Getting A Foreclosure Removed

[PlainJane]

I thought there might be others in my shoes, so I will put it out there:

We owned two homes, but let one be foreclosed on because it was 200k upside down, and for us, our credit was not worth 200k. We are in CA, so no worries about recourse loans. We live in the other house and are fine. Otherwise we have had great credit. Prior to the foreclosure, my scores were in the 750 range. I can say that once we started to miss our mortgage payments we started to receive fewer and fewer credit card offers in the mail, which we didn't care about. We had/have two other credit cards - one is a Mastercard with a 30k credit limit at 6% and it hasn't changed at all, no increase in the rate, minimum payment, nothing. Our other one was a BestBuy card and that too has had nothing change about it, we have 0% for 36 months still, and they actually still send us offers, and have actually increased our credit limit. My husband also opened a new credit card at a clothing store a couple months ago and was given an $800 credit limit. I thought for sure he was going to be denied, but nope, they gave him an account. We have never missed payments on anything besides the one home. I have no idea what my current credit score is. I'm scared to do a hard check and find out. Anyway, we are going to try to get the foreclosure removed from our credit reports.

I just signed up with Lexington Law, and they even said that the only negative items on my credit were a foreclosure and a charge off with a balance of zero (two loans a first and second, I presume). The person I talked to did say that charge-offs are easier to have removed if they have a zero balance, so sweet. So I will give updates when anything happens.

I'm wondering if I should find out my actual credit score. Any thoughts on that? And how would I?

Thanks!

[bhmnrhpsdy]

Plain Jane, I am in a similar situation and was wondering what your experience was with the foreclosure removal.

My husband and I both requested our credit reports this April and the only potentially adverse item listed is "Foreclosure proceedings started" reported by First Federal Bank in November 2009. First Federal Bank was closed by the FDIC in December 2009, its accounts were transferred to OneWest Bank. We had originally tried to work with First Federal to no avail, so we resorted to a strategic default. The property was sold around February 2010.

Would it be possible to have the foreclosure removed from our credit reports by disputing the item? There is no additional information regarding the foreclosure - does this mean that OneWest Bank has not completed Foreclosure proceedings and would it be wise to attempt to have it removed from our credit report?

Thanks in advance.