Credit repair questions on next steps

[glennh]

Hello, forum-goers. First, thank you to everyone involved in any form or fashion, having a resource like this is invaluable.

Now, I am a big believer in FAQs and the self part of self help. I will be putting a lot of information out here, but you should be able to see I’ve looked through this forum and some other resources and this is more fine-tuning my plans and so forth rather than looking for the direction of start.

So, after some reading and so forth, I went to MyFico, used forumes25 for a discount and got the Equifax (590) and TransUnion (572) and the Experian website for that report (575). I did that today/yesterday (before and after midnight ). I also opted out.

Now, I’m after posting this going to send a letter to TU and EXP as they have an older address just to update my current address. (waiting a day or two in case someone has a more brilliant idea)

After waiting for a week and a half (I just started a 10 day vacation) during which I’m reading these forums and other resources, I’m going to begin my next phase.

Now, here’s where I have rather specific questions:

I live in California. I used to live in Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York. Which states Statues of Limitations carry weight for my situation? Each state (aside from California really) has some representation on my reports.

I’ve been married for 6 years, and the good thing credit-wise is I basically haven’t started or worked on any credit at all during this time. Good as in, since I’m focusing on it now, in certain ways I have an advantage, of sorts.

TRANSUNION: I have 6 accounts showing, 4 are student loans (last 9 months reported paid or paying as agreed. I have had some lates on there, but since this is actually 7 and 8 year loans, and I’m not required to pay on them at the moment (California community college is cheaper than the loan payments, plus is helping to build my career) I essentially am happy with them and will happily keep them paid on time when I am due to begin paying on them. Account #5 is Merrick Bank, reporting as charged off as bad debt. I was actually promised a deletion back in 2004 when I paid this off just before getting married. At any rate, the date of last activity is January, 2004, so…if I understand correctly, as I live in California and it’s been over 4 years….they have to remove this? Or 7 years as I was always told and I wait until February and say it’s been 85 months (1 over 7 years) Account #6 is a Next Card account I don’t remember, date of last activity July, 2002 that was closed in September 2002. It shows paid or paying as agreed…and 0 times late on 30, 60 or 90 days. Description says purchased by another lender…do I bother to have it removed since it seems to be the only purely positive one there?

I have 3 collections, none of which show a date last active. All are actually from spring 2004 when I lived in Pennsylvania.

Finally, I had a paid tax lien, in 2006, from NY. I’m not sure if anything can be done, since it’s been paid.

Equifax has little different, just an Equable account that says opened in Feb 2006 and date of last activity Jan 2004, and Equifax has the Merrick Bank account’s last activity as MARCH 2004, instead of January. I guess I should wait until April or, I can do this now, as a Californian?

Experian really has nothing left to add there.

So, some help with applicable Statue of limitations and status questions as above would be very appreciated. I am especially confused with the beginner’s FAQ stating to figure out SOL times based on date of first delinquency. That information didn’t appear in my credit reports.

So, steps are (as of now)
1. Update address, magic jack phone number (we don’t really use it) etc with credit bureaus.
2. Get solid answers on statute of limitations of said accounts.
3. 1-2 punch those accounts not within 3 months of cast-iron statute of limitations forcible deletions.
4. Open 2 secured cards for additional credit lines that I can use to build my credit.
5. Not worry further, since in essence I only want a very few items removed and want to keep the time I have for NOT making student loan payments as long as it takes me to finish my education so I can earn more for me and my family (and since it’s reported as paid as agreed every month, since I’m not owing payments….)
6. Potentially get an upgraded vehicle (my Jeep is 12 years old and even my mechanic is sick of seeing it).
7. Are there any good ways to get good reporting on your reports? I’ve heard about asking banks for a tiny secured loan (like $100) but my report says I already owe too much, so maybe not a good idea.

I know there is a lot in here, but most of it is specific and I sincerely appreciate anyone’s (mature) responses. Thanks again,

Glenn

[chane]

Glenn,

You're on the right track. The SOL is for the state that you lived in when you took on the debt. Keep us updated. If you have any other questions, just ask. It's best to ask them one at a time so we don't get overwhelmed.