Did I read this right?

[Anonymous]

I am having quite a few "ah ha" moments while reading this board! =) Did I read that paying on an old collection account is worse than leaving it unpaid? I have played with the calculators and the only thing that really moves my score up is paying the current things on time. Please advise. I am realizing how clueless I am!

[llecs]

I've made that comment quite a few times. It is a fact that there is no difference between a paid and unpaid CA on your FICO score. It doesn't matter if you owe $0 ot $10k, the damage is equal. The mere presence of a CA is damaging.

When you pay, dispute, even DV, the CA will often update the DOLA. And this is normal. If you make a payment on a CC, for example, the DOLA would naturally change. The point drop comes in when the DOLA changes from a potentially old date (years ago) to present when a payment without a PFD is made. That change in date will often trigger FICO to read it as a newer baddie and therefore a score drop occurs. We always discourage paying without a PFD due to that. The best option is to DV then PFD.

If you ever get a chance, read through the Mortgage board. There are some gut-wretching stories in there of LOs telling their clients to PIF all collections, in that doing so would result in a score increase. The opposite would happen and there are stories of borrows being knocked out of contention for a loan due to the score drop because of the bad advice.

[Anonymous]

Wow! My stomach just dropped when I read that! I know have no clue what to do to get this score up! It is awful due to a divorce, fun fun...I have CA's, judgments, and a car repo! The only thing going for me is a CC and a Student Loan! What does anyone suggest? How do you go about PFD?

Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Now that I am thinking about this...I started paying off older debt last year. Since then, I have been sued 3 times! I assume these people got my current info and decided to come at me. What started as me trying to fix my credit and pay what I owed turned into a judgment nightmare! I wish I would have been on here sooner!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Now that I am thinking about this...I started paying off older debt last year. Since then, I have been sued 3 times! I assume these people got my current info and decided to come at me. What started as me trying to fix my credit and pay what I owed turned into a judgment nightmare! I wish I would have been on here sooner!

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I feel your pain. Me and the wife got hit by four or five judgements a few years ago. One right after another. They garneshed our wages for what seemed like forever. These were medical related and we had no idea how to handle them. I wish I had found this forum sooner. Good Luck!

[Imhotrodcrazy]

We all learn by our mistakes.  I just happened to come across this forum and it has been of great value to me.  I have only been on since march of this year.  All I can say is, read, read, read the articles on this forum and you will be amazed at what you will learn.  If you don't find an answer to your question, just ask, and the moderators and others on here will help you with a wealth of knowledge.  Good luck to you. 

[2wheel]

I will agree with IIecs on this 1 I paid a collection account Midland Credit Managment Didnt see no score increase. Just got a GW From them and it was removed today and got a 18 point increase. Paying off collections dosent do anything and I would not pay a collection without it being removed PFD Ever again.

Well I dont have any more but if I ever do again I know the process to take that trying to work backwards by paying and then asking a gw later becase at that point you dont have nothing to negoiate with IMO

[llecs]

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mnj0105 wrote:

What does anyone suggest? How do you go about PFD?

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I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

and What Steps Do I Take - great for learning the repair process.

The last link details what you can do to get some of the baddies off. For any unpaid CA, you send them a DV letter, even if you know the debt is yours, and then offer a PFD if they verify.

IMO, get that one CC reporting to less than 9% of the CL.

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mnj0105 wrote:
......What started as me trying to fix my credit and pay what I owed turned into a judgment nightmare! I wish I would have been on here sooner!

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Sometimes doing the right thing isn't always the best solutions with unpaid debt. When I began repair myself, they were coming out of the woodwork from everywhere! Also tackling unpaid debt while you are inside the SOL, as you experienced, isn't the best option.

[Anonymous]

Ok how do we find out what the SOL is?

[Anonymous]

opps I guess i found the answer- goes by state.