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Okay, Let's Do This...For real

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CRJ2131
New Member

Okay, Let's Do This...For real

Hi All!

 

I've been lurking on these boards for almost a year now and I've finally joined this community. Last year, my bank offered a free CREDIT SCORE (which I had never seen before). I took that and my credit report and sat down to figure out what was going on.  


I didn't know much about credit scores except mine was bad. From everything that I heard and read; it's a scarlet letter and you will NEVER have good credit. There are just schemes everywhere for people with bad credit to stay that way. There are alternatives and sketchy payday lenders that are designed to keep everyone down. I knew that couldn't be the case. I read a bit here and decided to get the secured card from Capital One and opt in to creditinform. I know a lot of people don't like them, but I can't say that I have any complaints. I believe my EXP score started at 548 and went to 618 without me really doing anything but paying my Cap One bill.  I got engaged pretty soon after I was determined to fix my credit, so last year was about the wedding. 

 

Now I'm back, I have a brand new job and I'm making nearly $20K more per year and we are looking to move to an entirely different area. We really want to rent in the new place before we buy (I am a commitment-phobe), but we will be in the market to buy in the next 18-24 months. I want to take the time now and make my score go up. 

 

For the bad on my CR (I'm still learning the lingo, so bear with me, please): I have medical bills (about 7) in collections all under $300. There are 3 other bills in collections under $350. 


I have paid my CapOne Secured card every month and tried to keep it to low utilization. I used it for the hotel for my wedding a few months ago after adding a deposit to raise the limit. The utilization is high from that one month, but I will be paying the balance off entirely at the beginning of February and going back to just using for gas. My EXP is 603. I pulled FICO EQU here and it was 549. For some reason, I can't see the others. 


I have a notebook with my collections and my plan to pay them from now until June. YAY for budgeting!  I have read that by doing that, I still won't see much of a change. 

 

I need your help with something: 


3 of those medical bills were from a sugery about 18 months ago.  Should I pay the collection Agency or the doctor directly? One of those bills I really want to know about because I see that doctor next month. I don't know if I should just take the payment to his office or pay the collections agency.  What's best? 

 

Also, a week ago, after I got my credit score alert from CapOne, and after reading the boards here and CK (oy) I applied for an unsecured CapOne Platinum and got approved ($300) and entered into first steps. This was great, until I realized that I should have tried my luck at CapOne Quicksilver Rewards.  I didn't want to try and apply for that, just in case it wasn't allowed!  I tried to get a couple of store cards (Torrid (GE) and Amazon), but  got the 7-10 business day note. Should I attempt or just... "garden" until the collections are paid off and they are shown as such on the CR or try for the Quicksilver? 

 

Sorry for giving you a book to read. I'm just seeking advice! I would like to jump up to join the 700 Club this year, but I figure I should keep it modest and go for 650 by December. 

 

Thanks and have a great night! 

Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
notfancy
Valued Contributor

Re: Okay, Let's Do This...For real

Hi there! Congratulations on the wedding!

 

So far you have two credit cards now, and a few inquiries. I would definitely let those age, and pay off the balance on your card that you spent a lot on. For the collections: read here about "good will letters", and "pay for delete" that could possibly help you a lot.

 

Hospital bills: try to work with them directly. Tell them what your situation is or was, and why it went unpaid, and ask them if they will pull them out of collections and have the negatives deleted if you pay them direct, Medical accounts seem to be the easiest ones to resolve, and to get deleted.

 

Bad credit isn't forever, as long as you're responsible, fix your mistakes, and never make them again. It seems that you can only go up from here! Cap 1 hates balances it seems (in my personal experience) so if you're  in the credit steps program, make sure you keep your UTL under 10% and you should get a nice increase on the 7th month. You can try to use the secured chat function or you could call the CSRs and ask for a product change (PC) to the Quicksilver.  Your secured card can't be upgraded, and will never graduate to unsecured. If you ever want that money back, you might want to consider looking into another card, perhaps with an entirely different bank once you have your "baddies" fixed. Best wishes to you, and please keep us updated!

625 EQ FICO Current Score: 660 DCU EQ FICO/ 645 Scorewatch EQ FICO , EX FICO 664, TU FICO 737 (08/2014)
Goal Score: 700   Seedling again as of 07/29/14
Message 2 of 4
down_n_out
Contributor

Re: Okay, Let's Do This...For real

Definitely pay the doctor your about to see directly, you may need him/her again and it looks bad when you go in and have a balance and expect to them to continue to see you. Believe me I have been there MANY  medical bills and surgeries. All the others I would take the advice you got above. 

Message 3 of 4
CRJ2131
New Member

Re: Okay, Let's Do This...For real

Thanks for the advice!

 

 

I will definitely keep you all updated! 

Message 4 of 4
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