Foreclosure Cleanup?

Comments(15)

• 
  Birddog16th April, 2004

  Its basically a bankruptcy. usually 5-7 years
  [addsig]

• 
  tinman17556th April, 2004

  Actually most banks require that the foreclosure to be out of the owner's name for 2 years. Once it is out of their name they can write to the credit bureau to have it removed from their credit. Or in some cases it will report as a paid settlement by 3rd party
  
  Lori
  [addsig]

• 
  rogersce6th April, 2004

  Thanks Lori! That is similar to what I had heard, but I just wanted a 2nd confirmation.
  
  Chris :-D

• 
  rbjj3rd November, 2005

  I want to know if I am understanding the reply by Lorie correctly.
  
  That if you have had a foreclosure against you, and you lease option or land contract a house, It is best to take the option for at least 2 years in order to be able to get a mortgage loan when your option comes due, Or can you qualify for a mortgage loan with 12 good option payments.
  
  Also is there really a way to contact the credit bureau after 2 years to get the foreclosure off your credit report.

• 
  SantaClarita19th August, 2005

  Good morning,
  
  Creditboard is a really great resource...but...you must do your homework! You really have to spend some hours reading up the specific techniques used to improve your credit.
  
  By obtaining more credit cards (and higher limits on existing cards) you are decreasing your utilization (the percentage of your revolving credit that you are using). This greatly improves your credit. Of course just paying all of your cards off also decreases your utilization.
  
  Another very effective technique is to have yourself added to your parents (or in-laws, or anyone with a much older history) credit card as an authorized user (AU). You do not actually need to physically possess a card, just have them add your name as an AU. Optimally on a card that has a zero balance. You will never use it (you must explain to them that you will not have access to their card number or account info) but it will begin to show on your credit reports.
  
  This can greatly increase your credit history thus improving your score. These things do take time though, but there are ways to improve your score.
  
  Another technique to research is *B*. If you have a lot of hard inquiries in the past six months to a year this can work very well.
  
  Again, you must commit some time and effort to learn about every technique available. Like anything, you get what you put into it. I have improved my score greatly in just a few months and I anticipate saving THOUSANDS of dollars in my future investments.
  
  Take care,
  [addsig]

• 
  mojojojo_119th August, 2005

  In this somewhat popular book called living fabulous while being poor, or something like it, she breaks down why having many credit cards help. part of your credit includes a debt to avaible ratio. I fall your cards have a total of $500 on them with alimit of $25,000, its a 2% ratio, which is good.
  
  I have also seen it heart people while working at the bank as too much credit avaible, so the turned them down. But my bank was very strict.

• 
  d_random22nd August, 2005

  ThanksSantaClarita!
  
  Great advice about multiple brokers pulling your report, I would have never thought of that. MANY THANKS!!

• 
  jstika28th October, 2005

  lots of good ideas here. thanks to all!!

• 
  mcole28th October, 2005

  Greetings FallenAngel,
  
  If I may add to this thread. Another thing lenders look at, besides FICO scores, is how many open trade lines you have and how long you’ve had them.
  
  This is why some people might add another credit card, even though they don’t really use it mcuh. But it doesn’t necessarily help much, until you’ve had it for a while.

• 
  fbprop4th November, 2005

  Hi FallenAngel and others ...
  
  Yes, CB is a great resource but it certainly be overwhelming at first.
  
  You mentioned that there are many there that brag of 10+ credit cards, etc. and that you do not want to fall into the trap of credit card debt. I commend you for that as it is my eventual goal as well (no debt). I do want to mention that is IS helpful from a credit score position to have 3-5 revolving accounts though. I have even read that some mortgage companies will not look at anybody not showing experience with at least 3 tradelines (any mortgage brokers willing to comment?).... that said, I recommend having 3-5 accounts for two reasons. First, more tradelines give a more complete look at how well you pay your bills on time and secondly, the additional tradelines will help with overall utilization. What happens if you have to put a $400 car repair (even temporarily) on your $500 limit card? Well, you show very high (80%) utilization and your score takes a huge hit (temporarily - but what if it is when you are trying for another mortgage?) which could be avoided if you had perhaps $2500 of available credit credit ... so in conclusion, too little credit can be as bad as too much credit.

• 
  FallenAngel4th November, 2005

  fdprop - good information! What I did rather than open another account was have my husband added to mine, and had me added to his, so we both show 3 trade lines (without having to open any new accounts) I did a blanket dispute and did manage to get one negative tradeline that was included in the bankruptcy deleted, so now i only have 2 negatives (plus the bankruptcy) and my score jumped over 20 points! yeah for me, lol.

• 
  d_random5th November, 2005

  Good work!!
  What secured card did you use?

• 
  first-timer5th November, 2005

  I used a secured visa through my credit union.

• 
  d_random6th November, 2005

  Thanks first-timer!

• 
  first-timer6th November, 2005

  No problem. Glad I can help