Pay off my debts and improve credit report

i would like to buy a house within the next 2 years. how soon can i clear up my credit and will they put everything thats on my credit in the plan

Hi Marie

Welcome to the forums. Since you are looking for a new home, the three digit credit score is the most important factor to analyze your financial worthiness. Based on these credit score, loans or credit can be acquired from the creditors and other lending agencies. When the credit score is evaluated, extensive research is conducted on the following areas of your credit report.

• Your payment history is analyzed.
  
• The amount that you owe is taken into consideration.
  
• Length of your credit history is determined.
  
• They look out for the types of credit that you have used so far.
  
• They will look into your new credit.

Please use the following tips to improve your credit score.

Check for incorrect entries - It is mandatory to check your credit report for any mistakes from all the three credit reporting agencies. You can review your report for at least once in a year as well as several months before you apply for a loan.

Timely payments It will be considered a very good practice if you always pay your bills on time. Your prompt payments will put you in a much comfortable position before you apply for a loan. This point is emphasized because a late or missed payment just before applying for a loan lowers the credit score and has worse impact than a missed payment five years ago.

Bring credit balance to the minimum - It is always beneficial to reduce the credit card balances as much as possible. The FICO scores get affected due to how much money you owe on some cards relative to your total credit limit. Credit scores are seen improving if the balances are kept below 25% of the credit card limit.

Don't linger your payments It is suggested not to increase the ratio by closing an account and transferring the remaining balance to another account since the ratio of the credit card balance is linked to the credit limit. Doing this will lower the credit score which should not be generally done while you are on your way to increase your credit score.

Unused accounts to be kept active - While you are applying for a loan, it is suggested not to close any unused account. At the same time, it is suggested not to open a new account also during that time. It is said because if you are having a short credit history or less number of accounts, the credit score gets lowered when a new account is opened as there is no proven track record of it.

Please do let us know your feedback. We will appreciate your comments and suggestions for the community welfare.

Regards
Roxette

What is your current credit score?

with a 560 crdit middle score, many lenders are offering 100% financing!!!

homefinance, WHO is doing that? My son's middle score is higher than that and he can only get 80% at 7.5% Interest.

His middle score should be even higher, but he was deployed to Louisana in September. I had enough pre-signed checks to pay all of the bills in September and he should have gotten back in time to pay the October ones, but another hurricane warning meant they had to stay longer.

In the meantime, I contacted all of his creditors and explained the situation, along with the fact that they needed to lowere his Interest rate to 6% for as long as he was deployed, in compliance with the SSCRA

I contacted the Guard and they sent several copies of his orders and I sent one to each of the Creditors.
No problem for the Credit Cards. They lowered his rate and never reported the overdue payment in Oct.

Countrywide Home Loans was another matter. After sending them the orders several times and being notified that they hadn't received them, I sent another copy by registered mail. They also reported the missed payment to all 3 Credit Reporters.

In the meantime, they called here EVERY Day, threatening to repossess. Each and every time I explained that Dennis was in New Orleans, SOMEWHERE, but that I had no way to reach him and no more pre-signed checks.

EACH and EVERY time, the suggested I fax him??? The guys were sleeping outside??? The Guard Officer here in Portland gave me permission to have them call her and she would try to explain it. Countrywide wasn't interested.

One of the rules of the SSCRA, is that missing payments can NOT be reported.

So, since my son's rate is going to go from 6.4 to 9.3 next month, Countrywide offered to refinance for a lower rate. However, he can't get prime because Countrywide ILLEGALLY reported his late payment. So they offered him 7.5% (Urge to do them great bodily harm.)

He turned them down of course, and now feels his only recourse is to go active and be deployed to Afganistan or Iraq. I am not at all well and hardly leave the house. I am also worried about his finances if shomething were to happen to me.

As far as Countrywide is concered, his loan was sold to them so he had no choice. If you have a choice, that would be a bad one.


On his original loan, he chose his Insurance Carrier and it was paid thru escrow. Countrywide ordered their own company, Balboa, to provide regular & FLOOD Insurance, at a much higher rate. (This is not a flood area????) Now he had two, and I tried for months to get them to drop Balboa to no avail. He finally decided to at least save the cost of his own Insurance and dropped that 6 months later. His escrow payment has also risen once again as Balboa has just raised THEIR rates.

Okay, if you agreed at the time of signing to provide your own homeowner's insurance, your mortgage company cannot provide you with insurance and escrow it in. I know from experience. On occasion, my mortgage company tries to get smart and provide me with insurance, which is always higher rates than what I have, and they try to charge me. I just call my insurance agent, and they call the mortgage company and deal with it. The insurance agents know the laws, and they are able to deal with the mortgage company on this well. He should let his insurance company know this is happening. He should also complain against them to the FTC.

becky,

You should consult a mortgage loan officer within the state of Oregon.

It sounds as if you are dealing with the retail side of Countrywide.... you need to broaden your options by speaking with a reputable licensed mortgage professional in your area..

I am licensed in many states, but unfortunately Oregon is not one of them.

TMD, first of all, The FTC will do nothing until they have NUMEROUS Complaints against the same Company. They have 3 already from my son, spanning a year and a half.

Second, he notified his Insurance carrier that Countrywide had purchased the original Mortgage and was not abiding by the terms. As far as I know, they did nothing. (Reported to FTC)

With not one late payment, Countrywide began calling EVERY day from the first of each month to remind Dennis to pay the payment by the 16th of the month. This started with the very first month after they took over the contract. (The law says, if you do not wish to be contacted by phone you need only send the Company a written request to stop doing so.)

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/dncalrt.htm
Specifically:
32. My number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. After I bought something from a company, a telemarketer representing that organization called me. Is this a violation?

No. By purchasing something from the company, you established a business relationship with the company. As a result, even if you put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, that company may call you for up to 18 months after your last purchase or delivery from it, or your last payment to it, unless you ask the company not to call again. In that case, the company must honor your request not to call. If they subsequently call you again, they may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.

An established business relationship with a company also will be created if you make an inquiry to the company, or submit an application to it. This kind of established business relationship exists for three months after the inquiry or application. During this time, the company can call you.

If you make a specific request to that company not to call you, however, then the company may not call you, even if you have an established business relationship with that company.

It took reporting them to the National Do Not Call Registry and 5 verified infractions to get them to stop. (Reported to FTC.)

Despite being warned ahead of time that it was NOT legal to report a deliquency of Payment by a Client who was covered under the SSCRA, Countrywide went ahead and reported him anyway. To all 3 Credit Reporting Agencys. 5 days after he had caught the mortgage up to date. (Reported to FTC)

It then took them 26 days to acknowledge that they had been in error, and they promised it would be removed within 60 days. It has now been 89 days since we received their 'letter of apology' and whether or not it has been removed is anyone's guess.

Since we pulled my son's CR in October he is not entitled to another free copy until Oct. 2006, but Friday we contacted a local Loan Officer who is trying to Refi his Loan and will let us know Monday.

homefinance, I'm not too sure what 'retail' has to do with Countrywide.

If you are considering Countrywide as a mortgage holder, beware.

If your mortgage is sold to them. you have my utmost sympathy.

Link deleted as per forum rules - Vikas

Update. Sorry about the Link.

This is getting ridiculous. I finally got in touch with the 'Loan officer' I mentioned in my previous post. He said he had pulled the Credit Report. Countrywide is saying the payment has been late every month from October on????

Little problem here. Dennis has all of his Statements and it shows that CWH has taken their payment out of his account every month BEFORE the due date???

Everything else aside, you have to wonder about the level of intelligence of these people when they don't even have the sense to leave the money there until after the due date. Makes it pretty easy to show the Credit Reporting Agencys that Countrywide lied.

I have reported the facts to Equifax and Trans Union but can't find a dispute form for Experian?

Hi Becky,

I don't see any dispute form from Experian. They do give a number - 888 397 3742 - and you can also dispute online. Perhaps they send you a form when you call? I am not sure.

~Mary

Mary, click on the link below and you will see an online demo of how to dispute a particular item with Experian.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/video/

Excellent video David, thanks for sharing that link! It did raise a question for me though...I noticed at a certain point you could add a comment to your dispute. One of the choices was "I co-signed for this account. I was not advised of non-payment on this account." This describes a LOT of my problems on my credit report. Should I be attempting to dispute these items, using this statement? I never thought of it. Thanks

~Mary

Yes, tick the appropriate dispute and add a comment with your dispute. Fill up the complete form with Experian and it will be received by them.

In the pub section, there is a thread asking for the feedback and suggestion about these videos. Do you have any online video request that you wish to see in the forum. You can put your comments there in that thread.

Thanks David, I will also comment in the pub on the video section. Will disputing these co-signed accounts do me any good, or am I wasting my time with it?

~Mary

Any dispute after rectification enhances your credit history and this can be good to your file. It won't be a waste of time and your future lenders will know the facts.

Thanks David, I guess it can't hurt then to try, right?

~Mary

David, Is there anything that doesn't require waiting for video to download? I have dial-up and it takes forever.

waydizzy, How do you dispute online? Experian doesn't have any way of doing so on their web site?