Another capital one victim

[modernsurrender]

                            TransUnion Experian     Equifax 

Past Due:            $1087             $1102            1087 

High Balance:     $696                 $1102          $696

This is from my TC credit reports I pulled earlier today.  They've updated with Ex for the month and dropped my FAKO 2 pts.  My question is what is my best course of action?  And why don't the high balances match up for TU and EQ with the past due amounts? 

I've read tons of threads about all sorts of things on here, including dozens of dozens of Capital one threads, from what I gather they don't PFD or GW anything away.  So what's my best bet?  Do I call and try to setup a payment plan for the full amount or a settlement amount?  What would the difference make? 

From what I gather since they have my balance marked as 1087 on my last Fico score/report pull, all my reports show an open credit balance of 1087 or more.  Which I guess gives me a rather high UTL since the card only had a $300 limit to begin with.

I assume if I pay it that means my utl will drop and my scores should go up even though they wouldn't delete the derog report.  What's the difference though between settling to pay a portion and paying the full thing?  Do they still knock the balance down to $0 once I've paid whatever settlement amount?

And would this in fact help my score significantly by dropping my revolving acct balance to 0 on two of my 3 reports?  (I'd still have other CO's and collections to take care of but no revolving debt and one loan in good standing.)

Thanks Again,
Ja' Net

Message Edited by modernsurrender on 02-05-2008 06:26 PM

[Anonymous]

They will accept a settlement on the account. I waited until I got a letter from them and then called them and made the payment. They do not PFD or GW but they will correct your reports showing the original credit amount, the high credit amount and it will show something like "Legally settled for less than full amount". They will close the account and it will definitely stop screwing up your utilization.

[modernsurrender]

Thank you so much Bamf!  It pains me to pay them so much on their crazy interest but it's my own mistake that brought it on, and getting my UTL under 270% will hopefully help out my scores!  I'll have to try and give them a call I don't think I've gotten a letter from them in quite sometime.

-Ja' Net

[Anonymous]

Ouch! 270% utilization? Wow.

I kindly suggest you take your cc's out of your wallet, put them in an envelope, put them away and don't use them for ANY purchase while continuing to pay down your cc debt. Pay cash only until you can get those utils down to a managable 20%-30%.

You'll have to go to the bank more often, to be sure, but it's worth it.

I did just that, and I enjoyed a score rise of 151 points over a 4 month period

[modernsurrender]

I don't have credit cards any longer, only open TL is an installment loan (school loan).

I've posted previously about my credit reports looking for basic guidance or affirmation on what to do since I've read numerous posts and threads but am still unsure, just about everything is CO'd or a collection account because of issues I had in the past.  I haven't used a credit card since 05 and they were all charged off around 05 as well.

My utl doesn't come from my actual use, it's purely from the Cap1 interest on the CO'd card and how they report it.

Thanks, That's definitely good advice though Sylvia, I definitely plan on keeping my Util under 10% if I ever get a card again lol

[Anonymous]

Glad to help.

Now since you said you don't have any CCs, I suggest you go get at least one and maybe 2 of them. there is no way for you to build any positive revolving TLs without open CCs. I suggest you get yourself a store card like a Target card or maybe a Walmart card and another regular credit card. BoA had a very good 99/500 secured card. I think if you apply for a regular BoA CC and get declined you will get the 99/500 secured card offer. That would be a card that could eventually turn into a regular non subprime card.

Obviously I would wait to apply for those cards until you have paid the Crap1 and it shows as paid 0 balance on all 3 of your reports.

[modernsurrender]

I'm planning on getting one or maybe two, I bank with BofA, so they're my first choice.  I don't know that I'd qualify for the 99/500 at this point, but hopefully if I pay of "Crap1" (lol at that name) my scores will go up enough to get me to that point.  Otherwise I'll just go for the plain jane secured they have and keep depositing to it.

I'm also considering the WF secured after that one.  (Not sure if you can deposit to increase the limit but I really want it more for payment history anyways.)

One of my collections is actually a walmart card or I'd totally go for that.  As a matter of fact I have the CO'd walmart card AND a separate Collection Account from LVNV for 366 even though the card was only 100 limit and reports as never having a balance over 90 from walmart.  I'm still confused about that but haven't gotten a straight answer as to whether both can validly show or not.

I think I tried target before as well and got rejected about a year ago, but if paying cap1 increases my score I'll most likely try again.

Thank you so much Bamf   Now to wait for pay day and call to setup a payment plan with them.  On that note, if you do pay off a collection in payments, do they report the payment history on that? lol

-Ja' Net

[Anonymous]

Lol....I wish it was that easy. Give it time you will get there. I was at 550 in Jan last year and by Oct I was over 700 and got my mortgage. You can do it too, just keep plugging away and remember you got into a mess over time....it will take some time to get yourself out.