Need Help Trying To Fix A FICO Score Of 637 To Above A 680 ASAP
Hello I got a credit score of a 637. Here is the situation. I bought a house a year ago with a price of 195000. At the time my score was 728 and I had no problem with the loan and purchased this new place as a second home. At this time I had owned another house which I had bought for my parents to live in but had the mortgage on my name. I moved out of that house about in 2001 but still had a mortgage. I paid the mortgage on that property for about another 6 months and then passed it onto my brother. Although the mortgage was on my name you can image that he did not care about credit either his or mine. During this time he opened up a cell phone on my name becuase he couldn't get it on his name and left a delinquent balance. I did not know this, then when i asked he starts a fight and claims he has no money. Also I realized that he has been late on numerous mortgage payments. Well since then, my brother has canceled the phone but decided to leave a ramaining bill of about 250 for my to pay via a collection agency. The bill is now 300 and i have tried to contest this with verizon but got no where, so i paid it off to remove it from my credit.. I am in the process of buying another investment property now and ran my credit and thats when i found my score. I have tried to contest verizon but got fed up and wanted it off my credit so I paid it and the person said they would remove it. I cannot take my brother to court so looking for options. Verizon did not remove it and it is still on there as paid but late, I dont know how to take it off verizon says that they cannot do that. Also the house that was on my name is no longer there. Needless to say there isnt much communication with my family and me just lots of bad credit issues. I have transfered the mortgage but the delinquinceys are still there and i was wondering how i can get it off. I am on a credit card with my wife and we have a credit limit of about 35000 and have asked my wife to put me on another card that has good revolving history and credit. I am trying to build up my credit by hopefully January to something above 700. I do not have any delinquencies on my account right now that are not paid or active. I have only some school loans good revolving credit cards and a mortgage. I still own the condo. I need to remove the late paid off verizon bill along with the delinqent mortgage payments where the mortgage is paid off and no longer owned by me. Just some background info: Now I am married and make about 100K and my wife whos FICO is 763, see is a champ, makes about 100k also. We have a corporation along with 3 other investment properties. I now have only 1 property on my name but my wife has 3 properties on her name. Looking to buy more on hopefully my name. We have 10 - 15% down but are looking to buy maybee two properties as investment properties but one property on each persons name. The down is not a problem getting approved for the laon is the problem. I really need help on fixing my credit issues and getting my score up also is it possible with such a bad score that we get the properties on my wifes and my name to build up my credit. I just need to build up my credit. Hopefully someone can help. I do not want to hire a lawyer or credit fixing agency i want to do it fast and cheap and if i have to spend money then fast is the key. Here is some more info in case needed:
My Prop.
Value 220000 Mortg:133000
Wifes Prop.
Home
Value 270000 loan 190000
Prop 1
Value 230000 loan 167000
Prop 2
Value 367000 loan 240000
Is there anyone who knows the steps to take in fixing ones credit. I need to get some paid delinquencies off my credit report ASAP. Someone please help. Is there a helping soul or a MODERATOR to help.
Thanks
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Best Advice is to go to a site like myfico (dot) com. It will tell you exactly where your negatives are and how to best fix them. It's a little to involved for a forum discussion.
My Fico
Nonsense. Check www.creditboards.com and www.artofcredit.com as well as www.creditinfocenter.com
The forum discussions there will point you in the right direction to zap those derogs.
This is not that big of a problem. First call the credit companies all 3 of them ask them to remove the verizon from your credit report. They might do it. They should do it. Next I need to know exactly how many lates on mortgage and how many days 60,90 ect. With your score at 637 which believe it or not is A credit is good your wifes credit is fenominal. She could get this loan with you on it most likely I dont like to make promisses until I can see all the information but you are not in a bad spot at all. [ Edited by classimg on Date 09/10/2004 ]
The Verizon shouldn't be that hard, but the late pays might be. With the Verizon thing (I see a lot of these) simply send a certified letter to Verizon and the collection agency handling it demanding to see: 1. a contract with your signature on it, 2. a detailed list of all charges that "you" supposedly incurred, 3. a detailed payment history, and 4. proof that the company has legal rights to collect in your state. In this letter you also want to tell your story and that you did not ever do a contract with them. You then want to tell them that you have read the Fair Credit Reporting Act article 623, and The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (both found easily with Google) and that sending unsubstantiated demands for payment without proof of debt through the U.S. Mail system could be construed as Mail Fraud. PLEASE EITHER SEND PROOF OR DELETE THESE FALSE ITEMS FROM ALL BY CREDIT FILES!
I'll take about 30-45 days for your results.
Oh, and about the late pays on your past mortgage, that can be tough. It is good that this account that was in your name is closed, but your only hope is to dispute the late pays with each of the 3 major bureaus (Equifax, Trans Union, Experian). You will most likely get it removed from one of the bureaus on your first try (probably Equifax - laziest).
I would suggest at that point waiting until the Christmas season and sending disputes around December 18 or 20th so that you catch the bureaus and creditors with their pants down and a lot less employees to do the "verifying" job. If it doesn't work, keep doing it every 3 months or so. P.S. when bureaus "verify" a negative entry, they are not seeing proof, only getting verbal verification from the creditor! Why, because the FCRA doesn't define "verify"! That's why we have to sometimes take the fight to the actual collectors.
Actually, just disputing it with equifax will bump up your equifax score. I agree, dispute dispute dispute. Make them document you signed the contract. This is doable.
Quote:
On 2004-09-08 10:55, bnorton wrote:
Actually, just disputing it with equifax will bump up your equifax score.
No, what once was the case is no longer. There is no temporary FICO boost while EQ items are in dispute. EQ got wise to that trick.
Wow! Well, all good things must come to an end sometime.
On the last message, increase score in 24 hours... I recently bought this out of curiosity and it pertains mostly to formally requesting internal investigations with the creditors (by law, they must report to the bureaus that they are investigating the account), which with a couple of the bureaus increases your score during the investigation process. To make sure it happens in 24 hours, you need to contact each bureau directly, either by phone or web, and dispute the account. I did this for one of my customers and actually saved a hopeless deal! I recommend buying it. Lots of good info and other stuff too!
As for "the best ever", save your money. I bought the e-book and wasted my money. I try to to a lot of research on credit score improvments and found this site to be nearly ONLY common knowledge and "fluff".
You probably didn't read it all. I thought the internal dispute thing was pretty crucial.
There are alot of people that don't know about credit. Here are some tips for real estate people:
-it doesn't matter how many properties you own. Some people have 15 or more. Only revolving debt counts
-Only things less than 24 months really count
-Your ratio of credit card debt to credit card limit should be less than 30 percent.
Some of that I got from the book. Credit is crucial. Even with private money.
cya
The FACT Act (passed earlier this year) gives all consumers the right to dispute directly with original creditors. However, their is no recourse if the creditors do not properly investigate.