Newbie with some questions

[misfit928]

Hello. I was browsing through the forums and noticed some very helpful info and I was wondering if i can have a couple of my questions answered on improving my score.  

All of my cc's are closed and I've had a few problems of late payments in the past. I just finished paying off my all my cc's from 3 years ago. I have a few credit cards with comments on all 3 CRA that could be affecting my score which is currently around 604.  I have a wide range of comments which are past due, cancelled by credit grantor, or credit line closed by consumer. Would a GW letter help in fixing these comments to help my score?

Another issue is i had a Verizon wireless account that was sent to a collection agency and was paid off about 2 years ago and has comments of bad debt and placed for collection and skip. How can i go about correcting this one? Should i contact Verizon or the collection agency?

Thank you very much and i do appreciate all the help I can get.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, misfit, welcome to the forums! If you're willing, could you post what's on your reports with some more detail? --Creditor names (both original lenders and CA's), credit limit, current balance, open since ____ , current status, baddies --how bad and when, and the "comments." That will give us something more precise to look at.

[misfit928]

Sorry for the delay in posting my info and bear with me as there are quite a few items to list. I pulled this info from my credit report from this month.

2 installment loans:

Ahfc(Honda finance) opened 10/1/01 60 months for $14k paid off  on time with no baddies.

Wachovia bank auto loan opened 10/19/01 which refinance the above loan with the same terms and no lates.

These are my cc's that are all currently closed and paid in full. These accounts were paid on time after the past due dates posted.

Credit Grantor (opened/cl/past dues/last payment date):

Comments

1).BofA (5/1/01 / cl: $6,900 / 11/05-12/05 30 days, 01/06-03/06 60 days / 5/07)                                 was past due 120 days credit line closed by grantor

2).Chase (5/1/00 / cl: $4,500 /3/06,4/06, 6/06  30 days / 7/07)

was past due 30 days four times credit line closed by consumer

3).Bloomingdales/DSNB (12/1/03 / cl: $200 / 3/06,4/06 30 days / 7/07)

was past due 30 days 2 times credit line closed by consumer 

4).Macys/DSNB (6/1/03 / cl: $400 / 2/06-4/06 30 days / 10/07)

was past due 30 days 3 times  or more credit line closed by grantor

5).Old Navy (9/1/01 / cl: $900 /  30 days / 11/07)  past due dates not listed

was past due 90 days credit line closed by grantor

6).Kohls/Chase (5/1/03 / cl: $200 /  60 days / 11/07) past due dates not listed

was past due 60 days credit line closed by grantor

7).NewYork and Co/WFNNB (3/1/02 / cl: $300 /  30 days / 11/07) past due dates not listed

was past due 30 days credit line closed by consumer

8).Sears/CBSD (8/1/98 / cl: $8,800 / 12/05-1/06 60 days 02/06-04/06 90 days 05/06 120 days / 12/07)

was past due 120 days  credit line closed by consumer

9).Macys/DSNB (6/1/03 / cl: $400 / 2/06-4/06 30 days / 10/07)

was past due 30 days 3 times  or more credit line closed by grantor

10).WashMutual/Providian(11/1/03 / cl: $500 / 60 days / 10/07)

was past due 60 days credit line closed by grantor

Verizon Wireless account was under collections but paid off and only reported to EQ and TU.

Balance of $723. The comments were bad debt and placed for collection and skip. paid charge off.

Any help would be appreciated on how to move forward in building my score. My scores are EX:604 EQ:631 TU: 608. I hope i didnt leave any helpful information out. Thank You.

Message Edited by misfit928 on 01-09-2008 02:40 AM

[misfit928]

can someone help me in evaluating my info ?

[sunrise]

Welcome!!

I will try, I am sure more will be on their way to help

Did you have arrangements with the ccc's to pay these off?  Or did you pay them on your own good will?  If it is the latter, I would DEFINITELY GW!!  There are some great GW examples in the forums!  If you want to compose one, we can critique it here for you!!

Either way...at this point since they are all paid, GW your heart out, honey!!  And, keep at it!  You will probably be denied a lot, but, re-send them, again, and again!!  Until they are gone!  Some CSR with a heart will eventually delete the neg info!  We have seen it here time and time again!  It took me 7 tries on one acct. And, each time I re-sent my GW, I changed the wording a wee bit, just in case they kept them on file. I wanted them to feel like I re-wrote the GW each time. 

BTW...I used samples from these forums, and added my own circumstances, and relevant info, and a LOT of BUTT-KISSING.(tell them their CSR's are the best you have ever dealt with I swear this is the comment that finally got my baddie removed on my 7th try w/ providian/wamu...I added it during the re-wording of the last GW

As for the collections...GW, also! 

Your scores seem to reflect that the baddies are starting to age and not weigh so heavily on you.

They are not that bad!  But, definitely room for much improvement!

Do you have ANY open TL's?  If not, get a few cc's, you may or may not have to get secured cards...check the credit card section in the forums, and whogavemecredit.com..for ideas on which cards may qualify you at your current scores.  When you get them, use them wisely!! Never let more than 10% util show on any given month on 1 card and pay the other 2 off every month!  This is what worked for me!!  YMMV

Others will have some more great advice, just hang on.

But, I hope this gives you a place to start