Credit Repair Journal: My Story

I decided to create a journal when I was going through my credit repair journey so I could help others. I have detailed all the accounts I took care of, how I handled them, and who I spoke with. All contact information will be omitted, but if you comment with your email address I will provide you with the good will contact I used. The very first entry I am posting is my story, from start to finish, so you can understand where I came from and where I currently am.

My Credit Repair Journey

My credit repair story starts with a decade of improper money management. I was young, inexperienced with finance, lazy and had my head in the clouds. Credit repair My parents were fairly poor with managing their finances, and I was a spitting image. I was more interested in trying to succeed with my music than I was to succeed financially. When I was 18, I was able to get a few credit cards, but by the time my repair journey started, I had spent nearly a decade playing and touring in rock and roll bands. No lender would touch me with a ten foot pole.

The catalyst for my turnaround came when everything looked the most harrowing. My driver’s license had been suspended because of mistakes I made when I was younger. Subsequently, my car was repossessed and I was taking a series of trains to work. The scheduling and the distance meant I would have to sit on trains for roughly 6 hours a day. This was impractical, so I slept in the conference room. I worked a 12 hour overnight shift, so after I punched out, I would walk around the campus until management left at 5pm. After the last suit was out of sight, I washed up at the company health club, inflated my air mattress, and slept until I had to start work again at midnight.

I carried on this lifestyle for a shockingly long time. I lived practically unimpeded out of that conference room for 12 months. Sure, I still had my apartment, and I would go home on my weekends, but during the work week it was just me, the conference room, toiletries, my cell phone and bag of clothes. My evening shift and night shift colleagues knew, of course, but they championed me and my cause as some kind of rock and roll rebellion. I was sticking it to big business, saving money, and being self-sufficient in a time of crisis.

They had a point, because I was doing all of that. But the crux behind how I was living was not quite as sexy. I had run out of options. I had no savings, no credit cards, no family to loan me money, and absolutely no place to turn if I failed. I had to keep this job and I had to make sacrifices.

After a spell, things started to turn around a bit personally. I met a wonderful girl who had no problem driving me back and forth to work everyday. I was able to keep the job, which ultimately was the hope when I started living like a hobo. I put my legal troubles behind me, and I started focusing on building for the future. This meant tackling the beast known as my credit file.

Of course, like virtually everyone who takes the first steps toward credit repair, there had to be that stomach clenching moment where you realize you are a complete fraud and a deadbeat. That moment came on October 17th, 2010. Fresh off my recent driver’s license renewal, I decided I should purchase a vehicle. I made more than an average living wage by this point, and I felt I earned it after the previous two years. I knew I had the repossession in my past, but I had paid that off and was feeling pretty cocky. I mean, I had been living off cash and determination for two years.

I found the car that I desired; test drove it at the dealership, and sat down at the finance manager’s cubicle to start talking turkey. I had $2500 dollars in cash on me, and I was ready to wheel and deal. Once we agreed on a price, I filled out the credit application and they punched my social security number into their computer.

Silence
After excusing himself, the finance manager spent 45 minutes in a private meeting with the general manager of the dealership. The general manager comes out alone, and sits down at the desk. In this moment it dawns on me; I might not get the vehicle. My instinct was correct. He proceeds to tell me that under no circumstance will they be able to find someone to finance me. I was shocked. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been, since my auto enhanced FICO score was 489. I assumed that was low. I had to make that assumption because factually, I knew nothing about credit scoring. I went home with my tail between my legs and a renewed sense of purpose. I was going to raise my credit score and embark on credit repair.

When I got to my apartment, I purchased my credit report from TransUnion. It was a tri-merged report, which showed all three credit files. It was a disaster. I had 21 accounts listed, and 19 were derogatory. There was a tax lien. There was a civil judgment from the apartment complex that I, inexplicably, abandoned with a month left on my lease. There were more than a dozen collection accounts, all reminders of my youthful indiscretion. And let’s not forgot that ominous beast, the auto repossession. I felt there was no way I would be able clean up my report.

I made a lot of mistakes right off the bat. I figured bullheaded effort would be the key to successful credit repair. I didn’t know I was entitled to my credit report for free. I didn’t understand that the credit score I was purchasing was irrelevant to lenders. They were not FICO scores, as they were proprietary scores with varying degrees of accuracy compared to my FICO scores. I paid a lot of debt off right away, because I was earning money and didn’t want to be embarrassed. I felt like I had something to prove. I would call a collection company and in no uncertain terms say ‘I am paying you everything I owe you, right now because I am not a loser’. Besides, I NEEDED this credit repair journey to be successful; it just had to be.

After a few months I wised up. I started learning the art of negotiation. I turned the whole process of credit repair into a game. I would devise tactics and strategies worthy of a football defensive coordinator. By March 1st, 2011, my FICO scores were all over 600. I wrote letter after letter in attempts to remove old negative information. At last count, I have sent over 300 letters via US Mail. I sent emails and trolled websites. I spent countless hours reading success stories on credit forums. I spent many more hours reading credit repair tactics, good and bad.

By the time July 15th, 2011 rolled around, all three of my FICO scores were residing well over 680 and still rising. I was able to remove most negative entries, including that pesky repossession. I no longer get calls from collection companies. I no longer wonder whether or not I will be approved for a utility, or if I will have to pay a down payment. And most importantly, I was pre-qualified for a mortgage. I still had a couple negative accounts, but nothing severe that was holding me back. I knew I still had a little ways to go with my credit repair journey, but I was feeling amazing!

UPDATE: On May 29th, 2012 my dream came true. I purchased my first home, a beautiful 4 bedroom house in nice quiet suburb of Chicago.

My meteoric rise from the conference room would not have been possible without wonderful friends and a smidge of good timing, but being able to re-establish my life and credit is a testament to my hard work, positive thinking and an unfailing belief that anyone, including a former struggling musician with a habit of quitting jobs, can turn their life around.

Credit Repair Statistics as of Sept 30th, 2012:

Collection Accounts Removed:

• Portfolio Recovery $500+ for HSBC Charge Off (Paid then Direct Dispute Removal)
• Merchants Credit Guide $400 for medical debt (Paid then Direct Dispute Removal)
• CBE Group $700+ for ComED utility (Invalid Debt removed with Debt Validation Letter)
• LVNV Funding $300+ for ATT Mobeil (Invalid and Time Barred Debt removed with BBB and FTC complaint)
• Hunter Warfield $400+ for apartment (Paid then Direct Dispute Removal)
• EOS-CCA $300 for unknown debt (Email contact removal w/ legal threat)
• Enhanced Recovery $50 for parking ticket (Paid then Good Will Removal)
• United Collection Bureau $50 for bounced check (Paid then Good Will Removal)
• American Collection Company $1200 for utility (Paid then Credit Bureau Dispure Removal)
• Medical Business Bureau $300 for unknown debt (Invalid and removed with Debt Validation Letter)
• Jefferson Capital $230 for Orchard Charge Off (Valid, Unpaid, Removed via FTC case/CRA dispute)
• Credit Portfolio Associates $500 for utility (Paid then Good Will Removal)
• Convergent Outsourcing $200 for 1997 Capital One Charge Off (Unpaid, BBB compaint removal)
• Armor Systems $100 for parking ticket (Paid then Direct Dispute Removal)
• Midland Funding $400 for unknown debt (Removed with multiple Debt Validation letters and threats)
• Harris and Harris $100 for unknown debt (Removed with Debt Validation letters)
• Fair Collections and Outsourcing $5500 (Paid then Direct Dispute Removal)

credit repair After a spell, things started to turn around a bit personally. I met a wonderful girl who had no problem driving me back and forth to work everyday for credit repair. I was able to keep the job, which ultimately was the hope when I started living like a credit repair credit repair hobo. I put my legal troubles behind me, and I credit repair started focusing on building for the future. This meant tackling the beast known as my credit file. credit repair

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