I just did a free credit report. I had a messy divorce and my credit went down the drain. So, two questions:

1. How long does it take for a negative report to clear from your credit report?

AND

2. I haven't been letting anyone run ANY credit reports on me. I didn't think I could get approved, so I didn't try....However, there are a few inquiries (like I've been letting people check my credit??) there. And I don't recognize any of them. Why would that be on there?

I'm pretty in the dark about this since as soon as I was able to earn credit...my ex ran my credit through the dirt and I haven't been able to do much credit wise.

Thanks for any feedback!

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Kristee
Kritter0114@aol.com

"Hold on, let me check....YES! I do have a coupon for that!"

I think everything clears in 7 years. It could be 10 now, I'm not sure.

As for credit checks, have you opened a checking account, gotten insurance of any kind I found out a few years ago that they run credit checks for those types of things as well as your normal credit apps.

HTH

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I've also just been thru a bankruptcy and a divorce. If you call 1-888-567-8688 you can opt out of prescreened offers for credit and other things. Until you do that any business can check your credit and it goes down on your record. HSBC is a bad one for this. They had checked my credit AT LEAST once a month for months on end. It doesn't look good when others check your credit at your request to have a lot of inquiries.


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If you apply for a new job, a prospective employer will run a credit check also.

CreditBoards.com - Credit Help, Credit Repair Tips, News, Forums Visit and learn! Make sure there isn't any inaccurate on your report making your reports look worse than they should.

Are the inquiries in the section that is shown when a company pulls your report, or in the section that says only you see them?

If your ex might be applying for credit in your name, you definitely need to get that stopped. If you're getting pre-approved credit offers, that might be a source of some of the inquiries.

Bad items on your report should be on there for 7 or 7.5 years from the date of first delinquency.

If an employer needs to run a credit report, they'll have you sign permission.. I don't think most jobs would require it, just if you are applying for a job paying over $75k or the job has something to do with credit or money (I applied with Equifax years ago and they required one, my husband just got a job with a credit card processor and that was part of his background check).

1. It depends on the negative. The negative can usually be reported around 7 years from the last report date. If it has not charged off and it is still actively being collected on then the clock has not started ticking yet.

How long they can try to collect is a state law issue. Different states have statute of limitations for trying to collect debts. Check into that if that is one of your concerns.

2. Most likely what you are seeing are soft inquiries (prescreens) and/or regular inquiries which would include creditors that you owe money to trying to find you. Soft inquiries do not count against your credit score. Hard inquiries do. If you apply for credit, apply for a job or have a creditor looking for you then those will count as actual inquiries which are part of the factors they look at when calculating your credit score.

Do you have those accounts in the divorce decree? If they were in there as you not being liable for them then you can contact those creditors and request that they remove them.

Are they joint accounts? Did you both apply for them? If you did not apply for the credit and sign the application then call them and tell them that. If they give you a hard time then ask them for a copy of the application with your signature on it.

If these are your debts, you can call and try to make payment arrangements with them to take care of your debts. While they would obviously prefer for you to pay what is owed, depending on the delinquency they may make a settlement offer to you.

All of this is time consuming but it is possible that it might help.

Good Luck to you

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beth

It has been a hundred years since I have worked in the credit industry; however I believe it is still true that if both spouses signed a contract then both spouses are legally liable for the debt, regardless of what the divorce decree says. A divorce settlement is agreed to by the spouses involved, it does not however, release either party from the contractractual obligation signed with the creditor. The only way to be released from contract liability is to have the contract rewritten, excluding your name. The creditor has every right to pursue either ot both parties unless the contract is rewritten to exclude one of the spouses.

Sorry to say, the company I worked for had a lot of shocked wives who thought they were excused from debt because of a divorce settlement. Think of it this way, a creditor would never make a joint contract with a married couple that said in effect, 'you don't have to pay if you get divorced'.

thats the link I was just looking for...thank you!

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