Hello everyone, I am currently the proud owner of a 493 FICO with Experian. Part of this is because of a Chap7 discharged in 1998. My report shows 7 collection accounts since then. Three of them should have been included in Chap7 (the creditor admitted this and they are reporting it as such within 30 days). Two of the remaining collections were bills sent to the wrong address and the creditor has agreed to remove these as well. The sixth belonged to my dad and I will be disputing this. I'm investigating the last collection. My question to the board is whether or not removing these collections should be enough to get my FICO up over 500. I know I could simply wait and find out but the curiosity is killing me. Anybody have any idea? Credit repair really can become an obsession!!! Thanks, Tom
Not that it is a true FICO score, but have you signed up for the free 30 day trial on CreditExpert.com? There is a "score simulator" that allows you to change parameters of your report and see what effect it may have on your score. As I said, it is not a "true" FICO, and the simulator may not be 100% accurate, but it could give you some idea of how the changes you are speaking of, will affect your score. -Dave
Hi Dave.... I actually have tried it. The website is really cool and according to the simulator, my score can easily be improved BUT it seems to improve TOO MUCH to be accurate. I'm not sure if I should trust it - that's why I'm soliciting comments from anyone who has been through this in real life. Thanks, Tom
My feeling (feeling -- I'm no expert) is that if you can go 7 for 7 on clearing your collections you'll go way past 500 and into the low 600s. Collections are worse than bankruptcies. BKs seem to lose the worst of their potency after a couple years. One current collection may do as much damage as an older BK, double if it's unpaid, and 7 of them is scary. Good luck -- even if none of them are legitimate the chance of getting that many collections cleared up on all your reports is not good. Fortunately you found the right board. It depends on what else you have too. Do you have anything positive on your report? With your current credit you may not have been able to get anything so I won't guess, and one or two positives would be lost in a sea of 7 collections. But if you have a couple you'll be in relatively great shape if you get everything cleaned up in a year.
Thanks R. I do have an 18 month auto loan with one 30-day 14 months ago. I also have 4 good credit cards about 5-10 months old so there is some good credit. My bank has also just agreed to give me a $1000 installment loan (secured by a $1000 CD). This should help, I think! Thanks again... Tom
