I am trying to rebuild my credit. I spent a year and a half out of work, as a result, my credit became absolutely -garbage-. (Dipped well down in the low 500's)
myFICO reports my FICO at 638 now. I've paid down my last remaining active credit card. Now all of my debt is student loans.
One of my student loans belongs to Chase. Way back when, they accellerated the loan and refused future payments from me because they wanted the full 5,000 dollars up front. They finally sent it to a collection agency earlier this year, who have waited a whole nine months before contacting me. I finally got them to agree to a 2,500 dollar settlement (over several months), but they said they don't have the authority to agree to actually remove the item off my credit report.
I'm debating if it's worth the fight -- should I just pay off the item through collections? My understanding is that at this point, it showing up as 'paid in full' or 'settled' won't even matter. Should I call Chase directly and ask if they would agree to remove the account from my report when I finished paying? Would they even consider that? If so, what would be the best tactic to try and convince them to do this?
