I've been reading this forum for about 2 weeks now and I'm hooked.....honestly. The information on here has been priceless to me. So I finally decided to take the plunge and sign up. So here I am (heavenly music playing)
Let me give you a brief (which may turn out to be not-so-brief) intro. on my situation. I graduated from Grad School in 2004 and left out of the US to work overseas, now I'm thinking I need another degree so, I'm aiming to get back into gradschool Fall 2008. Basically, I'm going to need loans and therefore my credit could use some repair work.....serious repair work before I dare apply for a loan.
I got a copy of my TransUnion and Experian reports and the scores were 568 and 602 or something like that, either way.....nisht gut (picked that up on Meet the Fockers and it stuck)!!! Thing is, when I left in 2004, it was a few months before I could find a job and I did not pay my bills...I know, I suck. By the time I was ready to pay, the minimum payments were ridiculous so I decided that since I was out of the US and would be for a while a DMP would not be a bad idea, so I enrolled 3 accounts in a program, BOA, CB and CO. I'll tell you more about those as the saga unfolds. Two accounts, my Express Card and my Credit Union CC I was able to keep afloat and actually I only have 1 30-day late on the CU CC.....yay me! Express has a 150 day late. In the last 2 years or so, nothing has been late, nothing, so I think that is a plus. Plus no inquiries since I left the US.
But this is where my initial line of questioning lies for the Fico Pundits: I have 2 accounts in collections, one for Cingular Wireless and the other for ATT and yes, I did it. I tried to flee the country without paying my utilities.....I'm ashamed....no really, I am. Cingular is $219 and ATT is $347. It appears based on my CRs that the Cingular was sold from one CA to another, so now someone called Nationwide has it and Cavalry Portfolio has the other. What to do???? Ok you guys are gonna say PFD (I printed out and studied those initial posts by Tuscani (really helped btw), highlighted and all). BUT!
Has anyone had experience with either of these CAs?
I'm going to be getting some funds in a couple months which I plan to use to get out the DMP and pay down those other 2 cards. As I said, I'll get more into those when the money comes and I see how much it is. First its the CAs, given that I read on here the CRAs are telling the CA who can pay and who can't, I want to deal with them while I'm still poor
Think I can get to 700 by next May/June??? huh?! huh?!
You responses and input would be treasured.
PS: wasn't so brief after all......sorry.