Paying Collections? Yay or nay?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

 I've read a ton of posts on here but am still confused about a few things.  My questions are in regard to my husband's credit. 

March of 2012- his mid score was a 549 and mine was 746. 

Unfortunately, I owe about 100k in student loans and even though I make decent money I cannot qualify on my own for a mortgage. We are in MA- houses are expensive.

Anyways, we were working with a credit repair company since July but cancelled due to costs.

Account	Account #	Bureau
JUDGEMENT		XP, TU, EF
SPRINGLEAF FIN		XP, TU, EF
HSBC		XP, TU, EF
MEDICAL	$1400	XP, TU, EF
HSBC BANK		XP, TU, EF
COX COMMUNICATIONS		XP, TU, EF
COLLECTION		XP, TU, EF
NATIONWIDE INSURANCE	$66	XP, TU, EF
BELDEN JEWLR		XP, TU, EF
COLLECTION		XP, TU, EF
COLLECTION		XP, TU, EF
HSBC BANK		XP, TU, EF
HSBC BANK		XP, TU, EF
US DEP ED		XP, TU, EF
COLLECTION		XP, TU, EF

Red is what they got removed for us.

These results are from December

I already used annualcreditreport.com back in November. 

Credit karma shows two collections and 3 delinquency's with a 596 fako.

Quizzle shows 5 negative accts (2 are the same) with a 656 fako.

I do not know what is valid.  My husband has 2 credit cards and 2 student loans in good standing.

We are trying to get approved in June in hope to be out of our apt when our lease is up at the end of the Aug (in our case a mortgage would be cheaper than rent)

I've read that you shouldn't pay any collections before applying for a home and you should wait so its part of the conditions of the loan.

We cant afford the $1400 medical to PIF- not sure its valid but he did have surgeries.

I've also read that you should pay it but it will lower your score.

I've also read that you should pay it and it wont have any effect on your score.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

[guiness56]

Paying off a collection should never hurt your score.  It also will not help your score.  The best remedy is to have it removed.

If you know who the medical OC is you can contact them and see if they still own the debt.  Maybe you could set up arrangements with them to have the debt recalled from the CA.

Whether you are required to pay any debt prior to a mortgage is entirely up to the lender.

The only accurate CR would be the ones from annualcreditreport.com.

[Anonymous]

Great thanks for your advice. I found a letter in an old stack of mail from 2010 that was from the collection agency. He had about 4 surgeries within two years so I'm not sure who the original owner is.

I was thinking about buying the reports from annualcreditreport but want to wait a while longer to see what else may fall off from the credit repair companies work.

I read that contacting a company about your debt will bring it up to date? Not sure if this one is true either.

[guiness56]

It may show the DOLA has changed but it won't do anything to your score.