Newbe here with 540 fico score need help

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

My goal is to raise my score to around 700 in one years time. I have read through some of the old posts but I have a tendancy to get lost in all of the information. I will post my current situation in hopes that omeone can help me with a plan to get to my desired score,

              Thanks in advance.... Chris.

my current report via. Equifax

3 old medical collections under $1000 total

2 negative reports Late/unpaid cc (charged off) and a utility bill with a balance owed

5 installment accounts 4 paid and closed 1 open balance of 6,943 (all of which are auto purchases)

1 collection (under 1 year old) for progressive

No cc's

no mortgage's

fico score 542

I paid off the late 180 past utility bill to zero, will take up to 30 days to post.

Opened an account with Badcock home furnishings $2000 credit limit used $500.

Contacted NCO about the old medical collections, they were willing to make deals to pay off, however, I haven't paid them as of yet.

Sent letter to Progressive, they are very unwilling to negotiate removal.

Sent letters to NCO as well, same results.

This is what has been done so far.. Any help here would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

That less than a year old collection is probably what is hurting you most now.

You should get two or three credit cards, so you can start diluting your bad credit with good credit. I know it seems counterintuitive, to get credit cards to improve credit, but that's what the hard numbers say. Keep your balances low...heck, just charge a cheeseburger and fries once a month or so on each card.

[Anonymous]

Should I pay off the old and the one new collection debt? or will this hurt my score even more?

[CreditDrama85]

You should probably open two secured cards and once they come, use them to pay those collections....this way while your score might take a hit for actually paying the collections, it will rise and then continue to rise with the payment history of the 2 ccs!

[Anonymous]

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cspar1212 wrote:

Should I pay off the old and the one new collection debt? or will this hurt my score even more?

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You need to PFD those collections. Paid collections are worthless unless they are deleted.

[Anonymous]

Can you tell me whaere the best place would be to get these two 'secured' cards?

I did have a card through capitol one once, this is the one that is now charged off on my report

[Anonymous]

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scramblingin2007 wrote:

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cspar1212 wrote:

Should I pay off the old and the one new collection debt? or will this hurt my score even more?

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You need to PFD those collections. Paid collections are worthless unless they are deleted.

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Ok, I sent out the letters and called a few times as well, neither NCO nor progressive are willing to budge on this.

[Anonymous]

Do you recommend not paying the collection debts if the collection company refuses to delete? Would it not help my score at all?

[azsassycat]

My husband has secured cards at wells fargo, bank of america, and washington mutual.  I think US bank offers them too, but he had a bankruptcy on his record so US bank wouldn't offer him the secured card.

[Anonymous]

When are the collections going to fall off? if it is in the next year then I wouldn't pay them. Did you use the PFD letters from tuscani/brammy or any of the mods here? If not, draft up some new PFD's and send them out. Try to do this first before you app for new cc's. You may want to start with secured cc's till you bring up your score. Good luck