Credit Repair

Pyramider, the clock doesn't start over rather, it becomes a roll of dice as they might have bought the debt for as little as 3 CENTS to the dollars. So anything they can get out of it is a bonus. And you are correct: TX's SOL is 7 years for bad debts.

This is the problem I seem to be having. I have stuff on my credit report that is from when I was 18, 19, 20 so we are talking 9 + years ago and it is still on there.

I have wrote letters to all 3 credit reporting agencies and went through the process that each one of them have to remove these items, yet they still remain on my credit report.

How in the heck can I get those off of there? Originally Posted by Brooke Wild

most things after 7 years you can have removed call me or email me and ill explain how to do it....

"Let's just forget about that $9,000 I legitimately owe other companies because of my bad decisions...if I wait long enough and ignore it, it'll go away."

And we wonder why this country is so fucked up...

I do not know of any credit repair services that are not scams.

The only person that can do anything at all is the person with the credit problems.
They way you get bad marks off of your credit score is over time and or payi9ng your creditors with the agreement they will remove the ding.

No, they can't get around it.

Creditors are required to report the date of the first delinquency, also known as the FCRA Compliance Date, regardless of how many times it gets shuffled or sold. If they modify that date it is called re-aging and it is illegal.

Collection and charge-off accounts can be reported for up to 7 years and 6 months from the date you first fell behind on the account leading up to it being charged off or sent to collections. Here's an example:

January 1, 2001: You start missing your payments.
May 1, 2001: The account is charged off by the lender.
November 1, 2001: Account is sent to a collection agency.
June 29, 2008: Collection account and charge off must be removed from your credit reports.

The account can be reported for 7 1/2 years from January 1, 2001 – which happens on June 29, 2008. It doesn’t matter when the collection agency bought the account, and it doesn’t matter what date of last activity is listed on your credit report.

If you properly filed a dispute with the credit bureau and they didn't remove it from your report then you may have to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. If the debtor is illegally reporting your date of delinquency on purpose then they could potentially be facing big violations.

Go to http://www.bills.com/re-aging-debt/ to find more info about the process of properly disputing and reporting such activity.

As far as paying my bills on time and improving my credit, I guess that maybe my problem. I don’t have any credit cards or debt. My only bills are car insurance and health insurance. My condo is owned by a couple and they don’t report anything to the credit bureaus and it is all bills paid so I don’t have a cable bill, or light bill or internet, ect. I make 4 payments each semester for my school so I don’t have any student loans either. And my cell phone is not in my name.

Is accumulating some debt the best way to clean up my credit? Will taking out a student loan do that? Originally Posted by Brooke Wild

Brooke, since you don't have any current debt that is reporting to the credit agencies, nothing will improve your credit score. Yes, you need to accumulate debt, and pay on time, to build up a positive credit history. That's the only way. As it stands, right now you only have negative factors and nothing positive to counter it. At a minimum you need a loan of some sort and a credit card. With all this said, it would still take a couple years of positive credit history to counter the negatives in your report.

Pyramider, the clock doesn't start over rather, it becomes a roll of dice as they might have bought the debt for as little as 3 CENTS to the dollars. So anything they can get out of it is a bonus. And you are correct: TX's SOL is 7 years for bad debts. Originally Posted by Who cares!

No, it isn't 7 years. The Texas statute of limitations for debts is four years. After those 4 years they can no longer seek a judgement against you. Only the negative item on your credit report can remain for 3 1/2 more years.

You will ALWAYS OWE a debt until it is paid but in Texas it isn't legally enforceable after four years without a judgement being obtained. After the 7 1/2 years from the first date of delinquency it can no longer appear on your credit report and affect your credit score.

Brooke, since you don't have any current debt that is reporting to the credit agencies, nothing will improve your credit score. Yes, you need to accumulate debt, and pay on time, to build up a positive credit history. That's the only way. As it stands, right now you only have negative factors and nothing positive to counter it. At a minimum you need a loan of some sort and a credit card. With all this said, it would still take a couple years of positive credit history to counter the negatives in your report. Originally Posted by funlovin2007

funlovin is correct. In order to build credit you must have credit. Get a credit card from someone that will report to all three agencies. Buy a little something then immediately send in your payment so that you don't carry over any balance. You want activity on the account but no high balances. I figure why risk it and just send in your payment right away.

Retail/gas cards can help a little bit but it normally takes something like a Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, or a loan to bump up your credit score into the 700+ range. If you can't get a credit card by yourself then you can use a secured credit card as was mentioned before or get a co-signor with better credit than you.

Thanks for all the great information everyone. It never fails when I need help you guys and gals always come through. Thanks again everyone. This thread has taught me a lot!

Have a wonderful Friday.

funlovin is correct. In order to build credit you must have credit. Get a credit card from someone that will report to all three agencies. Buy a little something then immediately send in your payment so that you don't carry over any balance. You want activity on the account but no high balances. I figure why risk it and just send in your payment right away.

Retail/gas cards can help a little bit but it normally takes something like a Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, or a loan to bump up your credit score into the 700+ range. If you can't get a credit card by yourself then you can use a secured credit card as was mentioned before or get a co-signor with better credit than you. Originally Posted by Rezo

The one thing that I can add to this is that in addition to having a card and paying more than the minimum each month, allow yourself to have a very small amount of revolving debt by not paying the balance in full every month. Yes you will incurr a finance charge on the amount that you do not pay but it will you to avoid being a deadbeat. Deadbeat, in lender terms, is someone who is credit worthy, has a line of revolving credit (like a credit card) but always pays the balance taking away from the lender's profitability.

Aside from that, the one sure fire way to improve your credit is to pay your bills, pay them on time and don't spend money that you will never be able to pay. Allowing bills to go to charge-off, ignoring past debts and spending more than you make are sure-fire ways to keep your credit score low.

OTOH, you can pay cash for everything and spend less than what you earn. I know that is a novel concept these days but it is possible if you try...

three things that really affect your credit reopt/fico rating. 1. You'll get +50 points if you have an oil company credit card. 2. your availablel credit to debt ratio, for a good credit score this number should be below 30%. 3. Don't apply for more credit for 1 year, (the exception is an oil company credit card). hope this helps. One more thingmake all payments on time and pay a little more then min payment.