Hello all! My name is Kevin and I've very much appriciated not only the time and effort you have put forth in this site, but also the feeling of comrodery and support that you give one another. Like most posting on this forum, I'm a bit lost on where to start, but I have done the all important step of reviewing my credit report and making gains to pay off some of my debt. Currently I have a fico of 548 (Up form 502 - YAY!) and now I'm confused where to go. Currently on my credit score I have 6 items that are charge/off - written off accounts. (Totaling $2,219.00) and 3 Current 'In collections' items. One is for a medical bill, and the other two reflect CA's that are collecting on the original debt. My question's are these: A.) Should I focus on paying off the active CA's first, and then the charge offs second? B.) Does paying a Charge off improve my credit score? (I've read that it will say charged off/paid - so the charge off is still listed, but will that little 'paid' mark increase my score any? I havn't been able to find a definitive answer anywhere about this) C.) My bank offered me a credit card where I pay the money up front (300.00) and use that as a lien of credit. Will accepting that, and using the CC to pay off the CA's monthly settlement charges help improve my score? (Right now I have -no- reports of 'good payment history' on my report) Thanks a bunch for any assistance you all might add. I know that some would suggest disputing items on my report, but as of currently their all correct, there are no items that are there that I did not incur myself.
First, welcome to the forum Kevin, and I hope we can provide you with the support and guidance you need as well. Here are my thoughts in response to your questions: A.) I would focus on dealing with the CAs first, since they now own your debt, and then you can approach the OCs to try and convince them to remove the charge offs. B.) No, don't expect a "paid" charge off to help your credit score. Both "paid" and "unpaid" collections or charge offs are negative marks and basically have the same effect on your FICO scores. C.) It certainly will, as long as your bank reports payment history to the CRAs. You should check with them first on that. Good luck on your journey, and I hope to see you around the forum often.
Hey Guys! Well, good news is I've been able to make headway on my score, and its actually starting to rise a little bit! For my next adventure I wanted to look at contacting some of the CRA's because some of the c/o's on my report are REALLY old. Problem is, i cant seem to find a -good- credit report that shows me the dates of these debts! I've applied to triplescore.com & experian.com and I haven't had any luck navigating through my report to find out what that the trigger date is so I can send in letters. I would ask if you guys have experience with this, but I'm almost positive you do! So can you help out by offering some tips with what company you use to get your report and exactly -where- you can find the date the debt went south? Thanks
Congrats on your improved score! So your question is a great one and something I've been meaning to ask myself. I'm looking forward to a response to it. I currently use truecredit monitoring and I have the same issue as you. I'm also curious where you are getting your credit score. Is there a way to get an accurate credit score without having to pay for it? Also, how accurate are the TransUnion Fako scores that I'm getting through Truecredit? Tim
dewdnoc, If you're still working on getting your collection accounts paid off, make sure you do some research on pay-for-deletion and non-disclosure agreement clauses. I've heard a lot of success stories using those methods and I'm getting ready to try it myself. It's much more beneficial to have the collection or charge off removed from your credit report than to have it say "paid charge-off" or "paid-collection". Good Luck Tim
Glad to hear your scores are improving. Congrats! Have you pulled your 3 free reports from annualcreditreport.com? If not, pull one from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. That's what I do every 3-4 months to stay on top of my credit reports. Look for the date your accounts were charged off, and if it's been more than 7 years, you should be able to get them removed by disputing through the CRAs. Also, if you want a quick and free estimate of your credit score, you may want to check out creditkarma.com. However, it's not very accurate, so if you want to you know your true FICO score, just get it from myfico. FAKO scores are all over the place and should never be relied upon.
@timtim Thanks! Iâ??m not entirely sure where everyone else gets theirs from, but I signed up with Equifax Credit Monitoring thinking that because its one of the big three that it would be legit. Unfortunately all they do is MONITOR it, if there are actually any changes, you have to pay an additional amount to get your credit report (For that month only). I wouldnâ??t recommend using their service, but to each their own! Also, I was able to get this from the collection agency Iâ??m working with (In writing!) â??As far as credit reporting, we will remove our mark on your credit report once its paid. Also Ill help you submit a paid in full notice to CashCall once your balance is paid off and well work to get that removed when the time comeâ? Is this similar to what you were talking about? If so, YAY! IF not, do I need to ask for something else? @Josh. Iâ??m fairly certain Iâ??ve pulled my report from each of the three this year, you said you do it every few months or so. I thought the free annual report was once a year? Has this changed, or do you just pay the fee every 3 months or so? Thanks again for your support guys. Its nice to have a community that knows where Iâ??m coming from, and can help! PS! from a 490 to a 540! Still horrible, but better each day! <3
By the way, Just went and pulled my free report with Equifax! Found the column of information that you're referring to, but I'm showing a lot of doubles on there. One from the original creditor, and one from the CA. How do I approach this? Go to the creditor or the collection agency? And will that remove both items? Or at least show them paid?
Let me Apologize for my last post, I got a little ahead of the game after reviewing my report and didn't know where to start. Let me put this in a way that is a bit more coherent. Account Number 28512XXXX Account Owner Individual Account Type of Account Installment Term Duration: Date Opened 08-2006 Date Reported 05-2010 Date of Last Payment 05-2010 Scheduled Payment Amount $0 Date Major Delenquency First Reported 05-2010 Creditor Classification: N/A Charge Off Amount: $0 Balloon Payment Amount: N/A Date Closed: N/A Date of First Delinquency: 06-2007 Comments: C/O Making Payments Thats a piece of my credit report. Where it says "Date of First Delinquency" is the date for the 7 year mark I take it? I'm confused however by the section that says "Date of Last payment" (2010) Because, I never made a payment to them in 2010. Is this a discrepancy on the report I can challenge? I only ask because my report is littered with information like this. Also, I have one account (credit card) that was sold to a collection agency, who in turn sold it to another collection agency. Is there a way to get the middle collection agency off my report? I don't think its quite right that I have three bad marks for one lein.
Yes, the DOFD is the important one, and I would definitely dispute the date of last payment if it's incorrect. Oh, and CAs sell accounts to other CAs all the time - they each have the right to place individual marks on your credit reports. Your best best will probably be disputing it through the CRAs and hoping the CA that sold your account doesn't care to respond anymore.
