Help me Rebuild: Collections, Lates

[andemalia]

Hello All,

I have been reading a lot on credit and scores and all of that and never realized how it affected my life until recently. I am now taking steps to be more responsible but damage has already been done. I need your guidance to help me figuring out what steps to take to clean up my credit.

The only thing helping me right now is the long history. I have a few positive accounts, 1 that is current (my car) and others that are closed (previous credit card and 2 car loans). My problems are the 10 negative accounts of which 2 recent collections.

Please tell what to do about these:

- Midland Collection for $1013, pay it off then ask for GW, or maybe PFD (dont have the funds for a one time payment though)

- One old medical collection due to fall off soon

- Capital one, paid off and closed, last activity nov 07, but negative because of a few lates. GW to have it removed?

- Chase, transf/sold ($500), it says "bad debt/collection". Track it down? Last activity Feb 09.

- Chase, paid off and closed by creditor, says current, last activity march2012, but negative because of lates. GW to have it removed?

- Comm 1st (a local credit union) for $500, paid and closed but negative because of lates. GW? last activity sept 2008

- Comm 1st for $6992, closed and paid off, but negative because of one late, last reporting nov 2011. Actually my loan was recalculated and I have another positive tradeline with them for about $8,000 where i paid off my car and have no lates. GW?

- ATT Mobility for $307, last reporting aug 2012

- A CA for apartment complex for $1248 which I had disputed but dont have proper documentation so just thinking of paying it off. But need to find a new place soon (my current landlord does not report, have been here for almost 2 years now) and I now this is going to be a hurdle. What do I do?

I would also love to buy but I guess thats impossible with my current score and credit.

The collections are hurting me the most I believe but if I got some of the negative wiped out would my score go up? It's currently 579 for EQ and 580 for TU. Maybe deal with the ATT collection and see if they can remove it?

Thanks so much!

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

Good morning. Welcome to the forums.

1st set of questions for you:

The midland listing...what was the original creditor, and when was your last payment to the OC, before going to midland?

Have you pulled all three reports (eq, tu, ex)?

[andemalia]

Burned2manybridgesB4,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, the original creditor is Chase, but I honestly dont remember owing them that  amount or money or having a secondary account with them as I only had one credit card with them. I have all 3 from february oh this year, then the Equifax from here as well as scorewatch. All 3 said about the same thing with slightly different dates,

[andemalia]

Can anybody help. please?

 I'm preparing GW to send to Community First a local credit union with whom I have the oldest account, all closed, but 2 of these have negative remarks.

I want to do the same thing with Chase (closed and paid off credit card with lates) but there is another account with them that says "bad debt/collection", and I can't afford to pay for it at the time. Can I still GW for the other paid and closed account (for them to remove regative remarks?

In total I have 11 accounts with negative remarks, including 2 collections. If the GW are successful it will take me down to 8 negative accounts. I have a car loan (ridiculous interest of 24% but really needed the car so took in in the hopes of refinancing one I work on my credit. I am thinking of applying for an unsecured credit card with BoA or should I do it with a local credit union? Where maybe I can find good refinancing options in the next 6 months? I have had the car for 6 months now with no late payments, but they take their interest first so Im barely paying down on the principal (less than a 1000 applied to the principal while my payment is $304 every month).

One of the collections is ATT but for some reason I can't really trace it to the credit reports I got in feb of this year (all three) and the one I just got on myfico doesnt give me any account/address/contact info for the CA. Any ideas?

Thanks again

[andemalia]

Also in the GW letters, I have to include account numbers those accounts if I have them? Sorry if it's a silly question. What other personal info should i give other than first, last names and addresses for them to track down that account?

[andemalia]

I haven't had much help here, but I guess I have to keep asking question. Hope everyone is doing ok. I went ahead today and applied for a secured credit card with BOA with whom I bank and got approved. I only asked for $300.  The guy said I could get approved for a low limit regular cc but did not want to risk it if i was going to get denied and lose a couple of points from a hard pull. Hopefully it boosts my score once it starts reporting. In the meantime another school loan (dep ed nelnet) got reported on my credit. I just got it last month for this academic year as Im trying to finish my degree. My score went down to 573 from 579 because of that reporting. Not sure how it will affect it in the long run (before I start paying back.)

[Kmams]

Hey just wanted to urge you on, I am currently in a similar situation and trying to find out what my first steps should be. I have found great information with this community and i am sure someone will get you some answers, You can however find a lot of answers just by reading the posts...

Good luck to you

[newmomnewme]

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@andemalia wrote:

Hello All,

I have been reading a lot on credit and scores and all of that and never realized how it affected my life until recently. I am now taking steps to be more responsible but damage has already been done. I need your guidance to help me figuring out what steps to take to clean up my credit.

The only thing helping me right now is the long history. I have a few positive accounts, 1 that is current (my car) and others that are closed (previous credit card and 2 car loans). My problems are the 10 negative accounts of which 2 recent collections.

Please tell what to do about these:

- Midland Collection for $1013, pay it off then ask for GW, or maybe PFD (dont have the funds for a one time payment though)

- One old medical collection due to fall off soon

- Capital one, paid off and closed, last activity nov 07, but negative because of a few lates. GW to have it removed?

- Chase, transf/sold ($500), it says "bad debt/collection". Track it down? Last activity Feb 09.

- Chase, paid off and closed by creditor, says current, last activity march2012, but negative because of lates. GW to have it removed?

- Comm 1st (a local credit union) for $500, paid and closed but negative because of lates. GW? last activity sept 2008

- Comm 1st for $6992, closed and paid off, but negative because of one late, last reporting nov 2011. Actually my loan was recalculated and I have another positive tradeline with them for about $8,000 where i paid off my car and have no lates. GW?

- ATT Mobility for $307, last reporting aug 2012

- A CA for apartment complex for $1248 which I had disputed but dont have proper documentation so just thinking of paying it off. But need to find a new place soon (my current landlord does not report, have been here for almost 2 years now) and I now this is going to be a hurdle. What do I do?

I would also love to buy but I guess thats impossible with my current score and credit.

The collections are hurting me the most I believe but if I got some of the negative wiped out would my score go up? It's currently 579 for EQ and 580 for TU. Maybe deal with the ATT collection and see if they can remove it?

Thanks so much!

---

You came to the right place for help. So many of us have been in your situation....I wish I knew about myFico forums years ago, I wouldn't be in the mess I am in now!

I would start with the most recent debt first (the accounts that you KNOW belong to you)...some may tell you to dispute everything...please don't do that! 

You can send DV letters to the CA first, if they verify try to send PFD letters.....can you afford to pay them all? I wouldn't suggest payment arrangements. 

I would send GW removal letters to the paid accounts only. Remember, Goodwilling takes time and patience.   Make sure you are paying all of your open accounts on time and try not to carry a credit card balance of more than $25 of your $300 limit. 

Visit the forum often and let us know about your progress. You can do this!!!  

[starting_over30]

Good job on getting the secured card, it might not seem like much of an accomplishment but as long as you keep it paid off and aren't late that will help boost your scores.  The auto loan will also help as long as you don't miss a payment.  Yes the auto loan has a high interest rate, but I wouldn't consider refinancing until you are at least in the mid 600's range on your scores.  What is the total amount of your current auto loan?

If I were you I would just focus on paying off all of your debt and don't gain additional debt.  Try to work with the collections for each of your debts and find a payment plan for each.  You shouldn't even have the spending mentality, so no you shouldn't be thinking of buying anything.  Just keep paying down each of your collections and keep your current credit lines in good standing.

Don't focus too much on your score numbers, but rather what is affecting those score numbers.  Late payments and frequent credit checks will significantly hurt your credit progress, so too will increasing the amount you can borrow, such as from a new, unsecured credit card.  Paying off prior debts alone won't significantly improve your scores, but when combined with keeping good standing on your current and new credit accounts this will definitely boost your credit worthiness.

It's hard to say how much you can improve your scores, but if you can avoid additional negative marks, pay off your previous collections, and stay good with your current accounts I'd say by next year you should be able to get into the mid 600's.  

[andemalia]

Hey Kmams, thanks for replying. I am thinking about credit and credit report all the time, everyday, its crazy lol. But I have gotten so much information that I am trying to process it all. We will make it!