Help me understand my credit report... PLEASE

[rilbrianne]

I was recently discharged and printed out my credit report.

There are a few questions I have, please answer if you can... I would greatly appreciate it.

1. I used to have "accounts in good standing" but now I have none, there are 3 under negative (2 car loans included in BK and an old credit card w/ bad payment history). Is that normal?

2. I still have about 4 accounts under "collections". Mostly medical. One states: Z-In Bankruptcy. ?? Meaning??
Others state: D-Unpaid
What should I do about that?

3. My oldest "revolving" account is about 6 years old and doesn't show payment history but I know for sure that this one was paid on time every month. I'm 24 so that's why this is the longest. What is a revolving account?

4. An auto loan - as shown in #1.- shows as voluntary repossession. We gave the vehicles back, then filed BK on the remaining balance owed after auction. Should this show "included in bankruptcy" ? It shows a $0 balance.
Another question regarding this account. Late payment twice - 30 days. Current status shows: Pays (as agreed) 31-60 days. ???? Huh? That's not right.

5. The other auto loan we had shows "charged off" with $0 balance. Same as #4. We gave it back as voluntary repo. and BK the remaining balance after auction. Is this right or should is also show " included in BK" ?

[rrockinggramma]

I was recently discharged and printed out my credit report.

There are a few questions I have, please answer if you can... I would greatly appreciate it.

1. I used to have "accounts in good standing" but now I have none, there are 3 under negative (2 car loans included in BK and an old credit card w/ bad payment history). Is that normal?

2. I still have about 4 accounts under "collections". Mostly medical. One states: Z-In Bankruptcy. ?? Meaning??
Others state: D-Unpaid
What should I do about that?

3. My oldest "revolving" account is about 6 years old and doesn't show payment history but I know for sure that this one was paid on time every month. I'm 24 so that's why this is the longest. What is a revolving account?

4. An auto loan - as shown in #1.- shows as voluntary repossession. We gave the vehicles back, then filed BK on the remaining balance owed after auction. Should this show "included in bankruptcy" ? It shows a $0 balance.
Another question regarding this account. Late payment twice - 30 days. Current status shows: Pays (as agreed) 31-60 days. ???? Huh? That's not right.

5. The other auto loan we had shows "charged off" with $0 balance. Same as #4. We gave it back as voluntary repo. and BK the remaining balance after auction. Is this right or should is also show " included in BK" ?

You need to start disputing everything that is not right. Some here suggest to dispute it as "not mine" or never late and see what happens. But I haven't done that. I filed for BK and I know I did so I disputed everything as Included in BK, zero balance. You want everything to say IIB/zero. As far as the vehicles go, they will show voluntary surrender/zero balance, IIB. It is still a hit on the report but is the truth. So just make sure everything is IIB/zero. Time will help.

Then apply for 1 cc. It will have to be subprime with fees, or a secured card and pay it off in full every month. Then you will see your credit score go back up again.

After BK, time will heal the scores, as well as one time payments.

[sandhall]

on #4 and #5 did you surrender prior to bk then file and add deficieny in bk? if so they would not say included in BK

[6ftladycop]

I just got discharged and requested my credit report also. When I receive it, you said that I should start disputing everything. Should this be done via a letter, should I send copies of the discharge to all the original addresses included in the bankruptcy, should I send copies of the letter to all the three credit report companies? I want to make sure all of mine say Included In Bankruptcy as well, but just need instruction on how to get started. Also, someone mentioned that they printed a copy of their credit report. Is there a website online where you can pull up your credit report, pay for it right then and there with your debit card and print the copy immediately? Can this be done with all 3 major report companies ex: Experian, Trans Union etc.

[rrockinggramma]

I have found the that myfico.com as well as creditboards.com informative. I ordered each of my credit reports from myfico.com for 15.95 each. I got the report and the current score. (Yikes!!) However I disputed right online and it prints out a letter that you send in to TU and to Equifax. The Experian is owned (controlled) by myfico.com and that was disputed instantly. Or you can dispute just by notifying the credit bureau of the errors on your report just by writing your own letter. You have to list the account in question, all of your information of course, and what you think it should say, which is IIB/Zero balance.

Now some of my stuff says IIB/0 balance but it was charged off or surrendered prior to my filing. So now it says, account charged off, zero balance, IIB. So what you end up with will depend on what happened in your case.

I love the forums on myfico because they really give you insight on how to rebuild your credit even if you have to use the First Premier bankards of the world to get it going. I am currently at 556 (TU) 544 (Eq) and 585 (exp) and my goal is 600 and up. Just by keeping my current cc utilization low (1 to 9 percent of credit limit allowed) and paying on time will make your score jump up quickly.

[rrockinggramma]

in addition watch out for the "fako" scores from TrueCredit and CreditKeeper etc. If you want the real transunion site go to transunioncs.com (note the cs at the end)

[rrockinggramma]

Good IIB letter for TLs that have a balace:

You
Address
City,State Zip Code
Phone Number
OC
C/O Bank President Name
Address
City, State Zip Code

Tuesday January 27, 2004

This letter is to inform you that you are reporting incorrect information in my Equifax credit report. The account in dispute was discharged in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in 2002. My Equifax credit report shows that you have this account listed as "Charge Off/Bad Debt". This is totally inaccurate information. The Fair Credit Reporting act allows only for completely accurate information to be reported. You are in complete violation of that act by reporting this account as "Charged Off". You are also reporting a balance of $16,320 and $7,539 as past due. By Chapter 7 US Bankruptcy law, this account was granted a full discharge of all debts and obligations. This means that the balance and past due amounts should be $0.00. This is another violation of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) and US Bankruptcy laws. I disputed this account with Equifax on January 2, 2004. They notified me by mail that this item was verified as accurate by you this month, January 2004. This is another violation of the FCRA. The FCRA allows for statutory damages of $1000 PER violation cited. Since this requires no investigation by you, I demand the complete deletion of this information from my Equifax credit report within 15 days of the receipt of this notice. I look forward to resolving this matter amicably without pursuing legal means.

You

I got this letter from myfico.com. It will help you get it going if you dispute on your own. Change the dates in the letter though

[rilbrianne]

Can anyone answer my questions? Thanks rrockinggramma for answering. The problem is, that I really don't know what is correct and what isn't. I voluntarily surrendered the vehicles and filed BK on the remaining balance so I guess those are correct...??... but they say nothing about the bk.

[rrockinggramma]

I would dispute everything as IIB/zero balance. Hopefully they will change it all to that.

[sandhall]

you surrended prior to filing BK ? then added the def to your claim of bk? if so then they have the right to report as vountary repo but it also can be changed depending how much time lapsed between repo and bk

[rilbrianne]

you surrended prior to filing BK ? then added the def to your claim of bk? if so then they have the right to report as vountary repo but it also can be changed depending how much time lapsed between repo and bk

Yes, I called and told them I was going to give them up because I knew I couldn't keep paying for them. I filed BK about 2-3 months after surrender. But the balance owed was bankrupted so it should be included... I would think. Just because the vehicle itself was taken didn't mean the balance was dropped. The amount owed was taken care of through bk. I called and had the collections changed to IIB today. That's as far as I have gotten because I didn't know what else to change.

[sandhall]

the repo will stay because it was before bk but maybe you can dispute it all as included in bk and they will verify it as that. worth a shot