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HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

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Anonymous
Not applicable

HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

Hello all,

 

  My husband and I are freaking out because we have a contract on a house and were about to have our broker submit our app when our scores are just below 620! My husband's report shows a HSBC/Best Buy charge off, last reporting on 05/2006 with a balance of $1506 on his TransUnion report .  He paid this balance to LVNV, a CA, in Feb 2008 and they are showing a $0 balance.  Will updating the balance from $1506 to $0 through the bureaus (via satisfaction letter) increase his score???? If not, what will? We are running out of time, and he has no revolving accounts to pay down. He has another charge-off and collection reporting status: 120 days past due. Should we fix that? HELP!!!!!

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
teton
Regular Contributor

Re: HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

I believe that paying off a collection will not help your score. You need to get it deleted from your credit report. You typically need to do this prior to paying it since the CA is more likely to agree to this if getting their money hinges on it. Our experts will correct me if I am wrong on this.
Message 2 of 5
WannaHouse
Valued Contributor

Re: HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

Do you have any CC's you can add him to? That will help if your cards are in good standing with low balances. Other than that, I am not sure. You should take this to the credit repair forum. It really is about that, more than the loan.

 

Good Luck!!

 


Kathy


We are finally homeowners!!

Closed May 5th-30 yr fixed at 5.25%.

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

Thanks for the replies! First off, the TLs I am talking are all paid off, so it is too late for a PFD unfortunately. We were young and naiive and didn't know what a PFD was back in the day.  My post was moved here by a mod, prob due to the loan deadline! Will having the charge-off, which is paid and has been since 2/08, corrected showing a zero balance raise his scores? Will correcting the status of other PAID accounts such as a collection and other charge offs help him? These currently say 120 days past due, but they have been paid for at least 1.5 yrs! Anyone?
Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: HELP!! Paid Charge OFF Showing balance!!!

Is the original line for Best Buy showing the balance?  It is my understanding that this would kill his utilization because it is showing like $1500-ish balance on a zero dollar credit limit.  If that is the case I believe getting the balance corrected would help.  But it seems to me this is a better question for the General Credit Issues board or Rebuilding Your Credit or something (sounds like you had it there before it got moved?).

 

On the other hand, having a collection account corrected probably won't help since paid or unpaid collections hurt your score the same amount.  Please check before getting the info updated since I believe they can change the date of last activity or something like that which makes the ding seem more recent and possibly hurting the score more.

 

Anyway, I'd say go back to another board and get clarification on the details of what actions will raise his score and more importantly, what not to touch at this point.  Seems like you're already well aware that a mid-score under 620 can be a problem getting a mortgage.  Good luck!

Message 5 of 5
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