Credit Repair 101

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
81

That’s great about Transunion! If you got an email or received a letter in the mail that the accounts have been removed, it might take a minute or two for them to disappear. If you could clarify on how they were removed, that might help a little.

Unfortunately what you witnessed is correct. Credit repair often has to be done in triplicate when dealing directly with the CRAs like Transunion. The good thing is that you got it off one of the companies, so if you needed to, you could apply for loans or doing anything associated with credit- and just use lenders that pull Transunion. When you speak with lenders on the phone you can tell them you’d prefer them to use only TU, and often they will work with you and do that. If you are nervous and uncertain if EX and EQ are going to give you the same removals, you can “freeze” them. If a report is frozen, anyone that tries to pull it will be unsuccessful. Companies rarely only pull one report, and often have a main one with another as backup in case the primary is frozen. This would work to your advantage as you could force the lender to use TU. I’d call different lenders and bluntly ask them what report they pull… they’ll tell you. Unfortunately a lot of lenders locally pull EQ.

Look through this thread, I believe I posted a few links to ways of obtaining your credit report for free, without using the stupid annualcreditreport.com scam.

good luck!

82

thanks man. I disputed the TU stuff online. I have the confirmation page that shows the 4 as deleted and 1 as changed.

83

Awesome man, glad to hear it. Since disputing online worked for TU, I’d try disputing with EQ and EX online also. Worst comes to worst, you can try forcing a lender to use TU, using the method I briefly described above. If you need any help, always let me know

84

This is not so much a repair Q but more so of a will this hurt/help me Q. I would say I have a little above average credit for my age (only 20) and I feel that im moving along at a decent pace but for an undisclosed reason, im pondering whether to apply for 5 or 6 cards that I know I can get but, do not plan on using them much at all.

Any of you gurus know if this will hurt my credit? (dont ask why im doing it lol)

thanks

85

Short term, it will hurt your credit marginally and may impede your ability to secure financing ( car loan, personal loan ) as it may appear you are desperate for credit and will use it irrationally. People with great scores have tried applying for store credit somewhere ( circuit city ) and were approved, then went to bestbuy and were approved… and then when going to rosa’s later in the day, were denied. Just for this reason. Furthermore if you apply for multiple cards over the course of a week, your score will take a larger, more immediate hit, as each time your report is pulled, your score is lowered slightly. If you apply for all of them in one day, it’s effect on your score will be less, however the likelyhood of getting approved for all will drastically be reduced.

Long term, it will help your credit as the only way to get into the highest levels of credit score is with very old credit that has 0 lates. The longer you have these cards and keep up with them perfectly, the more your credit will grow compared to someone who has only 1 card.

Since you explicitly stated why we shouldn’t ask what you intend on doing, I won’t ask. Honestly though, I’m skeptical that whatever you are doing parallels something intelligent.

86

lol… I pmd you

87

in lieu of pm’ing a few separate people about the topic ill just bump the old thread and hope for the best.

how do i determine how much to have in open credit? i was always turned down for having a poor dti ratio. yes i know it was good for me in the long run (still wish i was approved for that 330 zhp, but its nice not being over extended), but i just need to find out where the limit is.

for example, when do the creditors say, you have too much credit out there and you are over exposed.

i read this whole thread and a few other ones and im pretty sure i read the advice to have as many zero balance credit cards out there as possible for as long as possible. there has to be a limit some where.

heres some of my recent financial history that would have effected me since i last pulled my credit:

Summer 08
-paid off a 6k motorcycle credit card, the limit was like 8k, i lowered the limit to 2500
-got my truck loan refied after a year from 16.9% to 10.89% with five star
Fall 08
-opened a lowes card with zero interest till october or something with 900 on it/ 1200 limit.
Within the last month:
-just traded the truck in for an accord at 8.59% with hsbc.
-I also put 2 cards (walmart and paypal (holy shit at the paypal interest rate)) on a zero balance no payments HSBC cc for 6 months - 900 on a 1k limit.

I also have my ESL credit card with 210 on it and an old navy cc with zero on it. and 30k with sallie mae (different loans at 9&11% i think, need to get those consolidated asap)

i dont really plan on needing credit for anything except maybe a job/insurance. but ive been with geico for 3-4 years and they treat me well.

I have never had anything go to default and the last time i had a late payment was with paypal, but they said they wont report it (few days late) and they even removed the late charge without me asking. before that was a 30 day on my esl credit card in dec 06, and another 30 day in 6/06 on a monro muffler credit card (which was paid off/closed 8/06).

i pulled my reports feb 07 and had a 668 with trans union, 659 with experian and a 616 fico with equifax.

bascially how do i know when to ask to raise the limit/lower the limit/cancel a card? do i pay it off to zero or leave 50 bucks and make the minimum payments for eternity? can i ask for a lower rate?

please advise. thanks in advance.

88

so after busting my ass for a few years to pay off all my debt and increase my score, I was told i need to open a credit card or two so I have more active credit to improve my credit score even more. Who is the best company(easiest) to get a CC thru?? I have a score in the 650 range.

89

The other day I was looking for some good 0% offers and cam accross some websites that display current credit card offers from most of the major creditors.

quick google searched pulled this up:

http://www.credit-card-depot.com/

edit: I used this site last time: http://www.creditcards.com/

they might have a section where it displays cards for people with “less than perfect” credit

90

so i did a dispute through equifax and they removed the error, now, i think i have to buy a credit report from the other 2 in order to submit a dispute, EW, or is there a way around that?

91

Thank you soo much Adam, this is helping me rebuild my busted ass…

was on 6/08 a 650 (transunion and experian)
now on 12/08 a 780

I cant thank you enough =)

92

hell yeah, adam is the man. I have jumped 100+ points since chatting with him. I got my BOA platinum plus CC today as well

93

Sorry I haven’t been around guys, I’ve been preoccupied with a lot of crap lately. I’m glad things are working out for everyone!

94

Here are a few “pre-selector” sites that grant you the ability to see if you’ll be approved for a credit card without them pulling your credit and giving you a hard inquiry. Unfortunately it’s not 100% guaranteed that you’ll be approved, but it generally is spot on.
American Express
Capital One

Newport News

HSBC

Bank of America
Orchard Bank

That should keep you guys busy for a bit. :roflpicard:

95

I just applied for an American Express card…$2000 limit woooo

96

I need some help here, i asked a friend about credit, and they referred me to this forum, specifically for this thread right here, which i am on credit boards, but i do not understand too much of it as i am not that great with credit.
So my score is a 516 now, and about a year ago was a 650, i have a truck (equinox) financed through GMAC, and about 7 or 8 open lines of credit.
The economic bullshit hit, forcing me to make a choice between the cards, or the truck payment, and i chose to keep paying the GMAC and stopped paying on 6 of the cards.
All the debt is still with the original lenders, and at best 90 days late, as i can now afford to pay them, i am. My question is this, I want to get rid of my truck as the value on this thing is going down and down, and it is a 2007, best i can hope for is 12k trade for it and i owe 18,600. I have 6,000 in cash towards a trade as well, but the dilemma is this. Do i with my score so low, trade in my truck for the car i want, plus the 6k to help out on the overhead, reducing the amount owed on the truck to 2,600 making it easier to get financed. Now the other part to this is the later i wait to trade the truck in the more in value the truck is going to go down, which is why i want to cut my losses with it now, even though my APR is going to be higher. Question is do i still go ahead with that? Or work on bringing my credit back up? I have $10,579.00 in debt over the 6 things i owe on, some i can pay off completely with the 6 grand i have and get rid of at least 2 or 3 of them off my record.

What route would you suggest?
Thank you for time, Tania.

97

With all due respect and professionally speaking from my experience as a financial services manager in the automotive industry. Good luck getting any sort of an auto loan with a 516 credit score, all the while currently delinquent on 6 credit cards and being upside down 6,600 (assuming you get $12k for trade). You’re best off taking that $6,000 and paying off all these credit cards you have become delinquent on. Don’t worry about getting into a different vehicle right now, because with your score…you’re lucky if you see anything less than 20% APR - and with only enough money down to cover your neg. equity, and not taxes and fees - with that high of an interest rate…you’re going to be upside down again in 12 months.

Get current and paid up with the credit card companies. It’s got to be killing your credit.

98

Thank you, was told today that it would be in the mid teens to high teens as far as interest rates went. The dealership suggested that we should get out of the car we were in due to it’s low resale value, and if it takes a year say, to rebuild that credit, in a year the equinox with be worth way less, and i will still owe more on it and chances of getting all that extra i owe financed ontop of another loan being slim to none, which is what he suggested trading it in and throwing the cash at the upside down.

My credit score with the 516 and that is with expirian, i have not checked the others, but i got my score checked out through the Freecreditreport.com is the route i went.
Also how long does it take for the it to reflect back on my credit when paying all this stuff off/keeping it current again.

99

There is truthfully no easy way. Mid to high teens is impossible with a 516. With a score like that you are probably going to be “bought” by what I would imagine to be Americredit or if the dealership is crazy enough to use them…CPS or Drive.

Americredit has strict lending policies and generally never gives less than a 20% interest rate.

Coming from a non-professional view point, I’d just stick it out with the Equinox and try to get out from the CC debt. I’d rather be upside down in a vehicle than have collections calling me and 5 or 6 companies reporting chargeoff’s on my credit bureau. Obviously, if I was in the dealership’s position, I would try to sell you a car and get you out from underneath your negative equity and into a new car.

It also depends on what you are looking at buying. Whether it’s new, used and what the vehicle’s LTV (Loan to Value) is. If you’re under 80% (which is impossible if you’re really $6k upside down) you might have a chance.

Regardless, if you weren’t upside down and had $6,000 to put down on the selling price of the vehicle, I’d say you probably have a shot. However, barely covering the negative equity and having to throw the LTV out of whack… I’m not too sure.

Again, I don’t do this for anyone else other than my dealership. I may not be privy to all the information at this point and maybe it is better for you to go ahead with the deal? Maybe with rebates, and factory incentives the dealership has the opportunity to help you. I wish you the best of luck.

100

If you’re experian is a 516, i’m guessing your others are similar. In the recent months, I’ve started to see TransUnion level out with the other two (where in the past they were always generally higher) and Equifax is starting to dip a little lower than usual.

The dealership has the right to request an MCBO (Multiple Credit Bureau Option) if one of your bureaus is significantly better which would put you into a different buying category.

For example. You have a 516 Experian, 601 Transunion and a 594 Equifax. ABC Bank uses Experian to determine the purchase tier. If credit scores between 501-590 get you 20%… and Credit between 591-690 get you 15% the dealership will request an MCBO for ABC to look at your Transunion, so you can get 15% and not 20%.

This is different for all banks, though. Fourtytoo-you’re best option for the best credit terms would to get a co-signer.