topic Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice in Rebuilding Your Credit

New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 14:07:05 GMT

Hello all,

As the title states I am new to the forums though I have been lurking for quite some time now. I am currently in the process of getting my rebuild underway and would like to know the best course of action to take from here on out. I'll spare everyone a book of backstory and sum up the main important things as best I can.

The good...

Capital One secured credit card - 200 credit limit (Just received and in good standing)

NFCU secured credit card - 200 credit limit (Just received and in good standing)

NFCU checking account (Not sure if this matters)

NFCU savings account (Not sure if this matters)

Self (Lender) secured loan - opted for a 2 year loan for maximum payment history (100% on time payment history @ 5 month mark now)

The bad...

Collection account - Trident Assest Management - owe $618 (currently reporting) - Celtic Bank Indigo credit card

Collection account - LVNV Funding - owe $726 (currently reporting) - Credit One Bank credit card

The other bad...

Closed/charged off account - Capital One secured credit card which graduated @ 6 month mark to unsecured - owe $655 (15 charge offs shown)

Closed/charged off account - Capital One platinum unsecured credit card - owe $0 (shows zero balance but I know I owe/don't know amount or why it shows $0 unless sold to a collection agency and has not shown up yet?) (14 charge offs shown)

Closed/charged off account - Discover It secured credit card which graduated @ 6 month mark to unsecured - owe $299 (11 charge offs shown)

(None of these accounts are in collections currently)

(Both ended in August 2019)

The other other bad...

Closed/charged off account - Celtic Bank Indigo credit card (Ended August 2019) (1 charge off shown)

Closed/charged off account - Credit One Bank credit card (Ended September 2019) (1 charge off shown)

(As shown above, both are open reporting collections)

The middle ground...

Have 5 hard inquiries within the last year

1. Capital One ( for card acquired above/surprized I was approved )

2. NFCU ( for card acquired above )

3. Self (Lender) (for loan acquired above)

4. Bank of America ( attempted to get their secured credit card )

5. Discover ( attempted to get their secured credit card after being accepted by Capital One again/thought I could do the same again with Discover )

I've had a few baddies fall off, nothing major. I've disputed some incorrect information that ended up being removed, ended up being my Father's debt - same name. In the turn around phase but well aware the current state of things is holding me back and not sure what to do next. Thinking the open reporting collection accounts would be the best bet. Confused because of reading so many different opinions about pay to delete, good will letters, pay in full, letting things fall off and or ignore, etc, etc, etc and not sure how, if possible, to remove closed charged off accounts and or if that would do more harm than good?

Open to suggestions, help and advice appreciated greatly. Very new at figuring all of this out and doing it the right way. I tried to last time and was doing great up until I lost my job at the tail end of 2018 and things went down the drain quickly. Have since found an even better career and back on the mend. Prior to I was always in the mindset of cash is king and didn't want to deal with credit in general...which definitely has it's place yet makes life harder when getting older and figuring things out...it definitely takes time.

Experian score - 540 (From experian directly)

Transunion score - 571 (From Credit Karma) - waiting for actual score

Equifax - 563 (From Credit Karma) - waiting for actual score

Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

gdale6 — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 15:22:03 GMT

Anything that is updating monthly you want to go after first. With the CAs you would attempt the PFD. You can try it with OCs but they rarely approve such.. With that Cap-1 reporting 0 its most likely been sold to a junk debt buyer which may or may not report to your CRs, you may have to wait until they contact you and be prepared to settle it quickly as most give 30 days to pay before they do report it.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-PFD-Success-Stories/td-p/2031275

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/PFD-Example-Letter/td-p/4519

Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 05:39:50 GMT

Hey, thank you for the reply and helpful information. I have not been able to hop on here to read any replies. I thought there would be more lol but it's a start. I have reached out to pay off those still reporting. Still waiting for my cards to report to the agencies and or show up. Not sure how much if at all any they'll boost my score just for having them and in good standing.

Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

quikj9 — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 05:59:10 GMT

@Anonymous I'd say that you definitely want to get those unpaid charge offs to report a zero balance as soon as you can for some score improvement. That was one of the first things that was told to me earilier this year, when my scores were lower than yours. CO's factor in your utlization as maxed out CC's and really suppress your score. You'll get some solid score improvement there once they report $0 balance and stop updating. I'd also seek to pay those CO's as quickly as possible to prevent them from becoming addtional collection accounts that further suppress your scores.

Whether you want to pay them in full or settle is up to you. There's no score difference between those two remarks. Charge offs are difficult to remove from credit reports, but it can be done with goodwill letters in rare circumstances with a few, but not the majority of lenders.

With the collections, you'd want to attempt a PFD. LVNV is known to Pay For Delete, so you should be able to get that removed from your credit report. Just make sure that you get that agreement to delete the collection account in writing before you pay them. Depending on the SOL in your state and the Date of First Delinquency, I'd tackle that towards the end as long as I knew they weren't going to sue.

This advice is all assuming these negative account aren't due to fall off next year or sometime soon. If that's the case, you'd have to make a choice about paying off your debt and honoring your past financial commitments or doing what you think is best for your finances. Also, if you're going for a mortgage, the underwriter is likely going to want all your current debts to be paid regardless of your credit score.

You have a few good accounts reporting to build a solid foundation for your credit future. I'd tackle those baddies and let time do its thing.

Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 14:31:00 GMT

I'll add in also that your banking accounts with NFCU absolutely will matter, as Navy is said to be relationship-based. Having history with them will help increase your internal score with them and will position you for great credit approvals in the future. Keep them in good standing and it'll pay off.

Re: New to the forum, in the process of a rebuild and need advice

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:05:54 GMT

@Anonymous Congrats on getting a new job, an unexpected job loss really stinks! If you can, I would suggest slowly building a 6 month emergency fund in a high yield savings account like Marcus, Ally, ect.

You will see some gains once your new cards report. If you can, try and go for a secured card with a local credit union or one of the online credit unions. Look for one that graduates like SDFCU.

The idea is to get at least 3 revolvers and one installment loan. As your accounts age, you will also see some improvement.

The collections and chargeoffs which are updating monthly will continue to suppress your scores.

If you are able to reach out to the CAs with a PFD offer.

Although it may be better to take care of the Chargeoffs before the debts are sold to other CA. You can settle and set up a repayment plan.

Good luck!