topic Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card in Rebuilding Your Credit

Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 23:51:11 GMT

Little back story....

23, still in college for nursing school, will graduate in May. I finally have a steady job and make good money, but I went through some hard times there for awhile. I have about 13k in fed student loan debts, and about 600 on a cap one credit card that was charged off and closed. My equifax score sits at 569.

In less than a year(May-July) I'd like to be a point where I can buy a small house (50k), fix it up and live in it with a roommate. The goal is to have a payment small enough that the other roommate or two, will essentially pay my mortgage. I have extensive experience with renovating, so that's not the problem. The problem will be getting the financing. By May or Jun my income should be around 50k.

Questions....

1. There are two things affecting me negatively on my report, the first is the cap one card. I believe the debt is still with cap one, but NCO is servicing it. I've recieved a few letters from them. The SOL is 5 years in missouri, and I really can't wait that long.

Is my first step to send a validate letter? I know it is my debt and it has only been a year. **My goal here is to pay the debt and have it taken off my CR at all bereaus.

2. The other negative is a card I had awhile ago from commerce bank, it has a 30 and 60 day late. However it is closed and paid now since May of 2011. Do I attempt to remove this? what steps should I take?

3. My student loans are also on my report, and I doubt they are doing me any good. I have never made a payment because I have been in school and don't have to...are these affecting me in a bad way?

4. I've read about piggybacking cards, as in getting my self added to CC as an authorized user. That way it shows history and debt/credit ratio. Is this a good idea? Any tips? I can be added to a few cards my parents never use and my grandpa(who I'm sure has massive massive credit limits).

According to equifax, my amount of debt, length of credit, and type of credit are poor. my payment history and new credit are fair.

BTW I own no other cards.

Here are the screen shots! Any help is appreciated!

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/2ce0pzr.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2cqkuh2.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/ehghp3.png[/IMG]

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:49:43 GMT

So, after doing a bunch of reading. It seems that my best options are to call/send GW letter to commerce and see if I can get the 30 & 60 day late payments removed. Also try and do a PFD with capital one. Hoping this should jump my credit up a bunch if I am successful.

Would be wise I think then to get a secured card that reports to all three agencies every month.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

Shogun — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 02:01:19 GMT

Wow, you answered your own questions pretty well. Yes, PFD the Cap1 and GW the lates. The SLs aren't negatively affecting you at all.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 02:17:20 GMT

Is there any sort of percentage I should shoot for with PFD? The limit on the card was $300 but the fees take it up to $612.

50% 60%??

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 02:45:21 GMT

Also, just found a few letters that were sent to me by United Recovery Systems. They are on the behalf of Capital one, one of the letters dated in august offers a 3 payment plan for settlement of $520. The other letter asks if I can make payments, and say they will work with me in a repayment plan. They give me a lady to talk to.

So, should I call them and try to settle with them for a delete? Or do I need to deal with capital one?

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

bahbahd — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 04:45:29 GMT

If capital one is reporting the balance of $600+ then you can deal directly with them. They are huge sticklers and don't normally accept PFD or GW letters, but it does not mean you should not try. You really just want to get this paid before they sell it to a JDB/CA and you have two negative accounts reporting for the same debt.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:45:09 GMT

Here's where I'm at, at this point.

1. Going to write GW letters to commerce to see if I can get the 30&60 off. If no luck, I will start calling.

2. I've read a bunch of things on here about cap one being sue crazy and never doing pfd's. I am way way short of the SOL by about 4 years. I don't want them sueing.

So my next question is do I pay the $612 and be done with it, or just let it sit? Won't paying it look just as bad on my report? Or will it help to pay the account off.

BTW I do have the full amount and means to pay it right now.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

Shogun — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:33:25 GMT

Offer them 50%, see if they counter offer. Worst case is you still pay it in full.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

Mondavi — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:38:46 GMT

One thing with Capital One is if you settle for less than the full amount they like to report the remaining amount in your balance. Even though the account is paid and closed. Another thing is they are Very hard to get a PFD from. Good luck. Keep trying.
O

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:52:55 GMT

Well I've decided I'm not going to mess with the capital one right now. I think if I start playing games with them things might get worse.

Just going to send GW's to commerce until they drop the 30&60. Open a secured card and start rebuilding credit.

1. Would it help to open two secured cards from two different places? Both to have a higher credit to debt ratio, and to have both reporting?

2. When I do finally decided to close the cards and get my money back, does it kill me to end the history with these cards? I know length of time with a card is a big deal.

3. Any recommendations on secured cards? This one looks promising

First Progress Platinum Elite MasterCard® Secured Credit Card

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

bahbahd — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:28:41 GMT

kbl7td wrote:
Well I've decided I'm not going to mess with the capital one right now. I think if I start playing games with them things might get worse.

You just ignored all the advice given to you in this thread. Avoiding the CapOne debt (expecially while they still own it) is a bad thing to do. I don't know why you feel like offering a settlement or paying in full is like "playing games." You are chancing that they will just sue you since you are within SOL _or_ sell it to a CA and you'll have two derogatory accounts reporting. They could do both before you feel like playing...

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:39:25 GMT

BIG UPDATE!

Decided to do a GW/PFD email to the CEO of cap one at 3am this morning. Got a call early from a lady in the excutive office saying to call her so we can address my concerns.

In the email, which was very short, I just explained how I'd appreciate it if they would PFD, if I paid in full.

Anyone have any tips or advice, not sure how to go about this.

Re: Need advice on pay off cap one card

kbl7td — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:43:26 GMT

Just got off the phone with the lady from capital one, however, she pulled the line saying that it is not in her power and she is unable to do that. Very pleasant, but not helpful.

What would my next step be? She told me she could transfer me to the agency that is collecting on their behalf (its not sold off) and I could workout a payment plan with them or a settlement.

Since capital one stills owns the debt, but the agency is collecting, I can't workout a PFD with them can I? Cap one is the one showing on my report...