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I would save it to negotiate PFD on any collections or Charge offs. Before getting any new lines of credit. I opted to clean up before getting more credit, but that's just me. I feel like that is more of fresh start than opening new accounts. Believe me I really want to open some too but I don't want to see the good with bad anymore. But there is always more than one way to skin a cat and I'm sure others here have some great strategies that would include getting new credit sooner rather than later.
@NewYxox wrote:Okay so here is a little background about what I have going on.
I'm on 21 and last year (2013) was a really bad year for me. I went from having a credit score of 570 to drastically dropping it to a now 500. I've only been on websites such as credit karma and CreditInform through capital one to see what has been on my "credit report" and I recently ordered a copy from each of the credit bureaos to see what is exactly on there. Have not received it yet but like I said i have a jist of it.
I had a eviction on 05/2013 for $1300 that I paid off in full on 10/2013
I had a Chase checking account go to collections for $315, they want to settle it for $280
I also had a Secured card with capital one that charged off and my $300 deposit went to it and i still owe $280 they want to settle it for $240 (Feel like I messed that one up forever)
I've had a target debit card that was linked to my chase account (to get 5% off their store) that got put into collections and I havent received a letter from them in a while but last payment amount was around $200.
I am so embarrassed by all of this stuff on my credit because I am so young and feel as if I have ruined my credit forever. I do not have any open or revolving accounts of my report either. The only thing I pay for monthly is one of my student loans thats over $2000 and am required to only pay $73 a month, my other ones are not due for payment yet.
Where do I even begin to start? Are companies even going to let me get secured cards now that i've already messed one up. I'm just so lost and have been reading a lot of stuff on the internet and my plan was to first pay off everything that I owe but some say thats not a good idea because it lowers your score? I need to get some type of credit going and start somewhere but I have no clue on where to start.
I work a good job now that I have been at for 6 months and I bring in about $1700 a month after taxes. (Good for me right now) I am also looking to get a car, I got in a accident not too long ago and that one was totaled. It was under my dads name that I was giving him the money every month to pay for so no history there, but this new car will be under my name.
Any advice is really appreciated, I know most haven't probably gone through exactly what I have but I just want some type of advice! Thanks in advance!!
Hi and welcome to the forums.
Don't be embarrassed by any thing. We have all been there at one time or another. Every thing can be taken care of. Maybe not overnight but with a lot of patience and perseverance you can do it.
Is the eviction a public record/judgment? If so, see if your state allows for it to be vacated.
For anything that is paid, send GW letters. If they say no, send another and another. They can say no 100 times but it only takes one yes.
You should know your states SOL for suing and the DoFD (date of first delinquency) of the accounts. You will need to wait and get your reports to find that. EQ will show a DoFD, TU and EX have a estimated removal date.
@guiness56 wrote:
@NewYxox wrote:Okay so here is a little background about what I have going on.
I'm on 21 and last year (2013) was a really bad year for me. I went from having a credit score of 570 to drastically dropping it to a now 500. I've only been on websites such as credit karma and CreditInform through capital one to see what has been on my "credit report" and I recently ordered a copy from each of the credit bureaos to see what is exactly on there. Have not received it yet but like I said i have a jist of it.
I had a eviction on 05/2013 for $1300 that I paid off in full on 10/2013
I had a Chase checking account go to collections for $315, they want to settle it for $280
I also had a Secured card with capital one that charged off and my $300 deposit went to it and i still owe $280 they want to settle it for $240 (Feel like I messed that one up forever)
I've had a target debit card that was linked to my chase account (to get 5% off their store) that got put into collections and I havent received a letter from them in a while but last payment amount was around $200.
I am so embarrassed by all of this stuff on my credit because I am so young and feel as if I have ruined my credit forever. I do not have any open or revolving accounts of my report either. The only thing I pay for monthly is one of my student loans thats over $2000 and am required to only pay $73 a month, my other ones are not due for payment yet.
Where do I even begin to start? Are companies even going to let me get secured cards now that i've already messed one up. I'm just so lost and have been reading a lot of stuff on the internet and my plan was to first pay off everything that I owe but some say thats not a good idea because it lowers your score? I need to get some type of credit going and start somewhere but I have no clue on where to start.
I work a good job now that I have been at for 6 months and I bring in about $1700 a month after taxes. (Good for me right now) I am also looking to get a car, I got in a accident not too long ago and that one was totaled. It was under my dads name that I was giving him the money every month to pay for so no history there, but this new car will be under my name.
Any advice is really appreciated, I know most haven't probably gone through exactly what I have but I just want some type of advice! Thanks in advance!!
Hi and welcome to the forums.
Don't be embarrassed by any thing. We have all been there at one time or another. Every thing can be taken care of. Maybe not overnight but with a lot of patience and perseverance you can do it.
Is the eviction a public record/judgment? If so, see if your state allows for it to be vacated.
For anything that is paid, send GW letters. If they say no, send another and another. They can say no 100 times but it only takes one yes.
You should know your states SOL for suing and the DoFD (date of first delinquency) of the accounts. You will need to wait and get your reports to find that. EQ will show a DoFD, TU and EX have a estimated removal date.
It seems that a lot of your issues were recent, so they're not going to fall off any time soon. However, the PFD (Pay for delete) route is a good one to take. Look in guiness56 's signature. She has a ton of helpful stuff in it.. I believe that the "commonly requested threads" link takes you to a lot of helpful posts showing good will and PFD letters. Paying off your collections at this point, I think would help you a lot. It won't really do much for your scores.. and a collection is a collection. Unless you can get them removed, the benefits to paying them are : you won't get sued for them, you will be free from the stress of the calls/letters, etc, you'll be more likely to get approved for loans / credit cards on manual review (because they can at least see that you made good on your debts).
I'd suggest getting the checking account / debit accounts fixed first. You don't want to be placed in the Chex system. Keep your head up. You are doing everything you can to fix your mistakes. There is no shame in that. Please don't be shy. I know discussing financial matters, and especially credit mistakes can be embarrassing, but not here. This forum is for support, and to help people succeed in their credit goals.
If you use the search function and type in "good will", "PFD", "Capital One" or any of your creditors, you'll find that you're not the only one who has asked these questions, so don't feel alone. Good luck to you, and please keep posting!
On a side note, there is a credit union: https://www.sdfcu.org/ I believe that will give you a secured card with no credit check. It won't ever unsecure, but if you really want another card to try and build positive history with, that would be one that might work for you. I'd really suggest taking care of your bad accounts first though before putting money into another credit card.
So here is the update I only have Experian and Equifax. I did suprise me as a lot of things that I thought would be on my report are not yet, is that a good thing? Anyway I'm going to break down what is on each report hoping I can get some help here because I feel like im reading a foreign language. lol
Experian
Credit Items:
1. American Profit Recovery - A community college I owed money to.
Status: Paid, Closed
Type: Collection
Date Opened: 01/2013
Last Reported: 03/2013
2. Bank Of America
Status: Closed (Was paid but does not state that on there)
Type: Credit Card
Date Opened: 01/2011
Last Reported: 09/2012
Credit Limit: 1000.00
High Balance: 1123.00
Has a 30 day past due on there.
3. Capital One
Status: account Charged off. $287 written off. $287 past due as of Jan 2014.
Type: Credit Card (Secured)
Status Details: This account is scheduled to continue on record until Feb 2020.
Credit Limit: 551.00
High Balance: 704.00
Date Opened: 07/2012
Last Reported: 01/2014
This one is horrible & has CO, ND, 120, 90, 60, 30, 30, 60, 30 lates shown with a couple ok's in between.
(Planning to pay this off in full by next month!)
4. Credit Protection Association (Comcast)
Status: Collection account. $122.00 Past due as of June 2013.
Status Details: This account is scheduled to continue on record until Nov 2019.
Date Opened: 04/2013
Last Reported: 06/2013
5. DTE Energy (Utility Bill) - This one was under my name, but I was moved out and the person who took over my lease said they paid now im totally clueless on if it is paid or not because on Experian it shows paid, on Equifax it does not. Unfortunately I know it is going to be my responsibility either way. Wahh
Status: Paid, Closed
Date Opened: 04/2011
Last Reported: 12/
Credit Limit/Original Amount: $362
Has a 60 late and 4 C, the rest ok.
6. GLS/Ross Education - School loan I am currently paying on.
Status: Open. $138 past due as of Nov 2013. (Obviously this wasn't updated I currently have 0.00 due until Feb 9th.) Not sure how they update this.
Status Details: By Apr 2020, this account is scheduled to go to a postive status.
Date Opened: 03/2013
Last Reported: 11/2013
Type: Education
Credit Limit: $2656
Payment History: 30, 60, 30, 60, 30, ok, ok, ok, ok.
(Another bad showing all those lates for the times I was going through a lot and could not pay.)
7. MDT/ADVIA Credit Union - First Loan I had ever taken out (Another stupid thing)
Status: Paid, Closed.
Date Opened: 12/2010
Last Reported: 02/2012
Credit Limit: $1000.00
High Blanace: N/a
Payment History: 60, 60, 30, 30, 30, rest ok.
Accounts in good standing:
1. GECRB/CHEVRON - A gas credit card I opened being dumb and not knowing it was only in a certain state (Not mine)
Status: Paid, Closed/Never late.
Status Details: This account is scheduled to continue on record until Jul 2022.
Date Opened: 05/2012
Last Reported: 07/2012
Credit Limit: $400.00
Type: Charge Card
Payment History: CLS, ok, ok.
(I didn't know weather to keep it on there or just close it at the time so I just closed, but since it shows up as a good thing I guess whatever.)
2. Great Lakes Higher Education - All my school loans
Status: Open/Never late. Deferred, payments begin May 2014. (This one scares me!)
Credit Limit: $19,000
Date Opened: 02/2012
Last Reported: 12/2013
Type: Education
With 7 inquiries:
Comenity Bank-Victoria Secret/: 02/2016
Yardi Resident Screening/: 11/2015
GE Capital: 12/2014
Comenity Bank/Victoria Secret: 12/2014
Bank of America: 12/2014
Yardi Resident Screening: 09/2014
Capital One US card: 07/2014
Equifax
Account Age:
Length Of Credit History: 3 years, 1 month
Average Account Age: 2 years, 4 months
Oldest Account: E&A Credit Union opened 12/21/2010
Most Recent Account: Capital One Bank USA opened 07/10/2012
Potentially Negative Info: 4
Collections: 1
Installment Accounts
1. US Dept. of Education
Date Opened: 02/06/2012
Balance: $19,000
Date Reported: 12/31/2013
Status: Pays as agreed
Closed Accounts
1. E&A Credit Union - Loan
Date Opened: 12/21/2010
Date Reported: 1/6/2014
Status: Pays as agreed
Date Closed: 01/2012
High Credit: $1000.00
Balance: $0
Activity Designator: Paid and closed.
Payment History:
2011- 3 30 day lates
2012- 1 60 day late
Revolving Accounts-Closed Accounts
Bank of America
Date opened: 01/06/2011
Date Reported: 09/28/2012
Status: Pays as agreed
Credit Limit $1000.00
High Credit: $1,123.00
Account Closed at consumers request
One 30 day late shows
Note: Not sure why, this one shows twice on this report, under two different categories, is that normal?)
Capital One
Date Opened: 07/10/2012
Balance: $287.00
Date Reported: 1/5/2014
Past Due: $287.00
Status: Charge Off
Credit Limit: $551.00
Account Closed at consumers request, charged off account
GECRB/CHEVRON
Date Opened: 05/15/2012
Balance: $0
Pays as Agreed
Credit Limit $400
Account closed at consumers request
Other Accounts
DTE Energy - Utility Bill
Date Opened: 04/27/2011
Balance: $283.00 (See on this one it states that I owe that much, on experian it reported paid??!?!)
Date Reported: 1/8/2014
Past Due: $283.00
Status: Charge off
Account Closed at consumers request, charged off account.
Collections
Creditor Classification: Cable/Cellular- Sprint (Forgot about this one and let it completely GO )
Original Amount Owned: $891.00
Date of 1st Delinquency 06/2013
Balance Date: 11/2013
Balance Owed: $1301.00
Status: Unpaid
On a freaking cell phone bill, ugh!!!!
(This one does not show on Experian)
Creditor Classifcation: Cable/Cellular- Comcast
Original Amount Owed: $122.00
Date of 1st Delinquency: 02/2013
Balance Date: 06/2013
Balance Owed: $122.00
Status: Unpaid
Okay finally done!! So I have lots and lots of questions..I would just love to know where to start. Also the bills I do have, that are not shown on my credit report..is that a good thing? Does that mean I have a little time to pay those off before they do get on there. For instance it surprised me that the chase checking account was not on there. I also have a lot of medical bills, rangng from $15-$250 should I get started on those as well, will they eventually make it to my credit report as well? I'm just confused on where to start and how to go on about everything!
I am also going to try and get rid of some of these as some of you have mentions by writing GW and PDF letters to all of those companies on my credit reports. I know I probably won't have any luck but all I can do is TRY. I went and looked in your signature for some sample PDF letters and also GW letters..well I took your format and typed out my first PDF letter to mail to Comcast and here it goes..let me know if I need to change anything before I send this out. I plan to use this same one for some others and then the ones I have paid I plan to do the same and write them a GW letter. I will post on here what I write. Also how long should you wait to send them another letter if you do get that "no"...
Credit Protection Association
13355 Noel Rd STE 2100
Dallas, TX75240
Re: Collection Account for Original Creditor Account #: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Amount: $122.00
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is to inform you that the validity of this debt is not being disputed. As stated above the account number associated with this is xxxxxxxxxx, as I have not heard from you regarding this account, or where this bill has gone to after Comcast, The account number I have is the one listed on my Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion credit report.
In the spirit of compromise, I am willing to pay this account IN FULL if you agree to immediate deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from my credit files. It is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form.
If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, certified funds for the settlement amount of one hundred twenty two dollars ($122.00) will be sent to Collection Agency in exchange for full deletion of ALL references regarding this account from my credit files and full satisfaction of the debt. As certified funds will be used for payment, there shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies.
Collection Agency agrees to delete all information regarding this account from the credit reporting agencies WITHIN TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, Collection Agency will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.
If you agree to the above terms, please prepare a letter on your company letterhead explicitly agreeing to the same terms as the above settlement offer and have it signed by an authorized representative of Collection Agency. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under the laws of my state.
Please address all correspondence regarding this account to:
Name, Last
xxxxxxx
xxxx
@NewYxox wrote:I am also going to try and get rid of some of these as some of you have mentions by writing GW and PDF letters to all of those companies on my credit reports. I know I probably won't have any luck but all I can do is TRY. I went and looked in your signature for some sample PDF letters and also GW letters..well I took your format and typed out my first PDF letter to mail to Comcast and here it goes..let me know if I need to change anything before I send this out. I plan to use this same one for some others and then the ones I have paid I plan to do the same and write them a GW letter. I will post on here what I write. Also how long should you wait to send them another letter if you do get that "no"...
Credit Protection Association
13355 Noel Rd STE 2100
Dallas, TX75240
Re: Collection Account for Original Creditor Account #: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Amount: $122.00
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is to inform you that the validity of this debt is not being disputed. As stated above the account number associated with this is xxxxxxxxxx, as I have not heard from you regarding this account, or where this bill has gone to after Comcast, The account number I have is the one listed on my Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion credit report.
In the spirit of compromise, I am willing to pay this account IN FULL if you agree to immediate deletion of this account from any and all credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). The purpose of this settlement is merely to have this item removed from my credit files. It is not to be construed as an acknowledgment of liability for this debt in any form.
If you agree to the terms and accept this agreement, certified funds for the settlement amount of one hundred twenty two dollars ($122.00) will be sent to Collection Agency in exchange for full deletion of ALL references regarding this account from my credit files and full satisfaction of the debt. As certified funds will be used for payment, there shall be no waiting period regarding the deletion of this account from the credit reporting agencies.
Collection Agency agrees to delete all information regarding this account from the credit reporting agencies WITHIN TEN CALENDAR (10) DAYS following receipt of payment as specified above and will not discuss the terms of this settlement with anyone, excluding your client on this account. If contacted by any third party, including credit-reporting agencies, Collection Agency will not acknowledge that any settlement offer was made, accepted or executed and will, in fact, deny knowledge of any such account.It takes longer than 10 days to begin with as it would be a manual process through the CRAs. It can take up to 90 days. You cannot tell them who they can and cannot talk to about the debt.
If you agree to the above terms, please prepare a letter on your company letterhead explicitly agreeing to the same terms as the above settlement offer and have it signed by an authorized representative of Collection Agency. It will be implied that this letter shall constitute a legally binding contract, enforceable under the laws of my state. They may or may not give a written reponse. Some will, some will not. They have an agreement with the CRAs for not deleting paid accounts.
Please address all correspondence regarding this account to:
Name, Last
xxxxxxx
xxxx
IMO, I would do what I edited. A PFD is a type of GW and should not be demanding or forced.
So I did delete that 4th paragraph. It should be okay to send now? I'm sorry it was just written in there and I thought that would be okay, I guess I need to read up on it some more, but thank you for the advice!
Experian
Credit Items:
1. American Profit Recovery - A community college I owed money to.
Status: Paid, Closed
Type: Collection
Date Opened: 01/2013
Last Reported: 03/2013
GW, GW, GW
2. Bank Of America
Status: Closed (Was paid but does not state that on there)
Type: Credit Card
Date Opened: 01/2011
Last Reported: 09/2012
Credit Limit: 1000.00
High Balance: 1123.00
Has a 30 day past due on there.
GW, GW, GW
3. Capital One
Status: account Charged off. $287 written off. $287 past due as of Jan 2014.
Type: Credit Card (Secured)
Status Details: This account is scheduled to continue on record until Feb 2020.
Credit Limit: 551.00
High Balance: 704.00
Date Opened: 07/2012
Last Reported: 01/2014
GW, GW, GW Offer to pay for delete
This one is horrible & has CO, ND, 120, 90, 60, 30, 30, 60, 30 lates shown with a couple ok's in between.
(Planning to pay this off in full by next month!)
4. Credit Protection Association (Comcast)
Status: Collection account. $122.00 Past due as of June 2013.
Status Details: This account is scheduled to continue on record until Nov 2019.
Date Opened: 04/2013
Last Reported: 06/2013
PFD
5. DTE Energy (Utility Bill) - This one was under my name, but I was moved out and the person who took over my lease said they paid now im totally clueless on if it is paid or not because on Experian it shows paid, on Equifax it does not. Unfortunately I know it is going to be my responsibility either way. Wahh
Status: Paid, Closed
Date Opened: 04/2011
Last Reported: 12/
Credit Limit/Original Amount: $362
Has a 60 late and 4 C, the rest ok.
GW, GW, GW
6. GLS/Ross Education - School loan I am currently paying on.
Status: Open. $138 past due as of Nov 2013. (Obviously this wasn't updated I currently have 0.00 due until Feb 9th.) Not sure how they update this.
Status Details: By Apr 2020, this account is scheduled to go to a postive status.
Date Opened: 03/2013
Last Reported: 11/2013
Type: Education
Credit Limit: $2656
Payment History: 30, 60, 30, 60, 30, ok, ok, ok, ok.
(Another bad showing all those lates for the times I was going through a lot and could not pay.)
GW, GW, GW
7. MDT/ADVIA Credit Union - First Loan I had ever taken out (Another stupid thing)
Status: Paid, Closed.
Date Opened: 12/2010
Last Reported: 02/2012
Credit Limit: $1000.00
High Blanace: N/a
Payment History: 60, 60, 30, 30, 30, rest ok.
GW, GW, GW
Equifax
Potentially Negative Info: 4
Collections: 1
Closed Accounts
1. E&A Credit Union - Loan
Date Opened: 12/21/2010
Date Reported: 1/6/2014
Status: Pays as agreed
Date Closed: 01/2012
High Credit: $1000.00
Balance: $0
Activity Designator: Paid and closed.
Payment History:
2011- 3 30 day lates
2012- 1 60 day late
GW, GW, GW
Revolving Accounts-Closed Accounts
Bank of America
Date opened: 01/06/2011
Date Reported: 09/28/2012
Status: Pays as agreed
Credit Limit $1000.00
High Credit: $1,123.00
Account Closed at consumers request
One 30 day late shows
Note: Not sure why, this one shows twice on this report, under two different categories, is that normal?)
No it's not normal. Contact BoA and let them know it's reporting twice and have them remove one.
Capital One
Date Opened: 07/10/2012
Balance: $287.00
Date Reported: 1/5/2014
Past Due: $287.00
Status: Charge Off
Credit Limit: $551.00
Account Closed at consumers request, charged off account
GW, GW, GW
Other Accounts
DTE Energy - Utility Bill
Date Opened: 04/27/2011
Balance: $283.00 (See on this one it states that I owe that much, on experian it reported paid??!?!)
Date Reported: 1/8/2014
Past Due: $283.00
Status: Charge off
Account Closed at consumers request, charged off account.
GW, GW, GW
Collections
Creditor Classification: Cable/Cellular- Sprint (Forgot about this one and let it completely GO )
Original Amount Owned: $891.00
Date of 1st Delinquency 06/2013
Balance Date: 11/2013
Balance Owed: $1301.00
Status: Unpaid
On a freaking cell phone bill, ugh!!!!
(This one does not show on Experian)
PFD
Creditor Classifcation: Cable/Cellular- Comcast
Original Amount Owed: $122.00
Date of 1st Delinquency: 02/2013
Balance Date: 06/2013
Balance Owed: $122.00
Status: Unpaid
GW, GW, GW
Okay finally done!! So I have lots and lots of questions..I would just love to know where to start. Also the bills I do have, that are not shown on my credit report..is that a good thing? Does that mean I have a little time to pay those off before they do get on there. For instance it surprised me that the chase checking account was not on there. I also have a lot of medical bills, rangng from $15-$250 should I get started on those as well, will they eventually make it to my credit report as well? I'm just confused on where to start and how to go on about everything!
Pay these bills first before paying anything else or they'll start showing up as collections and we don't want that.
After that try to settle (PFD) for the most recent accounts first and going backwards. Remeber you don't always have to PIF for PFD.
Sometimes you can negotiate it down a little.
Compared to big banks CAs are more likely to GW in my exp.
And no need to be ashamed we have all been there and are here to help.
Cheers! You started moving in right direction fairly young
Okay so i've spent the last two hours revising and typing up letters to fit my situations at that time. I have 8 letters total that i'm going to mail out one day this week. Does anybody know how long it takes for them to respond? If they don't respond how would I know if it was "hopefully" taken off my credit report? I think I know where to go from here now. I am going to pay the Chase checking account first even though it is not showing on any of my reports but I dont want that one going any further and I do need to open a savings account/checking account again to manage my money so thats my first one on the list. Next, i'm going to take care of everything on those reports that are not paid. Wish me luck and hopefully some will take the baddies off (even though i'm really thinking thats going to be almost impossible, but atleast i can say i tried!) If anyone has any more advice, i'm all ears!! thanks again.