Rebuilding my credit PART Two..Need all the help I can get.

[saywhaat04]

Hi folks!

A year or so ago I was looking for some help on rebuilding my credit. I got some really good feedback back then but I can't seem to find those posts now. I'm a year and some change into the rebuilding process and its been slowly successful for me as I've had a few setbacks with jobs and things of that Nature but right now I'm working full time, have a few credit cards now and just recently got my balances down to around 10 percent of the total limits. I've seen my Fico score go from around 560 to currently 620 or so. I feel like the process is a bit too slow and I'm sure my very high credit card balances for the last couple of months have probably slowed down the growth..So what can I do to speed up the process?

I have three cards...CreditOne Bank, BB Reward Zone card and a Capital One card. I keep the balances low because the interest on all three of them are so darn high. l've gotten one Credit Line increase from Credit One and One from Capital one both went from $300 to $500. BB Reward Zone has not given me one yet. I pay more than the minimum now but there was a time when I could only pay the basic amounts. I'd like some credit line increases with some interest rates decrease any suggestions on how to go about getting these things? I was able to get CapOne to drop their annual fee earlier this years because of my own time payments and because of my good credit listing with my car  which is also financed thru CapOne. Should I drop these cards or should I diversify my type of credit cards..Like getting a Walmart credit card or applying for a gas card?

I've never been late on any of them, or at least not reportably late. 

I have a car loan now, started out paying just the minimum payments but now I'm doubling them and pretty soon will be paying around $1000/month to get it paid off quickly (I want to go back to college in August) Will paying off the car too quickly actually hurt me??? I've got a 60 month loan but I'm on track to have it paid off by June of next year...which would end up being around 27 or 28 months. I want to go back to school and I don't want to be worried about anything major as far as bills except for Rent.

For the last two years or so I haven't been late on anything, at least not according to my credit reports but years PRIOR to that I had a lot of 30, 60 and even some 90 days late payments..Should I be writing good will letters for these issues?

I've got about 4 charge offs that I'd like to handle but they should be coming off my credit in three or four years, what is the best way to deal with those? I'd LIKE to pay them but I've read too many stories of folks trying to do that and getting burned even further. I had two delinquent credit cards from my college days that I did pay off that didn't help my score..I should write those companies some GW letter and see what happens.

I also have a student loan that I was forever late on after leaving college but for the last three years or so I have paid it on time (but I've only paid the minimum) I'm in a position now where I can afford to pay more and starting this month I will be quadrupling the amount I pay to get it paid off quickly, but I wonder if I could write them a GW letter to have all of the negative information corrected since I have been on time for over three years now, surely that would help my score would it not?

I'm aiming for at least 650 across the board on all my scores, is that being realistic? I'd also like to get my scores around 750 or so by this time next year, again, I'm being reasonable and realistic?   

I'm not really interested in buying another car anytime soon, but once I'm done with school I'd like to look into buying a house. I'm 25 soon to be 26 and lord knows I'm paying for all the stupid mistakes I made in my late teens/early 20s but at least I'm being responsible now and I feel like I'm on the right track, I just want to speed the process up some. I'm in a position where I can afford to do it and I thank the good Lord for it! Thanks for any help you all can give me! I LOVE this place!!!

[MarineVietVet]

Welcome back.

Here are those older posts: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Rebuilding-credit/m-p/609646/highlight/true#M...

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".

[saywhaat04]

thank you!!!

[mAndrew1980]

The advice people have given me about unpaid collections is sending the CA's PFD letters. If you run a search on MyFico, you should be able to find a bunch of examples. For all the paid collections, send GW letters. Tons of success stories for PFD and GW success on here.

How long have you had your BB card and what was your score when you got it?

[guydiver]

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@saywhaat04 wrote:

Hi folks!

A year or so ago I was looking for some help on rebuilding my credit. I got some really good feedback back then but I can't seem to find those posts now. I'm a year and some change into the rebuilding process and its been slowly successful for me as I've had a few setbacks with jobs and things of that Nature but right now I'm working full time, have a few credit cards now and just recently got my balances down to around 10 percent of the total limits. I've seen my Fico score go from around 560 to currently 620 or so. I feel like the process is a bit too slow and I'm sure my very high credit card balances for the last couple of months have probably slowed down the growth..So what can I do to speed up the process?

I have three cards...CreditOne Bank, BB Reward Zone card and a Capital One card. I keep the balances low because the interest on all three of them are so darn high. l've gotten one Credit Line increase from Credit One and One from Capital one both went from $300 to $500. BB Reward Zone has not given me one yet. I pay more than the minimum now but there was a time when I could only pay the basic amounts. I'd like some credit line increases with some interest rates decrease any suggestions on how to go about getting these things? I was able to get CapOne to drop their annual fee earlier this years because of my own time payments and because of my good credit listing with my car  which is also financed thru CapOne. Should I drop these cards or should I diversify my type of credit cards..Like getting a Walmart credit card or applying for a gas card?

I've never been late on any of them, or at least not reportably late. 

I have a car loan now, started out paying just the minimum payments but now I'm doubling them and pretty soon will be paying around $1000/month to get it paid off quickly (I want to go back to college in August) Will paying off the car too quickly actually hurt me??? I've got a 60 month loan but I'm on track to have it paid off by June of next year...which would end up being around 27 or 28 months. I want to go back to school and I don't want to be worried about anything major as far as bills except for Rent.

For the last two years or so I haven't been late on anything, at least not according to my credit reports but years PRIOR to that I had a lot of 30, 60 and even some 90 days late payments..Should I be writing good will letters for these issues?

I've got about 4 charge offs that I'd like to handle but they should be coming off my credit in three or four years, what is the best way to deal with those? I'd LIKE to pay them but I've read too many stories of folks trying to do that and getting burned even further. I had two delinquent credit cards from my college days that I did pay off that didn't help my score..I should write those companies some GW letter and see what happens.

I also have a student loan that I was forever late on after leaving college but for the last three years or so I have paid it on time (but I've only paid the minimum) I'm in a position now where I can afford to pay more and starting this month I will be quadrupling the amount I pay to get it paid off quickly, but I wonder if I could write them a GW letter to have all of the negative information corrected since I have been on time for over three years now, surely that would help my score would it not?

I'm aiming for at least 650 across the board on all my scores, is that being realistic? I'd also like to get my scores around 750 or so by this time next year, again, I'm being reasonable and realistic?   

I'm not really interested in buying another car anytime soon, but once I'm done with school I'd like to look into buying a house. I'm 25 soon to be 26 and lord knows I'm paying for all the stupid mistakes I made in my late teens/early 20s but at least I'm being responsible now and I feel like I'm on the right track, I just want to speed the process up some. I'm in a position where I can afford to do it and I thank the good Lord for it! Thanks for any help you all can give me! I LOVE this place!!!

---

IMHO you have too many major derogs for this level of Fico score.  I do not believe you can attain this with a CO on your report, unless possibly it was very old and your reports were super clean otherwise.  Even getting to 700 takes some doing with those on your reports.  Try to get a PFD for each of them, and remember, a paid CO scores the same as an unpaid CO for Fico scoring purposes. Unless you can get it removed, it will score the same either way.   Upside is paying it keeps them from suing you and /or getting a judgement.  You most likely cannot get a mortgage without paying them either.  You can read about Fico scoring "buckets" on here, that's where they put you when you have a major derog like a CO.  Keep paying things off, that will help some, but probably not near as much as having negatives removed.  GW letters are a good idea, never hurts to try,try,and try again.  Every little bit will help you.  Applying for more credit will not help you.  You need to clean up your reports before getting any new credit, otherwise you will just get low limit,high interest sub-prime cards and hard inquiries on your reports that can lower your score even more.  Keep your revolving credit(credit cards) utilization less than 10% on one card and pay off the others before they report each month.  And never, ever miss another payment.   Good luck.

[saywhaat04]

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@mAndrew1980 wrote:

The advice people have given me about unpaid collections is sending the CA's PFD letters. If you run a search on MyFico, you should be able to find a bunch of examples. For all the paid collections, send GW letters. Tons of success stories for PFD and GW success on here.

How long have you had your BB card and what was your score when you got it?

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My score was right aroud 590 when I got the BB card, I've had it for about 16 months now. Definitely gonnna look into doing some GW and PFDs offer the thanksgiving holiday!! Thanks for your help!

[saywhaat04]

 Definitely going to work on cleaning things up over the TG holiday when I have some major time off work! Thanks! Most of the charge off date back to around 2006 or 2007. So I have about three years before they will come off. If something is charged off does it make more sense to deal with the original creditor or to deal with whoever has bought the bad debt???

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@guydiver wrote:

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@saywhaat04 wrote:

Hi folks!

A year or so ago I was looking for some help on rebuilding my credit. I got some really good feedback back then but I can't seem to find those posts now. I'm a year and some change into the rebuilding process and its been slowly successful for me as I've had a few setbacks with jobs and things of that Nature but right now I'm working full time, have a few credit cards now and just recently got my balances down to around 10 percent of the total limits. I've seen my Fico score go from around 560 to currently 620 or so. I feel like the process is a bit too slow and I'm sure my very high credit card balances for the last couple of months have probably slowed down the growth..So what can I do to speed up the process?

I have three cards...CreditOne Bank, BB Reward Zone card and a Capital One card. I keep the balances low because the interest on all three of them are so darn high. l've gotten one Credit Line increase from Credit One and One from Capital one both went from $300 to $500. BB Reward Zone has not given me one yet. I pay more than the minimum now but there was a time when I could only pay the basic amounts. I'd like some credit line increases with some interest rates decrease any suggestions on how to go about getting these things? I was able to get CapOne to drop their annual fee earlier this years because of my own time payments and because of my good credit listing with my car  which is also financed thru CapOne. Should I drop these cards or should I diversify my type of credit cards..Like getting a Walmart credit card or applying for a gas card?

I've never been late on any of them, or at least not reportably late. 

I have a car loan now, started out paying just the minimum payments but now I'm doubling them and pretty soon will be paying around $1000/month to get it paid off quickly (I want to go back to college in August) Will paying off the car too quickly actually hurt me??? I've got a 60 month loan but I'm on track to have it paid off by June of next year...which would end up being around 27 or 28 months. I want to go back to school and I don't want to be worried about anything major as far as bills except for Rent.

For the last two years or so I haven't been late on anything, at least not according to my credit reports but years PRIOR to that I had a lot of 30, 60 and even some 90 days late payments..Should I be writing good will letters for these issues?

I've got about 4 charge offs that I'd like to handle but they should be coming off my credit in three or four years, what is the best way to deal with those? I'd LIKE to pay them but I've read too many stories of folks trying to do that and getting burned even further. I had two delinquent credit cards from my college days that I did pay off that didn't help my score..I should write those companies some GW letter and see what happens.

I also have a student loan that I was forever late on after leaving college but for the last three years or so I have paid it on time (but I've only paid the minimum) I'm in a position now where I can afford to pay more and starting this month I will be quadrupling the amount I pay to get it paid off quickly, but I wonder if I could write them a GW letter to have all of the negative information corrected since I have been on time for over three years now, surely that would help my score would it not?

I'm aiming for at least 650 across the board on all my scores, is that being realistic? I'd also like to get my scores around 750 or so by this time next year, again, I'm being reasonable and realistic?   

I'm not really interested in buying another car anytime soon, but once I'm done with school I'd like to look into buying a house. I'm 25 soon to be 26 and lord knows I'm paying for all the stupid mistakes I made in my late teens/early 20s but at least I'm being responsible now and I feel like I'm on the right track, I just want to speed the process up some. I'm in a position where I can afford to do it and I thank the good Lord for it! Thanks for any help you all can give me! I LOVE this place!!!

---

IMHO you have too many major derogs for this level of Fico score.  I do not believe you can attain this with a CO on your report, unless possibly it was very old and your reports were super clean otherwise.  Even getting to 700 takes some doing with those on your reports.  Try to get a PFD for each of them, and remember, a paid CO scores the same as an unpaid CO for Fico scoring purposes. Unless you can get it removed, it will score the same either way.   Upside is paying it keeps them from suing you and /or getting a judgement.  You most likely cannot get a mortgage without paying them either.  You can read about Fico scoring "buckets" on here, that's where they put you when you have a major derog like a CO.  Keep paying things off, that will help some, but probably not near as much as having negatives removed.  GW letters are a good idea, never hurts to try,try,and try again.  Every little bit will help you.  Applying for more credit will not help you.  You need to clean up your reports before getting any new credit, otherwise you will just get low limit,high interest sub-prime cards and hard inquiries on your reports that can lower your score even more.  Keep your revolving credit(credit cards) utilization less than 10% on one card and pay off the others before they report each month.  And never, ever miss another payment.   Good luck.

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[saywhaat04]

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@saywhaat04 wrote:

 Definitely going to work on cleaning things up over the TG holiday when I have some major time off work! Thanks! Most of the charge off date back to around 2006 or 2007. So I have about three years before they will come off. If something is charged off does it make more sense to deal with the original creditor or to deal with whoever has bought the bad debt???

---

@guydiver wrote:

---

@saywhaat04 wrote:

Hi folks!

A year or so ago I was looking for some help on rebuilding my credit. I got some really good feedback back then but I can't seem to find those posts now. I'm a year and some change into the rebuilding process and its been slowly successful for me as I've had a few setbacks with jobs and things of that Nature but right now I'm working full time, have a few credit cards now and just recently got my balances down to around 10 percent of the total limits. I've seen my Fico score go from around 560 to currently 620 or so. I feel like the process is a bit too slow and I'm sure my very high credit card balances for the last couple of months have probably slowed down the growth..So what can I do to speed up the process?

I have three cards...CreditOne Bank, BB Reward Zone card and a Capital One card. I keep the balances low because the interest on all three of them are so darn high. l've gotten one Credit Line increase from Credit One and One from Capital one both went from $300 to $500. BB Reward Zone has not given me one yet. I pay more than the minimum now but there was a time when I could only pay the basic amounts. I'd like some credit line increases with some interest rates decrease any suggestions on how to go about getting these things? I was able to get CapOne to drop their annual fee earlier this years because of my own time payments and because of my good credit listing with my car  which is also financed thru CapOne. Should I drop these cards or should I diversify my type of credit cards..Like getting a Walmart credit card or applying for a gas card?

I've never been late on any of them, or at least not reportably late. 

I have a car loan now, started out paying just the minimum payments but now I'm doubling them and pretty soon will be paying around $1000/month to get it paid off quickly (I want to go back to college in August) Will paying off the car too quickly actually hurt me??? I've got a 60 month loan but I'm on track to have it paid off by June of next year...which would end up being around 27 or 28 months. I want to go back to school and I don't want to be worried about anything major as far as bills except for Rent.

For the last two years or so I haven't been late on anything, at least not according to my credit reports but years PRIOR to that I had a lot of 30, 60 and even some 90 days late payments..Should I be writing good will letters for these issues?

I've got about 4 charge offs that I'd like to handle but they should be coming off my credit in three or four years, what is the best way to deal with those? I'd LIKE to pay them but I've read too many stories of folks trying to do that and getting burned even further. I had two delinquent credit cards from my college days that I did pay off that didn't help my score..I should write those companies some GW letter and see what happens.

I also have a student loan that I was forever late on after leaving college but for the last three years or so I have paid it on time (but I've only paid the minimum) I'm in a position now where I can afford to pay more and starting this month I will be quadrupling the amount I pay to get it paid off quickly, but I wonder if I could write them a GW letter to have all of the negative information corrected since I have been on time for over three years now, surely that would help my score would it not?

I'm aiming for at least 650 across the board on all my scores, is that being realistic? I'd also like to get my scores around 750 or so by this time next year, again, I'm being reasonable and realistic?   

I'm not really interested in buying another car anytime soon, but once I'm done with school I'd like to look into buying a house. I'm 25 soon to be 26 and lord knows I'm paying for all the stupid mistakes I made in my late teens/early 20s but at least I'm being responsible now and I feel like I'm on the right track, I just want to speed the process up some. I'm in a position where I can afford to do it and I thank the good Lord for it! Thanks for any help you all can give me! I LOVE this place!!!

---

IMHO you have too many major derogs for this level of Fico score.  I do not believe you can attain this with a CO on your report, unless possibly it was very old and your reports were super clean otherwise.  Even getting to 700 takes some doing with those on your reports.  Try to get a PFD for each of them, and remember, a paid CO scores the same as an unpaid CO for Fico scoring purposes. Unless you can get it removed, it will score the same either way.   Upside is paying it keeps them from suing you and /or getting a judgement.  You most likely cannot get a mortgage without paying them either.  You can read about Fico scoring "buckets" on here, that's where they put you when you have a major derog like a CO.  Keep paying things off, that will help some, but probably not near as much as having negatives removed.  GW letters are a good idea, never hurts to try,try,and try again.  Every little bit will help you.  Applying for more credit will not help you.  You need to clean up your reports before getting any new credit, otherwise you will just get low limit,high interest sub-prime cards and hard inquiries on your reports that can lower your score even more.  Keep your revolving credit(credit cards) utilization less than 10% on one card and pay off the others before they report each month.  And never, ever miss another payment.   Good luck.

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Good news!!! I just checked my expeiran score, its now a 665 thanks to the low balances on my credit cards! I also got a 150 credit limit increase with CreditOne that I just saw show up on my online bill statements. so at least for one of my scores I'm now above 650 which is where I wanted to be by the end of the year! Still waiting to see what Myfico says this week about Equifax.  Is there anyway I can get a Transunion score? Thanks guys and gals! I'm gonna really dig into this website this weekend while I'm on some hometime (truck driver) and get started on PFDs and GW letters!!! This website is AWESOME!!!!