Rebuilding Credit after irresponsible years

Anonymous · ‎08-19-2016

What's the best way I can rebuild credit aside from paying off baddies?

I have 5 baddies ranging from $250-$1850 from 2011-2014.

Obviously paying them would do the most but I can't afford to right now.

CatOfSpades · ‎08-19-2016

Can you earn enough extra money somewhere or sell enough stuff to settle them? That will help. Better than leaving them open and negative.

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Anonymous · ‎08-20-2016

You're going to have to find a way to settle them, because putting your money towards new credit before paying off your debts is just going to put you in a worse situation.

You can try for a secured Capital One, they offer a low deposit of $99.

Anonymous · ‎08-20-2016

Lowkeyorca - I app'd for the CapitalOne Secured here's what happened.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Help-CapOne-Secured-App-Issues/m-p/472110...

RobertEG · ‎08-20-2016

Offering a pay for deletion (PFD) is usually the best step for both removing derogs, and thus obtaining a score improvement, and discharging the debt.

If you cannot pay a legitimate debt, then you have liitle in the way of incentive for obtaining deletion of derogs, and must wait for the full credit report exclusion period to remove the derogs from scoring.

Anonymous · ‎08-20-2016

RobertEG - 2 of the derogs were handled by a CA which no longer possesses collection authority primarily due to mishandling. And for both of mine they jumped the prices Example: one was $150 for Time Warner and once they got it the bill became $500.

I read another thread that said you could dispute them and they would be removed because the company no longer exists or possesses collection authority.

But when I attempted to go into the online dispute system for all 3 CB's it gave me a security message saying they couldn't process anything. What can I do? Would they allow me call and dispute over the phone?

I think 2/5 removals would really help my CS

elim · ‎08-20-2016

Add positive tradelines (share secured loan, and a couple CC's). These will make some green marks on your reports and eventually outweigh the baddies you can't get removed and show a history of responsible use.

You came to the right place. :]

Anonymous · ‎08-20-2016

Thanks for the advice I got a secured CC and a secured personal loan. Do the CB's weight them less since they're secured?

I like these forums they're very useful!

Anonymous · ‎08-21-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Lowkeyorca - I app'd for the CapitalOne Secured here's what happened.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Help-CapOne-Secured-App-Issues/m-p/4721106

You should not be listing student grants and loans as income. It is not income. If you do not have an income you should be listing 0 and if there's an area for "additional income" with a field for explaining what it is you can list it there.

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the advice I got a secured CC and a secured personal loan. Do the CB's weight them less since they're secured?

I like these forums they're very useful!

I'm confused as to how you got both a secured CC and a secured personal loan if you can't afford to pay any of your outstanding debt? You might want to give yourself a reality check about whether or not you can afford to pay them or if it's the fact that you just don't want to.

Building a positive history will help you in the long run, but your delinquent debt will always outweigh the positive work you do.

Anonymous · ‎08-21-2016

Lowkeyorca - A secured personal loan costs essentially nothing. I gave them $500 and they returned it to me the same day. In the long run for a 24 month loan secured it costs me less than $20.

As for the secured card I got a $400 limit which is what I can afford and it will be given back in a year.

So yes I can afford $420 but nothing more than that. Combined my baddies add up to maybe $4,000 give or take. A few of them have been highly inflated from what I owe the original creditors. Example I owe $500 to sprint which is now $1,067 according to the collections agency. Another example I owe $150 to Time Warner which now is $500 according to the collection agency.

I could pay maybe one off but I've been told since I live in CA there's a SOL of 4 years and once things are past that I should offer 30% of whatever the original debt is and they will likely accept it. Is this not true?