A little Direction needed!

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I am trying to get my score in line to purchase a home and recently pulled my three reports. What I would like to know is what priority to put on the issues found in my reports. Any advice is greatly appreciated. My current scores are: TU 574 EXP 574 EQU 691

1. 4 traffic fines/collections, Reported to EXP and TU Planned to have all paid by June 22nd

2. An old PGE collection due to be removed this month, Reported to EXP and TU, 7 years old in April. Unpaid  

3. collection to remain until July 2012 (7 years old in July)

4. Judgement reported to only EXP due to be removed in August,  (7 years old in Aug)

5. One 30 day late dated July 2010 on a loan (which is paid off) The late was an oversight. Sent GW letter April 8th

6. Chase card three 30day lates dating may 2011, Jan and Aug 2010. Sent GW letter April 8th asking to remove 30 day lates, Account is in good standing

I have 5 credit cards as follows:

Merrick bank Credit limit 1950.  Bal: 1000.00

Khols: limit 300.00 Bal: 0.00

Cap 1: Limit 500.00 Bal:0.00

HSBC: Limit 320.00 Bal: 74.00

1st Premiere: 600.00 Bal: 340.00

I have put together a budget to pay all credit cards off by August 2012.

I have one car loan in good standing no lates with a Bal: of 7800.00 monthly payment 417.00

I am new here so Im not sure if I have provided enough detail for dirtection. If more detail is needed just let me know.

Thank you all in advance!

[Crashem]

Well, you do have a lot of things to look at.  First off, see if you can get the traffic fines REMOVED from your credit file if you pay.  Doublecheck that the judgement will actually come off as if it is unpaid, they can renew it and keep having it reported.  On the other ones that are falling off later this year, try and see if you have documentation on when the SOL started so if they try and keep it on longer, you can dispute it.  Here is the sad part, basically until ALL the collections/judgements/negatives aside from late pays fall off, you will be the damaged FICO scorecard which will limit your FICO score to low 700's max.

So do your best with the collections/judgements/late pays.  When you think you have done as best you can, then work on your utilization.  Best scenario is 0 balance on all cards and a very small balance on one card reporting (small being like 1% to 9%).  At that point, you will have your best FICO score you can have in the near future and if you are looking for credit, that is probably the best you can do.

[Anonymous]

Crashem

Thank you for your direction.

[RobertEG]

+1

Removing major derogs, such as collections, charge-offs, and judgments, would be the first step.

The killers are the unpaid major derogs.  While their status as paid or unpaid may not enter directly into your FICO score, they can be a real show-stopper in a lending decision, as having a record of not only having major derogs, but still having failed to satisfy the debt, is a huge negative in the eyes of a creditor.

Getting that old debt both paid and the derog associated with it removed from your CR is the ideal.  The path to do that is by way of PFD offers.

If you have the $$ to throw at the problem, you might want to consider making PFD offers on the bad debt under collection.

CR  deletion might not shield a future creditor from still becoming aware of unpaid, bad debt.  They may simply ask if you have any unpaid, bad debt, or under some circumstances, can still get access to that information from your credit file, even though the normal CR exclusion period has expired.  Not typical, but possible.