credit

[mustangguy289]

Ramsey says to throw credit out the door.

[Lason]

Ramsey says to throw credit out the door.

Ramsey's method only works if you hit the lotto.

[mustangguy289]

Ramsey's method only works if you hit the lotto.

Or you get a bunch of in debt suckers to pay to go to weekly common sense, feel good meetings.

[Sean88gt]

Ramsey's method only works if you hit the lotto.

He has the means to be overly extreme, but applying common sense to your finances will yield gains.

[Ratt]

I, too, was a dumbass 18-22 year old who burned myself with credit cards and car payments I couldn't afford. My credit is terrible, but it's slowly getting better. I think the only thing on there now is a voluntary repossession (I know it's no different) of a vehicle some years ago. I haven't checked my reports in a while though. Probably should.

[SVTNorthTexas]

I, too, was a dumbass 18-22 year old who burned myself with credit cards and car payments I couldn't afford. My credit is terrible, but it's slowly getting better. I think the only thing on there now is a voluntary repossession (I know it's no different) of a vehicle some years ago. I haven't checked my reports in a while though. Probably should.

Absolutly do it, why not? It's free to check them once a year. Nothing to loose and you will know where you are at should you need to apply for credit.

[Lason]

yup I was a dumb youngster too and then my divorce 5 years ago screwed me credit wise. Pull the report, fix some stuff and then get you a couple credit cards and only use 15-25% of the available balance for paying bills or whatever and pay them off at the end of the month. That is what I am in the middle of.

[SVTNorthTexas]

yup I was a dumb youngster too and then my divorce 5 years ago screwed me credit wise. Pull the report, fix some stuff and then get you a couple credit cards and only use 15-25% of the available balance for paying bills or whatever and pay them off at the end of the month. That is what I am in the middle of.

Good advice. From what I've read on some credit forums if you do the above within 6-12 months of ontime payments your score should shoot up pretty well; depending on where you are at now, of course.

[Lason]

yep and if you REALLY want to shoot your score up and have some cash to burn. Invest $5-10k into secured credit cards and most people report after a year or so the bank will refund your money, increase your credit limit and you will essentially have a high limit unsecured credit card that would otherwise take years to get.

[SVTNorthTexas]

yep and if you REALLY want to shoot your score up and have some cash to burn. Invest $5-10k into secured credit cards and most people report after a year or so the bank will refund your money, increase your credit limit and you will essentially have a high limit unsecured credit card that would otherwise take years to get.

Thanks, I forgot where we were for a second. :shock:

[TexasDevilDog]

There is a secrete to cleaning up credit. Pay bills on time.

Borrower is slave to the lender.

[96mustangtx]

I did not read all the responses but I will give my experience to you anyway. I had a lot of collections on my report from when I was 18-24. I am 27 now and only have 3 paid collections on my report. My score TANKED with all the old stuff on there.

I started by disputing everything. About 1/2 came off immediately. Then a month or so later 1/2 of those came back. They were honestly my debt, the agencies just did not verify in time. Then I started pay for delete letters. Usually they respond with a generic letter saying it is against their policy. Wait 2 months or so and try again. After 2 or 3 tries just pay the debt anyway. They may see notes in the system and delete it anyway after payment.

If they do not delete the collection send good will letters asking them to delete. Try it a coupe times. If that does not work send another letter (short and to the point) explaining your situation when the debt occured and ask for them to chance how it is reported (paid settlement to paid in full, etc) Also, goodwill letters may also convince them to delete a 30,60,or 90 days late for you.

By no means is this a short process. It takes forever. I took me 1.5 years to get most of my collections deleted. Heck, I just got one removed this morning. My score has increased a minimum of 40 pts with everyone.

Go to myfico.com, they have a forum and they cover all this in further detail.

Good luck.

**EDIT - Do not pay anyone to do the work for you. It is all possible to do it yourself. All it will cost you is the cost of certified mail and possibly the debt amount if it is truly yours.

[Sgt Beavis]

There was one point I had $22K in credit card debt. It took me a while to get it under control but I finally did. At this moment I have no credit card debt at all. Just a loan for the car, a loan for the child adoption we're doing, and the mortgage. Still, that's a lot. However my credit score as of last month was between 793 and 801. I still use the credit card I got from my credit union at 6.5%. But it is never charged to a point that I cannot immediately pay it off. I have three other credit cards with about $50k in total limits but I only use them occasionally.

Once we get a child adoption completed, I can get the child adoption tax credit and pay off that loan. Then I'll be able to pay off our car in less than a year and the house in five more years. Now It's just a matter of keeping a job and putting money in savings.