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A friend of mine has told me that three of his US Bank accounts are collection. There's one account that he owes $3233, one for $2628, one for $1933. I haven't seen his actual credit report yet, but assuming that US Bank still owns the debt, and hasn't been sold to a JDB, has anyone had any luck trying to get US Bank to reduce or eliminate outstanding debts? I'm going to broach the topic to him to see if they will do a goodwill approach or a PFD approach, using a payment plan, as he doesn't have all the money to pay it off right now. Thoughts? Thanks for the help in advance!

I am trying to purchase a home for $550,000 by taking out a conventional 30 year fixed rate loan. Banks keep telling me that the max for a conventional loan is $415,000 and if I want to go over that amount, I'd have to make up the different in my own cash... Are you telling me that anyone wanting to purchase a home for over $415k has to pay the rest in cash??? So there are no banks out there that does mortgages for over $415k? No problems in the credit area. Thanks in advance for any and all responses. Please Help!

Hey everyone! Ok, so I've read a "credit 101" text, so to speak, NOLO's credit repair book, and a couple of sketchier eBooks off of Amazon. Then...I found this board! Done my fair share of creeping about on here, and then decided to dive in. I'm a new mom (daughter born 5/1/2015) and I realize more now than ever the importance of getting my credit score up to par! Any help anyone would be interested in giving would be much, much appreciated. I felt so dang empowered leaving the post office yesterday with a hand full of green receipts from my first round of attack! Woohoo! With that being said- OK, so I ordered my three reports. Read PsychDoc's repair primer (over and over ahem) and triaged them. I had several accounts that were old medical bills from a car accident back in 2011- I was not at fault, driver's insurance covered all the rest (some $30k) but somehow those 4 slipped through. Anyways- they were placed for collection by OC. 4 tradelines, 2 different CA. I sent validation letters to the CAs (CMRRR of course ) and then disputed one tradeline from each CA (two total items per bureau) with all 3 CRAs. OK, so now I'm awaiting responses. So far, does this sound about right? There are also 2 more accounts (one CA) also for medical bills. Sent validation to them as well. Merchants & Professionals: $33 / $1755 / $915 IC Systems Inc: $679 Optimum Outcomes, Inc: $245 and $245 (believe the two accounts are actually duplicates but are reporting date of first delinquency one month apart) The rest of the negative items are student loans. My, oh my. Three accounts from Higher Education Services Corporation that have been Charged Off (payment status says : account transferred to another lender on all three). 2 accounts from Texas A&M University that are negative and closed. 3 accounts with USA Funds that are currently being rehabbed- however- still showing as bad bad bad on credit reports, Higher education services corp: $0 balance on all 3 (acct 120 days past due date transferred to another agency) USA Funds: $3796 / $6134/ $8254 (these are the ones I'm rehabbing) Texas A&M University (only showing on Experian): $81 / $6424 Last week I received my Capital One secured card. I have charged about $50 on the $200 limit and won't charge anymore this month. Other ideas to build credit while I'm repairing? I've heard getting secured personal loans from credit unions? Anyways, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone! This post is especially focused towards wondering if I am able to use Why Chat's guide. So I am a 21 year old college student who is relatively new to the credit world. I will lay out my issue/concern as explicitly as possible to avoid any confusion. I went last week to apply for a Wells Fargo Cash Back College Credit Card and was shockingly denied for "derrogatory public record, or collections filed" since, to my knowledge, I had essentially no credit history or reason for denial....or so I thought. That night, I immediately run my credit report from all 3 bureaus (using annualcreditreport.com) and see the reason. All three bureaus show one relatively small student federal loan that is in good standing with payments deferred until after graduation. HOWEVER, TransUnion and Equifax show an account with a balance of $122.00 (original creditor was a hospital) that went into collections with Collection Agency #1 as of November, 2014. (using arbitrary identifiers for simplicity). The open balance on the report was last updated in February, 2015. I am still under my parent's insurance and they pay all of my medical bills, but this one simply got overlooked and forgotten about. However, it is a legitimate charge. The next day, I call collection agency #1, and they tell me they no longer are responsible for my account because it was handed over to a different collection agency. So, I had to call the hospital (original creditor) for them to tell me that Collection Agency #2 now has my account and that the balance can either be paid off through the hospital or Collection Agency #2. So, I call Collection Agency #2 and pay off the balance. They tell me why will send me a letter verifying the account's satisfaction as well as notify Credit Bureaus per their protocol. The next is where I'm afraid I shot myself in the foot since I did all of this before coming to this site. To be proactive, I then contacted TransUnion and Equifax to start disputes. I told both bureaus that Collection Agency #1 no longer had my account, that it was moved to Collection Agency #2 as of May, 2015, and that I paid off the balance. I also told them I would fax in the confirmation letter of the account's satisfaction once I receive it in the mail, which I have not yet. What I want to know is can I still follow your guide even though I started these disputes already? I even told TransUnion and Equifax the name of Collection Agency #2. Since Collection Agency #1 was the only one identified on the credit report, could it now be taken off since there's no longer a relationship with my account balance that was in question? I know that I may have muddied the waters with my proactive initiative, but I hope this all makes sense. What do you recommend be my next step in this process? My ultimate goal is to get approved for a simple college credit card to build credit, and this is unfortunately an issue that needs to be resolved before that happens. Of note, I have not applied for any other credit cards besides the Wells Fargo one mentioned. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME IN HELPING, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!

Greetings: I have been reading CB for the last year however this is the first time I have actually joined and posted. I have already read and done all the basics and think I am ready to move forward but could use some basic starting advice. Here's the simple gist of my situation: (4/8) Fico Approx Score is 570-600 1st Item: BECU credit Card: Account Type Credit Card - Credit Union Balance $1,124.00 Past Due $0.00 Date Opened 6/1/2009 Account Status Closed Mo. Payment $0.00 Payment Status: Charge-off High Balance $1,124.00 Limit $1,000.00 Terms Revolving Reporting to EX, TU, EQ SOL is already reached. DoFD 07/2011 Last Update 01/2012 Fall off Date 07/2018 CA is Renton Collections who sent me a couple letters in 2012 and 2013 and they haven' t reported to CRA. The account hasn't been sold to the CA. 2nd Item: Renton Collections: Balance: $483 Placed for collection: 04/18/2013 Responsibility: Individual Account Account Type: Open Account Date Updated: 11/01/2013 Original Amount: $431 Original Creditor: EVERGREEN RADIA LLC Past Due: $483 Fall off Date: 09/2019 I'm planning on using the Why's Chat Method regarding this item. I also have a paid Auto Loan for $15k over 1 year and a Secured CC with Wells Fargo with $300 limit that was just recently closed. So currently I have no open revolving acct that are helping me. Questions: 1.) Which item should I attack first? 2.) Is it worth even attacking the BECU card with my limited credit history or is it more likely to hurt me in the long run? 3.) What's the best method for my situation? DV with CA or DV with CRA or both? I intend to get another Secured CC to add as a revolving acct to boost my score, however I would like to remove these sigma as I am in the market for a house and new auto loan. I would appreciate any expert help you could give me. Thanks

So, thanks to the helpful members here, my CR is pretty much cleaned (1 pending dispute left) I now wan't to tackle my wife's CR. We wen't through some rough times with job losses and such so mistakes were made. About 10 yrs ago I worked on cleaning some of her older credit from her 1st marriage. Got some deleted and many just SOL'd right off. I pulled her free annual CR's but couldn't get TU online so I'll post from EQ and EX. Gotta call to get TU. Have no idea what her FICO is. Equifax: Open Accounts: Capital One Account Number: Current Status: PAYS AS AGREED Account Owner: Individual Account. High Credit: $ 1,807 Type of Account : Revolving Credit Limit: $ 7,100 Date Opened: 05/30/2003 Balance: $ 30 One 30 day past due reported Aug, 2013. OCWEN LOAN SERVICING, LLC. Current status: PAYS AS AGREED Account Owner: Individual Account. High Credit: $ 132,700 Type of Account : Mortgage Credit Limit: Term Duration: 36 Years Terms Frequency: Monthly (due every month) Date Opened: 06/13/2005 Balance: $ 112,971 Date Reported: 04/30/2015 Amount Past Due: Date of Last Payment: 04/2015 Actual Payment Amount: $ 1,123 Scheduled Payment Amount: $ 1,098 Date of Last Activity: 04/2015 Date Major Delinquency First Reported: Months Reviewed: 55 Creditor Classification: Activity Description: N/A Type of Loan: Conventional RE Mortgage Date of First Delinquency: N/A Comments: Loan modified 120 past due 8/2011; 90 past due 9/2011; 60 past due 7/2011; several 30 past due last occurring 9/2014. I have no ownership or interests in this home. It's is my wife and her kids so I pretty much stay out of it financial-wise. Closed Accounts: Bank of America Current Status: CHARGE-OFF Account Owner: Individual Account. Date Opened: 03/28/2005 Balance: $ 0 Date Reported: 05/21/2013 Amount Past Due: Date of Last Payment: 11/2012 Actual Payment Amount: Scheduled Payment Amount: Date of Last Activity: N/A Date Major Delinquency First Reported: 04/2013 Months Reviewed: 91 Creditor Classification: Activity Description: Transfer/Sold Charge Off Amount: $ 2,289 Date Closed: Type of Loan: Credit Card Date of First Delinquency: 01/2012 Comments: Charged off account BofA really pissed us off. They pulled that Debit Re-sequencing scam (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/11/08/bank-of-america-settles-excessive-overdraft-fee-lawsuit-for-410/) on our bank account a lot during our financial hardship period. All those overdraft charges got billed to this CC and we just gave up on it. We will forever despise BofA. HOMEQ SERVICING Current Status: PAYS 31-60 DAYS Account Owner: Individual Account. High Credit: $ 127,000 Type of Account : Mortgage Credit Limit: Term Duration: 30 Years Terms Frequency: Monthly (due every month) Date Opened: 06/01/2005 Balance: $ 0 Date Reported: 09/01/2010 Amount Past Due: Date of Last Payment: 08/2010 Actual Payment Amount: Scheduled Payment Amount: $ 1,198 Date of Last Activity: N/A Date Major Delinquency First Reported: Months Reviewed: 55 Activity Description: Transfer/Sold Charge Off Amount: Date Closed: Type of Loan: Conventional RE Mortgage Date of First Delinquency: 12/2009 Comments: Variable adjustable Rate 30 days past due 2/2010 - 9/2010 This loan I believe was transferred to Ocwen Loan Servicing (refer to above) when she did a loan mod. Others: Positives Carmax auto loan: paid in full good standing. Closed AMC MORTGAGE SERVICES: Pays as agreed. Closed Best Buy: Pays as agreed. Closed GAP: Pays as agreed. Closed No Collections or Public Records Experian Same negatives accounts as listed in EQ above Same other positive accounts as listed in EQ above No Collections or Public Records DW credit reports was not as bad as I was expecting but far from good. I expected to see CA's. There is no immediate need for her credit use in the foreseeable future. I would like to start thinking about how rebuilding her credit should be handled. I'd rather do it now with plenty of time on my side. We have since changed our lifestyles to eliminate the need for so much credit. After having lived much of our lives up to our eye-balls in debt, we now try to live within our means and do as much as we can pre-funded. Thx in advance.

Hello. I've been doing a lot of reading here for the past 2 months or so. I have gone through everything in the newbies section, and I think I'm finally ready to start cleaning up my reports and adding some new tradelines. What I've done so far: -Opted out for 5 years -ordered paper copies directly from CRAs -got all old addresses deleted from EX, EQ, and TU I currently live in PA, SOL is 4 years. Most of the baddies originated in RI where SOL is 10 years. If my understanding is correct all I need to worry about is PA laws. Heres what I working with: Equifax Transworld Systems, Inc, OC national grid not reporting, $222 balance, DOFD 02/2011 BOA CO, Account transferred/sold, $488, DOFD 03/2011 Enhanced Acquisitions LLC, $700, DOFD 06/2010 Experian BOA CO, $488 written off, $737 high balance, National Grid, $222 charged off, scheduled to remain until 09/2017 Transworld Systems Inc, $222, scheduled to remain until 11/2017 RGS Financial, $129, scheduled to remain until 08/2016 Transunion BOA CO, $488, scheduled to remain until 02/2018 Enhanced Acquisitions LLC, OC cashnet not reporting, $700 First Bank of Delaware loan CO, $1146, scheduled to remain until 04/2017 I don't plan to do anything about the Bank of America CO right now especially since it is still within SOL for a couple months. I have heard they are difficult if not impossible to get deleted and disputing will cause them to update. I'll wait to dispute Transworld and National grid until March when SOL is up. Right now I am planning to write letters directly to CRAs disputing Enhanced Acquisitions, FBD, and RGS. They will probably be based off the Jack Attack method, or should I try the handwritten approach first? I have read FBD is closed so hopefully that will be an easy delete. I don't plan to DV any of the data furnishers until I get the results of my first round of disputes back. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice anyone has.

I am a little confused and looking for some help. I was ready to PIF on my AMEX CC account that was charged off in 2010 and noticed that it shows charge off and then it is also showing a balance of $2200.00. The original balance owed was 8k which is what I actualy owe, so why is the balance showing only $2200? Did they charge off/write off $5800 and not do the $2200? What do I actually owe? I need to pay it off to apply for a mortgage. Thanks in advance!

I am currently rebuilding with several charge-offs from 6 years ago with many of the prime banks. I currently have several positive credit cards all under two years old. My utilization on most are 0 but a few are around 5 %. I just joined Navy Federal and was advised to try to apply for their credit card. The customer service agent advised me to apply for the Platinum and was told I can call back tomorrow afternoon to find out if I was approved or not. He said the computer said it had to be manually reviewed. So I'm not sure if that means a denial. If I get declined, does anyone know if the secured card ever graduates? I have several rebuilder cards with 100 AF that I never use, I just keep them open for a positive trade line. I would like to ditch these. Thanks for any help

I have recently been denied by Bank of America for a secured Credit Card. Terrible feeling when I went to get my $300 deposit back in shame.. So, a little bit about me. Im a 32 male recently married this past September. I have always paid cash knowing I had poor/no credit. From 2007 to 2010 the IRS had been giving my tax returns to Sally mae, (school Loan) now paid off..And I do now collect my returns. I average between $50,000 to $58,000 a year at my job(been at same job since 2007). I have a paid off truck that I purchased off craigslist. Im sorry for long read, But im really looking to turn my credit around! if anyone can help It will be greatly appreciated! again, I know my credit is terrible As I ordered my credit report wich I will post. My Score is a 404...(I know, I know. pathetic.. CONVERGENT OUTSOURCING #2659**** P O BOX 9004 RENTON, WA 98057 (800) 444-8485 Placed for collection: 01/24/2015 Responsibility: Individual Account Account Type: Open Account Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY Balance: $596 Date Updated: 03/14/2015 Original Amount: $596 Original Creditor: T MOBILE USA Past Due: >$596< Pay Status: >In Collection< Remarks: >PLACED FOR COLLECTION< Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 03/2017 FOCUS RECEIVABLES MANAGE #1966**** 1130 NORTHCHASE PKSUITE 150 MARIETTA, GA 30067 (877) 362-8766 Placed for collection: 05/22/2014 Responsibility: Individual Account Account Type: Open Account Loan Type: COLLECTION AGENCY/ATTORNEY Balance: $90 Date Updated: 05/04/2015 Original Amount: $90 Original Creditor: TIME WARNER CABLE (Cable/Cellular) Past Due: >$90< FARMERS INSURANCE 4680 WILSHIRE BLVD LOS ANGELES, CA 90010-3807 (888) 327-6335 Requested On: 04/10/2015 The listing of a company's inquiry in this section means that they obtained information from your credit file in connection with an account review or other business transaction with you. These inquiries are not seen by anyone but you and will not be used in scoring your credit file (except insurance companies may have access to other insurance company inquiries, certain collection companies may have access to other collection company inquiries, and users of a report for employment purposes may have access to other employment inquiries, where permitted by law). FIRST NTL COLL BUREAU 610 WALTHAM WAY MCCARRAN, NV 89434 (775) 322-0444 Requested On: 04/15/2015 GEICO DIRECT 1 GEICO BLVD WASHINGTON, DC 20076 (800) 861-8380 Requested On: 04/09/2015 Permissible Purpose: INSURANCE UNDERWRITING ALLIED INTERSTATE 435 FORD ROAD MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55426 (646) 375-6155 Requested On: 12/24/2014 SELECT RESOURCE GROUP 3900 LEEDS AVE CHARLESTON, SC 29405 (888) 994-9706 Requested On: 11/18/2014 AFFIRMATIVE INS HOLDINGS 4450 SOJOURN DRIVE SUITE 500 ADDISON, TX 75001 (972) 728-6300 Requested On: 02/24/2014 Permissible Purpose: INSURANCE UNDERWRITING - The following Special Messages may be provided to an authorized party when it makes an inquiry into your TransUnion credit report. These messages provide important details concerning the information contained in your file and/or the authorized party's inquiry. FILE CURRENT ADDRESS REPORTED MISUSED AND REQUIRES FURTHER INVESTIGATION -End of Additional Information.. Any help? or am I forever shamed? Thanks for your time!

So I have a CO from BOA. SOL is about 1.5 years from now. I just checked my CR lastnight and I noticed on my TU report in the BOA tradeline that it shows a payment of $502.00 for 4/2015 and another payment of $502.00 for 5/2015. I never paid them anything....lol. Then....on the bottom of the payment amount there is a notation of PL. What is PL....paid late? What should I do with this? Looks like my balance due went down too...

I currently have a $2k rent debt from 2011 (Georgia) in collections with National Credit Systems. I spoke with them recently to arrange a "pay to delete" scenario, and the collecter I spoke to said he would do it but wouldn't be able to put the agreement in writing. He tried to justify this by saying that our conversation was recorded and that would be sufficient evidence of our agreement to remove the debt from my credit report after I paid it in full. So my primary question is: Is an oral agreement to delete this debt from my collections report binding? I am extremely hesitant to trust a bill collector's word for anything.

Hello, I had two copays (100.00 total) for medical services due to a hospital. Unfortunately, this particular hospital never consistently sends a bill. I know I should have kept track of it, but there are months in between the service and billing ,when I receive it. They refuse to let me pay at the time of service, because, "the provider is from a different office." I received a call last week from a CA (FirstSource Advantage), I immediately called the OC (hospital) and paid the entire balance. The same week, I received a letter from FirstSource Advantage regarding the debt. I called the Hospital billing department about removing the account from collections, and they stated that I should call the CA and explain. Which seemed reasonable... until I found the threads here. I have used MyFico to pull my current TransUnion report and it doesn't reflect any collection as of yet. I read the Why Chat HIPAA instructions, and it seems I screwed up by paying the bill to the OC in my panic. I managed to destroy my credit in college, and I've put in so much effort to raise my score to it's current level. Can anyone offer my some advice as to what my options are at this point? Can I modify a HIPPA letter for my situation, or is it too late? Thank you for any advice.

ERC hit all my reports with a collections account for DirecTV. I was going to send them a DV letter, then I went through my garage and found some of the old equipment. So I'm unsure of what step to take. Option A: call DirecTv and negotiate a deal for returned equipment with an agreement for removal from credit reports Option B: send DV to ERC. Keep in mind that when I first started my journey, I disputed this DirecTV account when it was owned by NCO Financial and it got deleted. Now it's been reinserted. It's also wayyy past SOL as well.

More like a huge mountain that cannot be moved. I am giving this one last shot. Would like to ask what I can do for a Charge Off by AMEX. I was offered the Optima program, but did not get the letter as they sent it to my old address many months ago. My account is back with AMEX, and not with and jdb or CA. I have jack attacked, tried to PFD, tried to almost everything except write to the EO? and ask for goodwill. When I jack attacked, they corrected everything, then reported CO every month for a whole year! LOL ! My friends here on CB.......what can I do? I have the money to pay if I need to. Heres what my CR looks like. Terrible...I know.... AMEX AMERICAN EXPRESS AMEX Account # XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX Account Type Credit Card Open Account Open account Balance $3,716.00 $3,716.00 $3,716.00 Date Opened 10/1/2006 10/1/2006 10/10/2006 Account Status Closed Closed Closed Mo. Payment Past Due $3,515.00 $3,083.00 $3,479.00 Payment Status Charge-off Charged off as bad debt Bad debt & placed for collection & skip Bad debt & placed for collection & skip High Balance $3,716.00 $3,716.00 Limit $3,716.00 Terms 1 Month Comments Account in dispute CHARGED OFF ACCOUNT Account information disputed by subscriber reported by subscriber CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR HELP?

I have a question that I need help with. I had some work at the dentist and the dentist refused to honor a payment plan. His staff pushed me to apply for GECRB care credit now taken over by Synchrony Bank. Is there any ammunition that I have to get this CO removed from my CR. Is this considered medical billing in some way? Is there something I can do to make this a HIPAA issue so they cannot verify anything? Suggestions? Thanks in advance!

I thought I would post my story about my fall and current recovery and to solicit some advice. After graduating college in 2006, and having already established good credit thanks to cards opened in my name and paid monthly by my parents (always nice), I applied for the Amex Gold, Blue, and Citi Premier Pass card and was approved with decent limits for a college grad. I was lucky to have a great job in finance right out of college so I always paid everything on time and in full, except for leaving a small balance (max of 10% utilization) on the Citi card. I also decided to go lease my first car at this time. The salesperson asked for my credit score but I did not know it (I had never really concerned myself with my credit until this point). The salesperson looked dismayed and said I would probably need a cosigner, which my parents were willing to do. However, when she came back she had a huge smile and said you have a 740 and are approved. At that point, for whatever reason, I became obsessed with my score. From 2006 through 2008, I watched as my score kept going up and up (maxed in the low 800's). And then the financial crisis came... I had about a year left on my lease, which wasn't cheap because I decided I needed german automobile out of the gate (don't make the same mistake new grads). I had no job prospects either at the time so I had to make some difficult decisions with the savings I had left. I decided to use the money to pay off the lease so I wouldn't have negative car credit in the future. But that led to me only being able to pay the minimum on my credit cards. In addition, I decided to get a BofA card with a low CL of 2,500 (also stupid but I was desperate). By mid 2009, the car was off the books but my credit cards had become maxed out and I could no longer pay. I was fortunate to get a very small inheritence at this time from my grandparents estate (when I say small, I mean a few thousand dollars). About this time all of the cards were reaching their mandatory charge-off date. So I decided to pay off Amex with the money I received and enter into an agreement with Citi to pay the balance over time (stupid decision). To Amex's credit, they never posted a late on my reports and they put "paid as agreed" and then they closed the accounts. But I still owed Citi 10k. After paying them the agreed upon amount for about 8 months, I again defaulted and there was nothing I could do. In addition, with the part time job ending, I also defaulted on the BofA card owing about $2K. Also, during this time I had a small medical procedure that I could not avoid. Because I could not pay the small balances, they went to collections and 1 was on all three reports and the other 5 were on TU only. So...I went into hiding. I dodged letters, moved a few times, and didn't even care to look at my credit score, except once in 2013. I just figured I would live off my debit card/checking account. And for the last 4.5 years, that is exactly what I did, which sucks at times when money gets tight because of unplanned event in life. Finally, after about 4 years, I decided to get my credit back in order, which led me to this sight where I was a lurker for a bit. I tried to soak up as much as I could before embarking on this. I requested my credit reports, purchased the EQ service so I could monitor things monthly, and decided to start repairing and rebuilding. First thing I noticed was that I had no judgments (lucky). Next thing that I noticed was that Citi was no longer on my reports... anywhere. This was a shock. Two things I can think of that led to this: 1) the SOL had run; and 2) They had already received about 2K from me on the payment plan I had been on. (Note: I have been updating my reports monthly and they have stayed off since last fall). With that good fortune I decided to attack the BofA debt that was now held by Cach. This one was still within the SOL but I TX DV'd ( I live in Texas) them using the methods on this board. I will go into my Cach experience in a different post for those interested but my experience is probably a bit different than most for a few reasons. I called them after gathering evidence, which is not advised on this board, and I would probably not advise it either except that 1) I am a law student with unlimited resources and enough familiarity with legal procedure and maneuvering at this point; 2) I did a ton of research outside of this board as well; and 3) I needed to get this cleared up sooner rather than later because this is a very important summer for me. But I was prepared to go to court against them if I needed to (everyone needs to be prepared to do this if they are going to go down this route). However, that was not needed. They agreed to PFD for a fraction of the amount after I threatened to file based on the numerous infractions (documented) that had occurred. It took many calls to both offices and a final threat that they had 24 hours to accept the terms or I was filing. I got a pdf letter within the hour of that last call that they would agree to the terms. I made some modifications to the agreement and sent it back--days they had to remove, wording, etc. Two days later it was removed. Huge success. Again, not everyone should take that approach, but my circumstances were different. Lastly, I went in and did all PFD's for the medical debt. This was surprisingly simple, but that was likely due to me PIF and that it was past the SOL. I did this by phone too. Some wanted me to pay before an agreement was in writing, but obviously I didn't agree to that. I got all of them in writing and they all fell off within the last few weeks. So that is the good news. My scores have increased from the high 500's to the mid 600's since November, except for TU--that one is still in the low 600's because it had 6 medical collections on it. I believe that one will reflect the other scores soon. In addition, I applied for a few cards and was approved right away for two. Cap One QS $2K Citi AA Plat $2.5K Not a huge limit but I am student and that limit is high enough to keep the utilization low. I can't to tell you how good it feels to get approved and be back on the "grid." It is a great feeling that I have not had for years. Lastly, I got a little too carried away with being approved for cards the last few weeks and applied for an Amex blue. I was rejected. They pulled the TU which is the lowest score so I am not shocked but was not thrilled either. For whatever reason, having an Amex again would make me feel like I have come full circle and have completed my comeback. The Amex was the first card I applied for out of undergrad that I was solely responsible for and I miss it. I know, first world problems. Question for those that have much more experience and expertise with increasing scores--do you think I need to open up another account, or is it satisfactory to go ahead with these two cards for now? I also have an installment account with federal loans for school so I am not sure if all of those factors are good enough right now? However, there still is a little bad news and that is the BofA CO is still on my report. I have just now started the process of trying to remove it since I saved it for last. I have researched this board and realize they are very difficult when it comes to this. But I have noticed a few inconsistencies on the TL. I believe my best course is to dispute with the CRA's especially since the Cach one is gone now. The good news is that it reflects a zero balance and is almost 4 years old. The bad news is that it still won't fall off for another 3 years if nothing can be done. Any advice here would be great. Anyway, I know my story is not nearly as challenging as some others on this board, but for those of you who are lurking, just remember you have more leverage and power than you may believe. This is not a sprint either. You have to be willing to research and get a plan together. I also want to thank those that have put in an enormous amount of time on this board to provide guidance and resources--it is truly amazing. I will post the Cach details soon. Thanks.

I received an alert a few days ago through CCMP that there was a change to my credit report. I pulled up my latest and Convergent is reporting on EX and EQ a debt. However, I never received a letter from them prior to this alert. The only thing I could think of is T-Mobile from just short of 5 years ago. I have been searching a bit today and I think this letter http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=500226may be the best letter to send. Because the account number isn't complete, do I need to provide them my full social security number? This already has caused some stress as just of last week I started to work with a relator to purchase my first house. I spent the past 3 years working to clean up my reports and this just kicks me in the gut. I am in the state of Florida and I'm having a hard time to find out with the SOL is, some places I see it's listed as a Written Contract for 5 years and some list it as 4 years.

Hi everyone, Hoping someone can help me with a question about a dispute I filed. Hang in there, this gets a little complicated....:smileywink: I have 2 "sets" of negative tradelines - 9 US Dept of Education lines from a defaulted student loan and 8 lines for 1 60 day late in December of 2008 with Sallie Mae/Navient. So annyoing that there's 17 tradelines for what is actually 2 payments, but I digress. I defaulted on the Dept of Ed loans around May of 2013. I don't remember exactly when I started the rehab process, but I completed that in September of 2014. My credit scores all went up, but I honestly can't say exactly how much was attributable to the rehab and how much was attributable to opening a credit card and using it very responsibly during this time period. Fast forward to about a month ago - I started reading here (after applying for a mortgage and being limited to FHA, not because of bad scores, but because of all these negative tradelines) and went ahead and disputed both the Navient/Sallie Mae late payment (to my knowledge, I had an in-school deferment at the time of the late payment, which was the grounds for dispute) and the negative info leading up to the default (grounds being "it was rehabbed"). Transunion responded immediately - all deleted. I just got a scorewatch from my fico and my TU 8 score went up 70pts. Hooray! Experian wasn't reporting the Dept of Education loans, but I did go ahead and dispute the SM/Navient lates, and I'm still waiting on that. My real problem is Equifax. Oh, Equifax. Equifax responded pretty quickly on (May 4th) with something that looked very similar to TU's response - all information (on both the lates and the negative info prior to default) would be deleted. Yay, right? Wrong!!! I pulled my credit report on May 8th and the Sallie Mae lates were gone, but the Dept of Education negative info was still there. So, I called today to see when that would be removed. The agent told me that they would have to open another dispute, but that info would be deleted as soon as possible, within 30 days. After that call this morning, I refreshed my credit report on Equifax.com and to my surprise, ALL of the negative info on both sets of loans was back up, but all of the positive history was gone. I just called, and their agent informed me that negative information about late payments, etc, is not "historical data" and the "historical data" is what Equifax agreed to delete. UGH!!!!!! I mean, seriously!!!? The "evidence" I submitted with my dispute was solely about the negative information, not about the positive information. Why on earth would they delete all of the good info and leave the negative? So, now I have 2 disputes open with Equifax and who knows what's going to happen.... Has anyone had a similar experience? I do not understand "historical information" = "positive information only." Any thoughts? Thanks for reading and any help is much appreciated.

I am just starting my repair journey and will share my story later today when I have full time. I have the money to go and stash $400 in a secured card. Which one is the best to get FIRST as I have ZERO of anything positive reporting to my credit report. I tried to search but got a lot of crazy returns so I wanted to ask. I do have my story to share later and my timeline of what I have read on what I need to do to start my repair including getting paper reports. I just wanted to ask this one question first while I had time.

I kind of laugh every time I see it or picture it, but we have a new billboard o it here on the NJ Turnpike. credit saint dot com. . How off-base is this one? And how many gullible folks fork over money? And how many Fraud Alerts get generated lol (a la LifeLock?)

OMG! Zombie debt still being reported even after bankruptcy will be deleted by these banks: BOA, CitiGroup, Synchrony Financial, GE Retail and J.P. Morgan Chase. Of course, this is not from the goodness of their cold hearts, but rather because they were facing mounting pressure from lawsuits. "Bank of America promised to go further, agreeing to fundamentally change the way the bank reports all the stale debts that are sold to financial firms. For all credit-card debts sold since May 2007, court records show, the bank will remove any marks on consumers’ credit reports. That way, a lawyer said, “should a previously sold credit card account go through a bankruptcy discharge,” the mark will already be gone." Here's a link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/business/dealbook/bank-of-america-and-jpmorgan-chase-agree-to-erase-debts-from-credit-reports-after-bankruptcies.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000

Hi everyone! Here's My situation: back in May 2008 Ii decided to start building up some credit (don't' remember my score back then .. but it was pretty much nonexistent.) and had applied for one of those Capital One starter/student cards. I was approved for the usual low limit of $300. One thing led to another due to a domino effect of a single missing payment and the fees started piling on over the course of a few months to the point where i now owed $1798 bucks (i know .. I know...) . The account was closed in Feb 2010. and went off to collections In hindsight, I wish i would've payed more attention to it since at this stage in the game i'd probably have a couple high limitcards by now. I'm generally very responsible, always pay my bills on time and never buy things i can't afford. Fast-Forward to today : My credit score is 560. I've applied to a couple cards once every now and then but never got approved. Until now that is. I was able to get approved to a Credit One Gas Rewards card. Beggars can't be choosers, so i went with it. Very high APR and low limit ($300... deja vu) . I'm happy about it though! It's a start! It's been about a week and i have maxed it out and also payed it off (this included their 75 $ fee +225 balance). I've also been "approved" for a Capital One Secured Master card which I'm saving up to put a decent deposit on in order to have a higher initial limit. I'd like to place at least $1000 minimum on it. But realistically I'd like to put something more along the lines of 3 or 4 grand. (max is $10k with capital one right ? ) I have until July 8th to make the deposit. So my questions for you all are: What can someone in my situation do to speed up the process a bit ? I know things may take time but i'm sure there must be some way to gain at least a hundred points by the end of the year, right ? How fast, or slow do these things actually go. Assuming that I use the cards and pay them off immediately. And would having multiple smaller secured cards from different banks/companies be better than a single larger one? Thanks in advance!!

bound for Chicago O'Hare. You heard me.

Hi, I got the suggestion to start my own thread and here it is:). Let me preface all this by thanking you to take the time to help; just coming out of a very bad health situation (where Im still undiagnosed) and marriage; fixing my credit is really key to be able to do anything on my own.. I am very new to this whole process and am trying to deal with two things: 1) Understand what to do with a new threatening collection agency which is out of state; this is from an old bill and I now see that I have a very limited time to respond to the CA as they are threatenting to take action (more details on that). 2) I am in the process of writing to the CRA to remove old addresses, names, inaccurate social and phone numbers---I am running into a few problems and will start with that. Regarding the process to remove old addresses: A) I have a membership with TU and cant seem to pay for a credit report; the report they give to me through the membership has no ID #------any ideas/suggestions---do I send them a copy of that without the ID #??? Have a limited time to send the old address deletion request in order to deal with the pending action from CA baddy---rather than order free credit report which I messed up online and have to wait for in the mail, does anyone have suggestions on how to pull TU from another site in this case?? Also regarding sending my proof of address, will a bank or credit card statement be accepted instead of a utility bill to verify my address and identity---I have two addresses, one home and one mailing and my various forms of id are not all at one address.....ugh I know...........my drivers license has my one address and utilities are at another address........so again, would a credit card statement work instead, I can't use cell phone bill unfortunately. C) Regarding deleting old addresses and names----will deleting my maiden name hurt me if I have closed accounts still reporting from this previous name that may not have my updated name? Or does removing collection items under old name help more? Same question for old addresses and closed accounts that are reporting from an old address...? D) there seems to be an inaccurate social security number listed on my EX report and all but the last four of that social security number are showing---do I just circle it and list the last four in asking for this number to be removed? Finally, getting to my question about this CA breathing down my neck to respond immediately, WhyChat do you suggest that I send them a debt validation letter now or wait, even if they start a judgement, until old address has been removed? The CA bill is from an old hospital bill, a law office seems to be writing me; it's from another state and is for around $1500----I will ask for the EOMB but I never went through with the procedure Im being billed for; I walked out and they are charging me this for a room charge of a few hours!----this bill is over a year ago and am not sure if Medicare will allow me to dispute it with them----what can I do to avoid the worst case scenario, not contact them right? Will post more about this specific bill and see if this will help. I really look forward to all your suggestions; as you can see my health and situation have made things quite a challenge----Thank you very much for your much appreciated and needed advice!!!! Thank goodness for this site!!!!