Cleaning up...but still have a couple of questions

[Anonymous]

I appreciate all the advise received on this forum...seems I'm making two steps forward, one step back as I progress, but it's still progress I suppose...

I have a couple of items on my CR that I'd like to throw out there and see what folks suggest:

Three (3) major items on CR right now that are impacting scores significantly:

Capital One (two accounts, both listed as bad debt/collection on all CRs; balances of $1966/$1660)

CR Details:

• Neither account has been sent to a CA, but CapOne continues to update CR monthly with additional interest.  This results in DOLA being current and, from what I understand, continuing to hurt my scores.
• Both accounts show balance TU, but no 30/60/90 day lates (weird).
• Both accounts show balance on EQ with all 30/60/90 appearing.
• CapOne has offered two (2) options: settle for apprx $500 total reduction to both debts ($1680/$1425) and pay immediately OR 6 month payment plan to PIF.  They state account will cease to accrue interest if 2nd option is chosen, but will appear at the end as 'Charge Off account/PIF.'

So, the questions...

• Which of these options will have the lesser impact on credit score?
• How long will the recommended option take before I start to see score recover?

HSBC (1 account, shows status of 'Payment after charge off /collection' with all CRs showing $0 balance and no late payments)

• I have been contacted by the CA offering a settlement amount close to 50% of total balance.
• CA is not showing on any of the CRs at this time.

I'd like to take care of this one, also, but I'm concerned as soon as a pay the CA, both HSBC and CA will update CRs with 'settled' and it will end up hurting scores more than helping.

Any recommendations on these items?  I've improved from mid/upper 400s over the past year, but I can't seem to break the 600 threshold...it's driving me crazy!  But from what it appears, these are the three (3) that are holding me down.  I'm very curious what score impact occurs when we go back and reconcile these old debts...

Thanks for any suggestions, advice or direction anyone can provide!

[britishbooklady]

Can you tell us what the DOFD (the date you first missed a payment and never caught up) is on each account in question?

Also, the CA that you said contacted you...was this by mail or over the phone? And, what is the name of the CA?

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for the reply.  It's been a while since I last logged in to see my score...I've been waiting a couple of months to,  hopefully, have the chance to get excited a see a big bump.  Nothing huge but still creeping along...

I will contact the CC company, but believe the DOFD was in August 2006 for both CapOne cards.

As for the CA that contacted me, it has typically been by phone; however, I have received a couple of mailings over the past 3 months.  The CA at this time is Atlantic Credit.  However, I did receive a call from what seemed to be another CA just this week on the HSBC account.  I asked them to mail me the information and cease calling my cellular.

Any help  you can provide will be GREATLY appreciated!