newbie with a 576..need help!

[Anonymous]

Hello. I've been reading through the forum here and am impressed with the knowledge so many of you have, and I'm hoping someone can help me in my struggle. I am 24 years old and became very credit aware after being rejected for credit so much. I was puzzled about why because I had a credit card or two at that time back in 2008 when I started becoming credit-aware and I always made my payments on time since opening my first Cap One, Chase, and Macy's cards back in 2006. Come to find out I had a medical collection on my report--not one, but TWO of them. I called up the CA--they were called Escallate. Each of the accounts was for $800 something but they offered to settle for $396 on each account. I didn't even have to ask for a settle--they just offered it. So that was cool. I asked them if paying would take it off my credit report, and the person said it could, but it could also remain for 7 years, but that they would immediately mark it as "Paid." Sadly, these 2 collections are still sitting on my credit report marked as Paid. And I want them OFF bad! I don't have another 2 years to wait for the SOL to run out. Along with finding the news of that collection, I also saw that having my credit cards maxed out (even though I paid on time) was killing my score. So I decided to pay off the cards, and I did, but then I immediately ran them back up. Silly me. But now I am paying them off and they are going to STAY paid off.

Here is my current situation:

I'm sitting at a 576 FICO on TransUnion as of Dec 2011. I have signed up for the myfico quarterly monitoring, so I should be getting a recent score soon. I am looking to get my score above 620 as quickly as possible so my fiance and I can try to qualify for a mortgage. The things hurting me most on my report so far is the Paid collection from Escallate, and a 60 day past due from Macy's in July 2011, a 30 day past due with Cap One in June 2011, a 30 day past due with Chase in June 2011, and a 30 day past due with HSBC in June 2011. The summer was NOT a good few months for me. I was stuck in an emergency custody situation with my infant daughter after her father took her at 4 weeks old and ran off. And I needed money for attorney's, so my bills fell behind. I want to try and Goodwill these baddies off, as they are my only baddies with these accounts. I already sent a GW letter to Cap One since I threw down a $700 payment on my maxed out 1000 credit limit. I sent a GW to Macys because I slapped down a $700 payment with them also on my 1000 credit limit. And I sent out GW's to GE money bank because back in 2007-2008 I had a Walmart and Sams Club card that I was 30 days late on one time because time got away from me and I forgot to pay them, and so I got frustrated and paid them off and closed the accounts. I figured less credit cards open the less I would have to worry about due dates. I have many inquiries also, mostly back in Aug 2011 because my car decided to take a crap on me so I needed a loan. No one would give me a loan without a co-signer, so with a cosigner I managed to get a 15k car with a very very low interest rate using the 6k I got for trading in my old car and then financing the rest. I owe about 8k now on the car. I'm paying off the remainder of my credit cards over the next 1-2 months and then am going to be dropping $1200 a month on my car to have it paid off by Dec 2012.

Before researching the board here and the internet, I stupidly disputed some of my accounts online. Someone told me dispute my few late payments as a computer glitch on creditors end since I pay online. Now I'm learning that I should have just stuck with a GW, which I'm still going to GW them but my stupid dispute has probably ruined all chances of a successful Goodwill. I sent in to the CRA proof of my address and name since there were a few misspellings in my name and many mispellings in my address.

So basically, where can I begin now since I already messed up the process by starting a dispute before researching?

Thus far today I have

-GW to Cap One on 3/7.
-GW to Macys on 3/7
-GW to GE Bank on 3/7
-Sent to CRA's proof of my address and name on 3/7 as well.

After I pay off 80% of my credit limits to Chase and HSBC the end of this money I am going to GW them to remove my one 30 day late payment with them back in Jun 2011.

Should I wait until the CRA's correct my name and remove old and inaccurate addresses before going any further? Should I Hippa the paid collections? If so, when should I start that process?

Can anyone recommend a good site that will monitor my credit reports/scores on a daily basis that doesn't cost an arm and leg?

Thanks

[Lois5669]

Wow! To me, it looks like you are on the right track and doing everything you need to do. It couldn't hurt to try the HIPAA process on those 2 paid medicals. Worth a shot.

I just wanted to suggest USAA as a CMS. You get daily reports for around $13/month. I love it. They send alerts to your cell phone if anything changes, like a new account or inquiry.

[Anonymous]

After reading a post on here with success with Chase, I decided to email the big man there and he called me within an hour after sending my letter. He was VERY nice. He said he understands my circumstances where I fell behind and he understood my concerns about how the late payment is affecting my credit score. He said he will be looking into helping me in anyway he can. And he gave me his number and said I should be hearing back from him on Monday. !!