topic Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540) in Rebuilding Your Credit

Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 18:46:24 GMT

Hey guys,

I am a 21 year old that had some debt issues in college (medical bills, poor money management), and I am proactively trying to get ahold of the situation now.

STARTING SCORE: 540 (ugh)

SHORT TERM GOAL: 600 by September 2015

GOAL SCORE: 700 by April 2015

FACTORS:

Student Loans: roughly $6,000

Medical Bills: Two collection agencies @ 500 each

BOA Secured CC: $400 limit

Paypal/MC CC: $200 (closed)

Let the journey begin....

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:02:58 GMT

I am making a point of spending a small portion of my Tuesdays and Thursdays on dealing with my finances, specifically credit repair. For today:

1) I called up Bank of America to ask them for a GW adjustment in exchange for bringing my account current. Without hesitation, they said they would! Given my credit limit is very low, just paying this off will be pretty significant I believe. I will call next week to make sure the report has been removed (it was 60 days delinquent).

2) Ran my credit report on all three reporting bureaus. There isn't too much on there that I didn't know of, but there are some medical bills I realize I need to take care of. Two to be exact.

3) I called one collection agency for the medical bill to set up a monthly payment in exchange for removing stuff from my credit report. They said it will automatically happen after the bill is paid in full. Another small victory that makes things look a bit brighter

4) I have an old PP/MC account that I had issues with while in college. This has been resolved and closed, but it is still lingering on my report. I put together a goodwill letter and will be mailing it off shortly. Fingers crossed for this one...

So that wraps up the events so far. It's just nice to start getting this done, and isn't as scary of a process as I thought it was going to be. If I can successfully remove the PP issue, I might be able to climb faster than I had originally thought

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

gdale6 — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:19:05 GMT

Grats to your success so far and good luck on your journey

One thing I will say is on medical CAs if a standard PFD doesnt work you can attempt the HIPAA Process, it cant be discussed on this board but you can Google it and check it out.

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Whitneyy — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:34:33 GMT

Looks like you're on the right track! I look forward to following your journey!

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

los_west — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:43:07 GMT

Congrats on your progress so far.

Your goal is definitely do-able. It does take some tenacity and sometime pleading with the companies/agencies.

I was able to bring it up from mid 500s to 699 (as of today) in just 1 year. It was hard work, but it feels so good to be where I am now. I still have a ways to go to get to my goal of a mortgage, but it's finally a closer reality!

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:43:48 GMT

Thanks, I will definitely take a look around for this online and use it as a last resort! Have you had experience with this scenario before?

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:44:22 GMT

@los_west: Thanks for the kind words, I look forward to the end results!

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Little_Lulu — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 22:01:52 GMT

I'm not an expert but I would probably get it in writing that the collection agency is really going to delete after you pay it.

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Eyisila — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:21:52 GMT

From my understanding virtually all will not put anything in writing.

Even though I was fortunate to get a written document/email and so was my DH.

OP wish you luck in your journey!!!!

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

lavencedora — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 15:01:13 GMT

Congratulations on tackling your report and doing it early in life. You are on the right track. Looking forward to hearing about some great progress in the year to come!

Re: Journey to 700 in a year (from a dismal 540)

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:58:09 GMT

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I am looking forward to getting on the right track early so I don't have to worry down the road!

As I said, Bank of America was kind enough to take the report off (or so they have said, we will see if it gets removed.)

I sent out a GW letter to Paypal/GE yesterday and am looking forward to the response. If I could get this removed, things will be flowing nice and smooth.

I will be paying off my CC bill in full within the coming weeks, which will help out. Afterwards, I will bump up my credit line from $400 to $6-800 (BofA secured CC)

For now, it is the waiting game as I pay off my accounts and see things improve.

Is there any advice you fine people of MyFICO could offer me at this moment? Any and all help would be appreciated as I continue my journey to good credit for the first time in my life.. Thanks!