36 Point Increase, What Next?

[Anonymous]

I just opened a secured card for $300 and my score jumped 36 points total to 605 Fico with Experian(US Bank also reported 78% Credit usage, I used the last of my money to open the card so I needed to use that to get through the week, all being paid off this week). I have 6 debts that are 2 to 6 months from SOL then I will start PFD for those. I also have student loans in good standing.

So I have:

US Bank Secured - $300 CL

2 Student loans ~$3K Good standing

6 debts totaling about $10K that have never been paid

No judgements

No liens

No mortgage

No loans

I want to be at a 700 by summer, I'm hoping it is doable and I am going to try my hardest. My plan is to fix my credit, get the baddies removed, then get a mortgage to buy a starter home for myself as well as get a new car loan(I really want an electric car or an older Insight to mod for 100 MPGs). 

Suggestions at this point? I'm thinking a couple more secured cards, possibly raising the CL on my current card to $1000 and paying down to less than 10%. But....I am thinking if I wait out the SOL and try for PFDs then I may be able to get an unsecured card which will look better on my reports. So Confused!!

[JMCB]

This is everyone's first recommendation, have you tried the Capital One's pre-qualification website. Second, what is your AAoA? And third, how old are the debts you're referring to? Just because the debts are past SOL, most debt collectors still wont accept PIF. Not saying they wont because a lot will, but be prepared for a lot of denials! It mostly depends on the debt collector, some are easy to work with and some wont work with you at all!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response!

I applied for Cap One and was denied. Got something in the mail saying they needed more paperwork or prrof or somethnig for one of the applied for cards. Not sure which it was. I think I was denied because I had a bunch of disputes going. I'll look for that letter and see what it was for.

My oldest account just hit 6 years this month(I am 24 years old so nothing older) The other accounts are all 5 years 2 months of age or older. The US Bank Secured Card is one month old.

The debts are not past SOL yet, They are all 2 to 5-6 months from SOL. I figured that it would be easier to talk them into a PFD since they wouldn't be able to sue me at that point so from their outlook on the situation they are thinking "Well, at least we will be getting X amount of money since we can't really do anything to get the money now". I'm afraid to contact the collection agencies this close because I do not want to bring attention to the debts and get a letter saying they are going to sue me before the SOL deadline. The 6 debts are from 3 companies, $5K for property debt, $2K for medical, and $400 for an electric bill.

Medical debts - Original creditor will not recall the debts from the debt collector in exchange for full payment through them to get the collection off my report. They were nice however which was cool.

[Anonymous]

Also, I'm not running from the debts on purpose the last 6 years. I didn't even know they existed until a few months ago. The ex gf from 2010 stayed in the apartment after I signed off the lease. Apartment complex lost paperwork somehow and I am stuck with the debt. I'm thinking it was more like they couldn't get the debt paid from her so they conveniently "Don't know anything about paperwork signing me off the lease". Oh well, it is what it is...

The medical bills I had thought were part of the bills the hospital was writing off because of my financial situation at the time. They wrote off half of them, the others were from a separate department adn were not removed. I moved to Alaska and was never aware that those debts still existed since I never heard from them again.. 

The electric bill I didn't sign my name off of so I suppose that it is my fault but I was 18, What do you expect