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Let me start my saying this has been one of the most important resources on the internet that i have ever come across. I applaud everyone one here. I found CB when looking at slickdeals.net for black friday deals. i saw specials for the discover it card and chase freedom. my credit is not good but i have a capital one platinum and corporate amex so i thought it was a possibility. in the thread for the chase freedom was a link to cb to check which CRA is pinged when you apply for chase. I started clicking around and 5 days later i read about a decade's worth of information. After reading days worth of posts on CB, i am angered and appauled about the credit industry, the cra's and ca's. I couldn't believe the stuff i was reading. Well here is my history. In college...i *Admin removes vulgarity*ed up (can you curse on here?). My parents didn't educate me on credit (or how to manage fincances). Although, I still should have took it upon myself to learn. I ended up getting several cards and couldn't pay them. My attitude was i'll pay it when i pay it. I ended up getting collections, charge offs, etc. My saving grace was i went to school on a full ride scholarship so i had zero student loan debt. I ended up getting a great job, making 80K a year. But my credit was toast. It almost cost me my job, because i was required to travel (airfare, hotels, rental cars). Luckily a friend bailed me out and made me an AU on his card. It wasn't until me and my wife tried to get a house with NACA that i was forced to own up on my credit mistakes and make a change. So i started to pay creditors slowly but surely. so about 2 years later and about 10k poorer, here i am. current fake scores (12/2012 - 12/2013) *mind you they were much worse prior to 12/2012 lol ex = 628 - 615 eq = 616 - 614 tu = 594 - 606 my credit file -cap1 plat ($1500); up from $1000 -cap1 plat ($1000) -fpb ($300) -navy fcu auto loan -3 state tax liens (released) -1 closed tl -3 collections -11 paid collections *some dupes -4 charge offs *some dupes -1 other (capital one nat'l=open, pays account as agreed & account transferred or sold; not really sure about the status of this one) -1 other (ohio dept of human s=open; pays account as agreed; not really sure about the status of this one) so my action plan is: 1. opt-out: done 2. triage my report: done 3. remove zombie addresses: pending 4. validation of collctions, paid collections and/or charge offs 5. oc validation of paid collections and/or charge offs 6. attempt to get liens withdrawn or removed so i'm currently at the process of removing zombie address. i'm fine here. i would just like some tips on the following: credit montitoring: i'm using privacyguard and credit karma. i like pg for the tri credit report. is this a good service? if not what do you recommned? credit reports: i'm using privacyguard and annualcreditreport.com. is there a better service? fico score: can myfico get all 3 scores? if not what do you recommend do you get your fico scores? thanks for now. and i'll keep this post updated with my status.

Hi everyone... first post so let me know if I miss any important details and thanks in advance. I'm in the process of applying for a mortgage with my wife for our first home. Her scores are good (787/792/794) but our joint application was denied because of my score as reported by CBC Innovis. They pegged me at: BEACON 5.0 SCORE +652 EFX01 CLASSIC 04 SCORE +688 TRU01 FAIR ISAAC SCORE 2 +661 XPN01 By contrast myFICO yields: Experian 709 Equifax 705 Transunion 704 We are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area (so expensive...) and are looking to qualify for mortgage above the conforming limits. The first lender we've spoken to used CBC and told us I would need a 700 to be approved. The major difference between the reports I can pull and the CBC report is a tax lien filed by the District of Columbia in 2005 (for the 1999 tax year). I had moved around a lot in the mid-2000s and didn't get the notice for this lien until 2010, when I paid it in full (around $3000). That lien doesn't show up in any of the reports I pull (from myFICO or from the the CRA websites). However, I have a copy of the CBC report, and it does show up there, with a LACT date of 01/2010. I guess that leaves me with two main questions: 1. Is there anything I can (realistically) do to convince CBC and/or the lender to discount this particular event? 2. Will other lenders use a report similar to the CBC report, such that no mortgage lender will view me as having a 700+ score? Any help on either of these questions very much appreciated.

in 2012 I applied for a lien withdrawal and was denied. I later found lots of useful information on this board and today just received Form 10916 from the IRS in the mail. Woo-whooo! Backstory: The IRS filed a lien in 2009 to include tax from tax years 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007. I entered a payment plan in 2012 and converted it to auto-debit after learning of the withdrawal process. I sent in all of the paperwork and that request was denied. Reasons given were that the 2002 taxes had been self-released (past 10 year SOL and uncollectible) and that I was not in a repayment plan. Little did I realize that another requirement was to have filed the last three years tax returns, timely. I had not done that, but it wasn't cited as a reason. In December of 2013, I found a few threads here on CB and read them all from beginning to end. I then completed the form again, requesting the withdrawal. I also sent a very personal cover letter detailing the troubles and what I had done to resolve and address my past tax problems. I included documentation to demonstrate that I was in the auto-pay plan and how much of the debt I had already paid. I also explained why I had been unable to pay the 2002 portion before it self-released. Lastly, I included a memorandum from the IRS that allows for the approval of the request via manager review and asked that such a review be conducted. Four weeks later I followed up via phone to the Advisory for my area (I was terrified to call, but based on what I read, I bit the bullet) to find out the status. Called and talked to a very nice woman who told me that she had sent my paperwork to another department because I had checked both "open" and "released" on my request form. I explained to her the self released portion and indicated that is why I had checked that box. She immediately knew it would need manager review and told me to fax her the paperwork and she would get that going. She also gave me the number to contact the department that she send the paperwork to, so they would have a heads up. I did both and the department said they would forward the file back to the Advisory. This was the last week of January. This past Friday, February 28, 2014 I got the letter from the IRS that request was approved. I almost fainted. Today I got the Form 10916. Based on everything I read, my next step is to obtain certified copies from the City Register's office and send to the CRAs with a concise letter disputing the entry on my reports and requesting a deletion. I checked online today and it the document hasn't been recorded yet. Thanks, CB. I seriously could't have done it without the contributions from you all. I followed it diligently and am excited with the results. I hope my post can help someone in the future. Success since returning to CB in November 2012 - Withdrawal of federal tax lien - CMRE Medical collection deleted - 12 late payments (each) on Sallie Mae Private loans - Increase in credit lines on Wal-Mart, Chevron and PayPal credit cards totaling $1580 (nice utilization bump!) - New Roaman's store credit card (another $750 available credit to help with utilization) Baddies left - Confirming Barclays UPromise card will report (they sent a letter confirming they would report the card, still waiting for it to appear. Every since Barclays took over the account, it disappeared from the reports and it is my highest limit and oldest open credit card.) - Target - 1 -30 day late (called a CSR who agreed to remove it, still waiting for that to be reflected) - Citicard - 1 30 and 1 60 day late (Have tried both GW and dispute, to no avail. Will come back to it) Planning to buy an apartment (in NYC) in the next 12 months, so this has been extremely beneficial. Wooo-whooo! Can't wait to have the lien removed once and for all and see the impact to my scores.

Hi, guys, So I got some wonderful news yesterday. I happened to call Experian to cancel their free trial credit monitoring and they talked me into another free month. I said okay, and just out of curiosity checked my report again. It was about five weeks since the last time I checked it and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was free of baddies. I’d had been working hard since November on five medical collections (same CA), one paid tax lien and one paid civil judgment. I tried to GW the OC on the judgment but after trying to reach out to them twice with no reply, I decided to take a break and figure out what my next step would be. I’d also asked the IRS to remove the paid lien from my report – they do that now, but it’s apparently not guaranteed for everyone who applies. I knew that was going to be a longer process, so I decided to settle in and wait. So when I checked my credit report yesterday the lien was gone and the judgment was gone. Whaaat? I called the IRS to inquire about the status of my request and the woman I talked to said the removal had been approved but they were still working on it. The way it was explained to me, I'd have to take documents they would send me to my county court/clerk and ask to have the lien removed, but it seems they're ahead of me somehow. Also, I had disputed the five medical collections and four were deleted rather quickly but the one for the largest amount ($1600) came back verified. So I was preparing WhyChat’s HIPAA letter as my next step, but when I checked my credit report yesterday that one was gone too! I mean, it had been due to age off the report next year so maybe they’re early? I’m not complaining. Is all of this too good to be true? I am planning to purchase my three reports in about a month to double-check this fantasy. If it is indeed true and they're all gone for good, I think I would be able to begin to rebuild. I have one Cap 1 Secured CC (just over a month old). I’ll use that for a three months or so and then beg them for a CLI (limit is now $400). After that, any advice? I’m not sure what the ideal number of cards is to have (I don't want a lot) or which banks would be best to try for. Can you guys suggest which cards I should try for and how long I should wait before applying? Right now I'm thinking to wait for about 6 months so my secured CC can some good reporting. Is that a good plan? Thanks in advance for any advice, and thanks for all the invaluable advice you’ve provided to me over these two months of my lurking and posting. I know I wouldn’t have been able to get to this point without the fantastic support from CBers and I can’t thank you all enough.

My friend has not made a payment in about 5 years to the bank. The house is worth a lot more then what is owed so I guess that is why the bank hasn't been too agressive about throwing him out. In Suffolk county NY you can do an online search to see if you have judements or liens on your home or yourself. He has a lot of judgements against him. They range from $20.00 all the way to $15,000.00 Even with the judements the house is still worth a lot more then what is owed. At this point in time their are NO liens on his property. His first question.... If there is a judgement filed what happens when he tries to sell the house? Do the judgements have to be paid before or at closing or does this have no effect on the sale? One of the judgements is for over $10k, why wouldn't the credit card company put a lien on his home in order to try and get their money back. They already have a judement against him. I'm sure that at one point the bank looked at his house from the ouutside and saw that it was in great condition so there are no issues. His house is one of the best on the block. Billy

Does anyone have any experience getting a Withdrawn and Released IRS tax lien removed from public record? I was told that once these are a matter of public record, they are permanent and the CR bureaus have different policies on reporting these withdrawn liens. I have heard of public records being expunged but would like some advice on the process.

Does anyone know for sure how public records such as liens are validated by the CRAs? As I understand it, the courts do not share this information directly with the CRAs, rather it's gathered by a third party service. Is that service L-exisN-exis? I pulled my L-exisN-exis Full File disclosure report and, interestingly, it has only 3 of my 6 tax liens. Possibly of equal interest is that all 4 of them have my SSN associated (partially xxx'ed out) with the exception of the most recent one which has last 4. Has anyone disputed a lien or public record, been "validated" and then done an MOV? If so, what did the MOV say? Has anyone been able to successfully dispute/remove a public record from LN?