looking for answers

[Anonymous]

i am just wondering if anyone can help me out here. my credit is pretty bad. i do not owe a single penny to credit cards all my debt is bills that i didn't pay when i was young and dumb, and didn't know the importance of credit. now that i'm 25  i realize how stupid i was. i've got verizon cell phone bills, money owed to a bank, a book club account, an old electric bill and an old house phone bill. all of these accounts have been listed with collection agencies. This year, when i got my tax return, i paid off a few of the other accounts that i had and my credit score went up 14 points (not a lot, i know, but it was a pretty big deal for me). my question is: if i pay off the remaining accounts with next years return, will it help my chances of getting better credit? my balances will all be $0.00, but the dates of these accounts are all under 7 years. will the fact that i no longer have a balance due help me? or are al those dates still going to ruin my chances until my 7 years is up?

also, it says on my report that what is hurting my score is no major credit cards... but i can't get approved to have one because of the limited credit history with cards and the past due accounts.... any advice on getting one? i've looked into the secured cards, but #1 i can't come up with the $300 to start, and #2 i just can't see paying that much to have a card.  it also says the number of delinquent accounts is hurting me (back to origianl question) are they still going to be considered deliquent if i pay the balances off?

[mauve]

Good first step!

You have a few options.  You can pay off everything and then send goodwill letters hoping to get the negative history deleted.  You can also start sending goodwill letters to the paid ones and start sending pay-for-delete letters to the unpaid ones.  Secured cards don't seem attractive, but you aren't *paying* $300 for them - you're *depositing* $300.  I.E., you may be paying fees, but the deposit part is money that you get back.  If you need to save it up, why not do it?  There are some that convert after a year of on time payments into unsecured cards.  It's an investment in your credit history. 

Also, no, you do not have to wait 7 years for any improvement.  Negative information affects you less and less as time goes by.  However, you seem to ONLY have negative history, so I'd concentrate on first making sure you don't have lingering debts and then work on establishing a positive credit history - otherwise, you will have NO history when the last negative item ages off.

[diveforfun97]

Welcome!  I agree with what Mauve said (smart cookie that mauve).  However let me inform you af another option and that would be to send a debt verification letter to every account that is negative that is unpaid.  There are examples of the DV letters, and GW letterin this forum.  By sending a DV letter it will make the company verify that they still have the ebt, and since you said that some of these account are old utilities you might be surprised how many will get deleted just for the fact that they cant find them.  Just an option, but I am a big advocate of if you owe money....pay it.

[Anonymous]

thank you for your quick responses. i would definatly feel better about myself if I paid them off instead of just getting them deleted. There is the verizon cell phone account... it is listed with MCM and when i tried to settle it with them this year, they told me that the account was moved to another collection agency, and they no longer handled it. but it is still listed as being with them as of today. so i will definatly send them the verification letter... because that seems odd that they say they don't have it, but experian says they do...

as for the secured credit card.. i believe i will start saving a little more each month so that i can get one in the future, because as maube said, when the negative posts are removed, i'll have NO history.

thanks again for your help

current score: EX 563 EQ 549 TU 563

GOAL 700

(i do realize this score will not be reached in 2010, but possibly next year.