Questions

[proudnavymom]

I have been lurking on the forum for about the last month and am about to get serious about paying off some negative accounts, offering PFD's, or writing some GW letters--basically trying to improve my credit scores, but I have some questions.  If these have been answered in other threads, please refer me to those.

• AAoA-  how is this calculated?  Is it just open accounts, or is it calculated on all accounts being reported whether they are open, closed, charged off, or in collections?  Of the accounts on my current credit credit report, the oldest accounts under revolving accounts are from 2006, but these are all negative/charged off accounts.  Of those under installment accounts the only negative ones (Centerpoint, a gas utility, and TXU-an electricity provider) were opened in 2004.  The rest of them are all positive.  There are multiple accounts from finance companies that were refinanced many times, but none were ever late and I paid them all off back in October.  The other one is the car loan that I just took out in November.  Under collections I have numerous medical accounts which I intend to try to get the hospital to agree to a settlement and then PFD, or will PIF.  If the PFD does not work, I will just try GW'ing them later or using the HIPAA process after I have tried PFD or GW.  Of the hospital accounts, the oldest one was opened in 2005.  What would be my best course of action, to try to get these accounts deleted through a PFD or GW, or would it be best just to PIF or through a settlement and not to try and get them deleted--just let them fall off after 7-7.5 years from the DOFD.  Will it help the AAoA to just leave them on my credit report, even if they are being reported as negative items?
• I am in Texas, and from what I have found out, the SOL is 4 years for everything.  What is the starting point for counting the 4 years?  Is it the DOFD, or is it something else?
• I opened a secured credit card with Capital One in July and have paid the balance off every month.  I have tried to let it show a balance of no more than $50 each month when it reports.  The credit limit is $601, but I would like to send in another deposit to make the credit limit $1000.  Do you think that would help raise my scores, and should I try to get another secured credit card?  Would that help?
• Recently I paid a settlement for T-Mobile that the CA Afni had.  They were offering a $50 settlement for a balance of $638.  I tried to get them to do a PFD, but they refused saying that they don't do that.  It is now reporting on my credit report as a paid collection but in the remarks it says settled for less than the full balance.  Should I try a GW to see if they will delete, or should I try a GW to try and get them to take off the settled for less than the full balance, and just report it paid?  
• I also have an AT&T account with a balance of $942 that is with Asset Acceptance that was opened in 2007 in which they offered a settlement of $99.  I tried to get them to agree to a PFD, but they wouldn't, saying that it is illegal.  Since the offer was going to expire in a few days I just paid the $99 and they agreed to report it as paid and would not indicate that it was settled, but I didn't get that in writing, just verbal, so will see how it is reported when it hits my credit report.   
• When you calculate your utilization,  what accounts are factored into this?   Is it just credit cards, or does it involve installment and collection accounts also?  Is it just open accounts, or are closed, charged off, and collection accounts factored in also?  

Sorry for all the questions and the long post, but I would appreciate any advice that anyone could give me.  Thanks.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi! I'm not evenly remotely knowledgeable about a lot of rebuilding questions, but I can help you with a couple:

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• AAoA-  how is this calculated?  Is it just open accounts, or is it calculated on all accounts being reported whether they are open, closed, charged off, or in collections?  --Your AAoA is calculated on all reported accounts, whether open or closed, revolving or installment, clean or "dirty." They have to be on your Accounts page, so things like liens aren't counted.
• I opened a secured credit card with Capital One in July and have paid the balance off every month.  I have tried to let it show a balance of no more than $50 each month when it reports.  The credit limit is $601, but I would like to send in another deposit to make the credit limit $1000.  Do you think that would help raise my scores, and should I try to get another secured credit card?  Would that help? --Is this your only open CC? If so, what you're doing is fine. $50 is less than 10% of $601, and that's probably OK with just one card. If you have more than one open card, make the others report $0 and keep this one under 10%. You might do better with a lower reported util on this one card, but it might not make much difference. You can lower the reported util either by increasing the CL on this card, or by lowering the reported balance. A percentage is a percentage, and that's what FICO looks at.
• When you calculate your utilization,  what accounts are factored into this?   Is it just credit cards, or does it involve installment and collection accounts also?  Is it just open accounts, or are closed, charged off, and collection accounts factored in also? --the util that matters is your revolving util. All open accounts are counted. On closed accounts, if there's a $0 balance due, it is not factored into util. On closed accounts, if there IS a balance due showing, there are two possibilities: if the reported CL on the closed account is $0, even though there's a balance, the account is ignored for util. If there is a reported balance on a closed CC, and there is still a CL showing, the card IS used for calculating util.  Installment util, consisting of installment loans and mortgages, is also calculated and scored, but it's separate from revolving util, and has a much lower impact on your scores. If you have a choice, throw any extra money at CC's for scoing purposes, which generally have higher APR's anyway.

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Hope that helps!

I'll let the other members help with the rest of your questions.

[proudnavymom]

Thanks haulingthescoreup.  That does help.  

[MarineVietVet]

Just to clarify what HTSU wrote: --Your AAoA is calculated on all reported accounts, whether open or closed, revolving or installment, clean or "dirty." They have to be on your Accounts page, so things like liens aren't counted.

Not only liens but any PR (Public Record) and collections are not counted in your AAoA.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[proudnavymom]

Thanks for the clarification.  Luckily, I do not have any liens or public records, but do  have quite a few collections, mostly medical.  So if I'm understanding this correctly, since collections don't count toward the AAoA, it could only help to get these accounts deleted.  I will try to get them to agree to a PFD.  On a side note, something strange happened the other day.  I had a medical collection through NCO-Medclear that was scheduled to come off in April of 2012, but it was deleted this week.  I haven't had any contact with this CA at all.  The other account I have with the same CA is still there, and is not scheduled to come off until June 2013.  I also received a dunning notice from LHR on 12/19/2011 indicating that they had just purchased an account of mine.  I sent them a DV letter on 1/9/2012, which they signed the receipt for on 1/12/2012.  I received a letter dated 1/13/2012 saying that they had received my DV request and that documentation had been ordered.  This week, on 1/27/2012 this account showed up on my credit report noting the date reported was 1/1/2012.  It was not reported before then.  Is it normal to take that long for an account to show up from a reported date of 1/1/2012?    They did say in their response to my DV letter that my account will be suspended from their credit report submissions until the time that the debt had been validated.  It just seems strange to me that this account was not reported on my CR until after I sent the DV letter and seems kind of strange to me that it would take that long to show on my credit report. Any information will be appreciated.  

[MarineVietVet]

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@proudnavymom wrote:

Thanks for the clarification.  Luckily, I do not have any liens or public records, but do  have quite a few collections, mostly medical.  So if I'm understanding this correctly, since collections don't count toward the AAoA, it could only help to get these accounts deleted.  I will try to get them to agree to a PFD.  On a side note, something strange happened the other day.  I had a medical collection through NCO-Medclear that was scheduled to come off in April of 2012, but it was deleted this week.  I haven't had any contact with this CA at all.  The other account I have with the same CA is still there, and is not scheduled to come off until June 2013.  I also received a dunning notice from LHR on 12/19/2011 indicating that they had just purchased an account of mine.  I sent them a DV letter on 1/9/2012, which they signed the receipt for on 1/12/2012.  I received a letter dated 1/13/2012 saying that they had received my DV request and that documentation had been ordered.  This week, on 1/27/2012 this account showed up on my credit report noting the date reported was 1/1/2012.  It was not reported before then.  Is it normal to take that long for an account to show up from a reported date of 1/1/2012?    They did say in their response to my DV letter that my account will be suspended from their credit report submissions until the time that the debt had been validated.  It just seems strange to me that this account was not reported on my CR until after I sent the DV letter and seems kind of strange to me that it would take that long to show on my credit report. Any information will be appreciated.  

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There is no way to understand why CA's do some of the things they do. They have no specific time requirement as to when they report a collection. CA's are indeed strange creatures!

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".