HELP HELP HELP regarding collection accounts

[bott6698]

I have to admit I am so happy to find this forum and I am so stressed with my credit I can't ever seem to get anywhere. I have plenty of little collections from cable, electric companies, medical bills etc that show up on my report. I have heard many different things from many people and I would like to know once and for all what is the best thing for me to do. Should I pay off these collection accounts and make sure the collectors report to agencys that it was paid? If I pay off old collections does it really help fico store even though they will still show up on my report.

Someone  reccommended me to seek the advise of a financial advisor to repair my credit. Does this make sense to anyone?

Also my wife did a debt reduction with Incharge and now on her credit report her credit card shows as a charge off. Is there anything we can do to fight?

Also I have on my score watch Pnc bank loan that was opened in 2006. The account was paid off and still shows a orange flag of past 30 days but yet $0 balance. Anyway to remove this and if so would this help?

I am sorry to bug everyone here with this but I feel I found a site that people are in the same boat as me and can possibly help me get back on track.

[Anonymous]

I know you are feeling overwhelmed. Just start with one at a time and get advice on each one here. We all have been where you are now. And there are alot of helpful folks here.

[bott6698]

Thanks for the advice, Ya I am overwhelmed to say the least. Ok, Let's just start with collection accounts. If I pay each one off will it help my fico score and will the CA report as paid. I know chances of getting the negative account info removed is scarce but will they atleast show paid and help my fico score. I will be honest my score has dropped to 455. Because I make over 100k per year and have had a stable job for over 5 years companies still offer me loans but I rarely can get a good rate...18% on one car, 12% on mortgage and ONLY company who ever gave me a break is chrysler who gave me 4.9 on my van and I will forever be their customer. My collection accounts are electric companies, internet companies, cable companies, medical companies etc.

Please help me with this question as I don't want to spend money that can be used for more important matters if paying off collections won't help me. 

[Anonymous]

Paying Collections without having them deleted will do little to nothing to help your score-

It might help to get a morgage- but not help the score.

What you want to do is a PFD (pay for delete) look for it in the credit 101 thread

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=11303&jump=true

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bott6698 wrote:

Thanks for the advice, Ya I am overwhelmed to say the least. Ok, Let's just start with collection accounts. If I pay each one off will it help my fico score and will the CA report as paid. I know chances of getting the negative account info removed is scarce but will they atleast show paid and help my fico score. I will be honest my score has dropped to 455. Because I make over 100k per year and have had a stable job for over 5 years companies still offer me loans but I rarely can get a good rate...18% on one car, 12% on mortgage and ONLY company who ever gave me a break is chrysler who gave me 4.9 on my van and I will forever be their customer. My collection accounts are electric companies, internet companies, cable companies, medical companies etc.

Please help me with this question as I don't want to spend money that can be used for more important matters if paying off collections won't help me. 

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Message Edited by Timothy on 06-26-2007 09:21 PM

[bott6698]

Thanks for the pfd info. I am def going to use it.

[Anonymous]

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

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bott6698 wrote:

Thanks for the pfd info. I am def going to use it.

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