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CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

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tiffanymcneill3
New Member

CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

I have been reading online lots and lots of ways to try and save myself. I am a 24 yr old female who works full time and bring home $780 every 2 weeks after taxes/med etc... and I also go to school full time. According to my tax return I made $26,500 last year and don't qualify for federal financial aid anymore.. FINE! So I get grants and student loans now... Even though my loans are deferred, I am paying between $60-$80 a month on them just to get a head start... I live with my boyfriend who works for the state and we only pay $100 bucks a month on an acre of land our mobile home sits on... The mobile home was old and run down and we fixed it up and live in it now... anyway... back to my story... I have been on my own since I was 16. Being the situation I was in trying to survive back then making 220 bucks every 2 weeks I made some pretty bad choices along the way... I have 8 medical collections on my credit, a 300 dollar capital one credit card that now is 999 bucks, and a kay jewlers credit card that had a balance of 335 bucks and is now 557 dollars. I started paying on my student loans hoping it would bring my credit score up... My score was 536... I started paying on them and it went to a 567.. a week ago I get an alert on my credit monitoring service that my score went to do 537!!! why? BC OF ANOTHER STUPID MEDICAL BILL! Its 176.00... Lets just cut to the chase as to why I am posting this... I don't know what to do... We have until august of next yr to buy a home or be forced to end up god knows where... My bf has no bad credit,, infact he has NO credit... we arent married so not even thinking about a joint loan... I know my income isnt that much, but where I live land and homes ar DIRT CHEAP! I should be taking advantage of all the steals on the market right now but I can't because I don't know where to start, what to do, and how to get my scores to where they need to be... I am horrible with money... I own my car, I have a 40 a month cellphone bill, car insurance is 113 a month, and my student loans...I literally throw money away because I spend and spend until there is nothing left... I am legit and looking for serious help.. I have had no foreclosures or repos as I have never owned anything! I just want some help to get me on the road to the right life for myself... I can have enough $ for a down payment by beginning of next year... oh fyi... my first start was I wrote DV (debt validation letters) yesterday, but haven't mailed them just in case i need to do something different. thanks everyone!

Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
newmomnewme
Valued Contributor

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

First step is to try to calm down. Most of us made bad choices early in life.....as a 24 single female with no children, you are really only responsible for yourself.  

At least you are trying to fix your credit and thinking about purchasing a home. Personally, at your age was when I created all of the debt I am trying to fix now. I think that DV letters are a step in the right direction, but you may think about changing them to Pay For Delete letters. See if you can get them to agree to remove the negative account from your credit report if you pay them.  I recently joined the forums and was told that paid or unpaid collection accounts are scored pretty much the same, as they age, they matter less. 

 

1. Try to PFD your baddies (start with the most recent ones first)--If they are with CA try to contact the OC first--Capital One, Kays, and Hospitals

2. Get a secured credit card or two, make your payments on time and only keep a very small balance on the card

3. Make sure your student loans stay deferred and NEVER default

4. Stay in school, graduate, get a better job Smiley Happy  

5. If you are going to keep your boyfriend longterm tell him to get a bank account, apply for a credit card, and make steady payments. 

6. Visit the myFico community every now and then to check in and get ideas! 

 

Best Wishes. You really will be ok.  Smiley Happy

 

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Message 2 of 8
tiffanymcneill3
New Member

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

Thanks for the input.... As far as my bf.. he has a bank account but is scared of going into debt.. its understandable.. but we cant run away from it forever.. I just got a call from a local bank and he told me that based on what he saw, he could have me in shape for approval by first of the year if I get all the bad debts settled... At the latest would be march because it could take 60 days for my report to be updated.... I am going to start with the DV letters first and then once I get responses, go for the PFD letters and on to negotiations....

Message 3 of 8
choppa02
Contributor

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

Your bf should look into getting a couple secured cards and let one report at 9% or lower, by next year he should have pretty good scores
Message 4 of 8
KoolDev
Regular Contributor

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

Tiff, there is always light at the end of the tunnel !  Just keep reading through the forums, use the search bar in the forums and keep your chin up.  There is a lot of knowledge roaming around these rooms and people here love to be able to help.

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Message 5 of 8
themizlyne
Regular Contributor

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

You should contact the hospital that you went to and see if you qualify for charity. That would reduce your debt to a manageable amount and get the collections deleted at the same time. The worst case scenario is they say no and you're in the same condition you are now. Best of luck.
Message 6 of 8
madmann26
Valued Contributor

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

Well,

 

You're definitely not in dire straights. My CR was quite worse when I started rebuilding 13 months ago. At my lowest, my credit score was 511 (EQ). Now, it's sitting at 663. One thing I will tell you is, be patient. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will happen overnight. You just have to be persistent.

 

So, more about why you're here.

 

1. The credit cards that you do have with the balances that are much greater then the limits, is throwing your utilization through the roof. Outside of foreclosures, bankruptcy and liens, this IS the quickest score killer. 

 

2. For you collection accounts (medical bills) - See if you can make a payment arrangement with the original creditor and if they accept, ask them to pull the account back from the CA. You kill 2 birds with one stone this way. As for the impact of the collection accounts on your credit report, when the first account hit, you took the biggest ding. Any account after that, hurts but it hurts much less.

 

3. BREATH for God's sake. Smiley Happy

 

Seriously,

 

This is minimal compared to what I was dealing with or what other forum members have dealt with in the past. Just ask questions, read the stickies and you'll have all the knowledge/power you need to fix this up and be in much better shape in 6 months.

 

You need at least a couple of credit cards to build credit. Your student loans do help but FICO scores installement loans a whole seperate way. If the CC's you do have are still open, call the companies and see if you can make payment arrangements on the over-the-balance amount and still keep the card open. 

 

When you get that taken care of and your CC's are know sitting at $0 and are reporting $0, use one but never leave more then 9-10% of the available credit limit as a balance. Example, if you have a $300 CL, never leave more then $25-30 on it when the statement drops.

 

 

Current FICO 9 Scores



Message 7 of 8
tiffanymcneill3
New Member

Re: CRYING OUT FOR HELP AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START!!! PLEASE ANYONE!

I am loving what I read... Based on my report... I have a capital one credit card that was closed in 2008 that was only 300 bucks and they now have it reported as 771 dollars and the CA has it reported with a balance of 999 bucks! Ouch! Being so many years should I just leave it alone or call the OC and see if they will let me settle it with them for about $350? I know what I had on the card and capital one is a shark when it comes to 18 yr old females with no credit... They throw you over the limit and then every month you get a late fee that throws you over the limit and then they tack on an over the limit fee of 45 dollars and the cycle continues for months until they close the account... My other credit card was through kay jewlers.... it had a limit of 500 dollars... according to the credit report they have not sold the debt and its reported as closed with a balance of 552 dollars.... any suggestions on that? As far as the other 9 accounts reported they are all medical bills... One of them is actually when I switched car insurance from nationwide to allstate and nationwide reports I owe them 79 dollars???? How? I switched insurance before the next month was due again.... So 3 actual accounts are non-medical... I am hearing feedback from different people saying that when it comes to buying a home, lenders don't look into medical bills??? but they are the majority of the problem... I am going to shop around and make sure I get a secured credit card that reports to all 3 agencies and this friday, I am going to make a payment on my student loans again... keep that going and with the card and getting some of the small items paid off, it should get better.... So, my question is... do I worry about the medical bills first which are small? Or, do I start with the actual credit cards I defaulted on 5 years ago? Some of these items are set to fall off in mid 2014... but the reason I want to find a place to buy is because where I live is in the country and there are no places for rent out here... And I own a pitbull, rottweiler, and a bloodhound who are all very well behaved but you can't find rentals let alone someone who would let you have these breeds of dogs... thanks for everyones help.. I truly see light at the end of this dark tunnel I am in!

Message 8 of 8
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