Living with negatives

[felyasocal]

Hi Everyone. I have a quick question, which I am sure can be easily answered by someone who knows this stuff a lot better than I do!

So I have an old school-loan that is currently being paid on time, but a numbers of years ago, while this loan was with 2 different lenders, it was derogotory for a long time. Currently its with SallieMae and I've been paying for it always on time for the last few years, but those old negative entries are still there with a number of different lenders

Also have 3 credit cards that were charged off. They were in collection and I paid them off through settlements, also a number of years ago

For the last year my credit has been flawless. A few new cards, new car loan, always paying everything on time and paying everything off. My scores have gone up, but those old items are still  haunting me.

Here is my question: If I don't have any luck with GWL, do I have to wait the full 7 years until these bad items stop messing up my credit score? Or do they become less consequencial as time passes? For example, if I have flawless history for about 2 years, does that help or do I still have to wait out for the whole 7 years. I understand they won't be removed for 7 years, but will they become less damaging? These entries are currently being displyed on the credit report as "Derogotory" from 2011 and "Charged Off\Collection" from 2010

Thank you!!!!

[RobertEG]

It depends a lot on the severity of the adverse reporting.

There are major and minor derogs in the eyes of FICO.

Minor derogs have a more limited effect.  General experience is that 30 and 60 lates have little lingering effect after approx two years.

Monthly delinquencies of 90+ days, charge-offs, and collections are consider major derogs, and keep your scoring under payment history in a less favorable categorization until they are all deleted or excluded.  Once clear of major derogs, you will most likely see a significant movement in score.

[felyasocal]

Unfortunately they are showing as major derogs right now.

I will have to rely on GWL I think. Otherwise I will be screwed for another 4-5 years =(

Thank you!

[Shogun]

Those baddies do fade over time.  The GW process is a good route to go if everything is reporting correctly.  Do you have need of new credit now?  Sounds like you've rebounded quite well and are on the right path.  Congrats!

[felyasocal]

I've cleaned everything up as much as I could. Almost to the point of being obsessed with it =)

Been kind of busy, but I will do GWL this week and see how that goes!

I honestly don't have any need for new credit now. I would prefer a few better credit cards than what I have righ tnow, but I can be patient and wait until I am ready to get some top notch credit cards. I guess my only worry is when my lease runs out, I might not qualify for a good deal. I love leasing as I can write things off, but from experience, leasing usually requires much better credit than financing. Thought not the endof the world. I will be paitient. I just hopethose negatives don't hunt me for the rest of the time they are on my credit report. I've been flawless for almost 2 years now and while I am a bit frustrated, I am not giving up

Thank you again for the advice!