Help me, please

[Anonymous]

Current scores: Equifax (553), Transunion (540), Experian (514)

I currently have a couple of things in collections... a charged off credit card from Capital One from a couple of years ago, an Internet bill that was never paid in full of $120, and an insurance bill that was never paid in full of $180. Other than that, there are a couple of medical bills that were never fully paid.

I had a finance account open for $3000 for a motorcycle and had been making payments on it for about 6-7 months. I closed out that account last month as I paid off the balance in full. My credit took a bit of a hit when I did that.

I currently have two vehicle payments. One is a car payment from a credit union for $135/mo and I've had it for nearly a year. Because the interest is only 4.75%, I've considered just keeping the payments up for the entirety of the term (like 5 years left) to help establish more credit. The full balance is around $6200.

I just purchased a truck for $23,400, which also made my credit take a bit of a hit. I plan to pay that off in a year or two.

I currently bring in around $1800 every paycheck (biweekly).

Can someone please give me some tips for mending my credit? I want to buy a house at some point and this just isn't going to cut it.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I have some advice.

Stop buying cars, trucks and motorcycles and use that money to fix your credit.

Do a Pay For Deletion on your Chargeoffs.  

Alot of bad stuff falls off in 7 years so if's close to 7 years you can probably ride it out.

If they are relatively new chargeoffs, negotiate PFD's.

Take some extra cash and open up Secured Credit Cards...the more money you can save up to deposit the better as that will be your Credit Litmit.

Set up automatic payments online so you don't miss any paments

If you are serious about getting that house, you can probably have a relatively clean credit report and good tradelines in 2 years with a good payment history. 

[Anonymous]

I could pay off all of the chargeoffs and accounts in collection next payday, but I've read that it actually hurts your credit if you pay them off. Would it be best just to pay them off now?

[Anonymous]

You are correct, do not just "Pay Off".  

It's a negotiation tactic called a "PFD" or Pay for Deletion...you pay the money, they delete the account from your credit  

You write them and tell them you will pay a negotiated amount and set a price.  Tell them they MUST delete the account off your credit report if you pay.  Get it in writing, not over the phone

If you do a search at the forums here for PFD, you will get millions of examples of what to do to get a PFD

[Anonymous]

What about the Capital One account? From what I've read (and I also tried phoning them to ask), they will not change an account from charged off to something less bad. It'll be charged off even after you pay the full amount. Any ideas for that one?