Credit?

[digger]

'Ol Lady had to file bankruptcy about a year ago. She had great credit, but her mom screwed her over. Some of ya know what happened... (do a search for mother-in-laws)

Anyway she wants to start establishing her credit again.
What do you guys think?
I figure start out with a secured credit card going to be about the only way?

Any other ideas?

 

[ZANDOR]

Wait For a while and the card offers will come in.
Get one and use it.Every month and pay it off every month...
My wife went through that when we first got together..Over 100 thou in debt...Filled B.R.
I saved the house and bailed her out On the back payments.60 G,s And took over the title..
We our now out of debt..And owe nothing..But our monthley bills.

 

[jon2]

You can always start with a secured credit card with your bank institution. Give a deposit and that is your credit limit. You keep that up and pay it for a certain time and then they give it back to you with interest. Look into it.Great start for kids too. Not calling you a kid but its somewhere to start.

 

[FastEddy]

Unfortunately it will cost you.
As mentioned above get a secured CC however dont pay it off all at once. Change a few hundred and pay it off over a 4 month period. Yes you will pay interest but your credit will show that not only can you pay your bill but are capable of HOLDING and paying debit. Credit shows 30-60-90- and over history. It should add a few points to your score if they see it goes down over time.

Another messed up thing you can do (It costs) is to get credit from a "We finance anyone" place such as jewelry, furniture, used car, musical instrument, you get the clue, and pay it off early or on time. At this low point in your new credit history everything will help. Just remember only do this if you trust that you can pay onetime otherwise your pounding nails in a wood box that contains your future.

 

[rocknbil]

Agreed on both counts, this is how I rebuilt mine. Save up $$ and put half down on a used car, pay the high interest for a year or so, do the same with **ONE** credit card, it takes about three years to begin regaining credit, although it takes 10 years for the full damage of a BK to become trivial.

You don't regain credit by paying off a loan early. You regain it by making payments. Basically by allowing some leeching entity to make much more money off you than they deserve.

Credit is overrated. "The privilege of being in excessive debt." Bah.

 

[digger]

Thanks for the help guys.
Before her mother did that crap, her credit was awesome. She co-signed for her brother once.
The guy at the bank told her he couldn't believe her credit was that good.

Caused us a lot of problems. I told her Mother how I felt. Don't mind helping, but I'm not supporting. Haven't talked to her since.

Truck went in both of our names. Don't think it will help, but won't hurt.
Want to get a secured card for her. So far the others won't touch her.
Thanks again.
Come up with any other ideas, let me know. I guess it will be years before she gets a good rating.

 

[StrechM]

Long, but my .02
For those of you that do not know, I’m in the credit business so to speak….
Before doing anything get credit reports from all 3 repositories, Trans Union, Exquifax and Experian. Make sure that all accounts that were discharged in the bankruptcy show included in the bankruptcy on the credit reports with zero balances. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that they are not all listed that way and with a bankruptcy one year old she has a mess for a credit report.
Contact the repositories and request their dispute forms. Fill them out and supply the necessary documentation to prove that they were included or discharged. Or you can hire a firm that specializes in cleaning up credit. The problems we typically see with this type of agency are that a good deal of them do not know what they are doing or how to solve some of the problems that you can run into.
Bankruptcies, judgments and liens can show on your credit report for 10 years. Collections 7 years.
Installment, revolving payment histories 7 years.
New credit lines will do little to improve a credit profile without forcing discharged creditors to report zero balances, accounts included in bankruptcy. Also secured credit cards are reported as secured cards.
Few poeple ever follow through but those that do are rewarded years earlier with higher credit scores and easier to read credit histories.
fyi.

 

[digger]

Who do I contact?
Phone numbers? Web-sites?

Might try to get with ya on it when my problems settle down a bit.
Thanks a lot.

 

[StrechM]

I haven't been on the past few days but I do not do credit clean-up digger. It's the line of work that I'm in that requires an in depth knowledge of it.

You will have to contact the 3 credit repositories directly.

They will have online resources and toll free numbers listed.

They are; Experian, Trans Uniion and Exquifax.

What you need to do;

1. - Get a credit report from each of the 3 repositories.
2. - You will find that many of the trade lines do not say "included in bankrupcy" and that they show balances past due instead of zero.
3. - You will need to dipute each incorrect trade line with evidence that they were included in a bankrupcy and dischrged.

You will have to follow the instructions to the "T" or you can pay someone anywhere from $1,500 to 3,000+ depending on the number of trade lines that need to be corrected.

I'll send you my bill later...

 

[digger]

Thanks Strech, I'll do a search for those first chance I get.
I'm a dumb-ass on this stuff. Didn't even know there was such a thing as a credit clean-up.

Seen so many people get in trouble with credit, I've been scared of it. Know what I mean? Always paid as much as I could on a credit card. Most of the time if cash didn't get it, I didn't buy it.
I helped the wife get hers established the first time. And we had it kick-ass till her mother got credit cards in her name. Now she has to start over. Not going to be as simple this time.

Thanks again bro.