What Area should I repair next?

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

Hi all,

I want to bring my vantage score and fico score up. I use creditkarma just to get a very rough estimate where my credit is going. I don't use it as gospel though.

But, according to my CK report I have the following:

Utilization: 8%

Collections: 0

Late Payments: 5

Credit Age: 4 years

Hard Inquiries: 5

Steps I have taken so far:

Late Payments: Contacted all creditors with goodwill letters. So far 2 of them likely to be removed (fingers crossed).

Collections: I have 5 closed collections accounts that are 5-6 years old now. 4 paid in full and 1 settled.

Hard Inquiries: 2 years coming up in June of this year.

What should I target based on this information?

If you guys recommend I don't do anything at this point and wait for the late payments to be removed. Say I leave the rest as is what can my credit score look like at the end of the year?

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

You state you have zero collections then state you have 5 closed collections, which is correct? What have you done to rebuild, any credit cards, installment loans?

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

Ah yes, I expected I'd be asked about this. So, as you know those collections are already either been paid in full or one of them is settled. And they are 5-6 years old. I just changed states so I believe my SOL is now 6 years. But, under creditkarma I have 0 open deragatory marks that are actively circulating under collections.

Yes, I have student loans and 6 credit cards.

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

Have you tried disputing the collections since they are paid as 'not owed."

Do you have your paper credit reports?

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

I haven't disputed them yet. I thought they were no longer doing anything to my score. So, based on the information I've provided you suggest the next target site is to dispute those closed accounts? To be honest, I was on the same page.

I do have a paper report but it's a little over half a year old.

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

Do you know when your paper report say the collections will drop off?

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

Also, can you guide me through this process? And when mention they are paid as 'not owed.' I'm slightly confused about the wording there. Can you elaborate for me please?

Many thanks

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

My sincere apologies. I'm actually visiting my family out of town and don't have this info on me. But, if I were to guess they should all be coming off between 2019-2020.

There's a potential exception that I just recently moved to a new state and I believe the SOL is 6 years and not 7 so this moves my removal dates back one year to 2018-2019.

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
Also, can you guide me through this process? And when mention they are paid as 'not owed.' I'm slightly confused about the wording there. Can you elaborate for me please?

Many thanks

When you dispute, the CRA's will give you several reasons to choose from, if none fit your situation, you can write your own. Since you have paid the collections, you no longer owe, so use that as your reason.

Sometimes when you dispute a collection, the collection agency will update the info which may hurt your score. The experience that I've had though is that many will simply not respond and the CRA will have to delete. It's up to you if you want to dispute but that is my take on it.

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2018

I'm a little afraid about when you say the collection agency will update info and this could hurt my score. What kind of update would they make that hurts my score? Could they re-open it?