Here are my negative items! HELP! My credit score does NOT move!

[Anonymous]

Hello Credit Masters! I need your help!

I have been working on my credit for the past year or so with very little results :/ The goal is to have a high enough score to purchase a home in the near future. I have listed my negative accounts here (for whatever reason not ALL of these accounts are on every report).

Please advise me on what I should do? Pay collections? Goodwill letters? Pay for deletes? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Credit Cards - These cards are recent due to my credit struggles. My utilization has been somewhat high, not because I NEED to use them I would just use them to show the creditors that I am responsible. However, I was told that I should just use 1 card at under 9% utilization and let the others carry a zero balance. Thoughts? 

Capital one Secured - original deposit was $500, recently Capital One gave me a credit increase now my total is $800 limit. Card is currently at 25% utilization, opened 08/2015

Capital one Quicksilver One - $500 limit, 20% utilization. Opened on 02/2016

Discover Secured - $200 limit, $0 balance, opened on 08/2015

Navy Federal Secured - $500 limit, $0 balance, opened on 07/2015

Negative accounts - 

Account name/status/date expected to remove from report

Public record ($898 claim)/ civil claim judgement (although it has been paid)/ Nov 2017

Public record ($515 claim)/ civil claim paid/ Aug 2018

AFNI Inc,/ Collection account ($512)/ Jul 2021

BMW/ Paid in Settlement (repo)/ Apr 2016

Capital One/ Paid, Closed. $898 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

Cavalry Portfolio Service/ Collection account ($560)/ Oct 2018

Credit One Bank/ Closed. $714 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

First National Bank/ Account charged off $794 written off./ Dec 2017

First Premier Bank/ Account charged off. $540 written off/ Apr 2016

Midland Credit Management/ Collection account ($344)/ May 2016

Military Star/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Jul 2010

Pinnacle Credit Services/ Collection account ($1454)/ Nov 2016

Santander(current auto loan) / Open/ three 60 day lates, nine 30 day lates/ current for the past 15 months

Synchrony Bank/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2013

Syncb/PayPal/ Closed. $198 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Sep 2008

Those are all of my negative items reporting to Experian. Of course, some do and do not appear on Transition or Equinox. What I would like to know is your advice. I have started to take my credit VERY seriously for the past year as I learned how much a simple late payment can hurt you!

Whats the next best step moving forward to clear this up? I have paid everything on time for the last 15 months and my credit just does not move. My current FICO scores are:

Transunion: 596

Equifax: 574

Experian: 594

And of course my scores used for mortgage and auto loans are MUCH lower for whatever reason. I assume when my FICO 8 scores rise, those will also?

THANK YOU for all of your help! You folks are the true pros!

[Anonymous]

Would love to hear some responses for this. I'm in a similar situation. I have paid everything on time, my utilization is from 1-10% its those darn collections keeping my credit score from moving (so I think)

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Credit Masters! I need your help!

I have been working on my credit for the past year or so with very little results :/ The goal is to have a high enough score to purchase a home in the near future. I have listed my negative accounts here (for whatever reason not ALL of these accounts are on every report).

Please advise me on what I should do? Pay collections? Goodwill letters? Pay for deletes? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Credit Cards - These cards are recent due to my credit struggles. My utilization has been somewhat high, not because I NEED to use them I would just use them to show the creditors that I am responsible. However, I was told that I should just use 1 card at under 9% utilization and let the others carry a zero balance. Thoughts? 

Capital one Secured - original deposit was $500, recently Capital One gave me a credit increase now my total is $800 limit. Card is currently at 25% utilization, opened 08/2015

Capital one Quicksilver One - $500 limit, 20% utilization. Opened on 02/2016

Discover Secured - $200 limit, $0 balance, opened on 08/2015

Navy Federal Secured - $500 limit, $0 balance, opened on 07/2015

Negative accounts - 

Account name/status/date expected to remove from report

Public record ($898 claim)/ civil claim judgement (although it has been paid)/ Nov 2017

Public record ($515 claim)/ civil claim paid/ Aug 2018

AFNI Inc,/ Collection account ($512)/ Jul 2021

BMW/ Paid in Settlement (repo)/ Apr 2016

Capital One/ Paid, Closed. $898 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

Cavalry Portfolio Service/ Collection account ($560)/ Oct 2018

Credit One Bank/ Closed. $714 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

First National Bank/ Account charged off $794 written off./ Dec 2017

First Premier Bank/ Account charged off. $540 written off/ Apr 2016

Midland Credit Management/ Collection account ($344)/ May 2016

Military Star/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Jul 2010

Pinnacle Credit Services/ Collection account ($1454)/ Nov 2016

Santander(current auto loan) / Open/ three 60 day lates, nine 30 day lates/ current for the past 15 months

Synchrony Bank/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2013

Syncb/PayPal/ Closed. $198 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Sep 2008

Those are all of my negative items reporting to Experian. Of course, some do and do not appear on Transition or Equinox. What I would like to know is your advice. I have started to take my credit VERY seriously for the past year as I learned how much a simple late payment can hurt you!

Whats the next best step moving forward to clear this up? I have paid everything on time for the last 15 months and my credit just does not move. My current FICO scores are:

Transunion: 596

Equifax: 574

Experian: 594

And of course my scores used for mortgage and auto loans are MUCH lower for whatever reason. I assume when my FICO 8 scores rise, those will also?

THANK YOU for all of your help! You folks are the true pros!

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Time is your friend now. As your current accounts age, and you move farther away from your last derog/late you'll see rises in your scores - but it takes time. Much of the derogs will fall off in the next year and you can ask for early deletions on items.

For your cards - understand the difference between "usage" and UTI - they are NOT the same thing. Usage is simply how much you put on a card during its cycle. UTI, on the other hand, is the total usage plus balance carried from previous MINUS payments made during the cycle - your closing balance, in other words. This is what gets reported to the CRA's and is what FICO calculates the UTI portion of your scores from. You can run your card all they way up to one cent from its limit and pay it back down several times each month, and still show a $0 balance at the billing cycle closes.

[fishbjc]

Your score isn't going to go anywhere until these derogs disappear.     Those are MAJOR derog's that will hold you back for SEVEN YEARS.  And you have some of the toughest Creditors and Collections listed, who won't do a dang thing to help you out. 

You have a few that are going to be falling off this year.  AWESOME!     I would work on 'early exclusions' and see where that gets you.  Keep paying your current cards ontime.

NFCU should eventually work with you to move you to a $1,000 regular credit line.  They are great about it.   Give it 12 months, call and talk to a rep about your options. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Credit Masters! I need your help!

I have been working on my credit for the past year or so with very little results :/ The goal is to have a high enough score to purchase a home in the near future. I have listed my negative accounts here (for whatever reason not ALL of these accounts are on every report).

Please advise me on what I should do? Pay collections? Goodwill letters? Pay for deletes? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Credit Cards - These cards are recent due to my credit struggles. My utilization has been somewhat high, not because I NEED to use them I would just use them to show the creditors that I am responsible. However, I was told that I should just use 1 card at under 9% utilization and let the others carry a zero balance. Thoughts? 

Capital one Secured - original deposit was $500, recently Capital One gave me a credit increase now my total is $800 limit. Card is currently at 25% utilization, opened 08/2015

Capital one Quicksilver One - $500 limit, 20% utilization. Opened on 02/2016

Discover Secured - $200 limit, $0 balance, opened on 08/2015

Navy Federal Secured - $500 limit, $0 balance, opened on 07/2015

Negative accounts - 

Account name/status/date expected to remove from report

Public record ($898 claim)/ civil claim judgement (although it has been paid)/ Nov 2017

Public record ($515 claim)/ civil claim paid/ Aug 2018

AFNI Inc,/ Collection account ($512)/ Jul 2021

BMW/ Paid in Settlement (repo)/ Apr 2016

Capital One/ Paid, Closed. $898 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

Cavalry Portfolio Service/ Collection account ($560)/ Oct 2018

Credit One Bank/ Closed. $714 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

First National Bank/ Account charged off $794 written off./ Dec 2017

First Premier Bank/ Account charged off. $540 written off/ Apr 2016

Midland Credit Management/ Collection account ($344)/ May 2016

Military Star/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Jul 2010

Pinnacle Credit Services/ Collection account ($1454)/ Nov 2016

Santander(current auto loan) / Open/ three 60 day lates, nine 30 day lates/ current for the past 15 months

Synchrony Bank/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2013

Syncb/PayPal/ Closed. $198 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Sep 2008

Those are all of my negative items reporting to Experian. Of course, some do and do not appear on Transition or Equinox. What I would like to know is your advice. I have started to take my credit VERY seriously for the past year as I learned how much a simple late payment can hurt you!

Whats the next best step moving forward to clear this up? I have paid everything on time for the last 15 months and my credit just does not move. My current FICO scores are:

Transunion: 596

Equifax: 574

Experian: 594

And of course my scores used for mortgage and auto loans are MUCH lower for whatever reason. I assume when my FICO 8 scores rise, those will also?

THANK YOU for all of your help! You folks are the true pros!

---

Time is your friend now. As your current accounts age, and you move farther away from your last derog/late you'll see rises in your scores - but it takes time. Much of the derogs will fall off in the next year and you can ask for early deletions on items.

For your cards - understand the difference between "usage" and UTI - they are NOT the same thing. Usage is simply how much you put on a card during its cycle. UTI, on the other hand, is the total usage plus balance carried from previous MINUS payments made during the cycle - your closing balance, in other words. This is what gets reported to the CRA's and is what FICO calculates the UTI portion of your scores from. You can run your card all they way up to one cent from its limit and pay it back down several times each month, and still show a $0 balance at the billing cycle closes.

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What is your AAoA and what is the age of each current credit account? Nevermind, I see them now. All your current accounts are new (less than one year old) Thats why you're not seeing much recent score growth. Those accounts need to age in order for your scores to grow.

Now is the time to sit and "garden", growing the credit lines as the accounts age and your scores rise. Thats really all you need to do. Keep a perfect payment history going forward, keep your UTI under conrol and get early exclusions on derog items and as items drop, your scores will rise to quite respectable levels over the next 1-2 years. Keep in mind this is a long term game we are all playing here - you must be patient and have a long term mindset.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Credit Masters! I need your help!

I have been working on my credit for the past year or so with very little results :/ The goal is to have a high enough score to purchase a home in the near future. I have listed my negative accounts here (for whatever reason not ALL of these accounts are on every report).

Please advise me on what I should do? Pay collections? Goodwill letters? Pay for deletes? Any help is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Credit Cards - These cards are recent due to my credit struggles. My utilization has been somewhat high, not because I NEED to use them I would just use them to show the creditors that I am responsible. However, I was told that I should just use 1 card at under 9% utilization and let the others carry a zero balance. Thoughts? 

Capital one Secured - original deposit was $500, recently Capital One gave me a credit increase now my total is $800 limit. Card is currently at 25% utilization, opened 08/2015

Capital one Quicksilver One - $500 limit, 20% utilization. Opened on 02/2016

Discover Secured - $200 limit, $0 balance, opened on 08/2015

Navy Federal Secured - $500 limit, $0 balance, opened on 07/2015

Negative accounts - 

Account name/status/date expected to remove from report

Public record ($898 claim)/ civil claim judgement (although it has been paid)/ Nov 2017

Public record ($515 claim)/ civil claim paid/ Aug 2018

AFNI Inc,/ Collection account ($512)/ Jul 2021

BMW/ Paid in Settlement (repo)/ Apr 2016

Capital One/ Paid, Closed. $898 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

Cavalry Portfolio Service/ Collection account ($560)/ Oct 2018

Credit One Bank/ Closed. $714 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2009

First National Bank/ Account charged off $794 written off./ Dec 2017

First Premier Bank/ Account charged off. $540 written off/ Apr 2016

Midland Credit Management/ Collection account ($344)/ May 2016

Military Star/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Jul 2010

Pinnacle Credit Services/ Collection account ($1454)/ Nov 2016

Santander(current auto loan) / Open/ three 60 day lates, nine 30 day lates/ current for the past 15 months

Synchrony Bank/ Paid, Closed/ no removal date but first delinquent Aug 2013

Syncb/PayPal/ Closed. $198 written off/ no removal date but first delinquent Sep 2008

Those are all of my negative items reporting to Experian. Of course, some do and do not appear on Transition or Equinox. What I would like to know is your advice. I have started to take my credit VERY seriously for the past year as I learned how much a simple late payment can hurt you!

Whats the next best step moving forward to clear this up? I have paid everything on time for the last 15 months and my credit just does not move. My current FICO scores are:

Transunion: 596

Equifax: 574

Experian: 594

And of course my scores used for mortgage and auto loans are MUCH lower for whatever reason. I assume when my FICO 8 scores rise, those will also?

THANK YOU for all of your help! You folks are the true pros!

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The only collection I would consider paying at this point are those that are updating every month.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice. I just wanted to make sure that there isnt anything that Im doing wrong at this point. Now that i know of the negative effect a late payment can have on my score everything is paid early and on time. So it sounds like just sitting and waiting is what to do. In regards to early exclusions, would I just call the bureaus to see if they can do that? Experian has my repo set to come off next month. Maybe they will remove it this month? Thanks again!

[ORllyNao]

If your DoFD for the Amazon card was in 2008, it should no longer be reporting to the credit bureaus, since that's long past the 7 year mark. You may want to call and have that removed. 

[Anonymous]

So I called Experian and was able to get BMW and First Premier Bank removed early since they are both set to fall off next month! Also submitted early exclusion requests to Transunion online disputes. We will see how that goes.

[Anonymous]

This brings me back to the credit cards question. I have the three secured cards and the one unsecured. Moving forward should I have three at a 0 balance with no usage and keep one under 9% utilization? I have no problem throwing them in a drawer to not be used but I want to make sure that moving forward everything I do that is credit related will have the highest impact. Thanks again!