That Girl From ATL

Is Walmart easy to get? I don't want to shoot for a card I'm going to get declined for. What's GERCB?

So I've been with Orchard bank for a couple of years now and my limit is only $450. But I started out with a secured card at $200 and now it's unsecured. I'm due for a credit line increase, but since Cap One has bought Orchard, they've suspended credit line increases for the time being. Which is really frustrating because my goal is to get to $1000 on the Orchard Bank card and it feels like it's never going to happen.... Anyways, in the meantime I think it's time to try opening another card. I've been with Orchard for like 3 years now, and have perfect credit (with them). My scores across the 3 bureaus range from 550 (Transunion) to 630 (Experian). Can anyone recommend a good 2nd card to go with? I don't have a car, so a gas card wouldn't really make sense. I was thinking maybe Target?? I have no clue....any suggestions??

^Thanks again. This seems pretty straight forward, so now time to find out how to pay this off...fast.

^^Thank you for all of your insight; that was very helpful. So at this point it seems like my only course of action is to pay the balance, whether it be in full or in monthly payments...correct? And pay to only the CA, not the OC, since the CA is the one that is collecting, right? Can I still get sued for the balance AS I'm paying off the CA? Once the CA is paid, will the negative TL fall off 7 years from the date of default or will it be 7 years from the date it's paid off?

Okay...I'm back with more info...and more questions. -The date of first delinquency as reported by Sallie Mae, the OC, is 1/2009. So am I right that this negative TL will drop off around 7.5 years from 1/2009? -Sallie Mae is reporting the account as charged off, with an $8K balance. It says it was charged off in 2010 and the account was sold/transferred. Shouldn't the TL report a $0 balance? -I called Sallie Mae yesterday and they said the account has been assigned to Windham Professionals. I have received a letter and phone calls from them. This account has gone through a couple of different CAs at this point I believe. -Can Sallie Mae sue me or only the CA can sue me at this point because they are the one that holds the loan? -Can Sallie Mae 'recall' this charged off loan so it's back with the OC and not the CA? Or should I focus all of my efforts on the CA? -Would my best course of action actually be to do a PFD with the CA? If so, should I aim to PIF or settle? -If I DO do a PFD and settle, is it true that the CA has a legal right to sell or transfer the remaining balance no matter what is stated in the original PFD (settlement) letter? I thought I read that somewhere from WhyChat. Lastly, Windham Professionals is not reporting this debt....on any of my credit reports. This is very strange, but I just figured it would appear on them sometime really soon. Is it unwise to DV the CA at this point? Do I make it more likely to upset them and take me to court quicker if I DV?

Private. Charged off 6/2010. I understand paying a collection account is not positive, but if I don't pay it I'm likely to get sued, right? What would you do if you were me?

I had a student loan with Sallie Mae that defaulted, then charged off. Balance is about $8k. I want to take care of this now and just got a new job a few months ago. I moved to a new city, sold my car, and am about to get a roommate. I will be able to pay around $1500 a month ($2000 if I live really poor and get a second job) and be done with the balance in around 6 months. Or, I can put away the $1500 for a few months, and offer them a lump sum of maybe $4000. I am wondering, what is the better route? Would my score improve faster once the loan is paid in full to the collector, or if I pay a lump sum settlement for less than the balance owed? I want to take care of this fast, but I don't want to settle is a settlement looks that much worse on my report. However, my primary desire to pay the lump sum is because I have another one that was with Sallie Mae that's been charged off and the balance on that one is much higher. The quicker I get this $8k done with, the quicker I can move on to the larger one.

BUMPing for more input......

HHhmmmm...the 'opting out' part was one of the first things I read to do in the newbies section. So should I opt back in then? By triage, I was referring to in PsychDoc's transcripts in the newbies section. He details "triaging" your reports...basically going through and detailing what you will do with each tradeline. A triage status could be 'goodwill' (meaning: will send a goodwill letter), or 'oc validation' (meaning: look up templates for validation letters for original creditors and send to original creditor), etc etc. The Sallie Mae accounts are indeed student loans. I thought you couldn't rehab private loans? Either way, no, I haven't asked about rehabbing them, but I would be willing to. I do have one other private loan with them that is in good standing. In regards to your last question about items being out of the SOL...I was actually going to pose a question about that. Should I be looking at the 'date of last activity'? Because it says 'n/a' for some of these tradelines. DOLA has nothing to do with SOL. SOL is a legal defense if you get sued and this varies by account type and state. SOL differs from the legal reporting time under the FCRA. If the bad debts are still within SOL, tread very carefully. You might want to ask about the student loans in the SL forum. Thanks. I'm doing more research on how to determine the SOL now. Why oh why did I move back to Georgia last year? Does anyone know if the "estimated month and year this item will be removed" that TU reports is usually accurate? I noticed it had removal dates of the following: Chase chargeoff: 9-12 BOA chargeoff: 6-13

HHhmmmm...the 'opting out' part was one of the first things I read to do in the newbies section. So should I opt back in then? By triage, I was referring to in PsychDoc's transcripts in the newbies section. He details "triaging" your reports...basically going through and detailing what you will do with each tradeline. A triage status could be 'goodwill' (meaning: will send a goodwill letter), or 'oc validation' (meaning: look up templates for validation letters for original creditors and send to original creditor), etc etc. So if you look in my original post, I triaged each TL by writing (in shorthand) what I planned to do with each (ie oc validation, etc.)... The Sallie Mae accounts are indeed student loans. I thought you couldn't rehab private loans? Either way, no, I haven't asked about rehabbing them, but I would be willing to. I do have one other private loan with them that is in good standing. In regards to your last question about items being out of the SOL...I was actually going to pose a question about that. Should I be looking at the 'date of last activity'? Because it says 'n/a' for some of these tradelines.

Writing this post has me very anxious and I can literally feel my blood pressure going up. Anywho, I've lurked on this board for a while but always got discouraged/overwhelmed and could never seem to get to even the first step. I felt like the mistakes I made in college and right after weren't within my ability to fix, so I pretended like the problems would go away. Well, they haven't and after some therapy (seriously!) I finally took it upon myself to take the first step. So let's see where it goes from here... I got all 3 of my reports and requested my old addies be deleted. I've also opted out. I went through the baddies and below is what I came up with: Creditor Balance Status Triage Other notes: Sallie Mae 21297 charge off oc validation last pymnt:11/2010; dola: says 'n/a' Sallie Mae 8148 charge off oc validation last pymnt:09/2010; dola: says 'n/a' BOA 0 charge off oc validation last pymnt:09/2007; dola: says 'n/a' Chase 0 charge off oc validation last pymnt:09/2006; dola: says 'n/a' First Premier 0 paid charge off oc validation last pymnt:11/2005; dola: says 'n/a' LVNV funding 8867 collection validation date opened:8/2011 Time Warner 114 unpaid validation date reported:9/2011 Tax Lien (GA) 829 unpaid courthouse date filed:12/2007 Tax Lien (GA) 653 unpaid courthouse date filed:12/2007 Tax Lien (SC) 453 unpaid courthouse date filed:6/2007 Yes, that first balance is 21297. My questions are: -Does my triage column seem right? -Where would you start? I was thinking of beginning with the BOA, Chase, First Premier & Time Warner accounts. Then the tax liens. And then Sallie Mae/LVNV. Your thoughts? THANKS SO MUCH IN ADVANCE

^Yep...I already shop at Goodwill. I'm a thrift store junkie...

Thanks for the great tips.

I need help with budgeting. It's something I've never been good at it and I'm getting a late start but I want to be successful at it. I'm tired of not reaching my savings goals and not making my dollar stretch. Below you'll find my income, expenses, and my questions: Monthly income: Gross: 3678 Net: 2475 Net pay is after insurance, taxes, 3% 401k, $26 employee gym, $15 employee legal plan, disability, life insurance, medical/dental, $108 monthly flexible spending account (I go to a therapist once a week), Monthly expenses: savings 600 rent 683 cell 85 water 30 cable/net 60 car insurance 75 student loan 134 groceries/toiletries 250 electric 100 car gas 100 SUBTOTAL 2117 Other expenses: entertainment (movies, activities, bars/clubs, etc.) 50 Beauty (nails, hair, etc.) 100 Clothing/shoes/accessories 100 Extraneous (oil changes, birthday gifts, etc.) 50 Eating out 100 SUBTOTAL 400 *GRAND TOTAL: $2517 Here are my questions: 1. How do you think I'm doing as far as my savings? I'm putting only 3% into 401k but my employer's putting in 12%. Should I keep it at 3 or increase it? I'm 32 and have little savings. If I increase it, I may have to decrease the savings amount, which leads to my next question: 2. I would like to increase savings from 600 to 1000. (Please keep in mind this means I need an extra $442 a month. It would be 400, but my expenses are more than my income by $42). I know this seems unreasonable but I don't think it's impossible. Any suggestions on how to do this with my income? I do photography on the side so I could try getting another 100-200 extra a month from photography gigs. I'm willing to forgo some of the "other expenses" to increase my savings. I already take public transportation to work. I would like to still be able to have a little bit of a social life though. 3. I'm single, no kids. Does my grocery amount seem extravagant? Right now I'm thinking I could save money in the areas of grocery, electric, beauty & clothing. I have been careless with my electric, I must admit (I have a 1 br apartment 750 sq ft so it shouldnt be 100/month!) What are your thoughts? How much would you try to cut from each section to reach my goals? If I'm being unrealistic about anything let me know. I'm willing to settle for a savings of 800 for now if 1000 isn't achievable.

bumping......