What is CMRRR? thank you, Therman

I’ve had a condo for 6 years, with a private mortgage throughout that time.  Now I’m looking to buy a house and my credit doesn’t show any mortgage history – which apparently is showing as a negative on my credit report.

How do I go about getting my lender (who is more than happy to report on my perfect payment history) to report to the credit bureaus?  The lender says he’s never done so before but is happy to help.

Travis (more…)

Broken Credit, LLC welcomes you to Raise Your Credit Score.  Our free thirty minute seminar is NOW AVAILABLE and will discuss the following topics:

• Why errors exist on credit reports
• How to obtain a copy of your free credit report
• The proper way to dispute inaccurate items
• How to re-age a derogatory account to delete the derogatory history
• How to remove collection accounts from your bureau
• How to improve your credit score even if you have no bad credit

This free online seminar is for anyone who desires to improve their credit score THE RIGHT WAY.  Broken Credit, LLC has seen a tremendous need for the general public to have this information and it is our great pleasure to bring this seminar to you for free.

For those of you who will be buying or refinancing a home, this free thirty minute seminar could make your dream of homeownership possible and save you tens of thousands of dollars in interest!

I’m a little slow today so I’ll ask the readers if this is a violation of 1692d of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

15 USC 1692d A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:

(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.

According to a May 22, 2007 article in the Boston Globe:

A debt collector trying to repossess a 2000 Ford Focus tried to yank a young mother out of her car so violently that he ripped off her necklace and punched her in the face, a prosecutor said today in court.

While the woman’s 5-year-old daughter watched in horror Friday, another debt collector jumped on the hood like a “madman,” said Brendan Barnes, a prosecutor for the Plymouth County district attorney’s office.

Afraid she was being carjacked, Sara Bradley, 25, drove to the Abington Police Department with the man clinging to her hood while his partner followed in another car. The two debt collectors from South Shore Auto Recovery — Robert Simeone, 21, and his brother, Michael, 17 — were arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Hmmmm..?

(source=boston.com/news/globe/city_region/ breaking_news/2007/05/debt_collectors.html)

I have a question about rapid rescoring.  Does rapid rescoring change your credit profile at the repository level or does it change with the bureaus too?  And if it changes with the bureaus is temporary or will it be permanant?   Thanks for the time.

Lance (more…)

In many instances, a mortgage lender requires the borrower to write and submit a hardship letter as part of a workout proposal.  Generally speaking, a mortgage lender will not consider a forbearance, short sale, or loan modification without an acceptable hardship explanation.  Sadly, there are far too many poor examples of ‘hardship letters’ floating around the internet.  The hardship letter, of course, must be truthful and in your own words, but some examples of the hardship letter I’ve seen online have been way off.

There are acceptable (good) and unacceptable (bad) reasons for a hardship:

Good Reasons: Loss of job, mandatory reduction in pay, medical disability or illness, death of contributor of income, natural or man-made disaster, decline in earnings of self employed, incarceration of spouse, separation, divorce, unavoidable increase in expenses

Bad Reasons:  Quit job without a valid reason, voluntary reduction in hours worked, normal seasonal layoffs

Now without further ado, here is an example of a hardship letter requesting forbearance.

Hi Paul,

First, I wanted to thank you for offering such a great site for those of us who are faced with broken credit.  Your site and its information truly is a breath of fresh air for all of us who are so very frustrated with the seemingly impossible endeavor of repairing our credit.

Now, to the question at hand. . . In 2004, I left the country for 2 years to do missionary work overseas.  Before I left, I informed Citibank (my student loan agency) of my plans, and my loans were put on a deferment.  This deferment was good for 1 year, and was supposed to be renewed by myself after that time.  About a year into my missionary work, though, my mother was diagnosed, and later passed away, with cancer.  During that trying time, many things were neglected, including my student loans. 

Then, Citibank sent me a letter in 11/26/05 that my loans were going to default to Edfund if I failed to take action.  So, I wrote to Citibank on 12/2/05 & requested additional deferment time.  They granted my request on 1/6/06.  However, in the 30 days it took for them to process the deferment, Edfund purchased my student loans and qualified them as defaulted.  I then had to request that Citibank do a “courtesy repurchase” of my loans, which they did.  Citibank pulled my loans out of default & set me up on my original payment terms. I have maintained a current payment history ever since.

The problem is, when I just checked my credit report, the reporting for these loans has not been updated since 12/05, & they are being reported as “Claim filed with government for insured portion of balance on loan”.  Since they have been repurchased, and I have been current with my payments for the past year, what is the best approach with Citibank to have this information corrected?  I understand I made a major mistake, and will most likely have to pay the consequences of this for a long time.  However, I do want creditors to be aware of my recent good history, as well, & not just the bad.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Henry (more…)

I don’t watch much TV – still, at times I can be found in front of the idiot box with the remote, changing channels.  Click, click, click – what are the odds I land on a program that on rare occasion I’ve seen before?  Add to that coincidence, it’s a rerun of the same episode.  Does that ever happen to you?  OK, maybe just me.  Anyway, the TV show is called ‘Flip This House’ and I find a subtle seductive danger in its appeal.  As a matter of fact, the program should come with a warning label: housing market reruns may cause harm. (more…)

One day I woke up and found myself in debt to the IRS to the tune of $78,000. The important part is not  how or why I was there, but the fact that I was there at all. The IRS had put liens on me, threatened me with levies and finally, sent a letter to my boss to garnish my wages. Needless to say, my financial situation  was bleak and sleep was at a premium. This situation that I put myself in had consumed me and it was difficult to eat, sleep or even concentrate on work for fear of what was happening.

I had seen many ads on the internet, TV and in print that proclaimed “WE CAN SETTLE YOUR IRS DEBT FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!!!” Although skeptical, I made an appointment with one of these tax negotiating companies. They told me that in my situation they could probably settle my debt for less than 20% of what I owe. “What’s in it for you?” I asked. Well, the answer was $3,500 was in it for them. They wanted $1,750 down and the balance due within 90 days. Yet, they couldn’t guarantee the results. Since I didn’t have $78,000 or $3,500 I decided to research this program myself.

I went directly to the IRS website and learned that you don’t need an attorney or a “tax negotiator”. You can actually do it yourself and THEY HELP YOU. I filled out all of the necessary paperwork and enclosed the documentation they requested. I offered $7,200 and approximately 90 days later I received a response from them. They made a counter offer of $48,000. Well, unfortunately, that wasn’t going to work, so I called the IRS office and asked them to help me figure out how to get this offer down further. They showed me some things that I could change and different deductions that I could make. My second offer was for $13,717. Approximately 60 days later I received their response. They had accepted my offer.

I didn’t have to pay them all of the money at once. I am required to pay $300 within 90 days and then $639 per month for 21 months. Once the terms are completed, all other debt will be forgiven and all tax liens will be released.

All it took was a little studying and a little time.

Don

I’m thinking of a question that has been asked already… 

The answer may be found in the BrokenCredit.com Help Center.