My battle with credit in the past 30 days

[newmom24]

Hello. I pulled my scores and saw a HUGE increase from last month. As of 4/7/08 my scores were: TU 496, EQ 481, EX 542. They are now TU 561, EQ 498 (they hate me), EX 571. That's a great increase. However, on my TU account it shows a past due balance of $190.16 for a settled victoria secret account. On my other reports it shows settled collection/paid less than amount owed w/$0 balance. Should I dispute this balance? I am afraid to dispute because it can drop my scores below 500 again.

[Anonymous]

newmom,

What are your immediate credit goals? Do you have a need for new credit lines in the near future? If not it is best to dispute it, as a short term drop on TU will likely not set you back in the long run. Indeed, while you have made great gains, you are still quite aways away from the 640 range that is key for prime loans and cards. You have the ability to get there fairly quickly, but I believe this dispute will help you get there and not set you back too far.

[Anonymous]

I would personally try to GW the collection to see if they can remove them

I just got a 30+ increase on my scores for disptuing the collections as paid and they were completely removed at that point.