Hello all,
I have been working on improving my scores, but I have hit a wall. I'm trying to get my car refinanced through one of my credit unions. The current rate is 21.32%, which is ridiculously high. I'm trying to get my credit score at least to the high 600s, or preferably 700. Here is some info on what is on my reports:
Syncb/Walmart
Balance: 492
Pay Status: Charged off
Falling Off: 4/2020
Which reports: TransUnion, Experian, Equifax
Note: I have sent multiple pay for delete messages and received two responses, the first saying that they were reporting it correctly and that I need to speak with the collection agency working with them. The second referenced the first and reiterated it. The company who owns this debt has not posted it on a report yet.
Chase Card
Balance: $0
Pay Status: Account Paid In Full; was a charge-off
Remarks: “Settle-less than full blnc; paid in full/was a charge off”
Falling Off: 11/2019
Which reports: TransUnion, Experian, Equifax
Barclays
Balance: $0
Pay Status: Collection/Chargeoff
Falling Off: 04/2020
Which reports: TransUnion & listed as “Unknown” on Experian
Note: Settled $1,800 debt for $1,000 so it wouldn't go to court last August/September.
Wells Fargo
Balance: $0
Pay Status: Charged Off (Paid Portfolio Recovery and they removed their postings)
Falling Off: 7/2017
Which reports: Experian, Equifax
Undergraduate University
Balance: $1072.18
Pay Status: Collection/In Rehab
This account was in collection, but I just recently started rehabing it and it will be out of rehab in November and I will pay off the remainder in full shortly after.
Omni Management (Collection from a doctor’s bill – third company to own it)
Balance: $50
Pay status: In Collection
Falling Off: 5/2020
Issue: I sent them a pay-for-delete letter via certified mail. They sent me the typical "we own this debt and if you don't respond, we will assume the debt is valid" letter with no mention of my PFD. I resent a PFD letter. They did not respond. They will likely be able to validate the debt.
Hard Credit Inquiries
- 39 falling off on 4/4/2017 - these are from when I tried to get the car I currently have. I was left without a car, no savings, bad credit, no down payment, and needed a car for work.
- 6 falling off by 11/2017
- 3 falling off by 6/2018
Credit Cards
- Discover IT - secured - $400 limit (11 months old)
- Capital One Quicksilver - $1000 limit (2 months old)
- Navy Federal Credit Union Go Rewards - $1,700 limit (2 months old)
Any advice on what else I could do or should focus on to help my improve my score would be great. I've been trying to improve it as much as I can by May or so for my car. My credit scores are below.
$1700
$2000
I also have close to $100K in student debt on the REPAYE plan and that will undoubtedly mess with my score for the next 24 years 
@Anonymous wrote:
I would send Chase, Barclays, and Wells Fargo goodwill letters since they've been paid or settled. For the Walmart one, I'd settle with the collection for a PFD and then start sending goodwill letters to Syncb. While you work on those things I'd garden and let some of the inquires come off while the newer accounts age a bit more. Also for the medical collection see if the original place can recall it from the collection agency.
And I hear you on the student loans. I have been in the income based repayment and my balances have grown instead of getting paid down. I've recently started chunking every penny I can toward them - can't wait till they are gone. I am also not going to renew the payment plan but I dread the interest capitalizing.
Thanks. I've heard Chase is a nightmare when it comes to goodwill letters, but I have not tried enough with them yet. Barclays has been a pain so far, but I will definitely keep trying with them. They've pretty much just told me "we're reporting it correctly" over and over. I was able to get Wells Fargo dismissed early from TransUnion. Mayb they'll remove from the others since it's coming up soon?
The collection company that owns the Walmart one doesn't report it at the moment. All I could do is pay them and then request afterwards that Synchrony remove through a goodwill letter, right?
I asked the medical company to take the debt back and they wouldn't unfortunately. I think I'll just have to keep pestering the agency that's collecting on it. It's a local collection agency.
The student loans are daunting. On my REPAYE plan I'm not even covering the interest, so the loans will just keep increasing until they are written off
Syncb/Walmart
Balance: 492
Pay Status: Charged off
Falling Off: 4/2020
Which reports: TransUnion, Experian, Equifax
Note: I have sent multiple pay for delete messages and received two responses, the first saying that they were reporting it correctly and that I need to speak with the collection agency working with them. The second referenced the first and reiterated it. The company who owns this debt has not posted it on a report yet.
Whenever I call Synchrony, the direct me right back to NCI. They refuse to discuss anything with me and wouldn't even tell me the amount charged off. NCI still has not reported it to my reports. NCI refuses to negotiate a PFD with Synchrony.
Chase Card
Balance: $0
Pay Status: Account Paid In Full; was a charge-off
Remarks: “Settle-less than full blnc; paid in full/was a charge off”
Falling Off: 11/2019
Which reports: TransUnion, Experian, Equifax
Barclays
Balance: $0
Pay Status: Collection/Chargeoff
Falling Off: 04/2020
Which reports: TransUnion & listed as “Unknown” on Experian
Note: Settled $1,800 debt for $1,000 so it wouldn't go to court last August/September.
Got rid of OMNI Management's posting due to not being able to validate it. I also brought my undergraduate loan back into good standing and my score got a huge bump because of it. I also got Wells Fargo's posting removed. Goodwill letters and PFD have not been successful for me at all. I just keep getting the same responses and they just referece my prior messages and their prior responses.
I'm kind of clueless as to what to do from here. It's quite a bit for my negatives to fall off, so it feels like my repair has stalled and will stay as is for like...2-3 years. I'm also at around 20 months now and my Discover still hasn't graduated to unsecured. This is all starting to really frustrate me.
I'm going to try the following:
-Continue GWing Chase and Barclays
-Work with NCI on paying off my debt through them in exchange for them not posting to my report. I will then try and GW Synchrony once it has changed.
Any advice?