Terrible Credit

[janelle79]

I'm writing to hopefully get some advice from someone who has knowledge on repairing credit.  First, my credit is the pits, my 3 scores are all under 500- I will leave it at that.  I have about 3000.00 in outstanding debt- all old debt- at least 2 years old.  I have an auto loaned for 13,500 and a student loan for 7,000.  I also have a judgment for 3,000 which I paid but is not showing up as paid.  

My question is this- I am going to get a loan from a family member to pay off my old debt. However, at this point is it worth it? Will it increase my FICO Score at all? These debts are listed at charge offs, seriously past due, etc.  I am trying to determine what is should pay first and so on.  I heard you should start with your newest debt and work back, then I heard the opposite.  If anyone can offer me any advice id appreciate it.  Please don’t ask how I accrued all this debt and why I quit paying- I was young and dumb that’s all I can say and now I am paying for it. 

Thank you 

[Anonymous]

If the judgment is paid the courts have to report it as paid, it is the law! Now here comes the fun part, did whoever you pay the judgement to report this as paid in full to the courts? If they did not then the courts won't know it has been paid and believe me they will not take your word for it.

This is where it gets really nasty, it was YOUR responsibility to get a copy of the "Satisfaction of Judgement" paperwork when you paid off the judgment. If you failed to obtain this, then other CA's can actually try to collect on the judgment! Fair? No, but that is the American legal system for you. If I were you I'd get the judgment collector to send you a letter and a reciept stating that the judgment has been paid, and take it to the courthouse.

That BIG ding can stay on your credit report forever! Don't let people lie to you and say it has to be removed after 7 years! In most states judgments can be renewed, and when renewed they will actually show the current amount including all interest, and then it will look like a new judgment on your reports.

Get that taken care of first!

[janelle79]

Thank you.. I had no idea I had to do that. it does show with the court that the judgment was satisfied but not on my creidt report and they did stop garnishing my wages. so should did call the court or the credit card company? Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

As for the outstanding debts...are the COs...or collections???....If they are COs...you need to try and contact the OC...and see if they will accept payment....if so...pay them...COs reporting a balance hurts your scores...because the balances are still being calculated into your UTL...as for collections...you need to try and PFD them...don't just pay...simply paying collections will not increase your scores...

[Anonymous]

You're welcome.

Get a copy of the "Satisfaction of Judgement" paperwork, and send copies to all the CRA's. Let them all know the judgment is paid. That way they will have to mark that on your reports. Also, save several copies for yourself. Collection agencies sometimes go to courthouses and get a list of judgments. Then they try to collect on these whether they are paid or not, it happened to me this earlier this year. Thankfully I keep all my paperwork.

[janelle79]

Some are charge offs and some are collection accounts. I never heard of the PFD until today, I found a sample letter online, so I should mail that to the original creditor or the collection agency?

Thank you for your help

[Anonymous]

For the collections...try to contact the OC first...and see if they will accept payment...and pull the account out of collections...most of the time you will not get the OC to do a PFD...they will update as paid....and hopefull yyou can go back in with GW letters..to get the lates removed...for the COs...deal with the OC...