Understanding FICO® Scoring

[dparulis]

I owe CapOne on an account that was charged off but never sent to a collection agency. The account is about 5 years delinquent. I am applying for a house so I need to get this taken care off. I am reading mixed reviews on what whether to try to settle or pay in full. Based on the simulator it seems like paying it in full would have a huge increase in my credit score since this debt is still coming up for my debt utilization. Does it matter that this was never sent to a collection agency? I'm just trying ot figure out what to do.

Thanks

[dparulis]

I forgot to mention that this is my only debt besides student loans and car payment. I had a few other charge offs but everything is paid in full but this.

[guiness56]

No it doesn't matter that it was never sent to a CA.  It just means Cap one owns the debt and never assigned it to one.

Yes, paying it off will help you temendously.

[pizzadude]

I agree that paying it should help your FICO score, if paying significantly lowers your revolving utilization.    IMO it's also worth a shot to further negotiate with Cap1 to remove late payments.  

You are lucky that a CA didn't get the debt because you very likely would have had a collection appear on your reports and your FICO score would have been hit again.

[guiness56]

With the CO still there, removing the lates isn't going to help much.

[pizzadude]

Yeah, I would advise negotiating for all the derogatory account info to be removed if possible.

[AndySoCal]

A settled account is considered derogatory and could lower your score. I would pay in full.