A college aged friend that I helped straighten out her finances was able to save enough money to pay off all old debt, her CA agreed to remove her only collection, and she just got a CAP1 card with $19 Annual fee. We tried to remove other old lates but lenders are refusing to remove them. Another success story. She is going to set up auto pay from the cc company and always keep a min $$ in her bank account to ensure min payment is always made. Auto min pay is the only way to go IMO! I call it insurance.
I am seeing a strong trend. It's not really about credit reports, but more so about how people manage their finances. She had no way of tracking her spending, didn't know basic money management. All of the people I saw have trouble that could not get out, had these same money management problems. When I taught her money management, she was able to become independent living on her own with money to spare. Simple really, I made her put aside her rent/food/car money in to a separate bank account the day she got her pay checks. The rest of the money was to save or spend. Well, she still blows all her other money, but now she separates the money she needs so she always has her basics paid. In time she will lean I hope to control spending. She spends until the account runs dry, but never touches the other back account with her UTL money.
That's all she needed.