Collections debt question

[Anonymous]

Because cards are not approved solely based on FICO scores, that's why.

[yoreljm]

I agree with skiffy. I'm always getting denied credit cards because of charge offs, even though a score of 637 should atleast qualify me for a secured card. BoA REFUSES to give me even a secured credit card!

My charge of was with Wachovia for $1500, do creditors get more pissed off if the charge off was with a bank than with a CC? Or would a $1500 charge off have the same effect regardless of which creditor it is with?

[Anonymous]

BofA was always conservative about who it would issue secured cards to. Once the MBNA acquisition happened, it became even more so. Fortunately, there are other lenders (US Bank, National City) that have good, prime cards - and are not quite so restrictive.

[creditedit]

I am new to this "game", I finally obtained the ability to pay all of my bills when I started my new job. So, during the past year I have been working fervently on paying on time, paying more than the minimum, etc. Although, I have 3 charge offs, a few collections, and a couple late payments. I have been able to raise my score from the low 5s to right above 6, atleast 80 pts.

Now I am working on lowering my cc utilization, I've seen from the posts that this is one of the most important factors. I am contemplating paying the 3 charge offs because they only total $1700, but I am afraid to approach the creditors- they were definitely predatory lenders.

Should I use my efforts elsewhere and work on those 3 once the other factors have improved?

Message Edited by creditedit on 04-28-2007 02:24 PM