Working on credit scores/reports

[oldhack]

I was pleasantly surprised today when I bought my Equifax and TransUnion FICOs for the first time since reestablishing credit following Chapter 13 discharge just after New Year's.
In January, just prior to applying (successfully) for a mortgage, my Equifax score was the qualifying mid-score at 642, but my TU FICO was sub-600. (Experian -- no longer available, of course -- was my highest in the 670s). I feared after taking on a mortgage and receiving a couple of small-limit, unsecured credit cards in the interim, the scores might have cratered.
Instead, I was glad and relieved to find the Equifax is 665, and TU has jumped 80+ points to 677. So, progress is afoot!

[jennordhavn]

I was pleasantly surprised today when I bought my Equifax and TransUnion FICOs for the first time since reestablishing credit following Chapter 13 discharge just after New Year's.
In January, just prior to applying (successfully) for a mortgage, my Equifax score was the qualifying mid-score at 642, but my TU FICO was sub-600. (Experian -- no longer available, of course -- was my highest in the 670s). I feared after taking on a mortgage and receiving a couple of small-limit, unsecured credit cards in the interim, the scores might have cratered.
Instead, I was glad and relieved to find the Equifax is 665, and TU has jumped 80+ points to 677. So, progress is afoot!

Congrats! That's great progress.

[RK05]

I have a question....

I just mailed some corrections, using the letter that myfico creates for you.

How long will it take for the bureaus to read my letter and make the corrections? A week? A month? 6 months?

Just curious.

It took equfax a little over a month to get a letter back. We still have not received anything from Experian. If you mailed something to them what address did you use? We used the Allen Tx address and its been close to two months now!

[jennordhavn]

Update

I got ALL five collection accounts deleted from TU. My FAKO TC score went up 60 pts! Can't wait to see my real FICO score which I will get at end of September (I may just buy it before then cuz I'm so impatient....lol). Looks like my scores will definitely be 620+ by summer 2011 to buy a house w/ FHA. Now we just have to figure out how to save the down payment.

[jennordhavn]

Another Update

I pulled my EQ report/score since I noticed things looked strange on TrueCredit. A bunch of items have fallen off (without me disputing)....while I lost quite a bit of age, I also got rid of a lot of baddies. My score increased from 592 to 624. YAY.

[jennordhavn]

Experian

3 more baddies fell off EX for no apparent reason. YAY.

[liz417]

3 more baddies fell off EX for no apparent reason. YAY.

Just wanted to say Thanks for all the info, I am currently in the process of "cleaning up my credit report" after being discharged a few weeks ago. I didn't know where to start...so, thanks

I did not know that although accounts are Zeroed out, they should ALSO say, "IIB" as well. I have a couple of accounts that are zeroed out and state, "sold/transfered to another lender" and NOT IIB, so I will be disputing them too. I will check out the other credit boards you recommended, but what monitoring service do you use? Is it really worth the extra $$, I'm debating if I should sign up for one of them (it was like $39.99/month!).

[kym]

this is wonderful information... thanks for all of it... I am on my way ro creditboards now... thanks again!!

[jennordhavn]

Just wanted to say Thanks for all the info, I am currently in the process of "cleaning up my credit report" after being discharged a few weeks ago. I didn't know where to start...so, thanks

I did not know that although accounts are Zeroed out, they should ALSO say, "IIB" as well. I have a couple of accounts that are zeroed out and state, "sold/transfered to another lender" and NOT IIB, so I will be disputing them too. I will check out the other credit boards you recommended, but what monitoring service do you use? Is it really worth the extra $$, I'm debating if I should sign up for one of them (it was like $39.99/month!).

I wouldn't pay that much. I was using TrueCredit which is a daily TU pull and a monthly pull for the other 2. That was $15/mo. But now that I've got most of the wrong information off my reports I canceled that. Now I have TU quarterly monitoring with Myfico, with a discount code it's less than $4/mo. and you get a report and score every 3 months. I also have EQ Scorewatch which gives you two reports and scores a year, with a discount code it's less than $7/mo. It also sends you alerts if your score goes up or down if you set it correctly.

Also, once you order an EX report and dispute something, it automatically updates so you don't really need to pay to monitor that one...plus you can't get a real EX score anyways.

Good luck. I'm really glad that my information is helping people!

[jennordhavn]

EX update

Another 3 things fell off. I'm down to 6 baddies (all 0 and IIB) and 2 public records. YAY.

[jennordhavn]

this is wonderful information... thanks for all of it... I am on my way ro creditboards now... thanks again!!

You're welcome....glad to help!