Hello everyone,
Due to a divorce in late 2012 I suffered some unfortunate circumstances that led to late payments on most of my accounts and a few charge-offs. I've since made progress on paying things off but I'm not seeing any score increases... I just signed up for the myFICO 3-bureau monitoring today, I've been using USAA's 3-bureau monitoring for the last year or so. On that one, my scores have been 572/572/573 for the last 8-9 months. Upon checking myFICO they are: EQ 580 / TU 602 / EX 587. So a little different but not much.
Here's a listing of my accounts:
OPEN
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1. Ally Financial (4/2014): $26,930 / Orig Bal $28,461 [Joint] (Never late)
2. USAA MasterCard (6/2013): $3,696 / CL $7000 [ AU ] (Never late)
3. NFCU Personal Loan (7/2011): $3,471 / Orig Bal $8,244 (60 Days Late at one point)
CLOSED / STILL PAYING
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1. USAA American Express: $3,167 (Original CL: $4,000, 60 Days Late at one point)
2. NFCU Platinum VISA: $3,423 (Original CL: $8,000, 90 Days Late at one point)
CHARGED OFF
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1. Bank of America: $1,499
2. Chase: $2,532
CHARGED OFF / SETTLED
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1. CitiCards: Settled $2,670 for $453
2. GE Capital: Settled $5,593 for $2,142 (Hasn't updated on credit report yet.)
OTHER
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1. Student Loans/Dept of Ed: $2,250 (In Rehab, should be cleared up Jan 2015)
Since all of the accounts that went to collections/charge-off (BoA, Citi, Chase, GE, DoE) none of them have ever showed up as "Collections" on my reports nor have any collection agencies posted trade lines on my reports. I assume I'm just lucky because that's not normal. So the only derogatories on my report are late payments. A lot of late payments, but still.
Alright, so with that listed here are some questions... What can I do to actually raise my score? Obviously all of my credit cards are closed so I don't have any in my name, except the USAA MasterCard which I'm listed as an AU on. I do have a unsecured loan and an auto loan current, but that hasn't seemed to help much. This is what I'm currently paying (minus car payment, since I'm not worried about paying that off yet)...
1. NFCU Loan: $850/mo
2. NFCU VISA: $80/mo
3. USAA AMEX: $70/mo
4. Student Loans: $100/mo (Standard Repayment)
My wife pays her USAA MC, I told her once mine are paid off I'll pay hers off too, lol. I plan to settle the other two (BoA, Chase) accounts that are listed as charge-offs, but I've been waiting for them to send me...... something... I literally haven't gotten something from one of those accounts in probably 18 months or so. I got a settlement offer for Citi back in May, and one for GE Capital in September. Prior to those coming it had been over a year since any communication.
I've pretty much drained my savings in the past 6 months paying things off, had to take a trip down to the family due to... issues..., baby stuff, and covering 2 months of bills while I'm in a job transition. Starting next month, I've got $1300 going out on paying down the aforementioned 4 debts and $500 going into savings each month. My wife and I make about $6000/mo in gross pay, but have a lot going out too. We're being so aggressive on paying things off because we want to have most things paid off by the end of next year and then start paying off the cars. Both of which are 2014's, close to $30K a piece. Then we want to buy a house. At some point during that time I'll finish school and get a better paying job.
Oh and prior to 2012 divorce my FICO scores were all above 720. I'd like to get back there.
So.... there's my life story. Any helping thoughts/advice?
-Yarbs
