Did I mess up?? :(

[Cheryla18]

I am credit rebuilding in order to obtain a Home loan. The only open and actively reporting accts are 2 auto loans....but the 2nd auto loan is only reporting only to TU and i really need to show up for all 3...besides that my AAoA is at about 5.4 years so i decided to open a secured CC with a 1,000.00 CL and have only charged $24.00.    Was that the wrong thing to do? I really needed to have a revolving acct show up. I have 1 baddie that is still unpaid and i am waiting for the accts I paid last month to report Zero by the end of this month.

Also I am having my mom as i type this call and put me on her open Chase Acct that was open in 1996 with no lates and CL of $500.00 with a Zero balance.

Cheryl

[foofighter74]

When are you thinking about applying? Just looking at your credit scores, you obviously have a ways to go to pull them up, so yeah, anything that will help that is a good idea.  I don't think you messed up at all.

[Cheryla18]

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@foofighter74 wrote:

When are you thinking about applying? Just looking at your credit scores, you obviously have a ways to go to pull them up, so yeah, anything that will help that is a good idea.  I don't think you messed up at all.

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I had the LO pull it back in Dec to have a look at it and see where I am at. She said I was at 540...did specifiy which report or if it was an average. I had 2 baddies show up since then but I PFD 1 of them so it was removed...and the other is still there.  I paid alot of the smaller and old CA to zero and also paid off  a closed CC...and waiting for it to update. Also got deleted a CA that is in error...again waiting for the update.  

I am really hoping that my mom putting me on a CC acct that is 17 yrs old with no lates and no balance will REALLY pull up my scores. I want to try to apply next month if everything hits my credit report just right and of course my scores takes a huge jump.

Cheryl

[Blackhawks_girl30]

Unfortunately you will most likely not see a score increase by paying off collections.  If they were factored into your debt ratio then it would help, but they should not be reporting that way.  You can try to send goodwill leters to the companies you already paid and beg for them to delete the collection.  The paying off of the closed CC and the removal of the CA will help, but how much will depend what is left on your report.

I would list out the CA on the rebuiliding section and see if they are able to help you with goodwill contacts.  Someone may have had good luck getting removal this way and could shed some assistance on how you could too =)

[Walt_K]

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@Cheryla18 wrote:

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@foofighter74 wrote:

When are you thinking about applying? Just looking at your credit scores, you obviously have a ways to go to pull them up, so yeah, anything that will help that is a good idea.  I don't think you messed up at all.

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I had the LO pull it back in Dec to have a look at it and see where I am at. She said I was at 540...did specifiy which report or if it was an average. I had 2 baddies show up since then but I PFD 1 of them so it was removed...and the other is still there.  I paid alot of the smaller and old CA to zero and also paid off  a closed CC...and waiting for it to update. Also got deleted a CA that is in error...again waiting for the update.  

I am really hoping that my mom putting me on a CC acct that is 17 yrs old with no lates and no balance will REALLY pull up my scores. I want to try to apply next month if everything hits my credit report just right and of course my scores takes a huge jump.

Cheryl

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Paying a collection will not help your score.  A collection is scored the same if it is paid or unpaid.  Sometimes paying a collection hurts your score.  It is not supposed to have any effect, but there are lots of reports of people seeing their scores go down after the collection account is updated (may have to do with an upate to the date of last activity).  It sounds like you may have one additional colleciton.  If so, and you cannot negotiate a PFD, see if you can agree with your lender that it will be paid at closing.  That way you don't risk your score dropping further.

For the remaining collections, keep sending GW letters to see if you can get them removed.

If the secured card and the card your mom is adding you to are your only revolving accounts, you could see a decent increase.  If you already had a few revolving accounts, I wouldn't expect too much of an increase.  Having an older card will help, but AAoA and oldest account only add so much.  Best of luck. 

ETA: didn't notice that you also paid off a closed CC.  Depending on how that was reporting, paying that off could help your utilization and improve your score. 

[Cheryla18]

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@Walt_K wrote:

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@Cheryla18 wrote:

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@foofighter74 wrote:

When are you thinking about applying? Just looking at your credit scores, you obviously have a ways to go to pull them up, so yeah, anything that will help that is a good idea.  I don't think you messed up at all.

---

I had the LO pull it back in Dec to have a look at it and see where I am at. She said I was at 540...did specifiy which report or if it was an average. I had 2 baddies show up since then but I PFD 1 of them so it was removed...and the other is still there.  I paid alot of the smaller and old CA to zero and also paid off  a closed CC...and waiting for it to update. Also got deleted a CA that is in error...again waiting for the update.  

I am really hoping that my mom putting me on a CC acct that is 17 yrs old with no lates and no balance will REALLY pull up my scores. I want to try to apply next month if everything hits my credit report just right and of course my scores takes a huge jump.

Cheryl

---

Paying a collection will not help your score.  A collection is scored the same if it is paid or unpaid.  Sometimes paying a collection hurts your score.  It is not supposed to have any effect, but there are lots of reports of people seeing their scores go down after the collection account is updated (may have to do with an upate to the date of last activity).  It sounds like you may have one additional colleciton.  If so, and you cannot negotiate a PFD, see if you can agree with your lender that it will be paid at closing.  That way you don't risk your score dropping further.

For the remaining collections, keep sending GW letters to see if you can get them removed.

If the secured card and the card your mom is adding you to are your only revolving accounts, you could see a decent increase.  If you already had a few revolving accounts, I wouldn't expect too much of an increase.  Having an older card will help, but AAoA and oldest account only add so much.  Best of luck. 

ETA: didn't notice that you also paid off a closed CC.  Depending on how that was reporting, paying that off could help your utilization and improve your score. 

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Yes i am hoping that paying of the closed CC  will help...along with 1 baddie being deleted....a new CC of 1,000.00 along with and being added to my mom' CC. I am really hoping that the acct my mom is adding will help the most since there are Zero lates....so it will help with AAOA and payment history....I'm praying anyways

Cheryl