kemitche

Just signed up with USAA's creditcheck monitoring premium product. $12.50 a month. That's about half of what I was paying with CCT ($22.95).

Thanks for the reply Swanky. I didn't come away with that view from reading the case files - but I'm admittedly biased due to my situation and might have glossed over that trend (that they are willing to work with you if you're making progress toward the debt). One positive for me is that I've acquired no new debt since I closed the business in '07. One thought I had was submitting copies of the validation letters for the debts I will fight. Maybe that would be good enough to show progress. Yes, I do want to work on this. But I don't want to make a poor decision in order to meet a short deadline - for a clearance I may not get. Cheers.

Hi everyone, The good news: I have been offered a position with a Dept of State contractor. It's a nice job in my field of work. It's in management and is definitely a career step in the right direction. Offer letter has been received. The bad news: The position is contingent of passing a Confidential level security clearance and I'm having difficulty. The details: I'm going on week #6 with the security clearance process. I filled out the electronic application and it's been received. I had an in person interview a week & half ago. More information was desired regarding a period of self employment and several negative issues on my credit report. The self employment was explained easily enough and supporting info was given (tax returns, etc.) The credit report baddies were also explained. There are large amounts showing as due (total close to 100K) and one small lien. I explained that I had a business from '04 to '06 (the aforementioned self employment) and racked up a large amount of debt. That's why I closed the business. I said that I believed some of those items on the report had been paid, but some may be valid. I wasn't sure without investigating them. I wrote up a statement explaining that along with stating that I would investigate the items on my credit report. I was told that should suffice. I specifically asked if I had to investigate all the items before the clearance was approved and was told no. My explanation didn't suffice. I was called a couple days ago from someone in Dept of State security DC. They explained that the issues on my credit report were holding up the approval. It was suggested that I get in touch with these companies and validate the debt and make payment plans or pay all that I owe. And I had to do it within 2 weeks or else the my case will go to adjudication (something that apparently drags this out even longer). I can call all these companies and ask them if the debts are valid. Of course they will say yes. The problem is that I feel some of those debts are not valid and plan on challenging them via various means suggested in this forum. But that takes time - several months. The other issue is, I've seen the results of adjudication. The recent approval record for applicants with financial problems is not good. http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/doha/industrial/2010.html Because of the poor adjudication approval rate, I feel that even with payment plans in place, I will be denied the clearance. Then I'll be stuck with payment plans that I cannot make because I have no job, causing the tradelines to reopen with new activity (all negatives have already passed SOL). So. I'm at a cross roads here trying to figure out what to do. I'm seriously considering proactively seeking legal advice but would like to hear other opinions. Has anyone sought legal advice on similar and can they recommend anyone? A quick google search located a few lawyers who help in this specialized area so I know they're out there. I can also walk away from the job, but would rather keep that as a last resort. FYI, getting a new job in my field will take about 2 months. Anyone have any other ideas? Fortunately, my wife works full time and we have a paycheck coming in, along with benefits. But this isn't a financial situation I want to stay in for long. Her paycheck covers our basic needs of mortgage and expenses - but me staying at home working on this isn't financially going to work for more than another month or two. Thanks for reading this!

I can't seem to find any info about BofA's secured CC on their website. Does anyone have a link, preferably an application link? Thanks.

Great news - thanks for posting that. I'm in a similar situation but had totally ruled out going with the VA due to the collections on the account. Nice to know I have some options especially since in over 30% disabled and qualify for the reduced funding fee.

Great advice - thank you both very much!

Hey there everyone, I'm reestablishing credit by adding some secured CCs (that's all I seem to qualify for right now with a ~ 590 FICO). Would it be better (in terms of raising FICO score) to add one medium sized secured account (~ $1000), or have 2-3 smaller secured accounts (~ $250-350 each)? The goal is to get the score up to above 620 by March or April. I think that is do-able and will hopefully get me into a home loan with 10% down - but that's a conversation for another time & subforum. :-) I don't plan on using the CC except every now & then to keep them from going inactive. About 1.5 years ago I moved from using CCs all the time to a cash/debit system and have been able to cut my expenses dramatically (and save up a lot of money towards a down payment). But I don't want to tie up a lot of money into secured CC. I have several baddies on the report that I'm also working on, so this is only one small part of the solution. Right now I don't have any open CC accounts. Thank you!

I just received a secured USAA offer in the mail, after being denied a regular card. They want me to open a 2-year interest bearing CD in exchange.... with a $250 - $1500 limit/CD I guess this is a new offering? I guess so. I *just* got off the phone with USAA before reading this. They did not approve my CC app, despite having 15K in the bank (600 FICO). I asked about a secured card and was told they didn't exist - yet. Although they were thinking about it and one might come out soon... Thanks for this post! I'll call back and cite specifics. Also, it appears that this offer may be coming form a different area of USAA than the regular CC processing group. Don't know for sure though - but I certainly wasn't speaking with Retail Banking Support this morning. I'll post my results later.

Military.com reports: Vets Eat Free at Golden Corral Golden Corral's 9th annual Military Appreciation Monday dinner will be held on Monday, Nov.16, 2009, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in all Golden Corral restaurants nationwide. The free dinner meal is a special "thank you tribute" to any person who has ever served in the United States Military. If you are a veteran, retired, currently serving, in the National Guard or Reserves, you are invited to join us for Golden Corral's Military Appreciation Monday dinner. To date, Golden Corral restaurants have provided over 2.2 million free meals and contributed over $3.3 million to the Disabled American Veterans organization. http://www.military.com/veterans-report/ve...rral?ESRC=vr.nl

Please PM me the details? I've been using CC for a while now. I like them in general except for the monthly pulls. Many, many, many thanks! Happy Halloween!

Hi, I would like to move from newbie to member please. There is a PM I'd like someone to send me (how get daily pulls from creditkeeper)! Thank you!

You can see all the details here: http://www.applebees.com/vetsday/ Seems pretty flexible - even a photo in uniform will qualify you. Bon Appetit!

I would follow Joe's advice and try calling USAA again. I've also have always recieved good customer service from them. Try explaining the situation again, from the start. And as frustrating as I know the whole situation can be, try to take a deep breath and relax before you call. I've found that being upset doesn't help matters when trying to get information.

Thanks for explaining it that way. Now I understand. :-)