Help me grow up, dammit.

damnjezebel — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:52:41 -0800

[GrownupFilter] Many credit threads on here, but I couldn't find one that really helped: I have shit credit, and I hate throwing money away with renting. In the next 12-18 months, what can I do to help me buy a house? I suppose I could use a credit forum, but I know a lot of you have dealt with credit repair personally, and I trust you. So help!

My credit is so superbly horrible, it's insane. Neglect, a parent, and lack of funds have destroyed my credit. Mainly old electric bills, cell bills that were never paid - alot of it has fallen off with age, so right now there's only a handful of things on there that I'm dealing with now.

A bit more info: I can't get approved for any credit cards - the only ones I can find that will take me are cards with bad reviews that tell me to put $300 down and immediately take half of it for "setup" fees. I can't even get approved to get a laptop for work, I'm having to save up for it or use a rent-to-own place. Curiously enough, recently I was still approved for a new car with $500 down from a very reputable dealer in the area.

Every month, I pay for rent, electric, phone, internet, car. That's it. Yes, I know I'm in somewhat of an enviable position - I don't have any credit card debt or student loans or medical bills or anything like that. And what little bad stuff that's on my credit is probably only equal to a couple of grand. But every month, I'm throwing away cash on rent and renter's fees and I'm sick of it. In a year or so, I want to try to buy a house. Maybe it's a pipe dream, I dunno. But they wouldn't have approved me for a car if I was that big of a risk, right?

Here's my question. What can I do in the next year and a half or so to help me get a mortgage? And I'm not talking about the "oh, put $50k down and take a million percent interest and we can get you into a $200k house for $3k a month" bullshit. Do the Fannie Mae/whatever they're called programs work?

Side question: I presently work two jobs so as to stockpile cash - for the first time in my life, I'm almost at a point where I can save the cash from one job and live on the cash from the other. If I so desire, I can pay off my 5 year car loan in less than two years. From a credit-building standpoint, would paying off my car in two years behoove me, or should I stick with the five year loan?

Old Bad Credit Marks - How do they go away?

jimmyhutch — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:37:36 -0800

I am trying to repair very old credit problems. I was a freelance designer for a few years and I had little to no money extra to pay some of the high bills I had. I'm trying to repair the old delinquencies - is this possible? (more inside) I had a few months in 2004 where I could not afford to pay my bills - mostly credit card bills. I have a few accounts that have 120 day delinquencies reported in 2004, but since about the end fo that year, I have made on-time payments for 24 months or better. Is there anything I can do to get these accounts out of the "adverse account" section of my credit report and in better standing? Some of these accounts have even been paid off for a year or better.

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Help me grow up, dammit.

Old Bad Credit Marks - How do they go away?