Hi All,
A very close freind of mine revealed he has a credit score of 550. He told me he filed for bankruptcy several years ago, and that although this has fallen off of his credit report, his score is still very low. He has 2 items on his credit report from collections, both over 3 years old: a medical bill, and a cell phone bill. He told me he feels so discouraged b/c he can't seem to be approved for any credit, and as a result, simply uses cash for all of his transactions. I commend him for sharing this with me, as he told me it's difficult to talk about and he's ashamed.
I really want to help him, but I'm not sure what to do. I had very poor credit 5 years ago..My FICO score was 600. Today, it's nearly 800 (yay!),and it's b/c I'm very responsible with money and keep my 2 credit cards at a zero balance every month. I also pay my bills on time. However, part of fixing my own bad credit involved paying off collections (I had between 5-6 accounts sent to 3rd party collectors).
What recommendations can I give to my friend that will help him improve his credit score?
I want to recommend that he pay off the collections, but I don't know if this will help him (it did help me, but it I had tons of problems w/the collections agencies. ).
Thank you for your advice!!
