Starting my journey to A+ Credit Rating

I'm responding to your request from the "towing" thread.

With that said and in all honesty, with derogatories you have being so new, your scores are not that bad. For that reason, I would advise the following:

1) Try to avoid Bankruptcy if you have the means to at least settle. Bear in mind that not all creditors will settle (most will although the terms will vary). In some cases, a Bankruptcy will actually improve one's FICO score, however, it probably won't yours. Even assuming arguendo that it would, many prime creditors won't touch a newly discharged petitioner and for those that will, the interest rates can be less than favorable,

2) Try to negotiate terms wherein the account tradeline will be marked as "pays as agreed." If this is a non-option, negotiate the status. That is to say, see if the creditor will report the status as pays as agrees but, leave the balance/account history. They sometimes will elect to do this,

3) Consider paying the full amount if you have it and if they will mark the account as pays as agreed w/ no late history or simply delete it,

4) If they will do none of the above, I still advocate paying them rather than seeking BK protection inasmuch as even a zero balance will improve your scores via utilization effects,

5) If you get no movement regarding the notations, engage in the dispute process. The subject tradelines will likely be verified but, shoot for FCRA violations such as not marking the account as in dispute (authority has held this to be a s-2b violation) whereby, you can utilize such to your advantage for deletion via direct communication or ultimately, litigation;

and,

6) Finally (or during the course of any of the above), consider adding some tradelines which have sufficient age. Ask a friend or relative to add you to their accounts which have clear histories and proper utilization. If this cannot be had, consider purchasing them through any number of service providers (check them out before making a decision).

Hope that helps . . .

 

Credit repair does not mean that you don't have to pay them. You can have excellent credit, sued and watch your credit scores crash.

You need to either pay them off or start learning how to defend in court because lawyers aren't likely to help much if at all.

 

try prosper.com,Why waste so much energy on personal credit.Start looking into business credit.