@dustind If I read that correctly you have a CO on your account still?! Is there any way you can get that off? That would help your score and your chances if you could ^^
@dustind I'm not sure how much of a Jump you would see but I do know they do hurt and with you being over a year average (I believe you said 15 months sorry I can't remember exactly) that part is great but that CO is a big flag. I'm not sure if Chase will do a PFD have you tried or read up on it?!
If the CO was paid then I'd say you'd have a good shot at an approval. But unpaid, unfortunately, no, sorry-- I don't see it happening. The only thing an unpaid, yet mature, derogatory is showing Amex is that after 5.5 years, you still haven't made good on your debt - and they're sticklers for paying back what you owe. I think you may just have to wait until that CO can be removed (or pay it).
@dustind wrote:That does make sense, but others have been approved with unpaid charge offs.
The silly thing is that I would pay it now if it wouldn't make my score drop. My current plan is to wait until maybe three months before early exlusion and pay the principle of the balance, not all of the interest and fees. That will settle for less and let my current creditors see that I paid something through their softpulls for a few months before it drops off.
I, admittedly,, haven't paid much attention to approvals lately but the only approvals I've seen for folks with an unpaid derogatory have been for Amex co-branded cards - which generally have less strict underwriting.
Is the CO updating monthly or has it not updated in a while? If it's updating monthly paying it is not likely to hurt your scores much, if at all - it may even help depending on how it affects/reduces your util. If it hasn't updated in a while then you may get dinged with the final update to reflect payment-- but paying will also prevent an unexpected update - or collection activity - in the future since you still have a year+ of reporting.
And the plan to pay a few months before drop off so your creditors can see seems a bit futile, tbh. I mean, they're not going to jot down a note that Dustin finally paid Chase... Either your reports show an unpaid derogatory, a paid derogatory, or no derogatory on the sp date - all that matters is your report on the account review date and your history with that lender.
If you want to pay Chase back then do so... but waiting til it's about to fall off won't help you.
I understand. Just keep in mind that even dormant creditors sometimes wake up in the final year of reporting. They may not take collection action but may update the tradeline anyway as a last ditch effort to collect payment. It's all a game of chance at this point. You may make it all through the last year of reporting without a peep - or you may not.
In any event, I'd suggest putting Amex on the back burner til the CO is resolved one way or another. Amex isn't going anywhere - so it's not like you'll miss out by waiting.