Advice on how to increase my score

[Anonymous]

Looking for some advice as to how I should approach increasing my score. Over the past 4 months its been at Equifax 668. It hasn't gone up or down.

I have 2 accounts (read below) that I have a question about. On the account is has the date opened later than it was originally opened. Can collection agencies do this? What's the best way to take these off so my score can possibly increase. I admitt these are mine so I am willing to pay them off but paying them won't take the negative hit I'm taking. Should I send a pay for delete? Any one with experience with these CA's on PFD letters? My brother has had some success with goodwill letters.. any thought about that with these CAs?

I also have one in collections. So would it be smart to aim for this as a priority first?

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Accounts - date opened 4/2006

Midland 125$
Date opened [?] Apr, 2006
Date of last activity [?] Dec, 2003

3/2008 to 2/1010 ok except 3/2009. says 120 days late??? why is this?

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Accounts - date opened 11/2008
Portfolio 145$
Date opened [?] Oct, 2008
Date of last activity [?] Oct, 2005

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Collections
Innovative Merc 451$
Collection agency 181yc03030
Date reported [?] Feb 01, 2009
Date last active [?] Oct 01, 2006

bad
1. Number of your accounts that were ever 60 days late or worse:1
2. Your oldest account was opened 10 Years, 5 Months ago
3. You've recently been looking for credit. Your applications for credit in the past year 8 inquiries
4. You have a recent collection on your credit report.

good
1. You've limited the use of your available credit. Ratio of your revolving balances to your credit limits 1%
2. Your most recent late payment happened 4 Years, 5 Months ago

Thank you for your help.

[llecs]

The open date doesn't matter per a CA. THat's the date the CA took over the account. If a CA is reporting an open date then ignore it. The only open dates that impact your AAoA are OC accounts.

Those 3 TLs you listed are CAs. Midland Credit Management and Porfolio (Recovery Assoc. ?) are a pain to deal with from what I hear. IF SOL expired or if you have the $$$ to PIF, then send each of these a DV first. A DV establishes account ownership. If they verify and you agree, then send a PFD to each. And yes, paying them without a PFD will not improve your FICO score(s). For the lates listed for MCM, ignore it. IMO a CA shouldn't report lates, but there's nothing legally stopping them from doing so. Per your FICO, the CA aspect is the worst delinquency and the lates are overlooked. BTW, looks like FICO is completely ignoring the lates from MCM anyway. If you look at the positive factors, you mentioned that the most recent late was over 4 yrs ago. The MCM late is much sooner.

The third CA listed lacks info. Unfortunately myFICO and other third-party report providers will sometimes block info due to privacy issues. If you need that CA's name and info, pull your CR directly from Equifax.com or you can get it for free once a year via annualcreditreport.com.

If all 3 CAs are removed, I bet your EQ FICO would hit at least 720.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the adivce. I will send a DV, then follow up with a PFD. Will update if I hear anything.