10-22-2003, 11:35 AM
Manny Manny is offline
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Default What to do first, and other info
I wanted to make a post for those who are at the very beginning of their credit repair process.
I have learned many great tricks and methods along the way, and there are many different ways to do repair, so this post is by no means the only way to do things.
The first thing you need to do when beginning your credit journey is to sit down and decide what it is you hope to accomplish.
Do you want to buy a home, get a credit card, or just generally clean your credit?
Regardless of what you hope to achieve, the end goal should be a clean credit report.
The first thing you need to do is get a copy of your credit report from the three individual bureaus. (not a tri-merge).
This sounds scary, but believe me, it's not.
Remember, you have a right to know what is being reported about you, and that the information contained in your reports is accurate and complete.
For those of you who don't know - a credit report is a report that contains information about where you work, live and how you have been paying your debts. It also shows if you have been sued or if you have had a bankruptcy.
It does not have information on your salary or your race.
The bureaus compile the information found on your credit report, and sell this information to businesses.
These businesses use this information to evaluate you on your applications for credit, insurance, employment and other purposes.
It is important that you review your credit report for inaccuracies or any omissions.
You do not want to wait until after you have applied for something to find out that your report is incorrect.
How to get your report.
If you have been denied credit, insurance, or employment because of information contained in your report, the FCRA says the company you applied to must give you the CRA's name, address, and telephone number.
Here is a link to the FCRA:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm
If you contact the credit agency for a copy of your credit report within 60 days of receiving a denial notice, the report is free.
In addition, you are entitled to one free copy of your report a year if you certify in writing that you are unemployed and plan to look for employment, OR, you are on welfare, OR your report is inaccurate because of fraud.
Otherwise, a CRA (credit reporting agency) may charge you up to $9.00 for a copy of your report. (this varies by state in some instances).
The three major national credit bureaus are:
Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, Georgia 30374-0241
(800) 685-1111
www.equifax.com
Experian (formerly TRW)
P.O. Box 2002, Allen, Texas 75013
(888) 397-3742
www.experian.com
Trans Union
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, Pennsylvania 19022
(800) 916-8800
www.transunion.com
You may wish to get your reports online.
Please be aware that you need to read the sites carefully to make sure the product you are purchasing is what you need.
They all offer many products, and some of them you may not need when you are just beginning your journey.
Privacyguard (
www.privacyguard.com) offers a tri-merge report, (one report that is a combination of all 3 bureaus).
Many people use privacyguard (myself included), but sadly, you cannot dispute from this report. The mailed version includes a dispute form, but in my opinion, it is useless.
You need to pull your individual reports from the individual bureaus in order to dispute correctly.
Once you get into the process of disputing, etc., that is the best time to get the privacyguard report, that way you can monitor your progress.
The score you get with Privacyguard is useless, so please do not be shocked at how low/high it is.
Correcting Errors
Under the FCRA, both the CRA and the organization that provided the information to the CRA, such as a bank or credit card company, have responsibilities for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report.
To protect all your rights under the law, contact both the CRA and the information provider.
First, tell the CRA in writing what information you believe is inaccurate.
Include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position.
One example could be a letter from a CA (collection agency) or OC (original creditor) saying they will delete.
Do not send information such as Bankruptcy papers, etc.
In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request deletion or correction.
You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled.
You can send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can document what the CRA received.
Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures. (i.e.. everything).
You can dispute with Equifax online, but some of us have to go through an affiliate to dispute. Some of the affiliates have sites, some don't.
You can dispute with Experian online.
You can dispute with Transunion online.
CRAs must reinvestigate the items in question--usually within 30 days--unless they consider your dispute frivolous.
They also must forward all relevant data you provide about the dispute to the information provider.
After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the CRA, it must investigate, review all relevant information provided by the CRA, and report the results to the CRA.
If the information provider finds the disputed information to be inaccurate, legally, they must notify all CRAs so they can correct this information in your file.
Disputed information that cannot be verified must be deleted from your file.
If your report contains erroneous information, the CRA must correct it.
If an item is incomplete, the CRA must complete it.
For example, if your file showed that you were late making payments, but failed to show that you were no longer delinquent, the CRA must show that you're current.
If your file shows an account that belongs only to another person, the CRA must delete it.
When the reinvestigation is complete, the CRA must give you the written results and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change.
If an item is changed or removed, the CRA cannot put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies its accuracy and completeness, and the CRA gives you a written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the provider.
Also, if you request, the CRA must send notices of corrections to anyone who received your report in the past six months.
Job applicants can have a corrected copy of their report sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.
Second, in addition to writing to the CRA, you can tell the creditor or other information provider in writing that you dispute an item.
Again, include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position.
Many providers specify an address for disputes.
The creditor must inform the bureaus that the item is in dispute.
If you are correct-that is, if the disputed information is not accurate-the information provider may not use it again
============================
Information about criminal convictions may be reported without any time limitation.
Bankruptcy information may be reported for 10 years.
Credit information reported in response to an application for a job with a salary of more than $75,000 has no time limit.
Credit information reported because of an application for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance has no time limit.
Information about a lawsuit or an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.
Criminal convictions can be reported without any time limit.
Accounts paid as agreed remain for up to 10 years.
Accounts not paid as agreed remain for 7 years.
Collection accounts remain for 7 years.
Courthouse records remain for 7 years from date filed EXCEPT:
Bankruptcy - chapters 7 & 11 remain 10 years from date filed.
Bankruptcy - chapters 13 non-dismissed or non-discharged remain 10 years from date filed.
Unpaid tax liens remain indefinitely.
Paid tax liens remain up to 7 years from the date released.
California residents only: Unpaid tax liens remain 10 years from date filed.
New York State residents only: Satisfied judgments remain 5 years from the date filed; paid collections remain 5 years from the 'date of last activity'.
Inquiries
Hard inquiries are when you apply for credit, or are results of pulls from CA's. Some are non-permissible.
Soft inquiries are when your creditors pull an AR, you pull your file, or your file is pulled to offer you a pre-approved product.
PRM
A promotional inquiry in which your name and address were given to a lender for credit offers, such as credit card solicitations.
These inquiries remain on your file for 12 months.
AM or AR
An Account Monitoring or Account Review inquiry in which one of your creditors performs a periodic review of your account.
These inquiries remain on your file for 12 months.
PRM, AR, Equifax, Disclosure ID, ACIS or UPDATE
Internal inquiries, which indicate Equifax's activity in response to your contact with them, for either a copy of your credit report or a request for research. These inquiries do not show on credit reports that businesses receive, only on copies provided to you.
============================
Be aware that the bureaus themselves do not turn down your request for credit. This decision is made by the credit grantor. They make their own decisions and have their own criteria for approval.
If you still disagree with an item on your credit report, I strongly recommend you do NOT add a statement to your report.
This helps you in no way. Some creditors do not even read these statements, and many companies expect you to have savings to pay your bills during an emergency.
============================
I get so many questions about Equifax reports:
How to read an Equifax report
The company name is the name of the company that is reporting the information.
Some companies such as RMA will sometimes add numbers to the name of the tradeline, but regardless, you should be able to figure out the name of the company.
Account number is the number that the company is reporting.
Whose account:
J = Joint
I = Individual
U = Undesignated
A = Authorized User
T = Terminated
M = Maker
C = Co-maker/ Co-signer
B = On behalf of another person
S = Shared
Date opened is the month and year you opened the account with the credit grantor.
Months reviewed is the number of months account payment history has been reported.
Date of last activity is the date of the last activity on the account and may be the date of last payment, change, or occurrence.
High credit is the highest amount charged or the credit limit.
Terms is the number of installments (M = months) or monthly payments.
Items of date reported:
Balance is the amount owed on the account at the time it was reported.
Past due is any amount past due at the time the information was reported.
Status is:
O = open (entire balance due each month)
R = Revolving (payment amount variable)
I = Installment (fixed number of payments)
Timeliness of payment:
0 = Approved not used; too new to rate.
1 = Paid as agreed
2 = 30+ days past due
3 = 60+ days past due
4 = 90+ days past due
5 = pays or paid 120+ days past the due date; or collection account
7 = Making regular payments under wage earner plan or similar arrangement
8 = Repossession
9 = Charged off to bad debt
Adding Accounts to Your File
Your credit file may not reflect all your credit accounts. Not all creditors supply information to the CRA's.
Some travel, entertainment, gasoline card companies, local retailers, and credit unions are among those creditors that don't report.
If you've been told you were denied credit because of an "insufficient credit file" or "no credit file" and you have accounts with creditors that don't appear in your credit file, you can try two things.
You can either call the creditor and ask them if they will report.
If they say no, you can then try calling and asking the CRA to add this information to future reports.
Although they are not required to do so, many CRAs will add verifiable accounts for a fee.
You should, however, understand that if these creditors do not report to the CRA on a regular basis, these added items will not be updated in your file.
============================
Also, be aware that the 3 bureaus sell your information to businesses, etc. There is a way to 'opt-out' of bureaus selling your information.
The number to call is: 1-888-567-8688. (This will opt you out with all 4 bureaus). Be aware that you can also opt back in.
============================
As I said previously, this is by no means all the information, but hopefully you found it somewhat helpful.
If you have any questions, (and no question is too long or dumb), please feel free to ask them on our forums
Feel free to add anything to this that you feel might be helpful, etc.
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#2
Old 10-22-2003, 01:04 PM
Witz Witz is offline
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Nice job Manni....you sure are getting prolific these days
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#3
Old 10-22-2003, 02:35 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Witz
Nice job Manni....you sure are getting prolific these days
Thank you Witz , and I can also tell bad jokes and write crummy poems :lol:
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#4
Old 10-22-2003, 02:55 PM
NanaC NanaC is offline
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Very nice job, Mannie!!!
And, welcome to all new credit members..
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#5
Old 10-22-2003, 03:21 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NanaC
Very nice job, Mannie!!!
And, welcome to all new credit members..
Thank you Nana and thank you to everyone else that comes by and says so :lol:
I too want to give a big WELCOME to all our new members
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#6
Old 10-22-2003, 10:33 PM
enigma enigma is offline
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Good job,
I would add in obtaining your report since the FTC does not define "public welfare assistance', you can use that term to get your report for free.
I use it all the time. May kids go to public school, I travel on public supported hiways, etc....
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#7
Old 10-22-2003, 11:05 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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enigma,
Thanks for that reminder/great info :wink:
See............you did it for me :lol:
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#8
Old 10-24-2003, 11:08 PM
Armondo Armondo is offline
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This is great info
Too bad you are still a bossy dragon lady :P
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#9
Old 10-25-2003, 09:18 PM
sisflomi sisflomi is offline
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I moved my site and made it private, sorry.
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#10
Old 10-25-2003, 10:13 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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Sisflomi,
Thanks, great info
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#11
Old 10-25-2003, 10:23 PM
sisflomi sisflomi is offline
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Feel free to take from there and post here. I would but have so much going on right now its not even funny.
I am starting to walk away from other boards, its things like with willyt that drives me off. I love to help and have even started doing this on the side for a small fee for others.
But I can't stand the fights and the big wigs that think they know it all. I am sure you know what I mean.
I hope you don't mind that I am checking in with the board and kinda watching to see what you have to offer over here. Might just end up being my new "home" away from home one day. :lol:
I am in the middle of a mortgage, fixing my credit, my bf's, my sisters, her husbands, my landlords and her husbands. And have four paying clients at this time too. I also have four kids(two pre teens, and two teens, sports, homework, ptas, conferences, weight watcher meetings, have to start packing, blah blah blah.
Anyway, you see, I am quite busy, so, if I find time I will link or post what I can. If I have not posted it here, please feel free to copy and paste from my site. Theres nothing there that can't be shared at just about any credit board out here.
There are tricks for getting inquiries off, building credit, removing addresses, what have you. If you feel I need to add something to my site, pm me or email me about it and I will add it. I keep the board running on my own too.
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#12
Old 10-26-2003, 05:12 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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Credit Repair 101
First you should opt-out of pre-approved offers of credit with the credit agencies.
You call this number and give them your info including your social security # and they send you a letter asking you to sign and send back. Don't worry, its legit and works like a charm to keep CA's from adding things back to your report down the road.
This is especially important if you plan on getting a home loan some day.
You can remove your name from prescreened credit or insurance offer mailing lists from Experian, INNOVIS, TransUnion and Equifax by calling 888 5OPT OUT (888 567 8688).
If you are in a hurry, choose the 2 year option and they don't have to send you the letter to sign, they can just put it on there.
While waiting for the opt-out to take effect you should start with getting your personal information correct on each credit report.
Make sure your name, address, employment, drivers license, social security #, date of birth, anything personal is reported correctly.
Dispute old or outdated info as not yours with each of the CRA'S.
By doing this, it gives you an extra shot at getting old things off your report. (I had BK removed from two reports doing this, as well as 1 judgment).
If you have no other address other than the one you had when you applied for the credit, try going to Mail Boxes ETC.
You can open a PO Box and they will give you a normal street address with a number to use. It will look like an apartment and you can use that address on your drivers license too.
You should be able to call credit report agencies and change addresses and such over the phone.
After the CRA's send you your new updated reports you can begin your disputes.
You can also get privacyguard.com for 1.00 for a 3 month trial.
They are only good to monitor your report, not so good for doing disputes as they don't give you the full account information. Also, if you are going to do disputes online, you need to have a file number from a recent report. You can only get that with a current report from each CRA.
You can do it online with TransUnion without the report.
The first time you dispute, you need to know what you want to be done with each account you are going to dispute.
If you dispute a good trade line that has one late pay as never been late you risk the chance the entire account will be deleted. You don't really want this to happen, as it is probably helping your score more than hurting.
You would want to send a goodwill letter to the OC of this account asking for forgiveness first. If this fails after a few attempts, then try with CRA as never been late.
Now if you know you want this account off, you will dispute as not mine or no knowledge of account.
You will want to dispute half or less of your accounts at a time. Each time the 30 days are up, you will want to dispute the other half.
So, you have 10 bad accounts, you want to dispute them all in hopes of getting them deleted, you dispute 5 as not mine. You get your letter saying 2 were deleted, 3 were verified.
You send a new letter of dispute to CRA with the other 5. They come back in 30 days, 3 deleted, 2 verified.
You then want to send dispute of the first 3 that came back verified.
The second time you dispute something you can try again for not mine or use a different reason why its wrong, such as the account, never had an account w/hhbk with this account number or wrong balance, wrong dates, never been late. Get creative if you have to.
After doing your disputes and having some success you can work on getting inquires off your report. The newer the inquiry the more it is hurting your score.
You can get a free report two or three times a day from
www.worthknowing.com. Sign up, view your report, then go to the top of the page to My Account and when all your account info shows up, go to the bottom of page and hit delete my account.
Once you do this, you can sign up again. Most days I can do it 3-5 times.
The reason for this is they begin building up soft inqs. (that's what you get when you view your own credit report and it does not affect your FICO score). After so many softs, it starts to d.e.l.e.t.e. h.a.r.d. i.n.q.s. off of your reports.
This is known as b.u.m.p.a.g.e.
I know it works, it takes about two months to see inquiries start being removed. This will only work with TU when you use WK and it will work for EQ with PG.
Removing Inquiries
EQ Technique
Call them up (888 873-5357) and tell them that you don't recognize the inquiries and that you never authorized them. That's it. They will tell you that they'll put in dispute for 21-30 days but in reality they take it off in a few days. THAT'S IT FOLKS!!!
EX Technique
Call them up (800 583-4080) and ask for their fraud department, tell them you have inquiries that you did not authorize and that you don't recognize. They WILL put them under investigation for 30 days and then delete them. Not one that my girlfriend & me dispute (over 20) have ever been verified.
They may ask you if you want to put a fraud alert on your account. You can do that if you like. To cancel it at any time you just call them back up and tell them to cancel it and they will cancel it within 7 days.
It may help if you put a fraud alert first then 2 days later make the call. Adds validity to your claims.
THAT'S IT FOLKS!!
TU Technique (I've heard about)
1) Threaten to sue after following up with letters sent CRRR.
2) Sob stories (my girlfriend got all hers off with this technique)
3) Bumpage
When all else fails, come back and ask questions or search for more info on your problem.
You need to state the last date you paid to the Original Creditor and what state your from when you ask for more help. It will give anyone trying to help you a lot more to work with.
PS, PG scores, Experian Credit Expert and other site scores are not true fico scores.
You would have to buy it from Equifax or My Fico to get your true fico scores.
You can buy all three CRA FICO scores at MyFico and if you use this code REP110 it will give you a discount.
Thank you to the member that gave me this information.
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#13
Old 10-26-2003, 05:21 PM
Manny Manny is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sisflomi
Feel free to take from there and post here. I would but have so much going on right now its not even funny.
Sorry about that, but I sincerely appreciate you coming here and giving us that great info Thank you!
I am starting to walk away from other boards, its things like with willyt that drives me off. I love to help and have even started doing this on the side for a small fee for others.
Good for you. I wish you luck.
But I can't stand the fights and the big wigs that think they know it all. I am sure you know what I mean.
I understand :wink:
I hope you don't mind that I am checking in with the board and kinda watching to see what you have to offer over here. Might just end up being my new "home" away from home one day. :lol:
No, we don't mind at all In fact, we welcome you and anyone else that wants to make us their home. We are proud that people feel welcome here..........it's a really big house and stuff :lol:
Really though, we welcome you!
I am in the middle of a mortgage, fixing my credit, my bf's, my sisters, her husbands, my landlords and her husbands. And have four paying clients at this time too. I also have four kids(two pre teens, and two teens, sports, homework, ptas, conferences, weight watcher meetings, have to start packing, blah blah blah.
Ha ha, you got kids :lol: ....okay, bad joke......LOL.
I really do hope everything works out for you.
Anyway, you see, I am quite busy, so, if I find time I will link or post what I can. If I have not posted it here, please feel free to copy and paste from my site. Theres nothing there that can't be shared at just about any credit board out here.
Thank you so much!!
There are tricks for getting inquiries off, building credit, removing addresses, what have you. If you feel I need to add something to my site, pm me or email me about it and I will add it. I keep the board running on my own too.
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#14
Old 10-27-2003, 04:47 PM
sisflomi sisflomi is offline
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I am sorry but I had to make my site private, I ticked someone off at another board because I don't have names linked with all of my letters. If anyone needs the info, just email me and I will be glad to email back what you need.
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#15
Old 10-27-2003, 04:51 PM
Czar Czar is offline
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Had to make your site private? :lol:
Czar
