Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with creditreport

My credit report, it makes no sense to me.

TomMelee — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:16:35 -0800

Help me understand my credit, please? Still working on fixing my credit so I can buy a house, but I'm confused about some things on my report. I've managed to get my score up 60 points in just a month or so, but I really need at least another hundred to be really happy.

Back story: I was in the Americorps, they didn't send on my forbearance papers to my student loan holders, I got defaulted. Whatever. All that's over with now as I've been paying out the ass to the collection companies to get them under good status now. Also, as a college undergrad, I had a couple credit cards that got away from me. I DID finally pay them all off though, and a couple of them I cancelled before they cancelled me. I currently have 0 credit cards.

A picture of my current debt looks like this:
Car payment
Insurance Payment
Student loan payments
And that's it.

The problem is that a lot of that derogatory stuff is remaining on there and I don't know what to do about it. Example: I got sick and went to the doctor, they didn't ask and nobody thought to update my address. They sent the unpaid balance to a place I didn't live. I got the collections letter and went down and paid it in person right away. It was seriously like $60.

So a picture of my derogatory account info:
There's one credit card still out there. It had a $200 limit and I totally signed up for online only billing circa 2000 and forgot about it. Now they're saying it's a $1100 account. Condition: derogatory

Another card: closed, current, 0 balance.

Another card: closed, current, 0 balance.

Another card (honestly I think it's' the same as the previous one, they're both Citibank cards and I only had 1): closed, current, 0 balance

Student loans still showing as derogatory because the collections people don't update until the 9 months of repayment are over. 2 accounts like this. What stinks is that Sallie Mae's on here AS are the collections accounts. Not only that, Sallie Mae AND their servicing company show up for the same accounts, plus the credit collection accounts. So let's see, 2 accounts valued at like $2500 total show up as 6 negative dings.

Car loan: open, current, ontime over minimum payments for 27 months in a row now.

Something, don't know what it was: closed, paid

Previous car loan: 36 on time payments, closed, paid

Then that medical thing, shows up as paid, but also as derogatory.

I know that's long, I apologize. My score's right under 600 right now, but I think if I can clear up some of the multi-accounts it'll shoot up. Are things like that $60 collection going to stay on there for the full 10 years? WTF?!

Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Starting Off Negative

Phyltre — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:50:23 -0800

Someone opened a credit account in my name a few years back; it is now overdue. What do I do? A credit check has uncovered a credit card opened in my name in 2005. It is now over $3,000 overdue. The only person who could have done this is a close family member currently trying to overcome a heavy addiction (leaving little doubt as to the culprit.) Prosecution isn't really an option, and the family member is in no position to provide this money. I plan to confront said family member very soon, but I know that they will be unable to do anything and very well may not remember making the charges.

So what can I do? I have $25,000 in student loans to chew through and I'm barely making $600 a month right now; I'm hardly in a position to pay someone else's debt. And I need to build my credit, which is a pointless exercise with that card sitting on my report. Do I have options?

Wicked Stepmother Trashing my Good Name

almostmanda — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 14:06:51 -0800

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? My father, who I am on shakey terms with, remarried a couple of years ago, to a woman who shares my first name and middle initial. So now we share a first name, middle initial, and last name. They've since divorced, but in the time that she was there and occupying my old address, she's managed to rack up a loan, a credit card, and a bunch of medical bills that Transunion seems to think are mine, and hasn't paid off a one of them. They've gone to collections. My Equifax and Experian reports are correct and show only good accounts (two credit cards without balances, a consolidated student loan, a private student loan--I've tried to take care of my credit).

I've disputed these accounts through Transunion and am waiting for them to investigate. In the meantime, though, what can I do to prepare for dealing with this? Since I gave Transunion my current address, I'm worried that her collectors are going to start hassling me. I don't know if this is a mistake on Transunion's part, or if this woman is opening lines of credit with my SSN--she's not exactly of high moral character.

My question is, how do I go about proving I'm not her, when we share a name and past address? Would all of these accounts have required a SSN number to open, and is there any way I can find out if she has used hers or mine? If she didn't open them with my number, the dispute should clear that up, but what actions do I take if she has been opening accounts with my information?

How to Grow Good Credit in 2008

cockwaffle — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:10:32 -0800

Help me design the Best Possible Plan For My Credit in 2008. Ten years ago I had no cash, and terrible credit. Today I have some cash, and no credit. I want to make some good choices next year, based on a well-considered strategy. I should start by saying that I know this is a very nice problem to have. It's taken a long time to get here and I want to proceed wisely.

Back then: After getting into some minor credit card trouble in college ( lss than $2000), I argued some of the debts, settled the others, and never again looked twice at a credit card. But, I wasn't spotless; I still had hit-or-miss records on my student loans, and the assorted unpaid utility bills and bank overdrafts. There was a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul back then, so any tiny surplus went to groceries, rent. Any time I could get a bit of a leg up, I'd improve my track record a bit, and by sticking to a cash-only policy, I stayed out of trouble. Fast forward to today: Recently married; partner had similar hit-or-miss past (sans the student loans), but no major credit stuff. Both happily employed with plenty of surplus, and making enough that we are both paying off debts here, socking away savings and retirement there. The one car is paid off; no mortgage. So, I've paid off all my old debts and claims, but there's no new good news to take its place. My FICO: TransUnion: 670, Equifax: 660. No Experian, because there's not been enough recent activity. I literally have nothing establishing credit in my name, save my debit cards / bank accounts.
The future:
- At some point in 2008, we need a second car; researching, I checked with my bank and they can't offer rates better than whatever dealership we'd go through. We don't care whose name the car is in since legally, it's all the same pile anyway.
- A mortgage won't be on the horizon till this sub-prime thing blows over, as we are in a market that's been hit especially hard; besides, we don't have that down payment saved. Still, I want to be mindful of that on the horizon, say 2009 or 2010.
- I would rather not get a store card (it seems like inviting trouble to create a purchasing tool that requires me to acquire stuff we might not need, in order to establish credit)
- And, a gas card won't be much help either (we don't drive that much)
- I would like a general credit card, that I would pay off every month. It would be for small daily purchases; the big tickets would only be travel, or the odd time where one needs to pay $500 or $1000 for something up front (medical, plumbing emergency, etc.). Bigger purchases might get paid off every two months.
- I have frequent opportunities to make fairly high dollar purchases for my company, which are reimbursed on time. I've refused to float those expenses out of pocket, to date, but it seems like putting them on my credit card could be an easy way to pay off an even higher balance promptly.

I want to proceed practically and with care, and in the order that will create the best effect, fastest.

Should I get the credit card before applying for the car loan? Should I postpone the car until after the credit boost that the (eventual, unplanned) mortgage will give... even if that will harm our quality of life for two or three years? Should I get a store card even if I don't want one? Should I definitely apply for a credit card that my bank offers, before any other lender, since they know me? I really would rather not get a secured credit card if I don't have to; will my FICO require it? Should I try to boost my FICO before I even consider applying for credit?

Tell me what to do, and why you think so. Or tell me of your own experiences and what seemed to work well. Or of websites, books, financial gurus we should check out. Or of glaring considerations I might have missed. I know you might not be an accountant, credit counselor or financial advisor, but we don't intend to hire one of those anyway. Our plan is to inform ourselves as much as possible, and then weigh it all and decide what makes the most sense.

Paying money I don't necessarily have, to people I don't really owe, for reasons I don't fully understand.

prophetsearcher — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:51:47 -0800

Succumbing to Extortion Filter: How should I pay back a debt I don't really owe, to a collection agency that's been hounding me for years, to make sure it doesn't appear on my record? More inside. This is a follow-up to my first askme ever. has it been that long? I've been disputing an illegitimate pair of debt collections for nearly the past three years, and it's been a rotten experience, as would be expected. After having these debts on my credit reports, (successfully) fighting to have them removed, having them REappear on some of my credit reports, again having them removed, I'm about ready to give up.

People wiser than me have pointed out that the entire sum is about $320, and I should just suck it up. I've argued that besides the principle of the thing, there is also the fact that even once it's paid, it will stay on my report for seven years, and I'd rather avoid that.

In the mean time, my friends the collection agents have confused me with my brother, and started going after him. Not knowing any better, he gave them his address, and now my credit reports have HIS address on them. They've threatened his credit, but it's unclear if they meant him or me, or if they *really* know who he is enough to wreck his credit. I've instructed him not to communicate with them any further.

At the moment, there is no record of the debts on my records, except for some minor detritus of my dispute on one of them. So, I figure it makes sense to seize the opportunity, and pay the damn thing. I've already spent more than this amount in time and tears trying to make it go away.

I've read that I shouldn't pay by check, as that just provides them with more of my personal finance information. actually, since i'm out of the country, it would be my mom's check, and I certainly don't want them to have any more family member's information. . So my plan is:
* Pay by money order
* Send it via fedex, so I can prove their receipt (easier for us than certified mail, though obviously more expensive).
* Include a letter.

And here's the question:
I've been advised about this letter thing, and I'm looking for help with crafting it. Basically, the advice from a lawyer (fwiw), was to write that I protest my liability for the debts, and by them cashing the money order, they relieve me of all debts, and agree to ensure that no record of these illegitimate debts appear on any credit report.

How should this be phrased? Should I threaten a lawsuit if it does appear on my record? What other steps should I be taking to make this all go away as simply and painlessly (ha. ha.) as possible?
at this point, we're hoping to avoid fighting it, since the sum is (relatively) small, I'm abroad, and we'd rather it just go away

What does a credit approval today say about my formerly-bad credit?

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:32:37 -0800

What does it indicate about my formerly-bad credit that I could be accepted today for a regular contract by a cell phone company? How can I tell when it's the right time to apply for a credit card again? I've been repairing my credit for a while now, so this is the first time I've applied for a credit-check-based account in a couple of years. I was approved and I'm excited about that, but I'm wondering what it indicates about how my credit is now. Could cell phone companies be called less picky, more picky or about as picky as other places that check credit, like a credit card company or a landlord? Or is that so much of a generalization that I really can't predict anything?

If it matters, my new phone is with T-Mobile and they said my credit indicates I could have up to three phone lines with them (don't know if that's average, low, or high number for them).

I have a few months before I can request any of my free annual credit reports again, so other than those, what other ways could I check up on my credit?

I know it would be useful to hold a credit card, charging only things I can repay immediately, to further establish good credit. (Last credit card I had was 9 years ago, in college, and I flunked on that one; its balance turned into a chargeoff.) If I should apply now for a credit card, can I pick any kind? I was thinking about one with a points system that rewards something I naturally do (one example is the Amazon card which rewards Amazon buying most).

Background check shows false info?

anthropomorphic — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:36:12 -0800

New employer has done a background check - returns addresses I've never lived at? All the info I have from the company at the moment is that the address has shown up on my social security number. I've checked my free credit report and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. What's going on? What do I do about it?

How can I cancel credit cards when I don't know the account number?

david1230 — Sun, 20 May 2007 09:27:13 -0800

How can my girlfriend cancel credit cards when she doesn't know the account numbers? My girlfriend just got her free credit report and found credit cards on the report that she never opened. There are 4 or 5, they all have $0 balances, and they're all still open. The report has issuer's name and an obfuscated number. How can she cancel these cards?

My tax returns are being sucked up by unpaid Stafford Loans that have long disappeared from my credit report. If I offer to pay the whole thing off, what can I expect?

ValveAnnex — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:24:26 -0800

Repaying Stafford college loans that disappeared from my credit report (due to age), but still collect all tax refunds - what kind of hit might I expect on my credit, reactivating the account by a full-payoff? More importantly, what kind of deal can I propose to avoid all the interest? Anyone have experience with this? I've completely blown these people off, so I'd be popping up, after over ten years, offering to close the account. I received an offer about two years ago to repay half of the entire debt to completely close it out. Considering the amount of interest over the years (over 15 years of interest has accrued), I'm afraid if I offer to pay it off, they'll want WAY more cash than I can pay.

My goal is to get debt out of my life, even debt that has disappeared from my credit report. But I don't want to go through more and more years of bad credit due to reactivating this account with activity.

I don't want to continue to lose my tax refunds to this account, which can sometimes be over $5,000/yr. What should I do?

I am not my own grandpa, Experian!

aristan — Thu, 10 May 2007 23:10:45 -0800

My father, grandfather, and I all have the first and last names, with only different middle names to distinguish us, no suffixes. How do I go about untangling our credit reports? Because of the way information is reported to credit unions, you'd think we were the same person with more addresses and aliases than a Bond villain!

I checked my credit report today and was a little leery when all three agencies asked me about my mortgage. Since I don't have a mortgage I knew right away we were going to have problems.

- Equifax has everything basically right for me, other than having an old address and the employer I was with in 2000. They only list a single recent positive account for me.

- Transunion pitched a hissy and won't let me see the report online because I refused to tell them all about my mortgage. As I am not privy to my parent's financial history, I have no idea who it is with or how long the terms are. If I want a Transunion report, I have to write for it.

- Experian is totally fubar and has the following:
* Dad's birthyear instead of mine
* two negative accounts of Dad's
* one negative account that doesn't provide remotely enough information for me to figure who the hell it belongs to.
* one positive account of Dad's
* two accounts of mine, one negative and one positive, both recent.
* Every permutation of my dad's name, my name, and my grandfather's name.
* Dad's social security information listed as an "alternative" to my own.
* Information on my parent's mortgage.

It bothers me that Experian gave me so much information on my parent's credit, even though when answering the questions to prove my identity I didn't even try to answer things related to their mortgage.

I'll pay, I swear. Just don't hurt my FICO!

Turd Ferguson — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:23:15 -0800

Is there any way to stop a $50 collection action from dinging my credit rating? A few months ago, I went to the emergency room. My insurance has a $50 copay for such things. Somehow, despite the fact that all my other, much larger, bills are paid on time every month, this one managed to slip by to the point where I just got a letter from a collection agency. Apart from being slightly mortified, I'm concerned about my credit rating, which is currently quite good.

I'm wondering what the best course of action is here. I have 30 days to write to the collection agency and dispute the collection. Can I find an old copy of the bill & pay it directly to the hospital, then dispute the collection? Or should I pay the agency quickly? Or something else?

The hospital did take my SSN, and my girlfriend has a collection action on her credit report for about the same amount, so I know they can ding me if so inclined. It's absolutely not a matter of being able to pay the bill -- just credit damage control.

Help save our credit!

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:01:07 -0800

Help us save our credit! We're not sure why, but our mortgage company started returning our automatic bank payments a few months ago. We were abroad for some of that time, and didn't realize this was happening. All of a sudden, we're in foreclosure. We have the money (since they sent it all back) and are trying to get the company to reinstate the loan. But our biggest concern is our credit.

So far our credit report only reflects past due payments, not the foreclosure. How can we protect our credit and remedy whatever damage has already been done?

Why is my credit score so high?

pinksoftsoap — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:54:32 -0800

Why is my credit score so high? Back in Freshman year in college, I naively signed up for 6-8 credit cards in a promotion to get a free t-shirt with a passed out Curious George on front. I subsequently cut up the cards they sent me and ignored the accounts. It wasn't until two years ago (5 years past) that I learned about credit reports and freaked out when I saw how many open unused accounts I actually had. I closed nearly all of them. Now I've just checked my report for this year and my score is surprisingly excellent. Does my credit score not depend on the fact that all my former accounts had a $0 high balance? Aside from those, I only have one legitimate credit card, a few store credit cards, and a student loan. Also, should I try to have those unused and closed accounts removed from my credit report as they don't actually reflect anything? I hesitate to do this as I wouldn't want my credit to go down.

No credit history. How to get an appartment in SF.

Dataphage — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 04:16:53 -0800

I just moved to San Francisco from Guadalajara, and have no credit history or bank account. How can I get a place to rent? A cell phone? Currently I'm staying a friend's appartment in the Inner Richmond, but this will be over soon. My wife will be joining me in late February, and I need a place of my own.

I never did any banking in Mexico, I have no credit history whatsoever. People from Craiglist I've called say it is no use to fill an application without a credit report.

With cellphones, they are asking for a deposit of up to $1,000!!!

Do you have any suggestions or experience on how I can get a place to rent and a cellphone with my non-existant credit history?

Also, do you have a bank favourite bank in SF you can recommend?

Thank you in advance.

Can a collection agency re-open a nine year-old unpaid debt?

letitrain — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:17:35 -0800

Can a collection agency reopen a nine year-old unpaid debt? I used to be terrible about paying bills, but I'm much better now and I finally have excellent credit. Most of the old delinquent accounts were paid off, but on one of the oldest, I chose to wait out the seven-year credit reporting limit instead of paying it. Two years ago it went off my credit report right on schedule.

Today I received a letter saying that the debt has been purchased by "LVNV Funding LLC" and that it is being collected by "Merchant’s Credit Guide, Co." Doing a bit of googling, it looks like they're both owned by the same company, and that I likely don't owe them anything. I'm sending them this letter disputing the debt tomorrow. My question: is there any way they can reopen this so that it somehow ends up on my credit report?

How do I get my credit report corrected?

melissa may — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:01:23 -0800

Since my wallet was stolen, I've been trying to get a particular inaccuracy on my credit report corrected with no luck. I have written to the company that owns my report using their own online dispute form and via snail mail. It's been 6 months and I don't know what else to do to get them to respond. Last November, I reported my credit card stolen immediately and the number was deactivated before any false transactions could take place. I was issued a new card and number by the same company, who promised to report the card as lost/stolen to the company that owns my credit report. My balance at the time was transferred to the new card.

The credit reporting company -- which is affiliated with Equifax, no less -- has never removed the old card with its old balance from my report. Because I was at the end of a lengthy business trip at the time and using it for large expenses, the balance was over 2k when it was stolen. So, according to my report, I have 2k+ worth of debt waiting to be paid off, when in fact it has long been paid off. This is lowering my FICO score significantly.

This company only one phone number on its site that is unusable because it only provides information on how to file a report, not customer service, which I sure as hell think should be illegal for a company that controls such vital information, so I can't call and talk to a human being. They've not responded to my several written requests. My credit company says they've provided the information to them and there is nothing more they can do to intervene. Despite that I purchased a year's worth of an expensive credit report update service from them, Equifax also will not intervene, but just punts me back to this same damn unresponsive company. I will shortly be making a purchase that will require my credit to be as solid as possible, so the situation has become urgent. How do I force them to clean up their act?

Question number 13850

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 19:05:28 -0800

Background checks: I have a job interview coming up, and wonder if they'll do a credit check. If they do, I'm in trouble. I need this job very badly...thus the bad credit. Besides credit, employers may check education and criminal backgrounds (mine are clean), but do they have to let you know? How do you ask a potential employer about this without raising flags? While we're on it, is there a secret shit-list out there that employers may go to to see if you're a loser? Especially in software/web development in the northwest...

Question number 13770

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 01:18:06 -0800

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?

Question number 12844

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:35:09 -0800

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.

My wallet was stolen -- how do I protect myself against ID theft?

melissa may — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 19:48:22 -0800

My wallet was stolen -- how do I protect myself against ID theft? I was in NYC most of last week and my wallet was stolen while there. In it were my DL, a couple of credit cards, and unfortunately, medical insurance cards that used my SS# as an ID number. The cards are cancelled, I filed a police report, and I’m going through the tedious process tomorrow of reconstructing my wallet’s contents. I’m hoping against hope that all they wanted was the cash, but I can’t safely assume that. Are there any processes that I can initiate to flag my name and information as a potential victim for ID theft before anything happens? Or will that only create more trouble for ME with credit transactions? I would really appreciate specific advice from people to whom this has happened or who work in this area. I don’t want to get this wrong.

Question number 10686

Hackworth — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 11:55:08 -0800

Does cancelling your credit cards hurt your credit rating?

Question number 6841

freshgroundpepper — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 19:54:48 -0800

AT&T Wireless screwed me, how can I get revenge (or at least minimize the damage to my credit report)? How have others dealt with customer service nightmares in the past? [MI]