Newbie Questions

[danimaltex]

Hi all -
First, thanks Trish for the speedy response on Friday. I really appreciate it. I have a few questions, maybe for the general audience out there, based on their experience. I am still new to the board and being more proactive with my credit. My question(s) are more general experience on what I could realistically expect and the time-frames normally involved. My current scores are in the mid- to higher six hundreds. I was actually surprised because i have a collection, a judgment, and have horrible track record on my student loans. So, here are my questions to you guys:

1. My student loans are being garnished right now. How does this affect my credit? Would it show more positive to work it out with Sally Mae to get off the garnishment? Is that possible?

2. How many points does removing the judgment (if possible), the tax lien, and collection affect, or how much could my credit score rebound from that? (guesses or experience anyone?)

3. What is a realistic time-frame in your guys' opinion to accomplish all this?

Thanks all and keep up the good work!
Dan

[jjgross]

Originally Posted by danimaltex

Hi all -
First, thanks Trish for the speedy response on Friday. I really appreciate it. I have a few questions, maybe for the general audience out there, based on their experience. I am still new to the board and being more proactive with my credit. My question(s) are more general experience on what I could realistically expect and the time-frames normally involved. My current scores are in the mid- to higher six hundreds. I was actually surprised because i have a collection, a judgment, and have horrible track record on my student loans. So, here are my questions to you guys:

1. My student loans are being garnished right now. How does this affect my credit? Would it show more positive to work it out with Sally Mae to get off the garnishment? Is that possible?

2. How many points does removing the judgment (if possible), the tax lien, and collection affect, or how much could my credit score rebound from that? (guesses or experience anyone?)

3. What is a realistic time-frame in your guys' opinion to accomplish all this?

Thanks all and keep up the good work!
Dan

Welcome Dan
1.It affects it quite a bit if you can possibly work it out so you go to them and set up an auto plan,however it is a court order so don't know if you can do it.
2.If you can get the judgement removed it's a plus,the tax lien will have to be paid in full to remove it.Anything you can do to remove neg is a pos.step.
3.I would say min 6 months,max 2 years.There's other things you can do get different types of credit,IE dept store etc. keep your balances under 20% of the credit limit.I hope this helps.Be patience.

[danimaltex]

How does the SOL affect older stuff...our in TX is 4 years....does that mean that the "7 year" rule doesn't apply and i can remove things that are say..5 years old?
Dan

[jjgross]

Originally Posted by danimaltex

How does the SOL affect older stuff...our in TX is 4 years....does that mean that the "7 year" rule doesn't apply and i can remove things that are say..5 years old?
Dan

No its means they can't collect on it.It still stays as a neg.for 7 years.Now you can try to dispute as obsolete.

[Trish]

I agree with jj on the above.
I have had a collection acct removed and my score went up a good 20 points.......and then on the flip side (oddly) when I had a judgment for 8K removed, my score didn't budge. :huh: It really depends on your individual CR.......since they can all vary so much........so it's hard to tell.

If you're interested, there is a FICO score simulator........it's surprisingly pretty accurate.

How is the SL being reported? I'm just not sure the garnishment aspect of it is making much of an impact on your score. It would be more the late notations and the status of the loan.

For a time frame.......again, it just varies so much from person to person but I have seen people clean up their CRs in as little as 6 months.
I've been working on mine for what seems like forever......lol......but I've had my work cut out for me with A LOT of collections (medical and regular), judgments, COs........you name it. AND I have had VERY stubborn creditors that would not work with me.

And for the SOL question. Like jj said, the state SOL is regarding collection. It's the time frame your creditors have to collect and/or sue you (if it's a high $ debt). Once it's past that 4 year mark (for TX) then you can dispute and DV with a little more confidence knowing that you can't be sued and they can't collect on the debt. Also the older the debt is, the more bargaining power you may have to pay it off for less than the full amount.

The 7 year SOL is for reporting it on your CRs........and that goes for all states.

One thing you do have going for you is TX has good consumer laws........which can be helpful (former Texan here.......so I'm more familiar with those laws than Washington's).

Hope that helps answer your questions.
Happy repairing! :D