@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,
I've been trying to improve my credit for at least 1 year now without much success. I have missed 3 payments for my capital one credit card and 2 payments for my BofA credit card.
I've been reading on this forum that it's possible that capital one will remove those negative marks but unfortunately I can't find the email or address I need to send goodwill letter to. Please PM me if you know it, it would be a huge help.
Also I've never heard from anyone that BofA removes those kind of remarks, is it possible?
My Citibank credit card was closed since I missed the payment for more than 90 days and unfortunately, I settled the payment for less than required amount and it reflects on my credit. Is there anything I can do about it?
All this was back in 2015 and since then I've been making regular payments, in fact capital one increased my credit limit without even asking.
I also have a student loan of $33000, will reducing my balance by 20000 in next 1 year, help my credit?
I understand many people suggest being a authorized user of someone else's credit card, but unfortunately I don't know anyone. Even if I ask someone, it will be for temporary basis, if they remove me after couple of months, will it affect my credit? Or will those positive remarks still be there?
Please help me, I never knew credit was so important.
Really appreciate your help,
God bless
Welcome to the forums.
FICO scoring looks at payment history, and unfortunately when you miss payments, it is going to reflect negatively on your scores. You never did say if the payments missed on Cap 1 and BoA were 30, 60, or 90 days. 30 day lates and to some extent 60 day lates affect scores for up to 24 months, while 90 day lates affect scores for the full 7 years that they are on your report. If the student loan is current, at this point in time, it would be important to pay off the balances of the cards that are not closed. I have settled accounts before for less than the full amount and that did not prevent me from qualifying for additional credit. When you have more negative items on your report than positive, then it will reflect in your scoring.
All is not lost, however. Going forward if you maintain good payment history, then in time your scores can improve. The process of rebuilding credit can be a long-term project. I've been working on it actively for the last 2 years and have gone as far as I can; I have to just be patient and wait for the rest of the negative information to fall off my reports. Sometimes you aren't able to get a company to remove negative information. Even with having 1 CO left on my reports, I have still been able to get over $150k in available credit, but that has only occurred because I have over 6 years of payment history with no lates. It's always important to remember to pay your bills on time, set up automatic payments if necessary, or set up bill pay through your bank. Whether it takes to make sure you don't miss payments should be a priority.
