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Hi CBers, I'm looking for information on how to lift (temporary, if possible) a fraud alert. I visited each CRA but found no direct answer except by doing it via snail mail (I want to do it faster). My loan officer states I need it removed but I have other loans from NFCU that didn't need this requirement. HELP!!!! I'm trying to close at the end of the month.

Hi all, My partner and I are interested in purchasing a "low-investment" franchise. We recently incorporated our company name to operate "whatever" franchise under the company, as it will become an asset management company, owning a few different franchises, in the future. The problem is I have terrible personal credit (high 500) and my partner has great credit (mid 700). Everywhere we turn to borrow money, i.e. The Business Finance Store or anything similar...they want us to personally guarantee my partner's credit but it doesn't seem legit once we get to the underwriting phase. Any suggestions on how to borrow approx $50k?

Does anyone know how I can cancel USAA CPM without talking to them? I tried to do it over email and they're not cooperating. Earlier today I sent this to creditcheckhelp@experiandirect.com: They responded with this: So I just sent this, and I'm sure they'll tell me to bug off again: I really don't want to talk to them. They annoy the crap out of me trying to get me to not cancel and going on and on for 10 minutes...they force me to be rude. I'll never sign up for their service again because I know what I'd have to go through to cancel. Really this is my fault for signing up again Yes, maybe I'm being unreasonably anxious about a simple phone call...but there is also the principle that I signed up without talking to them, they shouldn't force me to go through this discomfort to cancel. It's an offensive ploy.

http://m.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/A2678-2013 The Consumer Credit Fairness Act was introduced by Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein and passed the General Assembly on a vote of 90-45. It would limit debt collection lawsuits by JDB's terminating the ability of debt buyers to sue on expired debt. lowering the statute of limitations for consumer credit transactions from six years to three years, and eliminating the right to collect the debt once the statute of limitations is expired; and requiring notice of a pending consumer credit action to be mailed to the defendants by the clerk of the court; requiring court filings to include more information about the debt and requriing the plaintiff to provide proof that the debt is owed to the plaintiff

Hi CBers!!! I attempted to search for the answers but had no luck so I'm asking for advice from those who know...I'm looking at a townhouse that I consider a bargain and I'm preapproved for a VA Loan if I'm going to move on it, but I was wondering if adding a new mortgage to my CR will have an effect on my AAOA as I'm currently at 2.1 yrs due to app spree in December. If so, wouldn't it be a positive effect as I've read from FICO reports that I don't have a mortgage or auto loan presently. Thoughts??

Greetings, I'm looking for an opinion or two on this. First, just to get it out of the way, I acted irresponsibly with this particular situation and let it go too far - so no denying that. I had a doctor's visit in 2010 while covered under an HMO plan that pays 100% of all such routine visits. In fact I'd seen that same doctor many times that year and each time was covered 100%. However with this one visit, something went wrong with insurance and they declined it. I'm am 99.99% certain this was simply a mistake on their part of some kind. The bill was for $179. I've had this happen several times in the past and the doctor's office will just re-submit after a time and then insurance pays it. I figured this would be the case this time as well, so I did nothing. I continued to get bills (for $179) from the doctor's office for quite some time and just ignored them as typically this would go on for months and eventually the insurance would pay. Fast-forward to mid-late 2012, now it was apparently turned over to a collections agency and I start getting letters/bills from them. I ignored those too (again, no excuses from me on my bone-headed behavior here). I got several letters up through the end of 2012. While doing taxes this year, I finally sat down to do a sort of financial review and in the process started digging deeper into this particular bill. The fact that it was sitting in collections for so long surprised me (I have no legitimate reason to be surprised) so I became concerned about how the situation might impact my credit report. I checked all three credit reporting agencies and it's not in there and my credit is still very good. This leads me to my current situation. My main concern and question is that I don't want it to affect my credit. I'm perfectly willing to pay it (even if it's no longer possible to recover it from my insurance company), but now I'm not so sure that paying it won't actually somehow "trigger" a negative effect. I've had zero contact with this collection agency (beyond them blindly sending me letters) and I'm not sure if initiating contact will do more harm than good? Any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -C

I'm saving money to buy a investment property. In a few months I will be able to have enough to buy a condo all cash. Someone in this forum told me to get a bank that would finance 25% of my deal and I will put down 75% to start a credit file under a new business that I will create. I've being working for cash for the last 2 years and my income was the minimum amount on these years. Now, my personal credit doesn't exist. I had some problems with bank checks and overdraw a few years ago, due to job losses, that If a bank check NCPS I can't even open a bank account. Even with all theses problems, I will open a LLC to invest in Real Estate and hope that can find help or guidance in this forum. Thanks

My plans are to buy a home this year if possible my scores was looking bad at the end of the 2012 (eq-617, tu-582, ex-588) talked with a realtor and he sent through dhi buyers club the guy was suppose to help me get things off of my credit and he only wrote a letter for the things that was already due to fall off he also said I needed to get a couple of credit cards to establish current positive credit lines. I still continue to tweek my credit report to remove negative information. as of today my scores are eq-646, tu-622, ex-637 but I have applied for numerous credit cards starting the end of 2012 until now and have a lot of inquires (21). I'm done applying for cards....any advice will be greatly appreciated

Trying to see if anyone here has used spam removed to manage their credit cards? I came across the site while browsing a travel site. Please let me know!

I was hoping to find some advice on how to proceed after an issue with a car salesman running my credit repeatedly without permission. My wife and I bought a car from a salesman who is related to her about a year and a half ago and we recently had another child so we contacted him to keep his eye out for a larger vehicle that may work for us. After talking to him over the phone about three cars he told us after each one that we were too far "upside-down" on our vehicle because they were attempting to give us $4000 under blue book trade-in. When we went to another dealership today and filled out a credit application it came back that our credit was run through 8 different banks, sometimes multiple times on different dates (a total of 18 new inquiries over three months) and my credit score dropped from a low 700 to a 610. Over this time I have had no new loans and made every payment on time for all of my loans (car and student only). I am planning on calling the dealership tomorrow and talk to a business manager about the issue to see if they cannot do something about the salemans actions and to contact the credit bureau to get these inquiries erased as we never gave permission to run credit and never even went to the dealership to look at any car, let alone sign any paperwork. I wanted to check a few different resources to see if there is any other legal action that needs to be taken as I take this situation very seriously as it is fraud and forgery in my eyes. Any help that could be offered would be greatly appreciated.

Hey guys, question on a secured card. I applied for a CapOne card before I had any credit in order to start building it. They gave me a secured. Later, I got a regular CapOne card. Then, a Discover card. Then, a CareCredit card, and finally another Discover card. So there are 5 cards in my credit, all reporting 0 balance or low. I just got an AutoLoan that will start showing on my report next month (that was the big thing I wanted to get accepted for). I have light credit, I'm only 21. There is also a deferred student loan of a low balance too. So, since I got my Auto Loan, I feel like I can take the score going negative a little for closing the secured card. I no longer use the card and would honestly rather have my money back (CapOne sucks). Should I close it or just store the card away forever? It's my oldest account, so it will hurt that length part. Any advice? Thanks.

I am in the process of buying a home. I started using Lexington law to get rid of lates on my credit report. However, in the great service of Lexington law they were trying to remove lates on an old transferred account which is a retail store credit card. Instead of removing the lates, the credit card company changed the transfer account to a collectioncharge off. This is the credit pictue. Last month: TransUnion said the account was paid and current, Experian said it was transferred and current and Equifax said it was transferred and current. This month: TransUnion said the account was paid and current, Experian said it was transferred and current and Equifax said it was derogatory and a collection/chargeoff. this dropped my Equifax score by 60 points. I contacted Lexington Law and told them what happened and Lexington Law sent a letter off to dispute the change and said I would here something in 3 days to 60 days. I think they disputing with Equifax about the change. I am dropping Lexington law. They messed up my credit. I want to get this derogatory and a collection/chargeoff of my account as soon as possible. Should I call the original creditor and ask them to send me a letter saying this was never a collection charge off and the account was transferred and current? Any other suggestions to get this derogatory and a collection/chargeoff off my credit as soon as possible?

Is it to early to strart credit app. Where should I start?

Hello, I pulled my Experian report today... I know i know, experian is the lesser of the 3 right, well it was free with my membership and i just wanted an update. This is what i expected ( and to protect the innocent i am rounding off numbers here) Had a car loan Origional limit was 23,000 > recently i had it paid to 16000 > I made a large payment of 13000 So my current balance is about 3000 So this is the major beef im encountering: my credit report prior to this displayed my credit to debt ratio as 56% I had assumed that after a large payment it would drop my percentage quite a bit because it was the bulk of my debt. well when i pulled my new report is showed me my credit to debt as 54%. I do have other accounts a few credit cards and 1 installment loan but i feel the credit to debt ratio should be far lower... here is why... I added every account limit to show my full credit = about $40000 then i added all of my balances together (where a card was maxed i added the full limit) ... the total of this was 10000 as 10000/40000 is 25% shouldnt my credit to debt ratio be 25% not the 54% i see on te report. With this i believe my credit score would get better because i am less in debt correct? Please assist me if you can. All of this magical system algorithm of credit is killing me inside. I called experian and they had no idea what i was getting at

Now that we are stable and in a good place financially we are ready to fix our credit(we were dumb and uneducated when we were young and destroyed our credit). I took the first step and pulled the free report today. After adding up all the amounts owed on our credit we are looking at about 6044.00 in debt on our credit(Minus one 4500 dollar loan which we plan to dispute. About 7 years ago we took out a loan from JD Byrider for a truck and it blew up on us, we have been fighting them every since). Most of our debt is medical bills. 6000 could be worse I guess but we are trying to figure out a plan of attack. Should we start with the newest things added first? Should we pay the lowest amount owed things first? Also there are two things that are charged off, and two that say closed. Should we pay those last, first? I am confused about the best way to handle paying these things off and how to start rebuilding our credit. Thanks for any help. Ps. only 1,700 of the debt is credit card. Don't know if that matters or not. Sorry to seem so general, I am new here(was referred to come here by a friend that said you all could help) and I wasn't sure if this was the right spot. Thank you in advance for any and all help

Please guys i need your advice and or help. Just yesterday i decided to go to annualcreditreport.com to get my free credit report, once i filled out my personal information it asked me to answer two questions. One was "our records indicate you may have taken a mortgage on number 2009 please select the bank your mortgage is held" since i dont have a mortgage i clicked none of the above. The next question asked about a car loan since i dont have one i clicked none of the above. Then i was prompted to contact equifax so before i did that i went to the equifax website and tried to pay for a credit report i figured why not, well same thing asked me these questions and i was directed to call them and so i did. Long story short according to the person i talked to my "credit file" has been deleted meaning they cant pull anything up on me at all. Now to further this weirdness i had a judgement on my credit report from last year now before when i checked the county clerks office online my judgement was there clear as day, today i check and its completely gone. Now this is why im here A. has anyone ever heard of someones credit file being deleted and judgements just disappearing? AND equifax told me i need to fax them copys of my SS card, drivers licensee, and a letter saying i want to update my SSN, DOB, adress, phone number, name, and email on my credit file, so again has anyone ever heard of this and is it safe to send equifax this info... or should i been contacting a credit lawyer? Any advice would help im freaking out over here !!!

I have been advised that I should not send a DV letter on an alleged account from a JDB, but rather wait approximately 6 months in hopes that the JDB does not file suit before the SOL passes. This account was charged off by the original creditor and by my accounts this has been with at least 2 to 3 CA’s or JDB’s prior to the current JDB. The thought is that by DV’ing the JDB it might bring more attention to the alleged account thereby causing them to file suit. I have other items on my credit report that I would like to dispute such as charge offs, and late pays. If I start to work on these items and am successful in getting these removed will this action also draw unwanted attention to my account from the JDB.

I have read CreditBoards for many years before I ever signed up with a user name. This is my first thread to start so go easy on me if this topic has been covered. I have only seen a few random comments but not a solution for the problem I had. I used Equifax subscription products in the past to bump off inquiries. I usually cancelled my membership when all the EQ inquiries were gone. Whenever I would try and signup for Equifax Complete my transaction would almost always fail. It would give reason code "FL" which I would use when I called in. I heard numerous excuses such as my file was too long or I had too many soft inquiries etc. They said they would need to have technical support delete all my soft inquiries and supposedly would open a ticket. I would never hear back from anyone at Equifax. I have only been able to get the free trial monitoring product with the 3 score to work until tonight. I cancelled my free trial last week and tried using one of my free trial or discounted priced Equifax Complete Advantage emails but nothing would work. I finally called in tonight. The rep put me on hold and said they could not verify any of the special emails that I got but could give me the full price version which I agreed to. The transaction did not work as expected and I was put on hold. When the rep came back on the line she told me it was because I had a credit freeze on my Experian report and that they could only pull my Equifax so I was not eligible until the freeze was removed. I was so happy to finally have an accurate answer that I could actually fix. I decided to pay to remove my Experian freeze and then used my free month of Equifax Complete email offer. I was totally thrilled when it worked and the confirmation said it was good for 30 days. I now know that the other time that I had the product was when I had temporarily lifted the freeze on my Experian report. I wanted to share this experience in case anyone else was in the same situation of having a bureau frozen, and was not able to sign up for the Equifax products that actually pull reports instead of just monitoring credit reports. Now I will get busy to get rid of the inquiries from the last app spree that I went on. If anyone has already mentioned this in a thread I apologize in advance because I only saw complaints of not being able to pull every day but no solutions for signup issues.

The buyer of my house had a VA pre-approval from an out of state lender (MO). We did not know he had a previous VA loan that was surrendered. His elgibility for caivers clearance was 2-23-13 but none of us were aware of the 45 day waiting period. We were suppose to close on 3-6-13 but are now on hold until the lender has a written caivers clearance. Does anyone know how or who can help him get a clearance without waiting the full 45 days?

Everyone, I have been a lurker here on CB for a couple of weeks reading all the wonderful posts, and I thank you. I have been in business since 07/2010, and running it out of my house. I am seriously looking at moving into a retail space in the next few months, but I had no clue about business credit until a little while ago. I signed up for credit builder with D&B. I have applied for Net 30 terms with: Dell (denied wouldn't give PG) Grainger Uline Quill Galls Strategic Network Solutions ( got the basic $1000 which should report end of this month) Monoprice I haven't heard back from any of them yet (except SNS of course). My company is well listed with 411, because I did that when first getting started. So I am still trying to build up my business credit, and I am still trying to apply like crazy to get trade lines established. However, I wanted to dip into the well of knowledge and ask if any of the businesses here have any experience dealing with firearms wholesalers and other firearms accessories wholesalers. That is the business I am in. I have been paying with company credit cards for years, and had some advertising contracts and other such business dealing but nothing was reporting to D&B. I know a lot of these businesses flat out won't give Net terms to home based businesses, but I have applied for Sports South Net terms, and some others. I just want to get some business credit established before I have it checked for potentially leasing retail space as well as lots of applications ask how long have you been in operation at your current location. Thank you for all the assistance.

Hi all. Newbie here, and in need of sound advice. My 2009n auto loan with GM Finance is at ridiculously high interest rate, 18%, due to poor credit. I have noticed a very disturbing (perhaps illegal) pattern with this company: On the occasions when I’ve been over 40 (or so) days late - and calling either to set up payment to cover at least one month (or if approaching 60 days, two payments) on a specified date via checking acct (auto withdrawal/e-check), they try to bully me into accepting their "help" and going with a deferment (thereby increasing principal + interest and term!). They try to suggest, that,- unless I accept the deferment or bring the account current - a repo MAY occur. The determination to sell the deferment is just so transparent - it 's like watching a scene straight out of a seedy film or a SNL comedy skit. Too bad its not funny. The pitch is really despicable: "…And how are you doing with your other bills, Mary?" "Mary, I'm just tryin to help you out ....and you're hesitating....making this difficult….You know, you had a repo.last year....just want to keep that from happening again...Now, you told me you were going to pay $850.00 on the 28th, but I'm offering you the chance to catch up ...and you only have to pay $570 .00 and then you don't have to pay again until April lst...." and so on. I don't know how others here deal with this, but these low-life (being kind) tactics infuriate me - beyond description. I know that I should not react -- but must admit – it seems all but impossible! In any case, here's the most pressing issue: I now realize that I can only afford one month's payment, $425.00 (will cover Jan)- on the 28th, but I can pay the balance and bring the acct current on March 12th. So...this would mean that I would be around 42 days late for Feb, and 12 days for March. I also need to pay via debit card rather than checking, which I could do on the 27th. During the telephone conversation, which was this past Thursday the 21st, I said okay to the deferment, but have not yet signed the agreement which was promptly e-mailed to me. I will need to call asap and let them know. I accepted the offer of deferment around two years ago. I really would rather NOT defer this time, and really do not want to use checking acct this week. I’m not sure I’ll have options, now that I’ve gone down the path with them. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what I might say when I call back? I would be most grateful for your insights and any recommendations. BTW, Re Disturbing Pattern… . Don’t want to detract from my immediate, more pressing issue here, but want to be clear that this situation with the deferment push described above is just skimming the surface, as they say. There is much more going on - sabotaging and manipulating account; for example, when I attempt to make a payment, insisting that my Paypal debit card is being “declined,” even though the account is MORE than well funded, and even with my having the Paypal rep – on the line with us (me and GM) advising the GM rep that the account is well funded but that its not going through because she is processing it as “ATM withdrawal” and need to put it through as debit or credit or credit! (Somehow she just couldn’t “get it work!” ) Subsequently (days later) accidentally” crediting my account for $800.00 then, when I call , “woops” apparently someone made an error , etc. …apologizing and once again pushing deferment (in case I don’t have funds at the point when acct is debited). I’ve omitted many details here…but hopefully you’ve got the picture. I’ve even been wondering if this isn’t worth a letter to DA’s office. Has anyone out there had these or similar experiences with GM or other finance companies? Many thanks to all for the opportunity to vent , share, and learn.

My husband needs to re-establish his credit. He was forced to use a credit management company. Doing so, he wasn't allowed to open any new credit lines. This has now been paid off. Although, he has some older paid off cars and credit cards, he now he doesn't have any recent, open credit accounts at all on his credit report. We are wanting to buy a house soon, only in his name..long story. My question is; Will it help him, if I put him on my credit card as a joint member? Will this speed up the credit establishing process? I have a fairly decent credit limit and pay it down each month. Plus, I have had this card for a few years. This will only give him one line of credit and most lenders require at least three. I know that opening a bunch of credit cards at the same time is just as bad. What else do you suggest we do, to quickly get him some credit? Thanks Apryl

They sent me a letter stating I owe $928 because over 3 years ago I had a plan with AT&T & couldn't pay one month so I didn't & so basically I have never payed that bill & now (over 3 years later) I am getting this notice from EOS CCA stating that I have to pay them $928. (The bill 3 years ago that I never ended up paying was for $150.) So, what exactly should I do here? I am asking because I am recently unemployed & don't exactly have $928 laying around to just hand over to them. Is there even something I can do?

Updated: 04/16/2013 　 This is what worked for me. Use it only as a guide. I think it can really help people that want to know the general process of how things work in the ''new age'' of establishing business credit. Ok if you want to get some business credit it's NOT going to be instant. If you look in my signature where it lists my trades you can see exactly how much I have and who has extended me credit. Starting from the top. Left to right. Is the order they were obtained. So you can look at it as ''Easiest'' to Hardest'' if your just starting out. The first thing you need to do is sign up with google places using your business name and information.. 411 directory. White pages online. Yellow pages online. Superpages online. And any other directory you can find. It's hard to get listed with 411 but it's a must if you want credit. A lot of times before businesses will extend credit they will verify the business information by searching for the phone number on 411. Getting listed on 411 will take a cupple of months. Unfortunatly thats just how long it takes. 411 Get's their information from other ''Sources'' as well as accepting submissions through their own site.. By signing up for everything above it will not only help you get listed quicker but it will help you receive more business when people search for ''Towing company's'' ect. Trust me. The phone will start ringing off of the hook. Next. Sign up with DNB. https://iupdate.dnb.com/iUpdate/viewiUpdateHome.htm;jsessionid=3F4AA5AD50A26625D629DEC76E03D8EB.app2 DNB can automaticly create a file for you if you have been in business for a while (Similiar to how 411 works, You don't have to actually sign up with them but you can still get listed. (Just takes longer). It's best if you sign up with DNB before they create a file for you. If they create a file with incorrect owner information it may be hard for you to get in at that time because you won't be able to ''verify'' the correct information they have on file, Which may be incorrect. DNB has a credit file for your business and reports ''Trade lines'' (Net 30's, Net 7's, Some revolving,Net 14's ect) and your payment history from company's that CHOOSE to report to DNB. DNB mainly handles NET accounts. Revolving accounts are usually reported to Experian or Equifax . These are the only 3 business credit reorting agencies that you need to worry about. DNB is FREE! DNB is FREE! I can sign on and look at my payment history, Change company information and dispute tradlies that are not mine (Happens occasionally. If they are reporting good leave them. If they are derogatory dispute them) at any time through IUPDATE. DNB will call you every month or after you sign on through IUPDATE and try to tell you that you have to buy a credit package from them for you to get any credit ect. WRONG! They will tell you that 14 business have tried accessed your credit file but enless you have this package they won't be able access your file.You won't realize it at first but almost every time they call you they will be attempting to sell yo something. You won't realize it untill after they are talking with you for a cupple of minutes. Do yourself a favor and simply ask them to take you off of their calling list. If not expect to hear from them at least once a month or everytime you check your file on DNB. They will lie to your face and try to sell you the shoes you walked in the door with. I am fine with selling things, but not lying in an attempt to sell things. With the old E-Update (Before they changed it to IUPDATE) you had to call in to get access to be able to login online to view anything. If this is still the case AGAIN they will try to say that you have to buy a credit package to be able to veiw anything about your company through IUPDATE. Tell them as many times as it takes.... "' No thanks I'd jut like access to IUPDATE''. DNB gives sales people a bad rap. They will lie to your face. They will probably tell you it can't be done anymore without paying for one of their packages. If you can't get anywhere call back and talk to someone else. Next you can start calling the companys listed in my signature. Again starting from left to right. Some will ask to pre-pay for 90 days .You may be able to get your credit file going quicker if they do give you the prepay option and you decide to take it. Some won't ask at all. I choose not to prepay for those that asked. Which was ULINE. Grainger is one of the easiest accounts to get. You can usually get it as long as you are listed with the Secratary of State. Even if you don't have any other business credit. Usually they will start you off with a 1000.00 Credit line. It's best to place an order of about 75.00 or above that way it reports as 100.00 (It's usually rounded up). 50.00 trade lines are ok but 100's or above look better. Don't buy stuff you don't need enless you just have that money to waste. Some companys take months to report. Some take weeks. Grainger and quill are the quickest to report (Out of thetrade lines that I have). They usually report within weeks. Some of the trades in my signature ask for a DNB number and some do not. They can find you on DNB even if you don't give them one by simply searching using their software. The company's in my signature are company's that I know of that REPORT to DNB with the EXCEPTION of global industrial and Pep boys (Does not report) and ULINE (Which does report but they asked me to pre-pay for 90 days and I said no thanks). A lot of other companys offer NET accounts but don't report. Usually those are smaller company's. Once you start viewing your report online you will have a good idea on whats going on and when you can move to the next step. I try to order from everyone about every 2-3 months. That way the information stays current. I did this especially when I first started up. The trades will stay on your DNB report for about two years with no activity. So that means really you only need to order once from any giving company that does report to DNB. DNB will refresh the info listed on your report with any new info reported by creditors. So if you purchase 1000.00 from quill and then two months down the road you purchase a small 50.00 order, that 50.00 order will soon replace the 1000.00 trade amount that is being reported. Not good when trying to build credit. 　 And for anyone wondering, I never had over 100.00 trades reporting when building business credit in the initial stages. My higest cl on DNB was 250 (but showed 750 because there were three 250 trades stacked because they reported under the same catagory to DNB but were infact three different trades.) So if someone tells you that you have to make sure that 1 and 2 thousand dollar trades are reporting then come tell them to read this thread. And for those of you wondering about Experian and Equifax CRA's that I mentioned earlier (The only other two major business CRA's out there) there's a little trick on checking your progress with them. Experian no longer shows the number of trades the business has and now only shows if the business has one or more trade lines and does not give a specific number. Equifax still shows the business info and how many trades are currently reporting. Once you actually have a file with them you know you are on the right path. Experian - http://sbcr.experian.com/pdp.aspx?pg=sample&hdr=pp&link=5502&offercode=EXPSBpdebr-t&intcmp=EXPSBbusrep_marquee Equifax - http://www.equifax.com/small-business/credit-report/en_sb Any questions about ANYTHING? Post up here and let me know! I will be more than happy to help.