is up roughly 100-150 points on all 3 bureaus.

I also got a lot of stupid med bills deleted from like 4 yrs ago. Right now im working on joining every Credit Union I possibly can.

 

[da r entertainment]

Originally Posted by lilpro4u

Creditboards.com is where it's at no joke.

I be on there more than NT these days.

I got 10 credit cards since Jan. 08.. And my fico scores is up roughly 100-150 points on all 3 bureaus.

I also got a lot of stupid med bills deleted from like 4 yrs ago. Right now im working on joining every Credit Union I possibly can.

Me and my wfie went through the same thing. We went from having 0 credit cards to having quite a few. Also, check in to True Credit and pull your reportsI would say at least every other day to monitor your credit reports and it also helps eliminate some inquiries. Matter of fact, it's time to pull mine.

 

[pd uno]

Credit repair
AKA - Fraud

When they advertise themselves as entities that can "remove negative credit information from your report," thats a big red flag. If there is goodreason to, within the law, they simply ASK the credit bureau to do so - you can do this yourself. So they are not doing the removing, not by a long shot. Thecompanies that call themselves "credit repair" are doing either:

A. something you can do yourself - filing simple disputes for ACTUAL true disputes you have with creditors/credit items on your report

B. filing fake and untrue disputes on YOUR behalf, claiming they are YOU while writing/calling the 3 credit bureaus. Internally, the credit bureaus KNOW whenyoure dealing with a credit repair company, and when they are being sent a dispute from one, and they flag your file. 99% of the time the consumer (you) doesntknow exactly what the "repair" company is doing to "repair" your credit. it makes you look stupid, and often times doesnt work.

Other than that, theres more to A and B than meets the eye, little things you can do to boost your score, cant get into all that right now, but trust me,educate yourself, and you can duplicate what they are doing - more often that not, the people who do the actual "work" at those repair places areyoungsters like most of you/us, and they have just been trained to do a job, not to think. Those sites mentioned are a good starting point for advice. But in anutshell, pay EVERYTHING on time, pay it down as much as possible. if there is old NEGATIVE information on your report that is yours, see if its past itsstatute of limitations, it shouldnt be on there. Sometimes the credit bureaus dont do their job, call them out on it if you know youre right. If its goodcredit info, leave it alone - again, in simplified terms, it depends what that credit item was/is, how much was on it, etc.

I can go on and on, but the majority of us have inaccuracies on your 3 credit reports, just a matter of monitoring it yourself to see if any of it is major,and if its not major its easier to get it straightened out. As for your score, well there are different criteria that will help you improve your score, themain one I mentioned which you should stick to and worry about the rest later, but there are plenty of other methods that people throw out there to help youimprove your score that may not necessarily be true, and no one knows the answer because no one knows the formula that is used to calculate your score - whichis usually issued by FICO for those of you who are not familiar with that name, its the standard credit scoring company that most lenders/creditors use...thereare others, but this can cause confusion to your average consumer because multiple credit bureas X's multiple credit scoring companies = mass confusion.

its a very shady business, and you'd be surprised how much BS creditors and credit bureaus get away with and how it screws over your average joe. how do iknow this? I've worked on both sides, from one of the major credit bureaus to underwriting institutions to mortgage lenders, so i've seen it spunaround different ways. the most telling was from the credit bureau side itself. if you have any other specific questions I can try to help, but there is a lotof gray area that no one has an answer to, just use common sense - if you have it (not to anyone in particular, generally speaking)

 

[703 hwy]

10 CC's for one person, that is OD imo but the average person has 9 CC's (I think).

 

[starbury03]

For the few responses that are in here you already have all the tools you need to fix your credit.

Wow, I don't even have more to contribute. Listen to these cats..they know what they are talking about..especially pd uno.

 

[APLUS]

Thanks for that last piece of info Dirty, and to the rest of the helpful ones. No I have not spent money I don't have. There have been things put in myname from a certain family member back when my parents split, and I have trying to clean up the mess. Maybe I misworded my question. I only have one creditcard at the moment, but the other unpaid accounts are killing me, and I was just looking for info about working something out with the companies, or if thecredit repair companies are helpful.

 

[lilpro4u]

If some one used your name in a fraudulent way why would you even attempt to consider paying their debt off?

 

[pd uno]

If some one used your name in a fraudulent way why would you even attempt to consider paying their debt off?
Bingo. Don't even think about paying off what isn't yours, as long as you know it isnt yours. It's almost an admission of guilt if youdo that. Dispute EVERYTHING that isnt yours. And don't just say it's "not yours," give a specific reason why it isnt, and keep doing it, andkeep pushing for what information they have exactly that links those accounts to you. I'm assuming you're pretty young, so an EASY way to take care ofit, is if the accounts that were opened were opened before you turned 18, check the opening dates. Those accounts should come off INSTANTLY if you disput itover the phone. If they say no, you get someone on the phone who will do it on the spot and keep calling until they take it off. That is a blatant andnegligent error that will usually wind up being corrected fast.

 

[mr jordan04]

how good is a 750 credit score?

 

[lilpro4u]

750 isn't the highest score you can get, but it will be tier 1 for prime rates on loans, lines of credit, cc's ect.. Usually anything above 720 willget you the same rate as someone with a 800 score. But all financial institutions are different. At my CU all I needed was 20 points higher to save 2.25% on acar loan. Bout pissed me off.

 

[crimsoncloudattire]

Originally Posted by 703 Hwy

10 CC's for one person, that is OD imo but the average person has 9 CC's (I think).

Word. Completely unnecessary. Amex, Visa, Mastercard. That's 3. You don't need a card for every single store you go to.

But I guess that's the American way...rack up the debt. I pulled, and enlarged, this graphic from a financial blog around the time the Visa IPO waslaunched. It shows how much we as a country love debt relative to the citizens of other countries (we're the only country that is averaging more than 1card per person). I suppose it's also a measure of how readily our banks and financial institutions here are willing to hand out lines of credit. Butthat may be changing soon.

 

[lilpro4u]

Word. Completely unnecessary. Amex, Visa, Mastercard. That's 3. You don't need a card for every single store you go to.

It's unnecessary to pay over $45 for ANY pair of Nikes but I'm sure you've done that plenty of times right?

Just because I have MANY a credit cards, and plan on getting a lot more mean im in debt? I don't owe anyone money! I pay my shh in full, and the onlyreason I wouldn't is if there a promotional 0% on the card. Needing a card for every single store NTer please.. I shop at Macy's that's about itjust to get the extra off for using my card.

If 3 cards is the most you can handle responsibly, fine. But don't frown on people who can manage 10x more. Some people go crazy over 1 so calm your egodown fella.

 

[crimsoncloudattire]

Originally Posted by lilpro4u

Word. Completely unnecessary. Amex, Visa, Mastercard. That's 3. You don't need a card for every single store you go to.

It's unnecessary to pay over $45 for ANY pair of Nikes but I'm sure you've done that plenty of times right?

Just because I have MANY a credit cards, and plan on getting a lot more mean im in debt? I don't owe anyone money! I pay my shh in full, and the only reason I wouldn't is if there a promotional 0% on the card. Needing a card for every single store NTer please.. I shop at Macy's that's about it just to get the extra off for using my card.

If 3 cards is the most you can handle responsibly, fine. But don't frown on people who can manage 10x more. Some people go crazy over 1 so calm your ego down fella.




Ummm...wow. Sorry, to this poster and any other who felt that my post was a personal attack on the carriers of multiple cards. Because it wasn't. I wasjust highlighting that the more open lines of credit you have the more likely you are to lose track of your credit situation. Not guaranteed, but the risk isthere.

Hope I'm vindicated now.

Goodness, holy backlash.

 

[youngtriz]

hey i need some help..... My credit score is 677, wifey is 714.... she works part time and so i make more then her... i ran my credit more and had/ have morestuff on there.... do ya'll think i will be able to buy a house my next year????? about 200k to 250k range

 

[pd uno]

Originally Posted by YoungTriz

hey i need some help..... My credit score is 677, wifey is 714.... she works part time and so i make more then her... i ran my credit more and had/ have more stuff on there.... do ya'll think i will be able to buy a house my next year????? about 200k to 250k range

I dont necessarily think what you said has as much to do with buying a house as you might think. your income is the main factor, and your credit score hasabsolutely nothing to do with your income - scoring doesnt take that into consideration. although personally I'd say your scores are ok to get a loan (myopinion means nothing, im not the bank) - but if they were higher you'd get a better interest rate like another poster said above, you need to check yourdebt to income ratio, that is key. in other words, can you afford your potential mortage at 200-250k, and can you afford all the other debt you've incurredat the same time - i.e. cc's, car loan, student loans, etc. all of that combined including the mortage should be somewhere well below 50% of your combinedincome - thats actually too lenient, actually more like below 40% to be closer to realistic, it could even be in the 30 percentile, im not sure where you live,and it depends on the lender. hope that helps, its kind of broad, but you should get the idea. oh yeah, and you probably need to come in with money down on thehouse too, thats pretty important.