Just Beginning. Don't Know Where To Start?

[grn910]

Hi, I apologize ahead of time for any of my questions. I'm new to this. OK, I'm 34 & I have bad credit. I had good credit at age 22 & myself & a bad relationship messed it up. About 6mths ago I pulled a free report & it was 19 items on there. 3 credit cards, medical bills, repossesion, & 2 judgements. Most over 7-10yrs ago. I found out someone was using my name when they went to the hospital so some of the medical bills were not mine. I disputed everything. I rec'd another set of report with only 6-9 things on there stating they were verified. I havent done anything else yet. Most of these are old or have been to different CA's. I want to clear it up but Im not sure what to do first. Ive heard to write pay to delete letters, validation letters, 1-2 punch(which I do not understand), etc. The total of these bills is at the most $2K. I dont know what info I should send or where I should send it. I heard less is better. Can someone lead me in the right direction? Thanks

[Trish]

Well, you are in the right place..

Start by reading here in the beginner's section.

Honestly, it doesn't sound to bad if most of your debts are that old.
You've gotten your CRs and really, that's the first step.
The next thing you should do is update any/all personal information. Get as many addys, name, ss# variations deleted. Delete phone #'s, employment history.........basically as much as possible. (you can do it over the phone or online and it will go a little quicker - but anything else as far as disputes should be done by mail)

Go here and opt out: www.optoutprescreen.com
It will keep the CRAs from sharing your information with 3rd parties and keep you a little more hidden while you are fixing your credit.

While you are waiting for the opt out and personal info to get update.........triage your reports, go through them and see what's reporting incorrectly. Anything over 7 years old, dispute as obsolete. After that start with the oldest debts.

That will kinda get you started. Then stick around and read here. There's a lot of info. If you have questions, just feel free to ask and we will try to help point you in the right direction.