Beginning a Credit Rebuild, need some help

[Anonymous]

First off, a big thank you to all on this forum, you guys are great. I began reading this forum a couple years ago when I had a large amount of debt and I realized I needed to fix that before trying to "rebuild". I've got Experian Credit Monitoring through USAA now and am using that to watch my accounts. I'm not too concerned with the scores it shows be, because I have read they are not realistic anyway? But here they are:

Experian: 554           Equifax: 576              Transunion: 564

Story: 

I won't be too long winded, since it doesn’t matter too much, but I ran up a bunch of debt (credit cards, auto loans, mortgage) about 4-6 years ago. Then, went through a divorce which cost me a TON. So I ended up not paying a bunch of credit cards, a few went to collections, mortgage foreclosed and had a car repossessed. Pretty bad stuff. I started working on my debt about a year ago and paid (made settlements with actually) a lot of the collection agencies and debtors. I have paid over $25,000 off so far. I’m honestly happy with just that. I got all the balances on my credit report down to zero EXCEPT 3. Which is why I am here now. 

Account 1: 

An old ATT balance of about $950 which is now with Credence Resource Management. I don’t see ATT reporting anywhere so should I believe this is solely with Credence. I’ve got the money to pay it, so my plan is to try to get a PFD and if not, just settle it. I believe this is a first must do and will be contacting them tomorrow.

Account 2:

Auto repossession. My now ex-wife got this loan before we were divorced and almost immediately defaulted. It was repossessed I believe early last year. It is through Ally financial and Ally shows a $6,095 balance. The car was originally about $20,000 so I assume that’s what’s left over after they sold it. I’ve attached a picture of how it shoes on my Experian report. It’s on all 3 of my reports. The only difference is the Equifax says CHARGED OFF ACCOUNT at the bottom. This is one of my questions?

http://imgur.com/a/bLhQ3

What is the best way to handle this debt? I don’t have the money to pay it all off today but I could get it in a month or so. Should I contact Ally when I have the money and try to get a PFD or is that pretty much impossible with a repossession? Would I be better trying to settle with them for less? Obviously I need help.

Account 3:

Mortgage Foreclosure, Bank of America and was a VA Loan (sucks). All three CRA’s still show it open when I know for a fact the house has now been sold twice since I left. I will post the screen grab from my credit report later. I don’t know if there is much I can do about this one.

After I resolve all three of these accounts, does anyone have any tips for where to go from there? I will still have a bunch of closed, paid less than balance, settled, etc accounts on my credit report. Should I start sending them good will letters? This may be for another post.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read all of this!

[stargazer25]

I can't answer the questions regarding your existing debt but I can help on the rebuilding part. I still had a few open baddies (still have 1) when I started rebuilding. 

First I would run a real CR to get your real numbers b/c you will be able to have a better idea of what you will qualify for. my FAKO's are 40+ points lower than my current real numbers. 

I started with a Cap1 secured for $1K. Opened up a Finger Hut card. I waited 6 months and opened up a platinum ($500) and a QS1 ($500).  I heard they only let you open one account every 6 months. Got a CLI for $400 on the secured 6 months in. Hit the Luv button on Plat and QS1 and got $1K each CLI. And just PC'ed the Plat to QS. I also just got a CC ($1500) with my CU since they are more willing to manually underwrite. PIF every month and run all my monthly expenses. Cap1 does a SP on their qualifier website. 

Closing the secured card and Finger Hut. 

Just my 2 cents on how I ended up with 3 solid CC in less than a year. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response. I am going to save your post and follow it to the letter when I am ready. Hopefully in about a month. 

Edit: I decided after reading a couple other threads, that I should probably start with the secured CC's now as my credit report is empty other than three bad accounts and 25+ closed accounts. 

So I applied for a Capital One and got the Platinum unsecured card, only a $300 limit. I plan to open up another card, probably secured with another bank soon. 

I have a couple questions about your post... What is the "Luv Button" on the platinum? And what do you mean by PC'd the Plat to QS? hell, I don't even know what QS and QS1 are?

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks again. 

[Anonymous]

I'm so excited to know something!  Learned it from here.  After 2 or 3 months, many of us who got the Capital One Platinum card were able to product change (PC) it to a Quicksilver card (QS).  This adds cashback rewards of 1.5% to your card.  And the QS card doesn't have an annual fee unlike the QS1.  I got my credit line increase first (this is what they mean by the LUV button) after my third statement, then I got on chat and asked if my card could be upgraded.  The whole process was painless.

Before you do a secured card, google credit card prequalification sites.  See if you get any offers there that give a firm APR or a very small range.  These are all soft pulls and if something comes up that you can get unsecured then you have some options.  

Again, I don't know much but I've learned a lot from these boards