cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

To Pay or Ignore

tag
ShortyGal103
New Visitor

To Pay or Ignore

Hello Guys, 

 

I have been on a journey to try to clear up my reports. To make a very long story short, I inherited a home from a family member, and need to clean up my credit enough to refinance the mortgage into my name. I feel as though I am on borrowed time, and need to take care of this. 

 

So far... I've managed to clean up my reports with everything but one account, through settlements. The last account is a Bank of America credit card, which was partially secured by a security deposit. Speaking briefly to the account recovery team, they told me all they would do is update the balance to zero. 

 

The account balance is $348, charged off in October of 2021. Originally $447 was owed. $500 Limit. It reports every single month, consistently on the 15th. 

 

One of the things, I just do not understand is... if paying this off makes any sense whatsoever. I was already told by a mortgage broker, that the mortgage underwriting would ignore accounts this small. But... far, more importantly, I am concerned about long-term things. Does it make sense to pay off this charge off, when it will continue to report? Will I see any score boost, or will things get worse? 

 

Is there any magical department inside of Bank of America, that may decide their $348 is worth more than punishing me? 

 

Thanks to all of you, in advance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: To Pay or Ignore

Welcome @ShortyGal103 

Anything thats settled or paid off helps in many ways. CO will stop reporting each month as a CO on the 15th. Major blow. You paid your debts to show future lenders. It will fall off 7yrs after the DoFD. And you'll get a small bump. Its a win win. Be done with it.


Message 2 of 3
citymunky
Established Contributor

Re: To Pay or Ignore

Paid it off or settle. The charge off will stop reporting, and you should see some improvements in your scores.

Rebuilding since 2021


Closed CCs
USAA (Jul 2019| Settled CO), Jasper $1 CL (Jul21-Jul22), Sable $250CL{Secured} (Jan22-Jun23), CreditOne Platinum $750CL (Jul21-Aug23), Prosper $1.9K CL (Jan22-Apr24)

Starting FICO 8 Scores:
Current FICO 8 Scores:


Message 3 of 3
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.