hello,

       I’ve been reading your website that last two days and decided to finally write for your opinion.
I am 25 year old single mom who just a had a baby boy.I have a HORRIBLE Credit Report and Im not sure my next step to take.The last two years I took the approach to start paying off my collections on my credit report to bring up my score. Which to my surprise it did raise it because I was able to buy a car in July of 2007. I also went and got 2 credit cards.When I was 18 i went and obtain creidt and didnt know how to handle it. Now because My car note and my debt took the best of me. My credit score plummet down to the floor when I bought my car my credit score was 640 now its below 500.My car was repossessed and my credit cards are in collections. i want this to be clear and not showing credit settled on my report when i Pay my debts.

Question 1
will paying off my collection debt and repo help my credit score

QUestion 2
If no to question 1 how can i raise my credit score.

Question 3
How long should i wait to purchase a house for my son and I.

I already have 3 arrangements with collection agencies to pay off the debt. Was this the right thing to do

PLEASE HELP

Francesca (more…)

NCLC Reports [Vol 26, August 2007] that some auto auctions are now videotaping the proceedings.  On page 3 we read:

“The tape of the auction will show if no one else is bidding on a vehicle (a possible indication that there are problems the dealer should have discovered), that the dealer did not bother to inspect the vehicle (indicating negligence in ascertaining whether the car has a wrecked or flood history), or that the dealer carefully inspected the vehicle (indicating that the dealer probably discovered the hidden defects that is subject of the litigation).”

I am struggling financially and have been for the last decade. My income is 62K and I have the following debt:

Rent $1300 p/mnth
Car  $340 p/month
ins  $200 p/mnth
CC (total)   $2.5k
IRS (back)   $600
2 collection accounts (total) $500
Cable $100 p/mnth
phone $80 p/mnth
cell  $80 p/mnth
Util  $200 p/mnth

I have a $11k auto loan against a car with value of aprox $6k and have a company car so the aformentioned car is unused.

What can I do to get out of this rat race of robbing peter to pay paul each month.

Will (more…)

People don’t like “buy now and pay later”. People simply like the “buy now” part. “Pay later” is a compromise we begrudgingly accept in order to facilitate the “buy now”. This author knows/suspects somewhere in a little compartment inside the brain the “pay later” synapse flirts with “pay never”. Maybe that’s the way we interpret it: “buy now pay never”. It’s much more palatable that way. Later isn’t now after all, later is a future date and later may never arrive. Later is always, well, later.

No. Later has arrived in the housing market. Later is arriving throughout the economy as I type. Later stands like the Grim Reaper with payment shock scythe in hand shadowing every neighborhood in America. Later is today. How are you dealing with later?

I’m not the judge. I’m simply a pawn in the housing market. I’ve fallen for my share of “buy now and pay later” growing up. I’ve learned that debt is a trap. It’s a trap that is set to enslave every one of us, and our Country. According to the U.S. National Debt Clock, the outstanding public debt as of the date of this post was $9,013,807,650,672.2 – that’s $29,754.37 for every citizen in the U.S. We are debtors. That’s a fact. The question is why? (more…)

My vehicle was repossessed in April of 2005. I was two months late on my payment and had made firm arrangements to pay with my first check. Two days before I received my check, the finance company repossessed my vehicle while I was working. Recently, I pulled my credit report and soon after began receiving calls from the finance company. I attempted to make arrangements but the finance company stated I could make a lump settlement no payments. From day one they have stated this. I advised recently that I still have no means to pay a lump sum.

A month later the finance company placed account with Collection agency. Since then I have received two notices from them and two calls. One voicemail incidated my file was being turned over to the state of Texas for legal proceedings and one of the Collectors told me they were preparing to file suit. My question: The finance company charged off the balance in June of 2005 but are charging me the same interest rate when I purchased the vehicle and the collection agency total amount is $2000 in addition to the balance forwarded to them from the finance company. I would like to know where I could further research the amount of interest that can be charged and for how long after a charge off by the original creditor has been placed. 2. What type of fees can a collection agency charge. 3.and I was considering sending in a $10 payment along with a letter disputing balance and requesting info from collection agency for a breakdown of the fees to make sure these are legal and applicable charge added to balance. What type of letter would be possibly get results?

Amanda (more…)

Hello, how would i go around getting a car loan for 7000 dollars. Im 16 and need a cosigner but my mom is the only person that i live with that will sign but she does not have great credit.I make 1200 dollars a month in the summer but only about 350 in my current school job a month.  Ive heard of bad credit auto loans , how do u get those? i only have like 300 dollars saved up and i need a car now.

Michael (more…)

My wife and I bought a car in nov of 06 when she was still working, since then she has had do have a couple of major surgeries and is unable to return to work.  We volentarily gave the car back when we were sure we could not make the $700/ mo payments on the car anymore.  The company auctioned the car off for much less than it was worth and say I still owe 21000 on the car including fees, and they are charging %14 interest on the remaining balance. They offered a $14000 settlement if I could come up with $2000 down by the end of aug (which I can’t)and then $400 a month for 3 years to get it taken care of. 

I have spoken with a debt settlement company who for $300 a month (in my savings account)($1200 up front split into 4 payments) can settle it for me as well in three years.  They already have the first $300 payment but I am wondering if this is the best thing I can do for myself?

Any help would be greatly appriecated, I love the site it has been very helpful with some other issues I have been having.

Thank you
Kris (more…)

Okay in 2000 I co-signed on a car with my ex.  We traded in my car for this car.  A week later we broke up and he had to take the new car because it was too expensive for me.  So I went and got a used cheaper truck and we went our separate ways.  I kept in contact with him to make sure he was paying since my name was still on the account.  Finally I started asking him to refinance it so that I could get my name off the account.  Well, I’m not sure if he ever asked, but he told me that they wouldn’t do it.  Then he moved and switched numbers and I lost contact with him in 2002.  Okay so April 1, 2005 after I thought he had it all paid off and my name was off the account I received my first collections call.  This is the first I had heard about it and the car had been repossessed in November of 2004.  I was never notified about any delinquency or that it was going to be repossessed and I had called the lender and gave them my address whenever I broke up with my ex.  They sold it in an auction and the amount they were trying to collect from me is 4600.  I asked why the weren’t contacting my ex and they said he was under the Patriotic act because he was now in the Marines and they couldn’t call him or collect from him.

Okay there are a couple of things weird with this.

When we bought this car it was on a walk away balloon program.  So at the end of 4 years we could either pay or refinance the left over amount.  We also had the option of trading the car in for a new one or we could just give the car back.  I don’t have copies of the contracts and I can not get ahold of my ex to send them and collections will only send me one page of the contract.  I asked for the notes on the account and they mailed them to me.  My ex tried many times to have it refinanced and they wouldn’t because the car had expired tags (he was in the marines and had the car in storage).  He then said he would give the car back.  The company states in the notes that it was a volunteer surrender, but yet I have repossession on my credit.

Also by the notes in the account the payment amount had changed which means he would of resigned a contract without me present.  Which, I think takes me off the account unless someone forged my name.

What should I do????

Tabatha (more…)

I have a question.  I purchased a vehicle and have since been ill and ujnable to work.  I have recently acquired a new job and started qorking again but i had bot been able to pay the car note and now it is in repo status.  I have not returned the car yet because I was trying to work and save some money for another vehicle. The creditor has been calling my father’s cell phone and telling him how much I owe them and that if I don’t return the car they will have me arrested and charged with theft. Can they legally do that or does that violate the Fair Debt Collection Act. I feel like they had no right to give my father that information.

Also if I file a bankruptcy will I be able to leep the car or will I have to return it still? It is a secured debt with the car itself as collateral.
 
Please help!
 
Samantha (more…)

Dealer-magazine.com defines Yo-Yo transaction:

“A yo-yo transaction is the deal that is put out at terms a dealer knows will not be approved just to get the customer to fall in love with the car (puppy dog close). Then, a week or so later, the customer is called with the story that the financing got approved on different (usually more restrictive) terms that the customer may not have agreed to before she showed the car to all her friends, family and fellow employees. So she agrees to either a higher APR, more cash down, lower terms or higher payments – or a combination of the four.” (more…)