credit help questions

[metalranger33]

So i browsed through you beginners section and found out a lot of great information, but i still have some questions. I pulled my report and here are my questions, but first im 24 and got into some trouble with credit cards when i was younger (try 21-22). So basically I have a car that i have 10 payments left on, and its never been late. One active Capital One credit card which is current, 2 charged off credit cards, and 3 charged off checking accounts. Im just trying to be responsible and take care of everything but i dont know where to start..
1st. Under personal profile i have different address's and employers for each of the three cra's. Do i call them to get it removed or write a letter?
2nd. I have a lot of credit inquiries that are not mine but others that are, and i know they stay on for two years but how do I get those off.
3rd. Under my account history where a chunk of my problem is....Me and my Dad have the same name separated by Jr (which is me) So i see items on there which are mine like charged off checking and two credit cards, but I see to American Express cards that I have never had. Something from GTE thats unpaid from 1993 (mind you im 24) and a few others things I dont recall. What am i supposed to do with those to get them off mine and onto my dads.
4th. And last....What route do i take on paying off those two credit cards that our mine. Do i pay in full, neg. a lower balance...I read paying in full is the best, but i dont have all that money up front....

[Trish]

Hi metalranger. Welcome.

Ok,.. going to answer these in the order you asked them.

1. To get off personal info, I usually call. If you can do it this way, it will go through a little quicker. Get as much deleted as possible. You should also remove your work history. CAs don't need to know that. Delete any phone numbers, address, name and ss# variations. OH and don't forget to opt out!!

2. Inquiries are pretty difficult to get off and unless they are fairly recent, they are probably not affecting your score. Look at them carefully. If you notice and pulls that you did not authorize or from CAs/OCs that do not have accts on you, then you can send them a non PP letter (I think I have one posted in the beginner's section but if not, I will be sure to post one). The only other thing I have know to get inquiries off is a monitoring service with daily pulls (I used to use True Credit) where you will get "bumpage". It worked for me 2 years ago......but I honestly don't know if that works any more (they may have caught on and found a way to stop it).

3. You need to get your Dad's history off of there.......especially if it's hurting you. Once you get your personal info deleted/updated.......you should dispute that. All you have to say is it's not yours (or you could say that's a family member with similar name).........let them figure out where it really needs to go.

4. Well on the COs, how much is the amount? How old are they (are they out of SOL)? That can make a difference on how you should tackle it.

[metalranger33]

also my i bought my credit report for Freecreditreport.com and my scores were
experian 606
equifax 543
transUnion 523

[Trish]

If you can, purchase your reports directly from each CRA.
The free reports give the CRAs 45 days to investigate your disputes instead of 30 days. The more time they have......the more it lessens your chance for a deletion.

[metalranger33]

Ok so I fix my info first, because I see my name without the Jr. then with....and i can do that with the dispute letter. I actually (sadly) have no time during the day to call.
Now after that I dispute my dads two charged off amx cards and his other little things to the CRA's....if they send me anything back that says its mine then i send a validation letter. Correct?
Now my credit cards once belonged to other companies. ie I had a ExxonMobil card that was charged off at 1400 (limit 900) but now it part of citi bank at 2279.
Then I have a bank of American card that was sold (yet bank of America still have is as closed and sold) and now belongs to Lvnv funding at 4010.
The charged off checking accounts are only 353., 167. 78.....
so what should i do
also do i dispute them one at a time or all at once
btw how do i know if they are out of SOL

[Trish]

Originally Posted by metalranger33

Ok so I fix my info first, because I see my name without the Jr. then with....and i can do that with the dispute letter. I actually (sadly) have no time during the day to call. That's fine......just be sure to send the dispute letter CM only (not RR) and either handwritten or with typed with purple or teal italic font.
Now after that I dispute my dads two charged off amx cards and his other little things to the CRA's....if they send me anything back that says its mine then i send a validation letter. Correct? Kind of.......for OCs, you have to send a verification letter OR (if you have the time) try to call them to clear up the misunderstanding since it is clearly not yours. If you need to send them a letter there is a sample of a verification letter for OCs in the beginner's section.
Now my credit cards once belonged to other companies. ie I had a ExxonMobil card that was charged off at 1400 (limit 900) but now it part of citi bank at 2279.
Then I have a bank of American card that was sold (yet bank of America still have is as closed and sold) and now belongs to Lvnv funding at 4010.
The charged off checking accounts are only 353., 167. 78.....
so what should i do
also do i dispute them one at a time or all at once
btw how do i know if they are out of SOL

See above in red for the first two questions.

Ok for COs - you need to see if those are within the statute of limitations......you DO NOT want to dispute these and then turn around and get sued. Go here and find out what the SOL for open accounts is in your state.
To find out how old the COs are, you would need to find out when the DOFD (date of first delinquency) was. Then we will find out if you are out of SOL or not.

For the checking accounts.....you could try to dispute them first and see what happens. Depending on how old they are, they might get dropped. However, if they come back verified.....I would strongly recommend that you try to pay these. They are fairly small amounts.... so hopefully you could maybe take care of one at a time. It makes it almost next to impossible to get a checking acct or write checks when you have dings from bank accounts. You should also get a copy of your report from Chexsystems and Telecheck (I believe you can order them off of their websites) to clear that up as well.

You can dispute several things in one dispute but I would dispute no more than 4 items (for TLs)
If you dispute personal info........go ahead and dispute it all in one dispute since it is all related to the same thing - your personal info.