I am posting as anon because I am so embarassed angry and upset. Dh lost his job almost 2 years ago...it has been tough financially to say the least. However, we've been able to keep it together...he consulted and recently got another albeit lower paying job but we do have insurance and things are looking up. I have nagged him to get a copy of our credit report..he kept putting me off (said our banker was going to get us a copy) until I finally went online this morning. We have had so many late payments we are in the lowest 5%!! We also have some accounts that are closed that have not been cleared. Has anyone dealt with this before? Where do you begin? I know some of it we will just have to deal with until our payment records get better but is there something else we can do? I will be taking over the financial stuff immediately..he has paid the bills up until now. Thansk for lettingme vent and any helpful info.

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 03:43 pm:

I don't know. I do know don't use any of those places that advertise that they will get your credit card bills cut and interest rate lowered, etc. Even though they say they are non-profit, most that advertise are linked to a profit-making entity, and many of them are presently being investigated by the Justice Department and/or the IRS for fraud.

There is The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, which is a true non-profit. They have many member agencies that do credit counseling, and the NFCC checks them out and makes the meet certain standards. Check out their site: http://www.nfcc.org/

You may be able to add a comment to your credit report that the debt was incurred while the wage-earner was unemployed but he is now employed. But I don't know if that would help or not - check out the advice at the NFCC site.

By Yjja123 on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 04:23 pm:

You can dispute incorrect items on your report. If you were late there isn't much you can do. Your best option is to start immediately makeing sure every single item you pay is on time. The more on time payments you have the better your score will become. Time is what it is going to take. Time to build a better credit history.
As for the accounts that are closed, you can write the 3 agencies to make sure they are cleared.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 04:50 pm:

Ditto Yvonne. Jeff is going through the same thing right now. He's really in a jam. We ran a credit report on him last week and his score was 625, but I suspect it is going to be lower now due to some unpaid debts. And I told him the same thing, making REGULAR payments on time, over a period of time, will improve his score.

You CAN call your creditors and talk to someone about payment options/terms. In many cases they will lower your interest rate, even if only temporarily, remove a recent late charge, work out specific repayment terms for you that will help you get back on your feet.

Jeff went to Consumer Credit (they charge a small monthly fee) and they advised him to attempt to do just that - call the credit card companies and see if he could work things out directly with them - and if not, then to come back. I have a close friend who was nearly $60,000 in debt from credit cards 5-6 years ago, and they used consumer credit and paid them all off. Their credit is intact and they have a good credit rating now.

I know how frustrating and overwhelming it is, but you need to accept that this didn't happen overnight, so it's not going to be resolved overnight. But please do call whoever you owe money to, and try to get them to work with you. It will take time, but if you can get some easier repayment terms and make regular payments, you WILL see the debts start to go down and your credit, over time, will improve.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!

By Debbie on Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 08:33 pm:

My dh went through this because of a business that failed. Yes, make sure you clear the closed accounts. If you call, they will usually work with you to set up payments, and some will even negotiate to lower the amount. Dh did this, and a few of them took quite a bit lower to settle.. Other then that, all you can do is start making all your payments on time, that is the only thing that will help your credit score. My dh's credit was terrible when we first met. He paid off everything, and starting making all payments on time. It did take a few years, but now he has excellant credit. It can be done, it will just take time.