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If you are out of SOL for collection purposes, you may be alright- check your state laws to be sure. Not sure paying off now would really help your ficos as most of the damage has been done and the older your baddies are, the less they hurt your ficos. either way, first premier and HSBC do NOT blacklist you for chargeoffs.
As for first premier, they are not the best, but they are not the worst (continental, tribute, rewards 660 and several others come to mind in terms of gouging on fees). Sometimes, the first premiers are your ONLY option for credit. I have 2 b/c @ the time, they were my ONLY option. Once I got them, orchard offered me unsecured ccs…w/2 HSBC chargeoffs (out of SOL for collection purposes) STILL on my reports. Again, orchard/hsbc is not the most fabulous, but it’s slightly better than 1st premier. BOTH ccs did/are doing their job- helping me REBUILD.
Since first premier/orchards (obtained in early 07), my ficos have jumped nearly 200 pts (scores are now in the mid-high 600s) and I’ve gotten-
Cap 1- again not glamorous, but moving slightly up the foodchain. cc has potential for a 4 digit CL.
Ba 99/500- finally got in w/a PRIME bank. Partially secured, but unsecures in 9-12 mos. and WILL give me a 4 digit CL upon graduation and WILL grow w/me
Target red- not a high CL (200), but ok card and diversifies my tradelines. Should get a CLI to 500 in a few mos. AND there’s a possibility that this card may be upgraded to the target visa down the road. However, that’s NOT guaranteed and seems to be totally random, but at least the possibility is there.
future plans- ask first premier to combo my 2 ccs into 1 in 8/08 (when the 2nd cc hits the 1 yr mark). That will reduce my # of active ccs by 1. FIRE first premier for good in early 09 (when the 2 yr anniv. Hits on the 1st cc). that will reduce my # of active ccs by 2 and then I’ll be DONE paying MONTHLY ‘usage’ fees for ANY cc.
have asked orchard to combine my 2 ccs into 1. they still WON’T give me a CLI unless I agree to a hard pull which is silly. Comboing them will cut my # of active ccs by 1 and orchard will probably be FIRED in early 2009 as that will be my 2 yr anniv.
Firing subprimes will hurt my age for a bit, but there comes a time to DUMP them. As I said, they’re not the grandest of ccs, but they DO their job.