Search the Community

hello everyone, I've been a longtime fan of this site and have used its advice to progress my credit repair over the years. I guess I should describe my situation because where I'm at now will be my second time (unfortunately) in the rodeo.... I fixed my credit back in 06-07 and applied/ got approved for numerous lines of credit. I guess this was at the peak when they were just handing out anyone without income a CC. At one point I had a: Audi Visa- $2G, BofA Visa $5G, Macys store-$3G, Discover $2G, 2 HSBC MCs at $2G each, a Carecredit at $3G, a PayPal $2G, a Home Depot $1G, and a couple of other smaller lines. I had a job, I paid on time and then the recession hit and I lost said job and stopped paying because there was no way to keep up. It was either pay rent in Manhattan and eat or pay the minimums on all of these cards that had high balances due to the fact I had to buy my food/other survival items on them. Fast forward a year (2010/11) and everything was charged off. My credit went from a 785 to a 490 with numerous collections (F U Midland ) I have worked steadily over the past year trying to get these items removed and have been quite successful without the help of any outside companies. It takes time and patience but it works for the most part. My question for the experts is this. I have been very strategic and had every collection deleted, I have had all inquiries purged, I even had a judgement vacated (which I heard was nearly impossible). I now need to know how to get the OC's off because they are fighting. I have sent DV letters to all of them and they have sent me bills with my name but no signature or anything else that I would think would be needed in a court of law. Some of the items show a $0 balance/ charged off and are under the negative section of my report. If they are $0 balance then why are they being reported? All of the collections accounts tied to these have agreed to delete because I assume they are just lazy. These companies have already written off my bad debt and there is nothing benefiting them by continuously reporting these accounts right? I have even gotten the CFPB involved (their site is great) and it produces tangible results. But not always... What would you guys recommend? If I continue to dispute the OC with them directly and the CRA will they just call it frivolous and throw my dispute in the trash? Is there a way to offer a pay for deletion on these old accounts if they are written off? (I dont think the OC will even accept the monies owed at this stage). I just hate that some of these old accounts are still lingering and mucking up my reports when Ive made phenomenal progress by getting the Collections removed... Do I just have to suck it up and wait for them to drop off? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated