Been there too! Sad to say but it is easier to get things off of your credit report before you pay them off. You can call the company and negotiate an amount to pay and demand that they delete the record from your credit report and send you a letter in writing stating that they will prior to you paying it. To get at least some of their money, they are usually willing to do so. Judgements usually stay on from 7-10 years, even after paid, and are extremely difficult to remove. The best thing to do is to get a copy of all 3 credit reports, and go line by line to make sure everything listed is correct, if it is not, then you can dispute them. The credit card companies have 30 days to respond to your claim or the item must be removed from your credit report. It takes a lot of follow up, but you can increase your credit score this way. Other than that you can just lay low for a few years and your score will improve over time if you don’t have any other negative entries and you don’t have a lot of inquiries on your report.

If everything was repaid and your debt taken care of, it will reflect on your credit report that the debt was satisfied/resolved. It will help in the rebuilding process. Your score won’t change overnight. To rebuild you need to get a small line of credit and use that to pay your bills and then wait until the end of the month to pay it off. Continue to use only what you have. Also, financing a car or living in an apartment can also help. Remember the pressure is on you to pay on time and never miss a payment or let it fall into collections. You can rebuild it in usually 2-3 years. Hope everything works out!

Yer kinda screwed. The only thing left to do is make sure you pay the normal things like yer heat, electric, rent etc on time, everytime. and eventually you will gradually build some trust from creditors. Especially make sure you dont bounce any checks. My best advice in your situation. pay with cash, otherwise you dont purchase it. Dont apply for credit right away. Those turned down applications also show up on credit reports. The lenders see you have been applying everywhere and then that raises a red flag. Go to work, live simple and pay yer bills. If all else fails trying buying a Kirby vacuum clearner theyll approve almost anyone.. lol. Also dont fall for one of those Instant Car Credit scams, they sell crap and the car is usually dead long before your loan is paid off.

Your credit report is based on how you have paid various bills in the past. If you were 6 mos. behind on a bill, then paid it all at once, that will not improve your credit score as well as many people think it will. You have to prove your ability to pay bills (specifically pay things back… I’ll explain later). If you don’t owe anyone anything, therefore don’t pay bills, then you’re not proving to anyone that you can indeed pay them back, because you don’t owe them anything. This is why bad credit is better than no credit, because lendors can see who you paid back. If you never pay your cell phone bill, but never miss a car payment, then you’re more likely to be approved for an auto loan. Oddly enough, paying certain bills, phone, electirc, gas, etc. don’t do much (if anything) to improve your credit. They only hurt it if you don’t pay them on time. Things that will improve your credit would be…. well… credit, like credit cards, and loans. One of the fastest ways to improve your credit is to have 3-5 forms of revolving credit (revolving credit is simply some form of credit or loan that you pay back a portion of every month). Without biting off more than you can chew (stretching your budget beyond what you can afford), get 3-5 lines of credit and start paying on them, on time. Two of the biggest (fastest to improve, or ruin your credit) is #1: a mortgage, and #2: an auto loan. If you already have those two and a credit card, then you’ve got 3. What I’ve been told works well on a credit card is to charge a small ammount (like $100-$200) and make the minimum payments on it (this way, it revolves without putting you in such a pinch that you couldn’t pay it off immediately should the need arise).

I hope this helps, and good luck

Congratulations on getting everything paid up. Sorry your ex didn’t hold up their end of the bargain but as you know, divorce is a 3rd party agreement…the judge didn’t have anything to do with the loans…just you and the ex are responsible. (Don’t get angry…keep reading!)

Credit accounts (tradelines as they are known in the business) stay on your account for approximately 7 years. You need to get a copy of your credit report and check to make sure that the status of each of the accounts is correct. If any were charged off and you have paid them in full or negotiated a settlement with the creditor make sure that the account description says so. For instance, if you had a charged off account that you paid in full make sure the descriptor says “charge off - paid in full” or “paid charge off”. The same goes for a settled account…it should say “charge off - settled” or “settled”.

Accuracy is the key here. Any future creditor reading your report needs to be able to see accurate information. If you find any inaccurate information contact the credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) and dispute the accuracy. Be specific in what information you’re disputing so that the creditor can update the incorrect information!

As far as the judgements go make sure that you have obtained a satisfaction and that the satisfaction has been filed with the appropriate court. Judgements are public information that appear on your credit report and act as a warning to other credit grantors.

Time and patience are key to raising your credit score. You’ve done great so far so don’t slow down now. If you have any credit accounts now make sure that if you can’t pay the balance in full you pay at least the minimum payment each month on or BEFORE the due date. Also, never use more than 30% of the outstanding available credit on any 1 account as this effects your credit score.

For example, if you have a $1,000.00 card, a $5,000.00 card and a $10,000.00 card you have $16,000.00 in “available” credit. You’ll want to make sure that the $1,000.00 card never has a balance greater than $300.00, the $5,000.00 card never has a balance greater than $1,500.00 and the $10,000.00 card never has a balance greater than $3,000.00. (Emergencies are the only exception to the 30% rule and even then you need to pay the balance down to 30% or less as quickly as possible.)

Also, the law now allows you to obtain a FREE copy of your credit report once every 12 months so if you get a copy this month, January, 2007, you can get another free copy in January, 2008. If you wait until March, 2007, you would again be eligible in March, 2008. The law specifies 12 months…not year as a lot of people believe.

I hope this information helps and if you want more information on credit bureau reports check out. Clark is a consumer advocate and his website contains a lot of good information and he explains things in plain English so it can easily be understood. I use it as a reference point quite often (and no, I do not work for him).

Bad credit is one of the worst problems to have… however there exists a solution.

I will hereby talk from my personal experience.

I did debt consolidation a couple of years ago, however If I had to do it again I would pay to some minor details,
if someone wants to get out of debt today it is pretty easy with a debt consolidation plan, however it may get a bit tricky at times, I suggest you get as much information as possible online on this first,

a good place to start in my humble opinion is astraight to the point ebook with question and answer I found :

if it helps kindly remember me in your voting!.. cheers!