Am I proceeding correctly so far?

[Yuoso]

Good morning

I have decided the time is now to begin the long and tedious process I have begun reading about. I have acquired my credit report in paper form and I am now reading through the beginners section. I am currently reading through "PsychDoc's Credit Repair for Beginners" and will begin writing all over copies of my credit reports as it is directing me to do. I just wanted to say hello and thank you for any help you can offer. I do have a question though. Is it better to attack all of my bad listings at once or one at a time? Is it a personal preference or is there a reason to do one or the other?

Thanks

[cv91915]

Welcome.

 

I think everyone's situation is different and your approach should be crafted toward how many negatives you have, what they are, and your personality type.

 

If you have a variety of issues it will be almost impossible to absorb every unique nuance at once, so I wouldn't attack everything at the same time, but rather start with something easy to get some momentum and build from there.

 

Good luck with whatever approach you choose. You'll get plenty of help here, just post before you do something if you are unsure.

[Mustard on Fries]

What I did was triage my reports.

 

Decided what I wanted to attack first, and how I wanted to attack it.

 

While that was going on, I started planning my next attack. This worked well, because there's usually 30 to 45 days at the very least between each attack.

 

I went for the easy low hanging fruit first. Things that were almost ready to fall off, things out of Sol etcetera. Now I'm down to my last few. These are the sticky ones lol.

[barco]

Make sure to order the pay copies of reports as those only give 30 days to respond as compared to 45. Also check out the jack attack thread started by jack1212.

[tweak]

Do you have any unpaid debts reporting - charge-offs or collections?

If so, make sure you understand the SOL in your state for lawsuits.

 

You may also want to read the pinned topic on your "Collection Score".

 

Go ahead and Opt Out.

Many will suggest that you delete old addresses (and wait for those disputes to be completed) before you start disputing tradelines.

EQ and TU are easy. EX will keep old addresses tied to negative tradelines - but some have had success (search for EX master address).

 

Good luck! -tweak

[pwd847]

According to WhyChat HIPAA should be first.

[Yuoso]

cv91915: I have a very wide range of negatives :\ Would it be acceptable to post a list of sorts and ask for advice on which ones to begin with first? I want to know exactly what I am doing before I do it. Since each type is handled differently, I would feel far more confident picking one, finding the best way to deal with it, and then dealing with it. The concept of researching and learning how to deal with every kind at once scares the crap out of me.

Mustard on Fries: I am triaging them now. I think the way you are doing things would be perfect for me as well.

barco: I printed the digital copies. I'm guessing that extra 15 days matters more than I might have to wait an additional two weeks? If it is just an extra potential wait, I am OK with that. If that extra time will make things not go as planned, I am not OK with that. Clarification please?

tweak691: Holy hell do I. Some are due to expire within a year or two. My logic says I should begin with the most recent accounts. I have a few from 2014. As a matter of fact, I have a few from most years since 2009..... :\ I have opted out. I will look into deleting old addresses now. I'm assuming to do so I will need an Id with my current address. It has an old address on it that I have not wanted to spend the money on changing. Oh well.

pwd847: I have run into the name WhyChat a lot in my reading. He has a lot of good material from what I understand. Can anyone else clarify that HIPAA should be first?

Everyone: I want to do this right. I have read a lot, but I have not read it all. I am open to advice, but may ask for clarification of said advice when it is given. At times, I may come across as argumentative, but this is my nature. I know and accept that. Know that I only intend to learn and be sure in what I am understanding.

[drew3918]

cv91915: I have a very wide range of negatives :\ Would it be acceptable to post a list of sorts and ask for advice on which ones to begin with first? I want to know exactly what I am doing before I do it. Since each type is handled differently, I would feel far more confident picking one, finding the best way to deal with it, and then dealing with it. The concept of researching and learning how to deal with every kind at once scares the crap out of me.

 

Mustard on Fries: I am triaging them now. I think the way you are doing things would be perfect for me as well.

 

barco: I printed the digital copies. I'm guessing that extra 15 days matters more than I might have to wait an additional two weeks? If it is just an extra potential wait, I am OK with that. If that extra time will make things not go as planned, I am not OK with that. Clarification please?

 

tweak691: Holy hell do I. Some are due to expire within a year or two. My logic says I should begin with the most recent accounts. I have a few from 2014. As a matter of fact, I have a few from most years since 2009..... :\ I have opted out. I will look into deleting old addresses now. I'm assuming to do so I will need an Id with my current address. It has an old address on it that I have not wanted to spend the money on changing. Oh well.

 

pwd847: I have run into the name WhyChat a lot in my reading. He has a lot of good material from what I understand. Can anyone else clarify that HIPAA should be first?

 

Everyone: I want to do this right. I have read a lot, but I have not read it all. I am open to advice, but may ask for clarification of said advice when it is given. At times, I may come across as argumentative, but this is my nature. I know and accept that. Know that I only intend to learn and be sure in what I am understanding.

You NEED to use the 30 day paid for report in case you end up in Court down the line and for many other reasons. Advice given to EVERYONE is to READ everything first before even trying to start the repair process. Otherwise you can screw it up even more.

[Yuoso]

Drew3918: OK. I will order the reports. It's gonna cost me money though and I wanted to be sure of the necessity before I did so. I've adopted the mindset of "Do I REALLY have to spend this money?.... before I even thought about trying to repair my credit report. No sense in fixing it just to screw it up again...

As far as reading everything, that is fine. I am OK with reading everything. In fact, I LOVE reading and learning new random information. However, just to be clear, are you referring to reading every forum post or is there a list of specific items I need to read and understand? Wouldn't it be more efficient to present the TL (Hey I learned a new acronym ) I want to repair before deciding the material that needs to be studied? If I'm wrong, please tell me and advise a route that I should take instead.

For now, I'm going to order my official 30 day reports and go from there. Or should I remove my addresses first? Crap, I'm confused now

[breeze]

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showforum=15

[Yuoso]

Thank you Breeze. Will read.

[tweak]

What I did was triage my reports.

 

Decided what I wanted to attack first, and how I wanted to attack it.

 

While that was going on, I started planning my next attack. This worked well, because there's usually 30 to 45 days at the very least between each attack.

 

I went for the easy low hanging fruit first. Things that were almost ready to fall off, things out of Sol etcetera. Now I'm down to my last few. These are the sticky ones lol.

^ This is good.

 

I find it very helpful to track all my tradelines in excel. I keep track of DoFD, which CRAs they report to and date last reported, dates of letters they send, and much more. They are grouped by triage categories.

 

I also keep folders of paper files for each tradeline and for each CRA. Keep all your old reports and all correspondence.

 

 

I would suggest NOT attacking any unpaid charge-offs or collections that are still within your state's SOL - unless:

- They are medical - see WhyChat HIPPA

- They are for small amounts ($100s or less) - and you are prepared to answer a lawsuit and pay in full if they sue.

- The "most recent" delinquent accounts may be more likely to verify or to sue. Attack out-of-SOL (or at least older) tradelines first.

 

Find out if if your creditors tend to sue.

- Amex, Capital One, and Discover have been known to sue.

- Some JDBs often sue; others don't.

 

Definitely keep any active accounts current from now forward.

I would not start rebuilding new credit lines until you are not worried about being sued - others may disagree.

I got a car loan in Nov 2011. Within a month, one OC sold a $3500 CO to a JDB. In Nov 2013, the JDB sued. I got a lawyer, it was dismissed with prejudice and deleted from my reports. YMMV.

 

I am patiently waiting for two $5000 charge-offs from 2009 to hit my state's 6-year SOL. Don't poke the bear. :-)

I'm about to start WhyChat HIPPA for 5-year-old medical collections.

Good luck!

 

Do you have any unpaid debts reporting - charge-offs or collections?

If so, make sure you understand the SOL in your state for lawsuits.

 

You may also want to read the pinned topic on your "Collection Score".

 

tweak691: Holy hell do I. Some are due to expire within a year or two. My logic says I should begin with the most recent accounts. I have a few from 2014. As a matter of fact, I have a few from most years since 2009..... :\ I have opted out. I will look into deleting old addresses now. I'm assuming to do so I will need an Id with my current address. It has an old address on it that I have not wanted to spend the money on changing. Oh well.

 

[tweak]

For now, I'm going to order my official 30 day reports and go from there. Or should I remove my addresses first? Crap, I'm confused now

 

 

Address disputes are not as critical as real disputes of tradelines.

 

I'll let the more experienced members correct me if I am wrong, but here's what I would do:

 

You said you have paper reports.

 

- Did you get official paper reports mailed to you from EQ, EX, and TU? (not from some third party or credit monitoring service)

If you didn't, stop and do that. (And study the reports you have, triage, and read more on CB in the meantime.)

 

- Are the official paper reports mailed to you based on the FACTA annual free report (or annualcreditreport.com)?

If so, these reports are valid.

But the CRAs have 45 days instead of 30 days to respond to your disputes.

You can still use them to dispute addresses, alt names, phone numbers.

Wait for those address disputes to be completed,

Then, when you are ready to dispute a tradeline, order new paid paper reports from each CRA. (You'll get a new report number, they will only have 30 days to investigate.)

 

As a rule, only dispute in writing.

 

BUT, many people have gotten old addresses removed by phone or online. EQ and TU are easy. It is very hard to get EX to remove any address tied to a negative tradeline. If you dispute addresses by phone or online, do NOT opt in to electronic delivery of the dispute results. Be careful with this. If you are worried about messing up, just dispute addresses by mail.

[pwd847]

I love how everyone says to delete old address' but nobody references this thread.

 

Start with EX. Call and tell them what address' you want removed. They will remove some(maybe) and won't remove others. Wait three to four weeks and make the second call. In between your first and second call to EX you can take care of TU and EQ.

 

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=528144

This is how to get free paper reports that give only 30 days to investigate disputes instead of 45 days:

 

1). Get free annual reports from EX, TU, AND EQ.

2). Clean up names and addresses.

3). When your dispute of addresses is done and you receive your results, call and request an updated copy of your complete CR be mailed to you for free. Repeat this with all 3 CRA's.

Edited December 2, 2014 by pwd847

[Yuoso]

Thank you everyone. I got paid today and plan on purchasing my paper credit reports now. I will get back with this site when they have arrived and been triaged. Until then, I will read until my eyes fall out.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Yuoso

[pwd847]

I don't think you can accomplish too much if your eyes have fallen out........

[EternalDebtSlayer]

Would it be acceptable to post a list of sorts and ask for advice on which ones to begin with first?

 

I recommend doing this. Let a few people look at it and you'll get some good advice.

 

Also, if money is tight, you can still dispute off of the free reports. Don't set yourself back on cash just to get new reports as you can do what pwd847 suggested and have reports for free.

 

A 30 day time frame is obviously an advantage for you over a 45 day time frame, but by all means, don't spend money you can't afford to be spending right now.