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-   -   Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report! (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/experience-correcting-credit-reports-my-credit-report-749394/)

lj2 Feb 22nd 2012 10:56 pm

Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 
Hey - So following some other advice on here, I got my credit reports from two of the three agencies recently (I failed the third one's security checks... I think I may have got some question wroing about a mortgage I don't have... I will look at that further) and I found that my credit was 'Sub Prime' (topical a few years ago!) grade D - ie pretty poor. I also got my score for $7 from Equifax and it was just over 600. No idea what that means at this point, but I figured it may be interesting...

Now, there is one account in good standing (my current credit card) and there are two accounts with potential problems flagged (or whatever the term was). One was my car lease which had a 30 day late payment - This is fine, I was working away and missed a payment. The other, was a Verizon account which showed a red C for Collection for each of the months from July 10 to January 11. There was a balance of $93 in July and $0 in each subsequent month.

This related to a misallocated payment by Verizon that I had made from the airport when I left the country at the end of my first secondment, and I had made the payment in March 2010 so I am disputing the entry... few questions:

1 - Does anyone have experience of disputing these things and am I likely to face many problems getting this off of my record?
2 - If it leaves my record, will any damage it had done (eg to my score) be repaired entirely?
3 - Has anyone had any experience of Verizon in particular in this regard?
4 - Am I wrong in thinking it is entirely illogical ignoring the missed allocation to show an account in 'collection' with a balance of zero for the months after July?
5 - Reading another post about the expats programme for car leasing from VW, would this sort of credit rating be worse than none and possibly adversely affect my ability to use these programmes?

I know nobody has a crystal ball, but you're fairly intelligent people and I would be interested in your views...

Bob Feb 23rd 2012 12:07 am

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 
Don't know about the others, but to point 5, you're in better standing because you have history than someone with no history.

lj2 Feb 23rd 2012 12:11 am

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by Bob (Post 9916047)
Don't know about the others, but to point 5, you're in better standing because you have history than someone with no history.

Thanks Bob - Appreciate your help (again!). This stuff is a proper nightmare... the more you look into, the more complex/additional things there are to look more into...

Bink Feb 23rd 2012 12:13 am

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by Bob (Post 9916047)
Don't know about the others, but to point 5, you're in better standing because you have history than someone with no history.

I'd tend to agree with Bob. My experience is that any sort of history is better than no history. You may not get the rate you want if you're looking at buying, but you can get a loan with that kind of score, many people do. As for leasing, I have no personal experience of it, but my understanding is that they only look at history so if you can satisfactorily explain it, you should be okay.

ottotheboar Feb 23rd 2012 1:06 am

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 
I don't know what score VW look for but last year to get 0% interest from Mitsubishi you needed 730.

lj2 Mar 28th 2012 1:07 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 
Just to tie this thread up, the Verizon incorrect 'collections' on my history has now disappeared. Verizon were actually quite easy to deal with and the process was quite straight forward once I showed my bank statements as proof of payment.

Michael Mar 28th 2012 2:08 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by lj2 (Post 9976852)
Just to tie this thread up, the Verizon incorrect 'collections' on my history has now disappeared. Verizon were actually quite easy to deal with and the process was quite straight forward once I showed my bank statements as proof of payment.

That is probably the major one that kept your credit score low. One missed payment likely doesn't do that much damage.

Also if you are looking for a loan, pay off your credit card a month or two before you apply since a high debt to credit available can have a significant impact on your credit score.

Even with a 620 credit score, you would likely qualify for a low interest FHA mortgage but unlikely to qualify for a conventional mortgage unless you had a very large down payment and paid a high interest rate. A credit score of above about 760 is excellent and below 600 is poor.

http://www.fha-home-loans.com/loan_q..._fha_loans.htm

lj2 Mar 28th 2012 5:02 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by Michael (Post 9976951)
That is probably the major one that kept your credit score low. One missed payment likely doesn't do that much damage.

Also if you are looking for a loan, pay off your credit card a month or two before you apply since a high debt to credit available can have a significant impact on your credit score.

Even with a 620 credit score, you would likely qualify for a low interest FHA mortgage but unlikely to qualify for a conventional mortgage unless you had a very large down payment and paid a high interest rate. A credit score of above about 760 is excellent and below 600 is poor.

http://www.fha-home-loans.com/loan_q..._fha_loans.htm

That's interesting... those mortgages sound good and I have not heard of them before - why would anyone choose a regular mortgage over those? The reason I don't know, is because I've never looked to buy, and also realistically I won't be looking to buy for another years or two anyway (will rent at least until have GCs) so the cc should be repaid by then. Still, good to understand these options...

Giantaxe Mar 28th 2012 5:42 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by lj2 (Post 9977195)
That's interesting... those mortgages sound good and I have not heard of them before - why would anyone choose a regular mortgage over those?

Would you trust a government agency whose website is littered with grocer's apostrophes :confused:

FHA loans have lower loan limits (probably only matters in a few areas), higher interest rates and fees than conventional mortgages. They are a good option for people who have little money to put down though.

Michael Mar 28th 2012 5:45 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 

Originally Posted by lj2 (Post 9977195)
That's interesting... those mortgages sound good and I have not heard of them before - why would anyone choose a regular mortgage over those? The reason I don't know, is because I've never looked to buy, and also realistically I won't be looking to buy for another years or two anyway (will rent at least until have GCs) so the cc should be repaid by then. Still, good to understand these options...

FHA mortgages are federal guaranteed loans with a low down payment that banks makes. The interest rates are generally very good since the bank takes no risk of default on the entire loan but you also pay an additional 0.5% mortgage insurance premium to the government. Currently 0 point mortgages have around a 4% interest rate but the interest rate is up to the bank so you need to shop around.

http://www.quickenloans.com/mortgage...00000/0-points

With a conventional mortgage with less than 20% down (if available), you also pay 0.5% PMI but that only covers the first 20% of the mortgage from default.

Although FHA loans are generally very good, you need a FHA authorized home inspection and usually they will not approve a home if there is major structural or roof damage and there is no flexibility in the qualifications. At one time, FHA loans were originally for the poor and lower middle class but now mortgages can be approved up to $729K in high priced areas.

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm

oxonlad Mar 28th 2012 6:42 pm

Re: Experience in correcting credit reports / my credit report!
 
If you find a locally-owned bank, they may not even use one of the "big 3" credit scores in their mortgage formula. Credit Unions also might be a good place to look for more personalized lending approach.


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