toughcookie

I'm going to try to make this as short as possible.... Moved out of apartment Oct 2014 - I did the walk through and knew I owed a balance but had to wait for the mgr to review for carpet damage to know the final amount. Was expecting an itemized bill as I have before for normal and tear. Never received this from the apartment complex but Nov 2014 I received a collection letter for the move fees but nothing from the apartment complex. I called the apartment complex to ask why I never received any notice prior to collection and they said they sent notice however when asked for proof several times they found NOTHING. They ended up removing some charges for the carpet as it was over 10+ years old decreasing the amount owed. They reported to the collection agency I owed 360 something but decreased it to $166.00. I called the collection agency and advised them of this along with forwarding the email from the residential mgr showing this (my written proof) - I was told they would follow up with me but never received a response. Late last year I hired Lexington Law to validate the debt and surprise, surprise they responded with proof showing I owed $166 BUT they still haven't updated my credit reports. I want this corrected sot hat I can pay what I owe but they won't update my debt amount. How can I fix this? I've been working on this forever - BTW the collection agency is Hunter Warfield who's charging interest on a balance I don't owe. Is this even worth correcting? Should I settle with them for the amount I actually owe and forget that the total amount is incorrect? I really want to buy a house so I've been working on paying debt down and getting my accounts in order and this is frustrating.

I had to come back to this thread because I just had the car buying experience of my life using Capital One's Blank Check and I will say its all in the negotiating. I found that a lot of their dealers on the dealer locator list seemed to only be on there to get customers in the door and really didn't want to use my CPBC at all. Capital One gives you a LTV ratio and depending on your state they would use the KBB or the NADA clean trade value. Im in FL and they used the NADA clean trade value and my LTV was 110%. I didn't have a huge downpayment (500.00) but I did my research and having a downpayment is NOT required. Most ppl or ppl with money knowledge put downpayments down to reduce their loan balance and payment. I wasn't expecting to buy a car when I did (which is why my downpayment wasn't much) so I was trying to get my car as close to the NADA clean trade value as possible and I actually ended up getting it UNDER the clean trade value (THANK YOU GOD!!). Again, Im in FL where dealer fee's are high and I found really non negotiable. It doesn't make sense to me but they will bring the price of the car down but won't cut the dealer fees, so again I did my research went in with that tactic, and it worked! They brought the car down by the cost of the dealer fee. Now I paid a $400 downpayment but I could've paid nothing because the price of the car was so low I could've written the check out for the entire amount and stayed within my 110% LTV limit. They gave me such a good deal I was scared to find out the NADA Clean Trade Value when I there because I was at my breaking point and didn't want to jinx anything at the point because it was a long ride. But I walked well rode away with a 2010 Toyota with 28,328k miles on it! I know my story was a long winded but I hope this helps someone, do your research!! On the board and the internet which can be your BESTfriend!

APPROVING BANK Capital One BUREAU PULLED TU CREDIT SCORE 615 (8/7/12) CUSTOMER STATE OF RESIDENCE FL NEW/USED Used YEAR OF VEHICLE 2010 MILEAGE 28,353 RETAIL/LEASE Retail AMOUNT OF LOAN $14,070 $400 down ADVANCE PERCENTAGE TERM CONTRACTED 72 mo. (Yes, I know!) APR/LEASE RATE 9.76%!!!! MONTHLY PAYMENT $258.97 MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTARY: I think I got a pretty good deal on my car. I know my loan length is rather lengthy but I'm hoping to pay more than my monthly payment to pay it down faster. I can't believe I got the interest rate I got with my credit score. Thankfully they pulled TU who always seems to have a higher credit score for me.

Nice job! @ melikey I've been on the hunt forever...finally got approved and trying to stay at my 110% ratio has been challenge.

Thanks for replying Marv! I read your response and immediately applied for a loan via Cap One and got approved! Got a better rate than I expected too and I thought it was a joke when I saw that approval BUT it happened. Now on to the negotiating and finding a car in my budget.

Im finally going to attempt to get financed for a car loan. If I don't get something right Im going to do something buy here pay here until my credit gets better but here goes nothing: Your Age? 29 Your Equifax Credit Score? 574 Your Experian Credit Score? 577 Your TransUnion Credit Score? 597 (566 per CreditKarma.com) How many years have you been on file with Equifax? 11 How many years have you been on file with Experian? 11 How many years have you been on file with TransUnion? 11 YOUR PREVIOUS AUTOMOTIVE CREDIT HISTORY Do you have an open auto loan? No Will this open auto loan be a trade-in? How many late pays within the last 12 months on the currently open loan? n/a How many late pays within the last 13-24 months on the currently open loan? n/a Your current open auto loan is financed with? n/a Your current open auto loan payment is? n/a Estimated amount you may be upside down in this vehicle? n/a Rate your payment history on this open auto loan from 1-10 (1=poor:10=Best) n/a YOUR REVOLVING CREDIT HISTORY Total number of revolving account(s) you have? 2 Total percentage utilized overall? 91 (72% over the past 12 months per CreditKeeper) How many of your revolving accounts are store cards? 0 How many of your revolving accounts are major credit cards? (i.e. Amex, MC, Visa) 2 How many of your revolving accounts are known subprime credit cards (i.e. Aspire, 1st Premier) 0 YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION How long at your current residence? 11 Months (moved last year for a job) Do you Rent or have a Mortgage, or Live w/Relative or Other? Rent Your Monthly Rent or Mortgage payment? 785 How long have you held your current job? 5 years 1 month Your total provable monthly gross income is? 2382 Your provable monthly gross income is provable via what method? (i.e. computerized paycheck stub, or tax return, or bank statements) – Computerized Paycheck Is there additional monthly income? What amount monthly? Varies (100-150) Describe the source. – Job Bonuses Is the additional monthly income provable? No. Spousal income? N/A. YOUR DOWNPAYMENT Please tell me your exact down payment in cash? (rebates and trade equity are not considered, please input a dollar value only.) 500.00 Does any credit repository contain any Public Record? No If yes, please very briefly describe. 2 judgments totalling $ N/A Does any credit repository contain any Collection Account(s)? Yes If yes, please very briefly describe. – One Medical Bill, One Cable Account, and One Phone Account Please rate your overall creditworthiness on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10= best) 7 Please rate your Installment credit history on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10=best) 5 Please rate your Revolving credit history on a scale of 1-10 (1=poor, 10=best) 9 New or Used vehicle you are considering: Please very briefly describe. – Used Toyota Camry or something foreign and affordable.

Thank you both for you replies! The pre-approved letter was via Capital One but it stipulated I had to go to certain dealerships from the three letters I found. I haven't checked out their Blank Check program yet, I'm going to apply next month to see what I can get. I actually have 3 not 2 collections - 1 for cable, 1 for phone services, and 1 for medical all of which are less than $200. I'm disputing one and will try to do a good will for the other 2 but I need a car now because Im losing time and income from using public transportation. I want to put $500 down but so far I've been able to save $700 this far. Hopefully my score will improve a little by next month as I'm disputing, paying down credit cards, etc.

OP did you find a solution to your problem?

Hi All! Im a newbie to the boards so Im still learning. I've only been on this credit improvement journey for a short period of time because Im in need of a new car after totaling mine a few weeks ago. Didn't realize my score had plummeted as much as it did until I tried to get approved for a auto loan via my bank (Chase) and was denied. While I was reading through my junk mail, I discovered Capital One, who recently bought HSBC which I've had a card for years has been sending me pre-approved car loan offers for their preferred dealerships for the past few months. I have two accounts in collections totaling under $300 and my score is mid-500's right now. My lowest being 540 and my highest being 585. Does pre-approved mean your one foot in the door?? Also is it possible to get approved with accounts currently in collections? I'd appreciate any response or input TIA!