wrote:Hi all,
I'm working on rebuilding my credit and I would like some help from you guys. Thanks in advance.
Background: As of October of last year my fico was at a 530, I had 1 secured card ( balance as of today is 0) from capital one limit $500. In November I got an unsecured card ( balance as of today $14) from capital one limit $500 and a card from myjewlersclub.com(balance as of today 0) with a limit of 5K. I hired a credit repair company to remove negative items from my report and a consolidated my student loan which was in default. The company has only been able to remove 1 negative account so far. I still have 2 accounts in collections, and 4 paid (but has a bad payment history). I also just applied for an account with selflender, I wish I saw this forum before and I would've done the ssl technique. My fico is currently a 633, which is a big improvement of 103 points in 4 months!
I'm trying to get to a 680 in the next 2-3 months, so I can qualify for business funding. What steps can I or should I take now to increase my fico? Would it make sense to try and get the 4 paid negative accounts deleted since they have a bad payment history? Should get a card from Discover?
I would first try the PFD with the 2 collections that are unpaid, if they are medical there are other ways to attack it as well.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-PFD-Success-Stories/...
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Example-Letter/td-p/4519
As far as the one paid you can ask them to remove the individual lates with a GW letter, if they went to CO you would want to ask the entire account be removed.
You have your 3 revolvers and the self lender so there really isnt anything there you need for the moment. As far as the Discover I would take care of the unpaids first.
@Anonymouswrote:Ok, that makes sense. I was preapproved for a Discover IT card, should I apply for it and then use it to pay for one of the baddies? One baddie has a balance of 1,218(I can pay for that now no issues), the original balance was 900. I'm thinking I should do a PFD in the amount of $600 and see if the CA accepts the offer. Then if the Discover card credit line is high enough pay for the second baddie, which has a balance of $4,000. I'm going to send them a letter and see if they accept $2,000 PFD. Does that make sense or should I send a PFD to the one CA for the $600, use the AZERO method and wait until I have the money to pay off the other baddie??
I just checked I was pre-qualified for the Amex Green and Gold Card. Should I apply for it and use that to pay for the baddie? Yes, it would be an inquiry that dings my report but I will get rid of that collections account.
Thanks for your help!
You only have one report a small balance when you are apping for new credit in an active rebuild it doesnt have to be done otherwise. To do it just pay off all your cards prior to statement cut date and on the one you want to report the small balance pay it down to that amount.