I got in a big mess with credit cards in college. Lost the job, got sick and as a result couldn't pay for my bills. So, now I have a full time job and am trying to re-build everything back to normal. I pulled up my credit repost and got the following... 1. Judgement for $3000 2. Student Loans for $20,000 3. 4 major credit cards each with balances of $2000 4. Unpaid bill sent to collections for $1300 5. Unpaid phone bill for $200 6. 2 Department credit cards totaling $1000 I also checked my FICO score which was 524. :-( I don't know where to start. Some of the accounts have been charged off and closed. Should I consolidate all of the bills or negotiate in trying to pay them each off. I'd rather try to negotiate to pay them off but how? Also, in paying them off will it increase my FICO score? Thanks! Greenjade
First of all, you said you got your report-- which one? If you don't have all three reports yet, I would get all of them before starting anything.
Hi vb code! I pulled all 3 credit reports Feb '02 and then signed up for a the FICO simulator through Experian last week. The data which I described was from the FICO simulator. I'm going to get my credit reports this week. Thanks for the reply! greenjade
Make sure you spend time reading the post for a couple of weeks and then you will understand things. It always helps to post what state you are in and how old the items are when you post.
I agree- read as much of the board as you can before you start trying to repair. Consolidate? No, it looks like most everything is past the point where consolidation will help you. Negotiate to pay off? Yes, you can do this but unless you negotiate to get the negative removed or updated to paid/never late then it will not help your score much. A paid charge-off/collection is just as bad as an unpaid charge-off/collection. Surf the board, learn about statute of limitations (SOL), validation, negotiation, accord and satisfaction... you will need to know all of these things before you start.
