Advice on raising my score

[Pineknot69]

I am new to the forums so hello! I really need some advice. I went through a period of about two years without income after a serious injury which left me disabled. I recieve veteran's disability now which is helping to pay the current bills but I am still suffering the effects of the income I lost while waiting to recieve disability. I also owe quite a bit of money to doctors who treated my son for a serious infection last spring, resulting in three surgeries. His father is supposed to pay half the bills but he has not. I owe him child support too which fell behind when I couldn't work, resulting in an arrearage of 2400.00 which I am paying back now. Now I am trying to find out how to raise my score. I have been paying a car note on time for one year and a secured credit card which I know I need to pay down. I owe 309.00 it has a limit of 350.00. Will paying the whole debt down to 20% or so help pull my score up? My score as of today is 582. I really want to purchase a home with my fiance but both of us have credit problems and he thinks his are even worse than mine. I want to try to get the score to 620 as soon as possible. I appreciate any advice. Thank you.

[newmomnewme]

Paying the card down should raise your score, but you also need to work on getting the baddies removed if possible. Do you have enough money to offer payment for deletion? Maybe even settle as long as they delete it from your CR??

[rootpooty]

what all exactly is on all 3 of your reports?  is the child support tradeline being reported?  has your husband pulled his reports lately?  if not he and you are entitled to all 3 reports for free once a year

[Pineknot69]

Thank you for responding I appreciate it. The child support is listed and I am now paying it off but this has not changed the bad mark. I am not married. I don't have enough money on hand to pay for the child support debt outright. I am focusing on paying off the current medical bills so they do not go to collections. I have basically got the child support debt, a medical bill for 379.00, a judgement for 1500.00 (not listed here on myfico but is listed on my report at Lexington Law, they have helped me remove a lot of junk inquires). I mailed a settlement offer to a collection agent for an old utility bill from 2009 for 223. Most of the negatives were medical debts incurred in 2011.

[guiness56]

Is the child support still in arrears?  If it is it won't change.

[Pineknot69]

It is in arrears. For what it's worth, my ex (who I owe child support) actually owes me 7000.00 that was never paid when we divorced. I would like to know if there's a chance that could be used as some kind of leverage in this. I am thinking about going thru the court to file a contempt charge against him for failure to pay half the medical bills for our son and the money he owes me. Not sure if the child support agency would consider any of this but  I would think the medical bills are something I can use to negotiate a lower amount to settle this. My son will be 18 in January and I am supporting him financially even though it isn't through the court. 

[rootpooty]

doesnt matter.  if you owe child support thats the only thing the state cares about.  even though if its listed properly and doesnt hurt your fico score in my own experience a negative child support tradeline will hurt you the most.  I had great credit a year ago but with a negative support tradeline reporting arrearage and couldnt get anything over 500cl credit cards and could not finance a car for nothing.  Even after paying the balance in full it still wouldnt go away.

Dont use lexington law.  They are there just to take your money for services you can do.  I really dont understand what you mean by there is a baddie reported with lexington law but not on my fico.

With your son being/almost 18 does the support stop at 18 or go to 21.

ps it doesnt matter how much you spend on your kid off the record.  the state only cares about the money you are ordered to pay.  they are ruthless 2nd to the IRS if you fall behind.

[guiness56]

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@rootpooty wrote:

doesnt matter.  if you owe child support thats the only thing the state cares about.  even though if its listed properly and doesnt hurt your fico score in my own experience a negative child support tradeline will hurt you the most.  I had great credit a year ago but with a negative support tradeline reporting arrearage and couldnt get anything over 500cl credit cards and could not finance a car for nothing.  Even after paying the balance in full it still wouldnt go away.

Dont use lexington law.  They are there just to take your money for services you can do.  I really dont understand what you mean by there is a baddie reported with lexington law but not on my fico.

With your son being/almost 18 does the support stop at 18 or go to 21.

ps it doesnt matter how much you spend on your kid off the record.  the state only cares about the money you are ordered to pay.  they are ruthless 2nd to the IRS if you fall behind.

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It does matter.  Most CS doesn't even begin to report until you are in arrears.  It all depends on the state laws as to when they report.

[rootpooty]

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@guiness56 wrote:

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@rootpooty wrote:

doesnt matter.  if you owe child support thats the only thing the state cares about.  even though if its listed properly and doesnt hurt your fico score in my own experience a negative child support tradeline will hurt you the most.  I had great credit a year ago but with a negative support tradeline reporting arrearage and couldnt get anything over 500cl credit cards and could not finance a car for nothing.  Even after paying the balance in full it still wouldnt go away.

Dont use lexington law.  They are there just to take your money for services you can do.  I really dont understand what you mean by there is a baddie reported with lexington law but not on my fico.

With your son being/almost 18 does the support stop at 18 or go to 21.

ps it doesnt matter how much you spend on your kid off the record.  the state only cares about the money you are ordered to pay.  they are ruthless 2nd to the IRS if you fall behind.

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It does matter.  Most CS doesn't even begin to report until you are in arrears.  It all depends on the state laws as to when they report.

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I was replying to it doesnt matter cause the OP was asking if the 7K she is owed be used to reduce the amount she owes and also said she supports her son herself so I responded with it doesnt matter cause when you are behind on child support the only thing the state cares about is getting caught up thats it.

[guiness56]

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@rootpooty wrote:

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@guiness56 wrote:

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@rootpooty wrote:

doesnt matter.  if you owe child support thats the only thing the state cares about.  even though if its listed properly and doesnt hurt your fico score in my own experience a negative child support tradeline will hurt you the most.  I had great credit a year ago but with a negative support tradeline reporting arrearage and couldnt get anything over 500cl credit cards and could not finance a car for nothing.  Even after paying the balance in full it still wouldnt go away.

Dont use lexington law.  They are there just to take your money for services you can do.  I really dont understand what you mean by there is a baddie reported with lexington law but not on my fico.

With your son being/almost 18 does the support stop at 18 or go to 21.

ps it doesnt matter how much you spend on your kid off the record.  the state only cares about the money you are ordered to pay.  they are ruthless 2nd to the IRS if you fall behind.

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It does matter.  Most CS doesn't even begin to report until you are in arrears.  It all depends on the state laws as to when they report.

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I was replying to it doesnt matter cause the OP was asking if the 7K she is owed be used to reduce the amount she owes and also said she supports her son herself so I responded with it doesnt matter cause when you are behind on child support the only thing the state cares about is getting caught up thats it.

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Oops.  Ok.  Sorry.