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[–]PaxilonHydrochlorate[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (3 children)

Welcome to Personal Finance. This post seems to have been getting a lot of traffic from users who may not be familiar with our rules, so as a reminder, PF does not allow

  • Moralizing issues
  • Political discussions
  • Personal attacks
  • Trolling, loaded questions, loaded language, or provoking unproductive conversation

This sub reddit is a place to get your financial house in order, learn how to better manage your money, and invest for your future. Thank you!

P.S. Be sure to check out our wiki page on improving credit

[–]rcarnes911 320 points321 points  (45 children)

Nice I have brought mine from a 515 to 675 in a year I disputed my negatives and it took off every single one of them I got a secured credit card from capital one just last month it turned into a unsecured card woot I'm at the point I need to get another card to raise my limit

[–]brokerstoker[S] 94 points95 points  (8 children)

Haha nice!!! How good does that feel!? Congrats!!

[–]rcarnes911 109 points110 points  (5 children)

You know how it feels, it feels good to know I am on the right track, I still live pay check to paycheck but I have a emergency fund I am building up and started an investment account that just hit 1k

[–]Therabidmonkey 17 points18 points  (5 children)

When it becomes unsecured do they just mail you a check? Also, did you request or did they automatically do it?

[–]rcarnes911 39 points40 points  (2 children)

They just credited my account for the deposit and changed the name of the credit card on my credit report it happened automatically

[–]konnerbllb 7 points8 points  (10 children)

I was told that they didn't do this. How does this happen? I've had a co secured card for a year, always on time. How can I switch to unsecured and get my money back?

[–]dequeuedWiki Contributor 558 points559 points  (46 children)

I'm concerned that this post is promoting Lexington Law which is definitely not a firm that I would ever recommend.

They are a credit repair firm pitching themselves as a law firm, run a bunch of web sites about credit repair that are all thinly-disguised advertisements for them, spread out their dispute letters (which you could do yourself) over the course of months to stretch out subscriptions, and a many of those legitimate debts will often reappear on your report later. It's expensive and they definitely aren't following the safe set of steps to improve credit that I'd recommend (see below for wiki links).

It's actually pretty hard to even find legitimate reviews of Lexington Law because of how hard they game SEO and clutter up search results.

  1. Let's start with Clark Howard: http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/debt-settlement-firms-masquerading-law-firms/
  2. There are also many threads on Credit Boards: https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=478849

I'm not saying that nobody has ever had a positive experience with these firms, but they do some really shady stuff and I wouldn't trust them to send letters on my behalf.

If you are looking for advice on credit repair, please read our wiki section on credit repair and also check out our wiki on collections.

[–]MyLittleTidder 62 points63 points  (6 children)

I used to work there! All the paralegals are just customer service reps that learned everything we needed in 2 weeks. We would only send out 1/3 letters on negative inquiries people had if they only had 3 we would just send 1 or fewer letters a month.

Felt bad working there no paralegals or lawyers really do any work writing letters, the letters are all pre written and we use the same letters for all the clients so creditors sometimes just toss them aside.

Would really only recommend if you have like 40+ negative items on your reports and you have the money to fling at outrageous prices.

[–]the_aviatrixx 11 points12 points  (4 children)

I actually used the service for a month a couple years back to see what happened - I had a couple of really old collection items, and they offered a money-back guarantee. I actually was and had been a paralegal for quite a while at that point, and after getting a letter returned to me and seeing how poorly it was written, I cancelled the service immediately and took care of the rest of it myself.

I can say that it was nice to have them do the leg work for that 30 days (two little things from my college years that I had neglected due to poverty fell off, which somehow bumped my credit up a shocking 60 points - I had 6 of these really old items out there from college), but it's not anything you can't do yourself. The form letters are out there to write on your own, you just have to remember to calendar your deadlines and do follow-ups on the right time schedule.


I'm not disagreeing with you because I do think there's some value to the service if you somehow end up in a situation like that with no time and significant money to burn but ...to end up in a situation like that and still have money to throw around may be an indicator of much bigger problems to resolve first.

[–]tylerioux 117 points118 points  (15 children)

My girlfriend tried Lexington, and had decent results. The only problem we had with them was when one of their letters was undeliverable and came back to us. Poor sentence structure, looked like broken English, and basically just said 'I want a loan in the future, please help?' I'll try to find the letter to post


This is exactly the point i came to make. I had the same thing happen to me and I can tell you from experience that their letters are the furthest thing from professional. I was very very surprised and i cancelled immediately. After the first two months (i used them for 6) they had zero impact on my score

[–]tylerioux 63 points64 points  (0 children)

I finally had to break the news to my girlfriend that if she put the $100 a month towards her debt, it would have done more for her credit score than their letters.

[–]2boredtocare 31 points32 points  (12 children)

Collection agencies receive these letters by the bucket load. They are obviously NOT from the consumer, but from a credit repair company, and they all say the same thing. My agency will answer every single one with an itemized statement, but honestly, it's disgusting how many people dispute legitimate doctor bills just because they don't feel like paying. :/ I don't like paying doctor bills either, but it's a part of responsible grown-up living, so I do.


Funny you should mention doctor bills --

My last visit with my long-time primary physician before moving, I received a much higher bill than normal. I'm a self-pay patient (no insurance) which usually resulted in a very manageable $65 per visit.

On the last visit though, a new nurse checked the wrong box on my billing sheet and managed to get me up to the $300 line. I tried to explain the situation to her but she was a bit.... "belligerent". I mentioned it to some of the other staff at the office that knew me and they apologized and said they would correct it and send me an adjusted bill.

I completely forgot about it (moving, getting married, etc) and just last week got a call from collections regarding a $300 bill for that doctors office... I'm going to be contesting the shit out of this.

tl;dr - there are a lot of screw ups on billing....even (if not especially) in doctors offices. Not all of us are just whining about a bill we don't like.

[–]the1gofer 12 points13 points  (1 child)

my first thought was $100 is a lot of money, would that money have been better served paying the debts?

[–]Literally_A_Shill 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My first thought was that this was a moderately elaborate ad. The way the post was written seemed to make one thing stand out from the rest and seemed like a basic way of indirectly affecting search engine optimizations.

But I'm cynical.

[–]rlnrlnrln 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It should be noted that OP removed the company name from his post, so I don't think he had a specific agenda to promote them.

[–]SpenceOrSpencer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The wiki states this, concerning state credit statute of limitations:

"Just because your statute of limitations is up doesn't mean that a creditor is required to remove it from your credit report. The latter is governed by the FCRA, whereas the former is state law. It may, however, give you leverage against collections agencies and other creditors."

What does this mean? What leverage? What does the statute of limitations do if they can still demand payment? What's the difference between "demanding payment" and "suing for payment"? I have debt that is now over 5 years old, which is past all statutes of limitations for my state, but the wiki doesn't provide any information on what I can do in that case.

[–]werebear_wrecker 24 points25 points  (2 children)

I saw I had late payment activity on a credit card. I called them and late payments were last year. I've made on time payments since then and account is in good standing but the rep told me they can't just remove late payments because they have to report payment activity accurately. Called another company and was told the same thing.

What are you guys saying to these companies to have them remove late payments?

[–]Mission_Burrito 23 points24 points  (6 children)

Congrats first off! A true inspiration! Correct me if I'm wrong but if you owe a creditor $10,000 but only paid $2,000 (for example), when you do your taxes next year that $8,000 difference will show up as "income" and you'll need to pay taxes on that?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 5 points6 points  (4 children)

Thank you very much!!

You know I have heard conflicting advice on this from different CPAs. I've heard that it matters how you do your taxes at the end of the year and how you went about justifying good negotiation of your debt. If you were in what's called, "financial hardship" then I believe the government is much more lenient on you. But again I've heard the exact opposite as well. I guess I'll find out when I do my taxes!

[–]skywalkerr69 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is 100% supposed to be reported as income. Never ever trust a random source on Reddit.



[–]oceansoul0713 101 points102 points  (4 children)

You have just inspired me to take back control of my credit. Thank you so much, and keep it up!!

[–]brokerstoker[S] 48 points49 points  (1 child)

You are so welcome.. It brings me immense joy to hear you say that, because that's exactly how I felt after reading the subreddit I linked in my post.

You CAN do it. Just be disciplined and I promise you that you can do it.

[–]oceansoul0713 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You rock!! Thanks for the kind words! I'm going to go for it and see what happens.

[–]_work_redditor_ 2399 points2400 points  (196 children)

Congrats on your success. It really is impressive.

However, I would like to question/caution your line of thinking...

every single one of these scum debt collectors accepted my offers

What makes these people scum? It's debt that you admit you owe - something you would/could not pay off which was legitimate. You didn't mention in your post, but it doesn't sound like the collectors did anything shady on their part...

If you had borrowed $100 from your grandma, forced her tell your mother since you didn't pay her back, and then had your mother ask you for the $100 - would you call your mother scum? Especially if you offered her $50 as a "take it or leave it" counter offer and and she accepted?

This type of mentality that we as a society seem to have moved towards really bothers me. We should sympathize with people stuck in terrible situations (e.g. extreme unforeseen medical bills which couldn't reasonably be covered by an emergency fund), but as a culture we spend more than we have. Then we get mad when people ask for what they're rightfully due.

Just something to think about. Congrats again.

Edit: My comment seems to have caused quite a heated debate which has unfortunately turned South. I meant no disrespect to /u/brokerstoker and truly admire his perseverance to do something about the situation.

I simply wished to point out that all debt collectors aren't evil by nature, just as people in debt aren't always there of their own volition. It is important to realize that some people make poor financial decisions which deserve to have consequences while others are truly unfortunate.

[–]2112xanadu 108 points109 points  (25 children)

There are plenty of debt collectors who harass you over things you didn't want/didn't ask for in the first place. I've been in collections over a Comcast account that I closed, checked back on to ensure it was closed, had receipts showing that I returned all equipment, etc. 3 years later after I had moved across the country, I come to find out that they claimed I hadn't returned a cable box and sent me to collections (which only got sent to my 3-years-out-of-date address) and I never would have known if not for checking my credit score. Even then I couldn't get it removed, and I'll be damned if I'm giving those bastards another cent.

[–]rhymeswithvegan 4 points5 points  (3 children)

This exact thing happened to me! They charged me for a month that I didn't even have their service. Cancelled, triple checked, returned my devices. I've had the account in collections for years and it keeps getting resold so the 7 years starts over again. I don't want to pay it because fuck comcast. Not sure what to do..

[–]mikejarrell 5 points6 points  (2 children)

My understanding is that the 7-year clock starts when the account goes into delinquency. It can only be restarted when a payment on the account is made.

[–]rhymeswithvegan 3 points4 points  (1 child)

That's what I've read as well. But my comcast delinquency was from 3.5 years ago and my credit report says the account was opened just last year. It doesn't say 2014 anywhere. I disputed it today (inspired by this post). From what I've read in other places, it won't even help my credit if I pay my two delinquencies? So I might just let them stay there, idk.

[–]mikejarrell 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Halfway through your comment I was thinking, "DISPUTE IT!" Glad to see you've already done that.

Delinquent accounts that have since been paid in full are always better for your credit than those that haven't; however, if you have delinquent accounts that are within 12 months of falling off your credit report, my advice would be to not pay them.

I don't feel great about giving that advice because, in the above scenario, you took money in advance and agreed to pay it back... but, if you have a debt that you haven't paid on in six years, you're never going to pay on it.

If you have the money to pay the balance full, absolutely do it. The worst mistake you could make is making a partial payment, which would restart the seven-year clock.

[–]Spanglers_Army 2 points3 points  (1 child)

This is happening to me right now, Comcast claims I didn't return my cable box...but I did return it. Problem is I have no proof it was returned.

Were you able to get this resolved?

[–]2112xanadu 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No, by the time I knew about it (again, 3 years later), it had long since gone to collections. Called collections, they said I needed to call Comcast. Called Comcast, they said I needed to call collections.

I said fuck it, my credit score wasn't that bad anyways.

[–]allblackeverythng 2 points3 points  (3 children)

wait this EXACT SAME THING is happening to me right now - i almost didn't get my apartment because of it. what did you do??

[–]2112xanadu 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I didn't catch it in time, it was years later. If I had known earlier, I would've gone back to Comcast with my "all clear" receipt and raised a ruckus until they fixed it. Good luck!

[–]allblackeverythng 2 points3 points  (1 child)

tried that, they refuse to clear it saying they don't have the cablebox in question. what they did offer was to let me pay it at 35% - something like $270. worth it or keep fighting elsewhere?

[–]seeyounorth 602 points603 points  (39 children)

Agreed. Great analogy. Just goes back to the point where some cannot hold themselves responsible for anything.

[–][deleted] 408 points409 points  (22 children)

Sigh...this all day.

I hear it from coworkers all the time. The bastards are harassing me! No..they arent. You took money and didnt pay back. Ugh so frustratijg because they jjust dont see it somehow


When these cockfucks claim they will take my house and throw me in prison then they are fucking scum. Fuck anyone that defends these fucks. So what I owe the money and try to handle it in a professional manner but just get grief and mafia threats. I'm surprised they didn't threaten to involve my kneecaps. When it was ME who reached out and contacted them to pay what I owe.

And of course I can't record the call without their consent... Which they won't give because they are too busy threatening to send letters to my employer. Fuck them so hard.

[–]SuperRadDeathNinja 6 points7 points  (2 children)

A lot of the tactics that some collection agencies use can be perceived as "slimy" and it offends some people.

But I agree, a lot of people seem to think that if they ignore the situation that the collectors will somehow go away.

[–]brokerstoker[S] 330 points331 points  (46 children)

Thanks for your comment, you do strike a valid point I must admit.

Regarding why I refer to them as "scum" is because of the tactics they use (mostly illegal) to try to collect the debts. Over the past 3 years these people have harassed me, called me at my place of work multiple times, even after telling them to stop doing so, sent me threatening and false mail stating that "I could potentially face jail time" AND even somehow tracked down my mother and called her. These are 3rd world, SHADY, and downright despicable companies that do this, and I am not saying all debt collectors are scum. Mine however, absolutely were and that's putting it lightly.

And yes, over half of my delinquent accounts were due to medical bills.

[–]ethanhowell95 123 points124 points  (8 children)

I am no longer a debt collector because of how negative that was, but you're right on a few of your points here. If you ask them to stop calling you are your POE (place of employment) they can no longer call you there. However that DOES have to be in writing. Email counts as a form of writing in that case. I have never seen a situation where it's legal for them to threaten jail time, that sounds completely out of line on their part. As far as tracking down the number for your mom, that's really easy. There are a few methods for that and although it's not pleasant for you, most contracts for credit actually have it spelled out that in the event of default you agree that they can do that. When you list references on a credit application, those will be used for debt collection purposes, the stipulation here is that the debt collector can NOT disclose the reason for the phone call. So in that situation from the debt collector's perspective they just have to say that they are trying to reach you and ask to pass the message to have you call them. Congrats on getting your credit up, that is a seriously daunting task!

[–]brokerstoker[S] 44 points45 points  (7 children)

Wow, thank you for the insight! I didn't know that they could legally call relatives, as long as they didn't disclose the reason. Very interesting.

That kind of practice needs to end, in my opinion. I am not a bleeding heart either, quite the opposite infact.

What line of work did you go into after getting out of debt collecting?

[–]idkfly_casual 20 points21 points  (3 children)

Such a good point. Credit is a tool. It's like anything else. Use it correctly and it does wonders (i.e. mortgage, etc). But if you don't do your due diligence and act responsibly with it, it's not the creditors fault when you end up in debt.

[–]UPGnome 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Except in the case of possibly medical debt. Miscommunication between the billing department and insurance can cause unexpected debt.

A routine checkup for my son turned into a $400 out of pocket ordeal when if they had told me all of the optional services they were billing me for (example: I got charged $130 for cleaning wax from his ear), I would have just said forget it. $400 didn't break me, but I can imagine that if there was a serious or ongoing medical condition it would be easy to rack up significant debt.

[–]hanidarling 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I agree completely and I have no clue how it works in the US but where I live they always ALWAYS double (that's the minimum for a lot of cases) the amount you owe. It's like your mother asking for 200+ when you only borrowed 100.

My mother owed $40 on a credit card, couldn't pay because we were pretty broke back then. The bank signed her up for an insurance of some sorts without her knowledge and the bill came for $60, obviously she refused to pay when they told her she had to pay to have it removed from her account and got transferred to those shady debt collectors who in my country actually try to break in your houses. It actually happened to me, I was 14 years old and alone in the house, it was scary as fuck. From then on the bill was $270+. It was insane.

[–]240strong 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I really had to hold my tongue with some debt collectors, but you have to admire their persistence and patience.

At the end of the day, I had to also remind myself, he or she was just doing their job, trying to earn their pay, to pay their bills and feed their family just like I am. Who am I to call them a scumbag for doing that?

Edit: typos.

[–]Squidssential 18 points19 points  (3 children)

Thanks for the detailed write-up. saving this, and congrats! now stay out of debt ;)!

[–]brokerstoker[S] 17 points18 points  (2 children)

Thank you! And WILL DO! After this experience, I will never go into debt again.

I'm living life Dave Ramsey style - "If you can't afford it, don't buy it."

[–]enjoiit1 15 points16 points  (2 children)

Great job OP! I was in the same boat, except never had any credit cards and was delinquent on student loans and other payments. With no real credit history, my credit score was at around a 520.. I was in a serious relationship and knew that I needed to right the ship.. So I downloaded the Credit Karma and Mint apps and began to monitor my finances and take everything much more seriously.

Here's how I did it:

I sold my car that I had bought cash and attempted financing a vehicle. This was alot of work, I had to go through alot of negotiations with the dealership to finance... And after a few days of back and forth I was approved. Put about $2,500 down on an $8,000something dollar vehicle and got very managable payments around $170/mo. Set it up on auto payments and moved on.

Much like OP, I disputed a few old student loan debts through CK that were negatively affecting my score, and the derogatory marks were removed.

Much like OP, I opened my first credit card: capital one secured card.. Put $200 on it and used it for gas and other necessities.. Always paid card off immediately after use.

Inquired at my bank about a real credit card and got approved for a low credit line $1,000 (but it was a a start)

Thanks to Mint I was constantly aware of what I owed where and when.. Set up alot of stuff on auto payments and other I would just check daily to make sure I was on top of all payments.

Re-checked with bank after about 10 months with the low credit line and I was approved for 5 times as much now.. This is actually a VERY KEY piece to the puzzle. I never carry high balances on my credit cards, but having a $5,000 limit with a $200 balance is exponentially better than carrying that same $200 balance on a $1,000 limit.

Mine took a bit longer, but I did everything on my own terms. In about a year and a half time... My credit score has reached 732. I am now 124 days from being married, 130 days from an extended and well deserved honeymoon and my fiance and I are house hunting... It was a long battle, but with patience and persistence it is possible!

Thanks to everyone who actually took the time to read this, and good luck to everyone out there!

[–]SpawnMoreMinerals 12 points13 points  (3 children)

When you said, "I offered them half of what I owed and for them to remove it from my credit report." How can you guarantee they will do this? Should I get it in writing?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 47 points48 points  (1 child)

Definitely get it in writing. They will try to take a payment from you over the phone right then and there, but I just told them I needed to see the updated collection request emailed to me with the amount we agreed upon before I payed anything. They all did it right over the phone while i was speaking with them - They didn't want to lose a sale.

[–]abmo224 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Just FYI, your score displayed on Credit Karma is an estimate (and can be a wildly inaccurate one, at that). Once you receive your new Chase card, it should list your real score that they pulled from the credit bureau(s).

[–]enjoiit1 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Agreed.. It's calculated using vantage 3.0 and can be inaccurate... But in my personal experience, it has always been damn near right on the money. I always triple check with my bank, on my capital one app using their credit tracker and also use Discover card's free credit score reports. So my CK readings are actually quite accurate....but.... I wouldn't advise people to rely SOLELY on it

[–]lemskroob 17 points18 points  (2 children)

I'm very happy for your personally, but to everyone else, does this seem like a flaw in the system?

If someone with bad credit can get up to a level of credit that someone who has had a 'perfect' credit history for many, many years, and do so in a matter of months, does that not show that your "credit history" is a flawed calculation?

[–]bluethreads 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think you hit the nail on the head; credit scores are a flawed system that may not accurately represent one's tendency to be responsible with bills.

[–]oneofthelonewolfmen 27 points28 points  (33 children)

How long is the contract/how long did you use Lexington law? And congrats man! That's really impressive.

[–]IfinallyhaveaReddit 24 points25 points  (4 children)

I used it for 4 months, I cancelled once they removed the last collections from my account. They basically single handedly jumped my credit 200 points

[–]CraigMack78 6 points7 points  (2 children)

This is a great post man. Glad to hear you took control and got it squared away. Pretty amazing what you can accomplish when you actually try.

I'm in the midst of doing the same and your post has given me good insight and a solid direction to move in. Thanks for posting and hopefully I'll be posting my own credit success story soon.

I also have a good friend who worked collections and such so he's familiar with this stuff and should be able to help in terms of deciphering what it says and what I should work towards 1st.

[–]brokerstoker[S] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Glad to hear it man. You CAN do it, if I can do it then believe me when I say, anyone can. It sounds like you're already on your way! I am happy for you, and I can't wait to read your story!

[–]CraigMack78 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks man I appreciate that. Your post is the first that I've read where you detailed the steps you took to turn it around and was in a position like I am now.

[–]Swampfoxxxxx 45 points46 points  (32 children)

Congratulations, OP! Never heard of Lexington but this all sounds like good advice. I was to stress to anyone reading this that the single biggest takeaway is to pay your ENTIRE credit card debt every month, in full. Do not carry a balance and the CC companies won't make money off of you, and your score will go up for responsible use.


So i don't have to wait a month for it to hit?

I can fill my tank up with gas with the card then pay it off when the bill comes?

Cause of so i gotta change my payment this month.

[–]GunnerMcGrath 17 points18 points  (2 children)



Swampfoxxxxx's advice is close to correct, but not quite. Pay your STATEMENT BALANCE every month any day between when you get the statement and the date the statement says it's due. This is all you have to do to avoid interest. If you pay anything off before the statement comes, it will not show up as credit utilization for purposes of your credit score. If you pay anything less than the statement balance, you will be charged interest on the difference.

So if your statement comes and you owe $1000 in two weeks, then keep using your card and your balance is $1500 by the due date, you still only pay $1000. The $500 you spent recently will be part of the next statement.

[–]BKallTHEway83 4 points5 points  (4 children)

As opposed to carrying a balance from one month to the next? Yes, pay off your bill when you get it.

[–]brokerstoker[S] 28 points29 points  (17 children)

YES. Absolutely, that is the single biggest determining factor in my score being raised so quickly.

There is unfortunately a myth out there that "You should carry a balance so that you are carrying credit"

That is unequivocally false.

[–]sotonin 14 points15 points  (1 child)

Yep. You should USE the card (even a little) though to insure that the account is not cancelled on you. I had a credit card closed for inactivity so and that hurts your average account age factor

[–]sold_snek 25 points26 points  (8 children)


I think you're misunderstanding this. They're saying to make sure you leave the balance on there long enough to produce a statement balance. If you spend $300 on your credit and then pay it off a weak later and your balance is $0 when the statement comes around, there's no positive payment to report to the agencies. Revolving monthly, that's paying your credit card off every month with zero interest.

[–]evoblade 10 points11 points  (1 child)

You can have a balance and not pay interest. Buy a tank of gas, when the bill comes, pay it, and repeat. You won't have any interest charged and will always have some utilization, which is better for your score than none.

[–]GunnerMcGrath 2 points3 points  (1 child)

To clarify, pay your entire STATEMENT BALANCE each month. Do not pay it down to $0 unless you did not use your card at all between the day they sent the statement and the day you make the payment. Whatever their statement says you owe, that's what you pay in full by the due date (which you can pay anytime between getting the statement and the date that it's due, doesn't really matter). This will prevent you from paying any interest and will also make sure that all of your credit card use is reported to the agencies for your score.

[–]iluvcheat 41 points42 points  (7 children)

Why do you call them ''scum debt collector'' ? You borrowed money from them ... and didn't pay them back. Who's the scum :/

[–]ahkt87 6 points7 points  (3 children)

It is crazy how much of the financial advice I follow on here but my score keeps dropping. The main issue I suppose is I want to avoid new debts.

[–]licoricegirl 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I know a lot of people don't like Lexington Law, but they worked wonders for me.

[–]randy_g 5 points6 points  (7 children)

• Got my full credit report and list of all accounts that had gone delinquent and/or into collections.

How do you do this?? I've been trying to track down an unnamed delinquent charge on my credit report for months!

[–]boomgoon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

One thing to note, for any accounts that aren't removed when disputed, call the collection agency and ask them if they own the debt or are contracted to collect the debt. If they are contracted to collect it, call the original holder of the debt. You can pay off the debt for the original amount without any added interest in most cases (they usually aren't legally allowed to add interest onto your original debt with them), instead of haggling with the collection agency and settling on an amount.

I had a delinquent debt with Comcast that the collection agency stated was $900 called Comcast and original debt was $210, paid that $210, told Comcast to contact the debt collection agency and tell them the debt was paid in full, and also disputed it with the appropriate credit reporting agency's as paid in full to original debt owner.

But always dispute first, a lot of times, especially with older debts, they get bought and sold so many times that the original debt paperwork can get lost. Also, if your debt is sold, then that usually means that your debt was written off by the creditor you originally owes your debt to, so you can fight harder for a much much lower settlement with the debt collection cartels.

I didn't do as amazing as OP when I started working on my credit, but I did get it up from 520 to 640 in just about 4 months. 1 year later, which is last I checked I was at 760. And oh my god, I feel so much better since fixing my credit. What a weight off my shoulders

Edit: check your local laws on statutes of limitations. If your debt shows it is past that time frame just dispute it with credit reporting agencies with statute of limitations as the reason and it will be removed, but do not call the debt collection agency and dispute it with them because any contact between you and them about the debt can reset that clock.

I went from let's say, 1pm at $8k in debt to 2pm with $1,400 worth of debt because of the statue of limitations.

[–]FletchGordon 8 points9 points  (2 children)

I haven't read any comments, sorry if this has been mentioned. The difference between what you owed and what you settled for is considered income and you need to report it on your taxes. I learned this the hard way.

[–]McFixxx 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Super inspiring man, thank you! I'm in the middle of trying to repair my credit. I needed this today too. I'm almost done paying a goodly chunk of personal (non credit) debt and am a little intimidated by the credit side, and a little... tired. So thank you for giving me some hope! You've renewed my motivation!

A few quick questions:

1) Is there a reason you did some of the disputes yourself instead of just hiring Lexington right out?

2) When you negotiated your payoff, how did you guarantee that the debtor would remove the debt from your credit report?

3) Would you recommend a secured credit card to start again, while the rest is getting worked on? Or wait until your credit score is good enough for a regular card?

Thanks for your time and write up. It's inspirational!!

[–]grant622 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Got a question -

What do you say when you call people? I have one hospital bill that I've never seen before that I just noticed on my history. I just call up collection and say I was to 'dispute' it?

And then I have lots of old accounts that are now 'closed' as I've paid it off in the last year. But if you look at my history you still see those accounts and the few years where I wasn't paying anything. Do I pretty much have to just wait for that to roll off, or if there a way to clear anything paid up off my history?

[–]pdhot65ton 3 points4 points  (5 children)

Good for you, my only question, did you actually owe on all those things on your report that you disputed, or were they actually fraudulent?

[–]alwaysmyfault 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Hopefully OP knows that the negotiated amount will be reported to the IRS as forgiven debt, therefore he will end up paying taxes on the amounts forgiven by his credit card company.


Just wondering, how do you miss payments on your car note for four months? Did you not budget your car payments into your take home pay?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 10 points11 points  (1 child)

I was deployed in afganistan and was stupid and didn't care.

[–]0FrankTheTank7 2 points3 points  (2 children)

If I wanted one demand letter to be sent to a debt collector should I still use Lexington law? I like this idea of possibility they can't prove they followed all the correct steps. I recently had a debt collector park a debt on my credit score so I could call them and pay.... now they won't delete it off my credit history. BS because they never contacted me.

[–]SoldierZulu 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Why is this Lexington Law a monthly service? It doesn't seem like reaching out to creditors and trying to eliminate debt is something suited to a subscription fee.

[–]PronhubNSFW 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello thanks for the share! So, my wife has a bad credit score and I was wondering how you went to dispute it. I read your post entirely but I'm still not sure how to start the conversation with the collectors. Do you just say "Hi my name is X and I would like to despite a charge under the fair credit reporting act?" Or do I simply Ask "prove it"?

[–]AsperonThorn 4 points5 points  (4 children)

Get credit Karma, be religious about not going over 30% of credit card limit, get a secured credit card.

Question, as I am currently using a secured credit card to raise my credit. Why 30%? I got my secured card through my bank, and the banker said max it out and pay it on time.

So I exclusively use the card until it's hit it's $300 limit then pay it off on the first of the month. .every month.

Also how hard was it to get LATE payments off of your credit? I don't owe anybody anything, but I have a lot of late payments mostly from credit cards that my ex signed me up for that I didn't know about but also including a car repossession that was a result of the 2008 financial crisis in which I couldn't figure out WHO to pay because I had 5 different organizations calling me claiming they now owned my loan and none of them could answer my questions definitively. . .eventually when the tow truck showed up and gave me a number to call I just paid for my car outright. . soo I still don't OWE money I paid it all.

[–]PrettyCreative 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Let me take a stab at it and maybe someone else can correct me if I am wrong.

Someone who consistently maxes out their credit card every month may be looked at as a higher risk borrower because it could very well mean this person is in a tight place with their money. They may lead them to believe this person is consistently needing to borrow money (even tho in actuality it might not be case).

Someone consistently keeping their utilization below 30% will more likely be seen as a lower risk borrower due to them only needing to use the credit here and there. In their eyes they see the borrower as not needing to "borrow" from them as much. Consistency is the key here with this one.

[–]riotfactory 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Thanks for posting this, money has been super tight lately due to life circumstances and my credit has taken a hit because of it. I woke up this morning determined to grab a hold of it and get it back under control. Then I saw this post and I feel like its a sign. Its time for me to take back control.

[–]xcuzx 4 points5 points  (9 children)

This is so strange to me ( not from US btw ).

So who are these people that place debt on your card but they have no legal reason to do so? Is this some sort of fraud ?

I mean where I am from, we use debit cards and run stuff off of what we actually own in terms of cash, rather than having the bank pays and we pay back by the end of the month.

So glad that you actually change your finances around.

[–]UnrulyRaven 3 points4 points  (5 children)

If you're talking about the debt collections agencies, they are a business that (basically) buys the debt that you owe from your credit card company at a reduced rate. Say you owe $5000, the credit card company doesn't think they'll ever get that and doesn't want to devote the work-hours (which cost $$$) to harass you. So the debt collection agency buys it for, say, $1000 and pays employee to make phone calls to your residence to collect the money that you now owe them. This way your credit card company makes some of the lost money back and can move on.

There are federal laws regulating when the agencies can call, how often they can call, what places they can call (places of employment is a big no-no), but some of them violate these because people don't know about the laws. They may also tack on fees as a result of the agency taking responsibility for collecting your debt, but I'm not sure of the legality of this.

Because the agency bought your debt at a reduced rate and because so few people can actually pay what they owe, you can usually negotiate down into a lump sum payment. Say the agency tacks on $1000 dollars of fees and shady stuff on your account and tells you that you owe $6000. You tell them that you want to pay them $3000 right now if they forgive the rest of the debt. This is a good deal for everyone because you get them off your back and the agency still makes $2000 profit.

Very basic rundown of my understanding of it. I've never personally had to deal with this system myself.

[–]brokerstoker[S] 3 points4 points  (3 children)

Hell yes!!! That was an awesome read, congrats man seriously. You and I are in the same boat in more ways than you know.

I myself am 9 months from being married, and also going on a long, long honeymoon in Europe.

Congrats again.

[–]dweckl 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am at a complete loss here. Every single one of my creditors adamantly refused to do a pay for removal. I couldn't get anywhere with any of them with this.

[–]luneydesmond 5 points6 points  (3 children)

How does one go about disputing something on your credit report? Call the debtor and ask them to prove it?

I'm getting on this asap, no more messing around

[–]captainamericasbutt 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Each credit bureau allows you to dispute on their website. But you can do it directly through Credit Karma as well


My only concern about calling the debtors is that once they have initiated contact with you I believe they have some kind of 'step in' to holding you for the debt.


That's awesome! How did you go about calling in regards to companies you had late payments with? I have a payment that was late from when I had to start paying my student loans (basically I had it set up for automatic payments via my BOA and one day closed out my Credit Card through them since it was paid off and they said it wouldn't affect my checking account...WRONG...so it messed up the automatic payment and I didn't catch it in time). I assume I would just call my student loan providers? I also have a notice on my credit karma account saying I have something in collections for a cell company I used to be with (Ntelos) who are no longer in service and forced me to switch before my contract was up...the only thing is....I can't contact Ntelos because they are out of business and the collections company that contacted me ONCE ever is listed as scam/fraud. Yet it's affecting my credit score. Any advice would be great! hah

[–]derek_g_S 2 points3 points  (2 children)

man. thanks for posting this. I was talking with someone this morning about boosting my score...i have absolutely no idea what it is, or even where to start. but i think this is a great step by step.

[–]Dextrofunk 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Thanks for sharing, this will help me a lot. What exactly is the process of disputing a collection? Do you just call them and literally dispute it over the phone?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

As archaic as it may sound, yes that's how it's done. You can either do it that way or using direct dispute on Credit Karma. I did both with equally good results.

[–]leo-skY 2 points3 points  (2 children)

As a non american the whole credit world is extremely fascinating to me.
It's just an entire universe that has countless facets and pitfalls that I'll probably never experience


Awesome job! Did something very similar last year to qualify for a mortgage and it worked. It's a great feeling.

To the people who claim this is unethical, in some cases my "debt" was three or four times the borrowed amount due to interest from collectors I had never signed agreements with.

That is far more unethical than challenging them to prove you owe them money.

[–]Vellouria 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the best posts here. I really enjoyed reading about you grabbing all of the BS rules by the balls and swaying them to your benefit. You have no obligation to be moral in a system that treats you as a number. These folks rely on you buying into their manufactured authority and you didn't. Beat them with the book. Good job

[–]shifty_coder 11 points12 points  (4 children)

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Credit Karma shows your Vantage 3.0 score, not your FICO score, which is the one lenders will look at when considering you for a line of credit. Your FICO is probably somewhere around 650.

You're doing great things with your credit, though. Keep it up!

[–]Shadeauxmarie 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There may be tax implications from the removed debt. Don't want to be a downer, but you need to be informed.

[–]lemonlimecake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hold no moral obligation to pay third party debt collectors mountains of money with their fees tacked in.

You had an obligation to the first party who sold your debt after you didn't pay it. Seems a little disingenuous to claim you're out the obligation because you weren't good for it in the first place. And the fees (if reasonable) are there also because you didn't pay.

But anyway, the rest of your story is a good example of how to repair credit. I'd just leave the ethics aside. Not sure debtors have a lot of room to criticize collectors (or vice versa) unless they are acting unlawful or unreasonable.

[–]MrRushing 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. It's motivating.

[–]icmac 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a fantastic story. Congrats

[–]ThePittyInTheKitty 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Congratulations on your hard work paying off! I never received personal finance guidance. I'm so grateful to proteome who share! This sub is great and you've really inspired me. Thank you!

[–]brokerstoker[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My pleasure! And thank you for your congratulations, I can't wait to read your story!!

[–]Callmedory 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Congrats! We never got into that situation, but it’s great to read of someone who got themselves out of it.

[–]Holliman48 1 point2 points  (6 children)

How reliable is credit karma?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Very reliable in my experience. I have checked the Credit Karma scores vs other free credit card score companies and they all match up. And Credit Karma is amazing for direct disputing charges.

[–]patrickmichael11 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Is there a reason why you made a $200 deposit on the secured card rather than the minimum $99?

[–]brokerstoker[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wasn't given the option of a $99 deposit. The only choice they gave me was to send them $200.

[–]thewimsey 1 point2 points  (0 children)


but every single one of these scum debt collectors


[–]GemJump 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats! I'm working on the same journey.

[–]ben1481 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have inspired me to tank my credit score to see if I can do this too!