I've only been here a month or so--I wish I'd found you earlier!
I had a collections account that I didn't know about. Apparently 5 years ago when I left the US I didn't pay a Verizon bill. My mail didn't all follow me, and I hadn't paid much attention to my credit reports.
The account was turned over to AFNI in 2005. I was checking my reports a couple of months ago and saw a collections. I tried to go through Verizon but they were very vague and said I needed to contact AFNI. When I did (last month) they said I could pay half and fix it. I felt really bad about this--I'd never had a collection account, so I paid it immediately over the phone.
Now my scores dropped 40 points and its listed as a collections/chargeoff/90 day late. I've read AFNI isn't very cooperative, and I can see now that I should have done this differently from the beginning.
Is there anything I can do at this point? My scores had gotten up to the mid 700s and now they're back to 698-702.
No major purchases in the immediate future, just student loans. I also closed a household bank card; should I reopen that? Would that help raise my scores again?
FAKO TU: 730 (Too poor to check the real scores these days!)
