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2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

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Anonymous
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2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

I have two credit card charge offs and want to pay the one off that will give me the most credit score impact.  Separation/Divorce attorneys, fees, moving, etc...I'm trying to get my credit back to par.

 

*Capital One....Closed by Grantor, $3530 Charge Off as of June 2017, it says it's in collections.  Northland sent a pay off letter for $1400.  I am interested, but only if it's going to show up as paid on my credit report.

 

*Commenity Bank....Charged Off as bad debt, bought by Atlantic....$1000 BAL is showing closed as of Mar 10, 2017.  I am paying Atlantic monthly on that account on a $1400 BAL and they said I could call to negotiate a payout when I set it up at a later date.

 

So I'd like to negotiate and pay the best one to up my score.  I can pay Northland, but I want credit for it on my report and I'm skeptical.

 

Should I contact Capital One regarding Northland?  or pay off Atlantic?  Who can I pay first for the quickest impact?

Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

Since these are unpaid collections and not unpaid charge-offs, paying them off will have no effect on your FICO score right now.  

 

Don't negotiate a PFD ("Pay-for-delete") on the phone, do it in writing.  Ask them to respond in writing.  Since both of these are very recent, though, they are within their rights to sue for the balances and fees, so be aware of that.

 

The only time paying off a derogatory helps immediately is if it's still help with the original creditor (OC) and showing as an unpaid chargeoff.  These two probably show a chargeoff with $0 balance, and a collection with whatever balance.  Paying collections does not raise your FICO score, but it can prevent the collection from re-reporting every month.

 

As long as your collections report every month they are considered "fresh" and hurt you for probably 100 FICO points but if they've both been paid, after 3 years they should hurt for less (60 FICO points or so).

 

Neither will naturally drop off your reports until mid-2024.

 

One more thing to mention:  if you pay the collections off now, get yourself 5+ credit cards (secured cards are best), the Alliant SSL loan and let it all age 1 year from now, you can have a FICO score of 655.  After a total of 3 years you can have a FICO score of 670 even with the chargeoffs and paid collections still reporting as long as you're rebuilding your credit.  After you've paid everything and started building good responsible usage of credit, you can start a goodwill saturation campaign against the chargeoffs and collections (12 months after getting new credit and using it responsibly).

Message 2 of 6
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: 2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

The Commenity debt is stated to have  been sold, so their reporting should already, or soon, be updated to $0 debt balance, removing it from % util scoring.

If Cap One still owns the other debt, its balance continues to report, and thus payment of that account will reduce its % util, and remove it from util scoring once the balance becomes $0.

 

I would send a PFD offer to Nothland.  If they accept, you will remove their collection and reduce the % util on the Cap One account.

Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

Atlantic Corporation, the Commenity collection company, is not showing on my credit report at all.  My Commenity card just shows a $0 BAL and closed.

 

And I've never talked to Northland, so they're not attached yet in any way.  Do you think I could still negotiate with Cap One for a payoff?

Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
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Re: 2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

Gotcha!  So I can pay off Northland and my Cap One BAL will go to $0 without much trouble.  They will still show up as C/Os, but both of my BAL wil be $0 which is good.  Then if I'm trying to get a loan, I can explain that I paid one off and paying on the other.

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 2 Charge Offs...which to pay for immediate impact

If the collections aren't reporting and those are just chargeoffs with balances, paying them off will help your FICO Scores for sure but you'll need some open credit cards to really get the biggest boost.

The standard rule for rebuilding is 3 decent credit cards (secured is fine) and 1 installment loan (SSL is fine) which should boost your scores quite a bit.

I'd do that before applying for an unsecured loan, assuming you have no open loans reporting.
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