I'm not entirely sure on the laws for reporting past due child support, but some states I've heard, when brough current, remove the child support entry. If there is anyway you could apply more towards the past due balance that would help bring it down, and the interest charges on it.
If indeed your state does remove the child support entry for bringing it completely current, your score will definately shoot up. It would be a very good incentive, since being updated monthly on your credit report, it throws your credit/debt ratio out of whack, and is a recent derog. update each month as well.
How recent are the collections? You say you have five totaling about $1k. First off, create a binder and make a dedicated section for each of your CA's. All copies of your mailings to them and their mailings to you have their own section. So helpful when you're waking a giant and letters and documents and new CA's taking over old accounts start jumping around. (On the first page of my binder I have dates when I got my Scorewatch Alerts and the scores I got...more motivation) First step, send DV's to each CA as soon as possible. Since the average amount of each of your CA's is about $200, in the PFD step, start with the one that is either cheapest, in SOL, most annoying, etc. Whatever works for you. Only send a PFD when you have the full amount of the collection available. You can of course negotiate a PFD with a lower amount, but most will say that would be ignored. Best advice offer full amount, so they get the most return, and you'll get the benefit of a deletion. Just work through each one. A paid collection weighs the same on your score as an unpaid, so your main objective would be to get it deleted.
Best of luck to you. It will take time, most importantly money, but you'll get there. Step by step does it. And when you're stuck on a particular CA, or letter you got from them, or response, etc., just bring it here and someone on here was bound to have dealt with the same company and might offer some advice to you.
katecrime -1
EQ. Starting Score 08/19/12: 545
