In Febuary I pulled all three bureau's and disputed all the derogatory info that was showing. Everything is now deleted except for the following: 1. USWest phone bill ($286 collection since 1998) 2. Sprint PSC account ($352 collection since 2000) 3. Orchard Visa card (unsecured) $460 collection since 1999) 4. Collection for some work done on my car ($204 1999) 5. Back child support ($5906 showing 120 days past due even though it is taken out (state mandatory) from my paycheck every two-weeks. I have been paying this ever since I was told by the courts how much my child support would be since my separation. My scores were: Equifax 595 (last checked 3-28-04) Transunion 545 (last checked 2-19-04) Experian 550 (last checked 2-19-04) Equifax had the most negitive info on me. I just was approved (3-27-04) and financed a new car through BMW finance at a rate of 10.50% for 60 months....BMW used Equifax for pulling my credit. l was shocked to be approved by a reputable finance company instead of a sub-prime auto lender. I have not used any credit since 1999. My questions are as follows: 1. Will my scores increase now or will I have to wait a few months (show a on-time car payment history) since most were deleted in early March. (except the one's listed above). 2. How should I go about increasing my credit scores besides the obvious of paying my new car payment on-time and paying off the named collections above. 3. Since most of my disputes have been deleted from the bureau's, when should I apply for a un-secured credit card or should I wait a few month's? 4. Which card should I apply for based on this info...and get approved. Any other advice whuld be greatly appreciated.
paying off those collections without getting the TLs deleted will not raise your score! A paid collection is just as bad as an unpaid collection. Not trying to be mean, my scores were similar not too long ago, but you are still going to have a hard time finding an unsecured card until you get into the 600's. Why are you being reported as having arrearages on your child support? IMHO, this is the first one I would tackle for a couple of reasons. #1 "currently 120 days past due" is a HUGE score killer. #2 if someone in the gov't thinks you owe back child support, at any given point you can be in legal hot water. I would contact whichever agency is handling your payments (in writing), and get this resolved. Secondly, you need to find out the SOL for a collections lawsuit in your state. I bet you will find that the date has passed, since its been 5 years, and you can really attack these other collections and get them off your report. That being said, I will repeat, I believe the cs issue is the one that is really holding your scores down, since everything else is really old.
