Hi,
So my credit was around 750 before I left for the UK. I stupidly (I discovered now) canceled my oldest credit card (6 years) before I left because the rates weren't advantageous. I was there for two years and credit didn't really matter. I just moved back and my credit score last month was 620. It's increased to 660 this month because I had my parents add me (temporarily) as an authorized user on their 25 year old MC. Too bad authorized user doesn't actually mean I can use it 
I also had the following collections:
1. $124 for a Comcast cable box that Comcast never received. I thought I sent it back in the box they provided before I left, but wasn't 100% positive after this much time. In any case, Comcast wasn't on my credit statement, just the collection agency. They offered a PFD and I took it. Hopefully this helps my FICO score next month.
2. $228 for an Old Navy credit card. This one makes me so angry. I signed up for it about four months before I moved. Only they registered it to the wrong address (my driver's license address instead of my current address) and so I never got a statement. I tried to resolve it a few times, and finally called up exasperated to pay my balance and close out the card. They quoted me the balance on the phone, which I paid, and told me that they would waive the late charges, because it was their fault. I find out that one late charge was accrued after I paid this off, the next month another late charge, etc. all the way until it proceeded to charge-off/collections. There is no merchandise balance- just late fees! And I never found out about it because I closed the account and left the country.
Currently, my account shows the late payments and the Charge Off as well as a collection. I've been trying to fix this one, but when I talk to Old Navy, they just tell me there's nothing they can do, because it's been transferred to the collection agency. The collection agency I think would be willing to give me a PFD, but then I lose all basis for negotiation with the CC company. If I understand correctly, if Old Navy updates the status to "paid" I would also reset the 7 year timeline, which I'm worried about doing, since I first went "delinquent" in November 2009. I asked for investigations online at two of the credit bureaus and the debt was verified. The collection agency states that it would be very, very unlikely for Old Navy to remove this debt because so long has passed.
Basically, anyone have any advice about how to handle this? I'd ideally like to buy a house in the next six months, so of course good credit is of paramount importance. I'm not sure how much of a bump the one PFD will get me. But this is effectively two black marks on my credit. I don't know how much they're affecting things or what my best move is here. I don't believe I'm morally obligated to pay this money, but to be honest, it's such a low amount, and such a black mark on my credit score, I'd happily pay for it to be deleted. I have not been able to receive any documentation about this either. Next step advice would be so appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Anna
Worst case scenario, if I can't get these removed, how long till my credit is near back to its old level? I heard after two years "bad" items don't hurt much, but I haven't been able to verify this, and in any case, the collection for the 2.5 year old debt only appeared about a year ago.
@chryanna wrote:As a follow-up, I also have $75k of student debt, down from $160k two years ago. I just want to make sure that that much student debt shouldn't be hurting my credit score. On the other hand, does the fact I'm putting much more than the minimums down on this debt help the score?
I also ended up buying a car for my parents two years ago, and have one year of payments left. My parents offered to make the last year of payments, which I don't think I'll accept. But if I do change the bill to their name- or more likely- put my dad as a joint account holder so that he can make the payments as well- would that hurt my credit?
Oh my goodness! I am freaking out about having a $30K debt in student loans! (which is going to increase cause I plan on going back to skool) but daaayum, you started with $160K?! 
good luck with all of this!
@chryanna wrote:heh. gotta love law school. tuition room and board at ny law schools is about 70k per year for three years these days. and at least i was one of the lucky ones who got a job and can pay it off. there are approximately 2000 first year jobs for lawyers in nyc right now, for an estimated 9000 applicants. too many of my friends are saddled with comparable non-dischargeable debt and are working unpaid internships, or as waiters. scary. i'm paying this off asap.
that's nice! I was working as a systems engineer with a nice paycheck but got laid off almost two months ago, so now I can't pay these dumb loans as fast as I'd like to! 