darksideone wrote:
I was stupid with a couple of credit cards in College and they were charged off. The first one had a balance at about $200 and the second was about $600. I also had one medical bill for about $600 that went into collections. I paid the first credit card charge-off in full last month and the other two bills are still outstanding. My credit score is near 500 and i am looking to boost it as quickly as possible b/c i want to get a condo soon. What can i do to boost my score as quickly as possible? I have a job making 40,000 approx and have very few bills other than rent, and utilities. I have a car that i own and that is basically my only asset. Secondly should i pay off my charge-offs or just use that money in some other fashion? I assume that the damage is already done to my score.
Welcome to the forums!
You just paid off one CC CO. I would let that report and update on each CR. It might say "paid charge-off/collection" with a $0 balance. That is hurting your score. Once it says that, then I would send a barrage of Goodwill (GW) letters to that creditor ($200 one). Don't dispute it; that could cause the TL to delete. But paying that alone could have helped your utilization.
As Moobs hinted, do you have any other CCs?
The second you need to handle more carefully. Ideally, you want the card to report as a paid and closed account. It too probably says "charge-off/collection". Budget and offer a PFD (pay-for-delete) letter to that second creditor. Do it for 100% for a one-time payment. If this card is your oldest, then I would rethink a PFD, as the deleted history can harm you.
For the medical, send a DV to the CA. Save for a full payment to the CA. If they validate and you agree to everything, then offer a PFD for 100%. Don't pay them without getting them to agree to a PFD in writing. A PAID CA at $0 weighs the same against your score as a CA with a balance of $10000. There's no difference. Also, some have had success in medical collections by dealing with the OC.
In any case, be careful with the 2 charge-offs. If these are the only two things on your CR (outside the CA), then deleting these will wipe out your score and it will take months to repair it.
