old collection account.....advice

[Anonymous]

i have an older "open - collection/charge-off" for an ikea card i opened in 2009. It seems that's screwing up my utilization ratio. I'm trying to seriously get my credit score up. What would you guys recommend to do. the credit limit on the card was 400 bucks and it's reporting a 600 buck balance. I haves the money to pay it off but I'm not sure if that's the best option to up my credit score. what would be the route to take to get this erased? any advice?

[Anonymous]

1) you can try for a PFD on the account

2) review the original agreement that led to the collection to see if the collection agency has illegally added fess to the balance

[Anonymous]

southeast, how do i go about getting my hands on that agreement? thanks dood