How do I raise my score??????

[Anonymous]

I am cleaning up my credit (finally). I had several medical bills go into collections. I've paid off all of the medical bills except 1 which still has a balance of 600.00. Most of the others still show as unpaid, so I disputed them. Since they are already on my report, how much does paying them off, or my report showing them as paid really affect my score? I was told that it doesn't really affect it much since they had already gone to collections. I have 3 credit cards. One with a balance of 125.00 (Maximum credt available of 250.00). One with a balance of 430.00 (maximum credit available of 800.00) and one with a balance of 2100.00 (maximum credit available of 2500.00). If I pay 1000.00 on the highest credit card, how much will this raise my score and how quickly? What are the best ways to raise your scores, paying off old debt or paying off credit card balances?

Thanks for any and all responses

[cobaltnv]

Welcome to the forums. Medical collections are, to my understanding, the easiest to get removed. You must follow the HIPPA process (search these boards for teh details). Getting the collections removed would be a big step in improving your credit. I would probably suggest using $600 of your $1000 to pay off the remaining collection (be sure to get a PFD-paid for delete).

What to do with the remaining $$ depends on your situation. Are you trying to save $$ or get an immediate score increase? If you are not planning on applying for credit anytime soon I would take the path to save the most money and pay as much as you can on teh credit card with the highest APR. All your card are above 50% utilization so they are all hurting your score quite a bit. the 2100/2500 is hurting the most (845 utilization). If you want a score boast I would probably suggest paying off the $125 balance and paying down the $430 balance as much as possible (after paying off the remaining collection). 

Good luck 

[Anonymous]

Paying collections may cause scores to go down not up. FICO reads the report date which will be updated when paid. Paid & unpaid is scored the same.

Medical collections should be paid to the OC. This can be done before starting the HIPAA process or after starting the process and using the OC letter.

You should never contact the CA when it is medical. CAs do not fall under HIPAA rules!

You should not contact the CA if it is not medical either because they lie.

If you are paying a medical collection then make the payment using the restrictive endorsement!! To the OC not the CA.

You want all collections deleted from your CR if you can!!

For best scores total UTIL should be under 10%.

[Anonymous]

I've already paid all of the medical collections except 1. The original balance was approx. 900.00. The new balance is approx. 600.00. I disputed a couple of them just to get them to show as paid. I received an email from Equifax today telling me that they are deleting them from my file. Not sure why, but it's a good thing. I never sent a HIPAA letter. What is the process and what do I do if I've already paid the bills to the CA? And by the way, I got the CA AFNI, who was collecting for ALLTELL broken contract fees, to delete themselves from my credit report. I also had a credit card removed from my account since I was only an authorized user. You all have given me some really good advice. My FICO score jumped up 45 points in a few days! I'm still working on it.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

What is OC?

[Anonymous]

And  CA AFNI?

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:
What is OC?      And  CA AFNI?

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Original creditor, collection agency and AFNI is the name of a collection agency   http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Guide-To-Common-Abbreviations/m-p/224988?jump=true

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:
What is OC?

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Hi there. This thread is almost six years old and so I'm going to lock it and suggest you visit the Rebuilding Your Credit board for further questions you might have.