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Little back story....
23, still in college for nursing school, will graduate in May. I finally have a steady job and make good money, but I went through some hard times there for awhile. I have about 13k in fed student loan debts, and about 600 on a cap one credit card that was charged off and closed. My equifax score sits at 569.
In less than a year(May-July) I'd like to be a point where I can buy a small house (50k), fix it up and live in it with a roommate. The goal is to have a payment small enough that the other roommate or two, will essentially pay my mortgage. I have extensive experience with renovating, so that's not the problem. The problem will be getting the financing. By May or Jun my income should be around 50k.
Questions....
1. There are two things affecting me negatively on my report, the first is the cap one card. I believe the debt is still with cap one, but NCO is servicing it. I've recieved a few letters from them. The SOL is 5 years in missouri, and I really can't wait that long.
Is my first step to send a validate letter? I know it is my debt and it has only been a year. **My goal here is to pay the debt and have it taken off my CR at all bereaus.
2. The other negative is a card I had awhile ago from commerce bank, it has a 30 and 60 day late. However it is closed and paid now since May of 2011. Do I attempt to remove this? what steps should I take?
3. My student loans are also on my report, and I doubt they are doing me any good. I have never made a payment because I have been in school and don't have to...are these affecting me in a bad way?
4. I've read about piggybacking cards, as in getting my self added to CC as an authorized user. That way it shows history and debt/credit ratio. Is this a good idea? Any tips? I can be added to a few cards my parents never use and my grandpa(who I'm sure has massive massive credit limits).
According to equifax, my amount of debt, length of credit, and type of credit are poor. my payment history and new credit are fair.
BTW I own no other cards.
Here are the screen shots! Any help is appreciated!
[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/2ce0pzr.png[/IMG]
So, after doing a bunch of reading. It seems that my best options are to call/send GW letter to commerce and see if I can get the 30 & 60 day late payments removed. Also try and do a PFD with capital one. Hoping this should jump my credit up a bunch if I am successful.
Would be wise I think then to get a secured card that reports to all three agencies every month.
Wow, you answered your own questions pretty well. Yes, PFD the Cap1 and GW the lates. The SLs aren't negatively affecting you at all.
Is there any sort of percentage I should shoot for with PFD? The limit on the card was $300 but the fees take it up to $612.
50% 60%??
Also, just found a few letters that were sent to me by United Recovery Systems. They are on the behalf of Capital one, one of the letters dated in august offers a 3 payment plan for settlement of $520. The other letter asks if I can make payments, and say they will work with me in a repayment plan. They give me a lady to talk to.
So, should I call them and try to settle with them for a delete? Or do I need to deal with capital one?
If capital one is reporting the balance of $600+ then you can deal directly with them. They are huge sticklers and don't normally accept PFD or GW letters, but it does not mean you should not try. You really just want to get this paid before they sell it to a JDB/CA and you have two negative accounts reporting for the same debt.
Here's where I'm at, at this point.
1. Going to write GW letters to commerce to see if I can get the 30&60 off. If no luck, I will start calling.
2. I've read a bunch of things on here about cap one being sue crazy and never doing pfd's. I am way way short of the SOL by about 4 years. I don't want them sueing.
So my next question is do I pay the $612 and be done with it, or just let it sit? Won't paying it look just as bad on my report? Or will it help to pay the account off.
BTW I do have the full amount and means to pay it right now.
Offer them 50%, see if they counter offer. Worst case is you still pay it in full.
Well I've decided I'm not going to mess with the capital one right now. I think if I start playing games with them things might get worse.
Just going to send GW's to commerce until they drop the 30&60. Open a secured card and start rebuilding credit.
1. Would it help to open two secured cards from two different places? Both to have a higher credit to debt ratio, and to have both reporting?
2. When I do finally decided to close the cards and get my money back, does it kill me to end the history with these cards? I know length of time with a card is a big deal.
3. Any recommendations on secured cards? This one looks promising
First Progress Platinum Elite MasterCard® Secured Credit Card |