Hi all! I've been browsing these forums for a few years now and learned so much from here! Two years ago I was able to 'pay for delete' an old electricity bill and believe it or not a Comcast one! After emailing, writing letters and even posting on their facebook page, the right person finally contacted me back and promised removal from my reports...well anyway here I am again with a decent income and ready to tackle on the the rest of the debt I have. I have a lot of credit cards that I recently opened with low limits with on time payments. Here's a look at my credit profile basically.
TU: 582
EQ: 562
EX: 576
I have 7 collection accounts, 15 inquiries and 12 credit cards. 2 of them are secured cards with capital one and Citi that were opened back in May with $200 limits. All of my others cards are comenity store cards ranging from $250-$500 limits and 1 Target credit card. I want to at least get my scores in the 650 range and work on going up to the 700s after that but sadly (& most likely cause I opened so many new accounts) my scores have been stuck where they are at since pretty much opening the secured cards in May. They've maybe moved up/down by 20 points or so. Would the best options for me right now be to only work on the PFD's and GWs to get the baddies off my reports in order to increase my scores? I also have $32,000 in student loans that are in deferment. Last week I paid one of my collections off which was the lowest one for $30 from a medical office that MONEY RECOVERY NATIONWIDE took over... if anyone has a contact for them so I can send them a gw that would be great. The other collections accounts are
•Gold Key Credit Was Inc: $384 also a medical bill
•Enhanched Recovery Corp: Old sprint bill $1301 ( I NEVER used this account & the phone was returned to them and they still kept charging for a few months, when I realized I had this I tried to call and speak with different people about it and no one was helping out or understood, so I'm almost thinking of leaving this on until it's due to fall off my reports)
•Account Receivable Solutions: $45 for an ambulance
•Portfolio Recovery Associatss: old capital one secured card that charged off $110
If anyone has suggestions on what I should tackle first or get going with it would be greatly appreciated. I was also thinking of getting a co-signer on a small auto-loan only like $2500-$3000 I believe..would this help my score at all with the different credit mix? Also, would it help/be necessary if I increased my limit on the secured credit cards? I know with citi I won't be due to get my security deposit back until July of 2017 and I'm not quite sure with how capital one does it. Right now I make about 3-4 payments a month for each card and always pay In full or well over half of what's owed. They all are showing on time payments for 5 months now..I would love your opinions on what to do..later on down the line I want to be able to get approved for the gold cards and get a home loan in 2 or 3 years. Thanks in advance!
TU: 582
EQ: 562
EX: 576
I have 7 collection accounts, 15 inquiries and 12 credit cards. 2 of them are secured cards with capital one and Citi that were opened back in May with $200 limits. All of my others cards are comenity store cards ranging from $250-$500 limits and 1 Target credit card. I want to at least get my scores in the 650 range and work on going up to the 700s after that but sadly (& most likely cause I opened so many new accounts) my scores have been stuck where they are at since pretty much opening the secured cards in May. They've maybe moved up/down by 20 points or so. Would the best options for me right now be to only work on the PFD's and GWs to get the baddies off my reports in order to increase my scores? I also have $32,000 in student loans that are in deferment. Last week I paid one of my collections off which was the lowest one for $30 from a medical office that MONEY RECOVERY NATIONWIDE took over... if anyone has a contact for them so I can send them a gw that would be great. The other collections accounts are
•Gold Key Credit Was Inc: $384 also a medical bill
•Enhanched Recovery Corp: Old sprint bill $1301 ( I NEVER used this account & the phone was returned to them and they still kept charging for a few months, when I realized I had this I tried to call and speak with different people about it and no one was helping out or understood, so I'm almost thinking of leaving this on until it's due to fall off my reports)
•Account Receivable Solutions: $45 for an ambulance
•Portfolio Recovery Associatss: old capital one secured card that charged off $110
If anyone has suggestions on what I should tackle first or get going with it would be greatly appreciated. I was also thinking of getting a co-signer on a small auto-loan only like $2500-$3000 I believe..would this help my score at all with the different credit mix? Also, would it help/be necessary if I increased my limit on the secured credit cards? I know with citi I won't be due to get my security deposit back until July of 2017 and I'm not quite sure with how capital one does it. Right now I make about 3-4 payments a month for each card and always pay In full or well over half of what's owed. They all are showing on time payments for 5 months now..I would love your opinions on what to do..later on down the line I want to be able to get approved for the gold cards and get a home loan in 2 or 3 years. Thanks in advance!
You have a number of things hurting you right now:
- Collection Accounts
- Number of Inquiries
- Number of new Accounts
- Credit Limits
The good news is numbers 2-4 will automatically "self heal." Keep doing what you're doing...using credit responsibility and paying it off on time monthly. Time is your friend and you will see after a year from the date of each inquiry they will really stop hurting you and completely fall of after a year. Time will of course help your AAoA and you will likely be able to graduate from secured cards and see increased CLI's with only soft pulls. At this time I wouldn't concern myself with credit mix...no new credit...no new loan
Where you should expend all your energy is on your collections. You need to understand the statue of limitations for your state to see if you are at risk to be sued. You can also contact the OC to see if they will pull the accounts back and you can offer a PFD. If they don, offer a PFD to the CA. Both will likely be met with significant resistance, but well worth the effort. I should have mentioned understanding the DoFD for your accounts is important. That way if you can't be sued, and it's scheduled to fall off soon, you may choose not to do anything with the account. That doesn't mean your obligation to pay goes away, but the reporting will be excluded. Let your conscience rule.
Time, while painful, will go along way. Also don't be focused on your scores but rather on the health of your reports. If you do that, the scores will follow.
