I'm 24 and have (apparently) no credit history. Nothing on it. Nada. I'm trying to get some kind of credit to start building up some credit history, but I keep getting turned down for cards. How can I build credit when it seems like nothing I do is being reported to credit bureaus? [more inside]
posted by raygan on Dec 8, 2009 - 44 answers

Car was totaled, bank that gave auto loan charged off the loan account because the collateral is gone despite us continuing with full and on time payments. What are our options? [more inside]
posted by Nickel on Oct 11, 2009 - 4 answers

LearningToBeAnAdultFilter: What is the most accurate, free and legitimate way to get my credit score? I know I'm supposed to be able to get it free once a year, and that there are 3 different reporting agencies.... but.... what do I do? I feel like everyone but me already knows this.
posted by dahliachewswell on Jul 24, 2009 - 11 answers

What's your preferred method for getting your FICO score? [more inside]
posted by xotis on Apr 19, 2009 - 13 answers

After ordering my credit report, I found that there were two bills sent to collections in 2006. Upon further investigation, I discovered that these were for unpaid cable bills and cable equipment that was never returned by my old roommates after I moved out--what do I do? [more inside]
posted by mingodingo on Dec 1, 2008 - 7 answers

Where do I get a legitimate credit report and how do I go about cleaning it out? [more inside]
posted by goalyeehah on Nov 15, 2008 - 12 answers

Is a company required to make a good faith effort to collect on a debt before reporting it as charged off? Do I have any recourse for my credit report? [more inside]
posted by 0xFCAF on Jan 7, 2008 - 4 answers

The financial problems of someone who shared my name and former address are showing up on my credit report! How do I even begin to go about disputing this, should the credit agency's investigation not go in my favor? [more inside]
posted by almostmanda on Dec 2, 2007 - 7 answers

Help me protect my credit report from corporate idiocy. [more inside]
posted by slow graffiti on Oct 25, 2007 - 22 answers

I have recently discovered that my identity was stolen. Fifteen years ago. I know the person who did it, or I did ... fifteen years ago. [more inside]
posted by WolfDaddy on Oct 15, 2007 - 13 answers

Can offshore companies such as neteller, firepay, various online gambling sites and other such companies that operate outside of the US, but have us based customers, tarnish or submitt negative information to US credit reporting agencies (trans union, Equixfax, etc) ?
posted by crewshell on Dec 6, 2006 - 2 answers

Helping a tenant improve his credit score? [more inside]
posted by hokie409 on May 30, 2006 - 1 answer

Credit Repair: is the best/fastest way to deal with legitimate unpaid collections on one's credit history to simply pay them off, or to go through some other process? Tips and tricks of the trade? [more inside]
posted by weston on Mar 9, 2006 - 13 answers

The significance of a department store reporting that one has missed a monthly payment on a purchase to the credit agencies? [more inside]
posted by ParisParamus on May 2, 2005 - 9 answers

I'm in college in the U.S., and have a few state student loans. They were under a forebearance that I once requested, which ended four months ago. I didn't realize this, and ignored the mail that was sent about it because I thought it was the usual mail they send me about how I have a loan and ads for consolidation. I just recently got this fixed and the forebearance backdated so it will have another year from when it ended. But I now have two 60-day late marks on my otherwise good credit report. Anything I can do to get rid of them?
posted by anonymous on Jan 8, 2005 - 5 answers

CreditFilter: Two years ago, not really understanding the importance of good credit behavior, I let a department store card slide for 180 days, twice (I KNOW!). This impacted my credit history greatly. I had previously had 4 years of good payment on two credit cards. Over the past year, to help recover and instill good habits, I pay my credit cards in full every month (read: no personal debt) and added a paid off car loan to my reports (15K). My CC limits have slowly increased but my score has remained somewhat the same (10 pt increase).

What can I do to get out of this rut? Some collegues I know have a sizable CC debt (around 15-20K) with less income than me but have great scores and could buy a house tommorrow with no problems. What am I missing and no, credit-fixing agencies are NOT an option.
posted by anonymous on Dec 12, 2004 - 11 answers