pay off

did you payoff old chargeoffs/collection accounts or active accounts?

charge offs and collection accounts were paid in full yet some agency still have listed and my credit score has dropped below 500 - what else must I do to obtain a trust worthy score

Hi Nichelle!

Welcome to forums!

You need to pay off all the negative items that have been listed in your credit report. Once you pay them off, you can request your creditors to remove the negative items from your report. This will have a positive effect on your credit score. You can even check out the given page in order to know some steps to improve your score:
http://www.mortgagefit.com/credit-rating/credit-repair.html

Feel free to ask if you've further queries.

Sussane

Nichelle, most credit items take time and patience to turn that credit around. Save your money while your waiting.

jogger is correct, but what you'll want to do, nichelle, is to follow up with those you've recently paid off, and see how promptly they report these paid accounts. if they haven't already done so, you need to be proactive in demanding that they do so right away. you can also write your own letter (attach proof) to each of the credit agencies, indicating your payoffs and requesting that they immediately update their records.

there may be other factors you're overlooking that have contributed to your scores as well. if you've been shopping at all for any credit, stop at once. if you lack other credit that would be favorable, that's going to be a drawback. to obtain other credit now would be a setback slightly also, because those creditors would be inquiring and knocking your scores down a peg or two as well.

a good place to review credit and credit scores and how you can help yourself is the federal trade commission site at ftc.gov. there's a load of information there that will be helpful.

It's a common credit-scoring myth that paying off an old collection/charge-off will make it go away and improve your credit scores. If you failed to negotiate how the collection agency (CA) would report these accounts going forward as part of your payment, then they'll remain on your credit reports as a "paid" collection or something similar. It's still a big negative mark. Lenders may look at a "paid" vs. "unpaid" collection more favorably, but your credit score doesn't really care.

Like the others have said, it's just going to take time to see an improvement now. Live within your means, pay your bills on time and in full, acquire new credit sparingly to improve your credit mix, and save as much as possible for a big down payment. If there are any inaccuracies or missing information on your credit reports relating to these negative marks, dispute them through the credit bureaus and await their response as well.

What great information provided from all I am truly grateful I have found this site and will continue to notify friends and family of this educational site. So much advise/teachings in a short period of time has given me a lil pep in recovering my credit and staying within my budget.

So items were removed on TU but remain on the others I will have to draft a formal letter requeting these items be removed. Many of the agreements stated that once the payment has been received the listing will be deleted from my credit report.

joshua, i am hesitant to suggest disputes on credit reports, mainly because du has been rejiggered in such a way that disputes appearing will usually result in a "refer" finding, rather than an approval. with a "refer," lenders are so much more conservative than in the past, and underwriters are quite hesitant to do a manual underwrite and approve such a loan. there have been far too many bogus disputes filed, and this is the end result.

i feel it much better for a client to have all their ducks in a row and ask for a correction to their report if that's warranted. what's been your recent experience?

I agree that only valid disputes should be made; however, I don't think consumers should be afraid to dispute inaccuracies on their credit reports just because underwriters and their models have become more conservative.

If something is reporting incorrectly and damaging one's credit score, then he/she has the right to get it corrected under the FCRA. If an underwriter is too lazy or scared to deal with a referral, then I would rather work with another underwriter that actually knows how to "underwrite". Unfortunately, they're hard to find these days.

amen to that last sentence, guest (joshua?). a borrower, however, has no options in choosing the underwriter with whom to work. in fact, lenders don't know that a specific underwriter will get a specific file until it arrives anyway, so picking and choosing aren't options.

rather than dispute, how about correcting the information? there's no evidence that the agencies are hampering anyone who provides documentation to correct an entry on a credit report. to merely dispute is, perhaps, the lazy way out. providing real evidence to a credit repository will be more efficient in the long run as well as the short run, and will eliminate the need for caution needed in the dispute process.

i definitely agree that it's most unfortunate that a few unscrupulous credit "experts" have filed erroneous dispute claims that have caused harm to legitimate borrowers. would that we could shut down those outfits, ne'er to return.

Borrowers can't specifically choose their underwriters, but they can choose their banks/credit unions. I think too many consumers just choose random banks, or the "preferred" lender on a project, and they expect all underwriters to be created equal. Not true.

I have certain banks that I work with often and others I would never give my business to in a million years. I know the underwriters, I trust they are good at what they do, and I go to them when I need to get results. Every consumer should work towards building a banking relationship on some level as they prepare to purchase a home. It seems like these days it's basically essential if you want to get anything done.

Also, if you have real evidence to support why something needs to be corrected on your reports, then I agree - it should certainly be provided to the CRAs. I always recommend doing that and steering clear of the online dispute process as well. Keep it all in writing and provide all the documentation you can possibly pull together.

And yes, that was me posting as a guest while thinking I was already signed into my account. Sorry about that :D

i guess i've come to know your writing style already...i figured it was you. i see we're on the same page for the most part, though i think underwriting has changed so dramatically that it's difficult to pigeonhole a particular lender as highly favorable or just plain undesirable. i underwrote for 10 years before trying to originate, and i can tell you with certainty that i worked with some very conservative underwriters in that time - myself being on the liberal side - and that's long before this mortgage crisis began...we had never heard of ml implode at that point. i've seen things get worse with the same people in the last couple of years; something that would fly one month didn't the next because of a new directive coming from on high. i lay that, for the most part, to investors who simply had fear of being burned (again). i suppose we can't blame them for that, but it sure makes everyone work that much harder just to figure out what to look for.

enough complaints...i'm glad you aren't an advocate of continual disputes and prefer real problems get solved in real ways.