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SultryKitten

Credit Repair Advice!

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Okay, I know this is a personal question, but I need to repair my "No Credit"(long story) to good credit. I have been talking to a few credit repair companies and they tell me that they can fix it pretty quick by disputing and removing past credit things that have been taken care of which will, in return, jump my credit score up. Is this true? It won't be cheap to do, but I feel it will be worth it as I have been struggling to get back to a good rating.

Also, does anyone know of good companies to work with that back up what they proclaim? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This lady is trying to get her hooker life in order. ;)

xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

 

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Most credit repair companies do for a fee what you could do for yourself.  There are letters to write and send in.  You can do that for a lot less than any credit repair company.   I have been in financial markets for a long time and you can as much for yourself without the cost.

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If you have "No Credit" credit repair companies will not help.  The best way to get credit is to get a credit card with a small limit and pay for everything with it.  Then pay it off every month.  While back ago I had no credit and that is what I did.  I am no expert but it worked for me.  Here is link with some information  https://www.credit.com/credit-repair/

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Apply for a Capital One credit card they will usually just give you a minimum of 200 or 300 to start off with they report to the credit bureaus every month helped me to get my score up also Credit Karma shows you all your credit history and shows you what you need to do to help fix your credit worked for me to refinance my house good luck

Edited by Sofia of Colorado
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56 minutes ago, SultryKitten said:

Okay, I know this is a personal question, but I need to repair my "No Credit"(long story) to good credit. I have been talking to a few credit repair companies and they tell me that they can fix it pretty quick by disputing and removing past credit things that have been taken care of which will, in return, jump my credit score up. Is this true? It won't be cheap to do, but I feel it will be worth it as I have been struggling to get back to a good rating.

Also, does anyone know of good companies to work with that back up what they proclaim? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This lady is trying to get her hooker life in order. ;)

xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

 

You can actually do this yourself, and it maybe takes a couple of hours total. The easiest way is to sign up for all three credit agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax), and view their individual credit ratings of you. They'll list everything and give you the option of disputing and resolving pretty much anything you want with a reasoning behind it. If you have proof the negative or whatever you're trying to remove has been corrected, resolved, closed out,  or whatever you can provide that as well. It's actually fairly easy and straight forward. Everything is broken up into it's own claim so you'll have to do something for each one you want to dispute, but it's all listed. Each site does it slightly different but they all work the same. It's annoying trying to find where you can actually dispute the claims, and I think I had issues with Experian's site timing out. So be patient. Also remove any old addresses that aren't your current if you've been in your current location for more than a couple years. You really want to make sure that whatever is being reported on is as current as possible. 

There's a few catches though. 

1.) You can do it all online which is great; however, if you go the online everything route you're pretty much going to have to agree that whatever they come back with is final. There's a disclaimer that pops up when you make your submission. 

2.) It's not fast. You file your claim, the credit agency will contact those reporting against you within 30 days if I remember correctly. Then those companies have 30 days to respond. And then from there it takes another 30 or so before it begins to reflect on your credit score and it doesn't go up all at once. Removing those and paying off any credit cards you have will not necessarily make it go up "faster" but you will see huge jumps in your score each month.

3.) Make sure you cancel the 30 day period on the credit agencies. 2 of them you have to call into, though I don't remember which ones. 

I did this last year and got all but 1 thing entirely removed though it now reflects the account is closed. Student loans keep me from cracking the 800 credit score barrier but I'm almost there. It's a little frustrating at first but it really is fairly simple. I'd say give it a shot before you shell out a lot of money if you're able to. 

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All of the above is good advice. Save your money by avoiding "credit repair" companies, do a little research on google, and establish a pattern of paying your bills on time.

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2 hours ago, Sofia of Colorado said:

Apply for a Capital One credit card they will usually just give you a minimum of 200 or 300 to start off with they report to the credit bureaus every month helped me to get my score up also Credit Karma shows you all your credit history and shows you what you need to do to help fix your credit worked for me to refinance my house good luck

Toppers! I applied for that just recently, and will be getting another one soon. Thanks though...some people don't think of that.

Xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

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1 hour ago, inkspot said:

All of the above is good advice. Save your money by avoiding "credit repair" companies, do a little research on google, and establish a pattern of paying your bills on time.

The bills are paid on time. I just was literally a ghost for 10 years due to an ex, and I have also never had a loan nor had a credit card. I figured it was time to grow up, and now I am paying for my rebellion.

All of you have great advice and I will be sitting down, writing up some letters, and making some phone calls. Time to be an adult. :P:P:P

Xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

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Getting a few secure credit card is one of the best first steps you can do. Credit cards/ revolving credit makes up almost 30% of your credit score. Just try and keep your cc balances under the 50% of the limits. A couple of other things you can do is dispute any negative things on your credit. Credit karma makes this extremely easy. They actually have a section dedicated to disputing things on your credit. A bigger step would be getting and auto loan. You may have to pay a higher interest rate depending on what's showing up on your credit but having good auto history is huge. It's the stepping stone to buying a home.

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10 hours ago, SultryKitten said:

Toppers! I applied for that just recently, and will be getting another one soon. Thanks though...some people don't think of that.

Xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

Don't use more than 30% of your available credit each month, and pay off in full every month. Your score will rise quick. Good luck sweet lady!

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Samantha darling, you can do this yourself. Do not pay these people. I have form letters I can send you for any bad credit and the best credit card companies. It will save you time. Promise.

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The good news is that it is easier to build credit than repair it. Sounds like you are already on track with a credit card or two. Next would be an installment loan like a car payment.  After that the only way to keep increasing your credit score is time, as the longer you have accounts open the better. 

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Most of this advice is good, albeit without exact knowledge of the particulars. If there are unpaid debts from an ex hubby of a decade past, they should be near or past the debt statute of limitations. Writing the credit reporting agencies and demanding that they drop them from the reports will work as that is the law. When building credit, don't forget gasoline and retail credit accounts. Those Shell cards, Kohls cards, or...whatever shops you like...build credit when used and paid on time. Also....take one of those new credit cards and maintain a small balance. Pay part of it on time each month and pay a little bit of interest. When a credit card company gets a little interest earnings on time, all their credit buddies get envious and start making offers. This will speed up your building process.

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15 hours ago, SultryKitten said:

The bills are paid on time. I just was literally a ghost for 10 years due to an ex, and I have also never had a loan nor had a credit card. I figured it was time to grow up, and now I am paying for my rebellion.

All of you have great advice and I will be sitting down, writing up some letters, and making some phone calls. Time to be an adult. :P:P:P

Xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

Outside a of few convenience things,  you can get by in life just fine without a CC or credit rating.   A debit card can be used for most things just like a CC. Somethings like a car rental or hotels may not accept the debit card. 

If you are looking to purchase a home,  a good credit score will make things a little easier. You may still need to prove you have the income so you can make the payments. 

I would not use credit to buy a car.   You can step up in car every couple of years until you reach "near new".  If you are driving a $1000 car, save up $4-5000, sell your current car and by a newer one.  Then, save another $4-5000, sell your car and buy a $10,000.  Rinse and repeat until you are in the $15-20,000 range.  Then save and sell to maintain a $15-20,000 car every 3-5 years.   Never needing to pay a bank any interest. 

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It'll take time, but agree with what everyone said in obtaining a cc and paying off.  If there is cash you can withdraw off the card, do this too, but don't use the cash and payoff monthly.  As Sofia said, you'll see your credit score rise and more than likely, more credit cards will come in the mail for you.  Do the same with these, but ALWAYS pay off monthly in full.

Be patient as this will take months to get your credit where you want it to be.  Good luck on this journey!

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3 hours ago, Admiral C said:

Most of this advice is good, albeit without exact knowledge of the particulars. If there are unpaid debts from an ex hubby of a decade past, they should be near or past the debt statute of limitations. Writing the credit reporting agencies and demanding that they drop them from the reports will work as that is the law. When building credit, don't forget gasoline and retail credit accounts. Those Shell cards, Kohls cards, or...whatever shops you like...build credit when used and paid on time. Also....take one of those new credit cards and maintain a small balance. Pay part of it on time each month and pay a little bit of interest. When a credit card company gets a little interest earnings on time, all their credit buddies get envious and start making offers. This will speed up your building process.

The ex I wasn't married to...he just made sure that my debt was racked up fast in my twenties. It is all gone now because I buckled down,  paid off, budgeted, and got him out of my life for good. The fact that I got bad credit so fast in my twenties never allowed me to have loans nor get credit cards, and now that I need them I am a virtual ghost. It has backfired. I pay high interest if I do get a loan, it is tough to get a car, store credit cards, mortgage, other loans, etc.  One of the credit bureaus literally have a zero on me because I have never had things that would show up on their account. Hopefully, with the secured cards it will. The other two are okay, but everyone looks at the other one. 

I want to get to the point that I am budgeting everything on a card or two every month, and then paying them off every month. I am virtually debt free now, and do not want to rack up anymore, but I understand that I have to have a debt-income ratio to meet credit criterias so I will have a few to appease them, but I am not the type to go binge shopping or buy extravagant things.

Everytime I sit down and they look at my credit, it keeps showing all the stuff from my past, and I have to explain them and so that is why I want to get them off. They are paid, but I get the feeling it doesn't look good for me, and I do know it has allowed a few to judge me based on my past.

Thanks for all of the advice, and the help. I was talking to a few, and it just seemed like there could be an easier and cheaper way to do it, and y'all confirmed it for me.

xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

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20 hours ago, JoDoe27 said:

You can actually do this yourself, and it maybe takes a couple of hours total. The easiest way is to sign up for all three credit agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax), and view their individual credit ratings of you. They'll list everything and give you the option of disputing and resolving pretty much anything you want with a reasoning behind it. If you have proof the negative or whatever you're trying to remove has been corrected, resolved, closed out,  or whatever you can provide that as well. It's actually fairly easy and straight forward. Everything is broken up into it's own claim so you'll have to do something for each one you want to dispute, but it's all listed. Each site does it slightly different but they all work the same. It's annoying trying to find where you can actually dispute the claims, and I think I had issues with Experian's site timing out. So be patient. Also remove any old addresses that aren't your current if you've been in your current location for more than a couple years. You really want to make sure that whatever is being reported on is as current as possible. 

There's a few catches though. 

1.) You can do it all online which is great; however, if you go the online everything route you're pretty much going to have to agree that whatever they come back with is final. There's a disclaimer that pops up when you make your submission. 

2.) It's not fast. You file your claim, the credit agency will contact those reporting against you within 30 days if I remember correctly. Then those companies have 30 days to respond. And then from there it takes another 30 or so before it begins to reflect on your credit score and it doesn't go up all at once. Removing those and paying off any credit cards you have will not necessarily make it go up "faster" but you will see huge jumps in your score each month.

3.) Make sure you cancel the 30 day period on the credit agencies. 2 of them you have to call into, though I don't remember which ones. 

I did this last year and got all but 1 thing entirely removed though it now reflects the account is closed. Student loans keep me from cracking the 800 credit score barrier but I'm almost there. It's a little frustrating at first but it really is fairly simple. I'd say give it a shot before you shell out a lot of money if you're able to. 

Samantha- this is exactly right- try this first. Get all your reports and review- Dispute online or in writing things you see. I also signed up for credit karma on my phone so I can view all three credit reporting agencies and get notices when something changes. I didn't pay anything for this service.

It takes time- good luck ( Don't pay for anything )-

Be careful with Capital one- they are the most ruthless credit card company out there.

Edited by Mr Purple
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Don't forget to pay the rent every month ON TIME Your landlord can show up on th rport.  He (it) is a good reference after about a year if paid on tome of a day early.

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1 hour ago, pointymoustache said:

Don't forget to pay the rent every month ON TIME Your landlord can show up on th rport.  He (it) is a good reference after about a year if paid on tome of a day early.

When purchasing a home it is highly important not to be late with rent payments. Yes! They will want official paper work on your psyments monthly for rent!

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I declared BK in 1994 due to ex's medical bills. Divorced in 2005 to same woman. Noooo credit. My job dictates that you have credit...period. My scores are now 700+, how? Grabbed a card finally, ran it up full amount. Paid off half 1st payment. Then + payments thereafter. Behold, the next card. Did the same with those cards. Bought my 2016 Escort in Oct 2015. Qualified for 0% interest. Opted for .09% interest. Longer term low payments. $36k car put 50% down. Talk to a mortgage lender of repute. They will tell you exactly what it will take and how long. I just started up yet another endeavor. Went to Chase biz banker, I was set up in 2 weeks. Be proactive, you'll be fine.

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Local credit unions are also usually better for getting loans with, especially if you've had a checking and savings account with them for a while.  They always have more flexibility to write "questionable" loans that wouldn't be approved at the big banks.

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21 hours ago, kinky_dog said:

Getting a few secure credit card is one of the best first steps you can do. Credit cards/ revolving credit makes up almost 30% of your credit score. Just try and keep your cc balances under the 50% of the limits. A couple of other things you can do is dispute any negative things on your credit. Credit karma makes this extremely easy. They actually have a section dedicated to disputing things on your credit. A bigger step would be getting and auto loan. You may have to pay a higher interest rate depending on what's showing up on your credit but having good auto history is huge. It's the stepping stone to buying a home.

This is all true but do not walk into a car dealer and have them Shop Around for the best interest rate. Four or five companies will do a Hard Search all within a short time which will further damage your credit score.

Good advice though.

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