Help from your experience...pls

[Anonymous]

I need advice from those of you who really understand how credit scores are measured.

My story: I am 28, just got divorced...need i say more...credit card debt...!!!! Its been a wild and crazy year filled with beautiful shoes. Now,.. reality has sunk in.  I am 25 K in cc debt at 16 %, not to mention student loans (12K). I have a good history because honestly, my x paid all the bills, I am really bad at paying everything on time. But,..life with bad credit is no fun, so I have to suck it up and pull it together.

My scores:

Trans: in july it was 584! and now it went up to 657 ... wow, is this just from paying on time?

Equifax: 611

Experian : 602

Ok... so my plan is basic. Since I get declined for every personal loan..I think because all my CC's are maxed out. I have the debt spred against three cards. 4K on one and 3 K on the other and 18 K is the big one. So... is it really as simple as...

1) do not apply for anything else ( dings)

2) pay the smaller cards of first... meanwhile pay the minimum on my big 18 K card.

This is where I need your help,... your knowledge is sooo apreciated.

What can I do to raise my credit.

I would be happy in the upper 600's by next year! Thats above average right???

I make enough $ to get this under control. I can pay about 3-4 K a month toward this.

Is there hope,... ???? I also recently got reported  to a credit collector from verizon,.. the check was late but in the mail,.. but.. that is going to really hurt my score.

Please... any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have made a nice rebound already score wise-

Getting the balances down on the revolving accounts will help significantly- What are the Limits on these cards?

You need to head off the collection before it hits your reports.

Have you read the Credit 101 thread?

[Anonymous]

Snowballing works also

You stop using the cards.

On your highest interest card you pay as much as you can (I do mean as much as you can - forgo any new shoes) plus the mins on the the others.

When that is paid you move to the next one - using the money you paid on the first one plus the min for that one.

When #2 is paid off you do the same with number three - all the money you were paying #2 plus the min.

Everything is now paid off - and then you use the cards only if you can PIF the next statement (okay maybe within 2 statements  if it something that you NEED not want)

[Anonymous]

I agree with Scarlet. Stop using those cards completely, while continuing to pay as much as comfortably for you to do so.

Put them in an envelope, put them in your sock drawer(for guys, lingerie for the ladies.lol),and pay cash(and check) for everything, if you possibly can.

A sure fire way to get the debt down, the utilizations down, increasing your scores further.

And never, ever ever pay late. Never. Make that your prime directive.

[Anonymous]

You're actually in really good shape, compared to others. If you can send $4000/month. You'll be done in about months. actually, for score purposes, you should start to see a major jump after 3/4 months

Stop applying for credit.
Don't wait until due dates! pay as soon as you can, as much as you can. Money in your bank account will accrue less interest than you're losing with the interest on the CC.
Make your payday their payday. (pay first, drink beer later)

And try your hardest to get the collection removed, or not showing up at all.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to everyone for all your help. Yes, I am not charging... everything is basically maxed out.

The interest rate is basically the same on all three cards, so.. I think i will stick with the pay the small ones first plan because once those are paid off... it will show I have that available credit and its not maxed out... I think that helps my score.

the best thing ever is... I called my credit card company (citi) and requested the due date so I can pay max amount... and they will automatically withdrawl X amount every month. So... it forces me to pay my budgeted amount to my cc debt... the hardest thing is for me to pay on time... i know,.. its bad.

But.. verizon did report me to the credit collector and it just showed up on my FICO report. So.....can i get this removed? Here's the verizon story...

I owed them 1,000.00 ( i was set up on auto payments and they were supposed to be pulling it from my bank, but who knows something went wrong, and I didnt pay attention to my bank account.. and my montly bills were not being deducted and it all added up. I went to change cell companies and verizon said you owe us 1,000.00 I was like.. ahh... okay, i will pay it in chunks,... 300 here and 300 there. Because it was unexpected.. and it wasnt in my budget.. ( i am really trying to budget now)

Verizon called me at the end of september,... ( I found out i owed this in late july ...) verizon said are you going to pay us.. I said yes,.. Oct 1, I am sending a payment. ANd boom, i checked my fico on Oct 15,.. and I was reported and verizon never cashed my check I sent! SO,.. do you think they will remove it???

Has anyone had success with getting creditors to remove stuff?