As soon as i turned 18 i wrote bad checks, never paid my medical bills and some other stuff that ended up being reported to credit agencies. I really got careless, but now I need to get my life on track and want to know the best way to start that. Can any one help?
woody m
Favorite Answer
pay off your bills,you may need to file charter 13, get a loan, and make timely payments
Pepe LePeu
Your debts are you enemies. Kill them off. Sacrafice the Cafe lattechino and other luxuries and pay pay pay. After that, build up a stash of cash in a savings account a couple thousand anyway. ....Then the best way to establish credit is to buy a car. The dealer will fix you up with financing. If you cant get a good loan deal because of your credit rating, take it any way, pay it for a year then, if youve made payments on time, you should be able to refinance a better deal. Now your on the road to good credit.
Lori A
You may want to talk to one of the agencies that helps people clean up their credit. The good ones are usually part of Consumer Credit Counselors. (fees are low if it's a good agency..if they want a full month or two of payments..bad agency).
First of all, you have to figure out who you owe money to, then negotiate either a settlement or payment arrangement. Note that for old debts, you can offer settle for pennies on the dollar, but for bad checks, you probably aren't going to get out of the full amount (and they can put you in jail for that one).
Then master living on cash AND putting savings away for a few years. That will give you the time to age off your old bad credit too. By learning to live on cash, you'll be better equipped to use credit wisely.
echo
I would suggest going to the site that I've listed.
It is a "free" do it yourself credit repair site.
Do some reading in the credit forum and the medical forum. When you need to, feel free to ask questions.
Depending on your state statutes on bogus checks, and how long it has been since you had written them, I would concentrate on taking care of those first. Bogus checks can carry not only a stiff fine, but also prison time (again, depending on your state statutes)
You can find links from the site I've listed to your states statutes.
If you are still within the statute of limitations for being prosecuted on them, find out how much you owe and do whatever possible to take care of them. Then deal with the other credit problems.
ratboy
Consolidate your debt, there are hundreds of debt consolidation services than can help. Or start with the credit card that charges the highest interest and make minimum payments on all the others while sending as much as pissible on the highest rate card. When that one is payed off, move on to the next highest interest rate card, and so on.
Good luck.