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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks! I’m waiting for the statement from capital one to post to the credit bureaus. I finally paid it down to $0!!! And my Citi is sitting at a $25 balance. I feel like once my credit utilization drops from 95% back down to 1-10%, that’ll help my score jump some more too! Also, I set up payment arrangement with three of those collections accounts to be fully paid off on September 20(next payday!) I’m amazed!
I just want to tell you that I'm very proud of you. I was where you were not too long ago. My score was in the low 400s. I remember when my score crossed 500 for the first time, I felt like crying I was so happy. When collection accounts started aging off my report (or in some cases reporting as paid) it was such a weight off my shoulders that I hadn't even realized was there.
I also had a family member use my credit. They opened (and overdrew) bank accounts in my name. For seven years I couldn't open a bank account because I was pressured into not pressing charges by my family. There are some big banks in this country that will never issue me credit because of what this family member did. I love my family, but I'll never trust any of them the same way again. We cannot choose our family, and sometimes they do terrible things to us. Learn your lesson and don't repeat the mistakes of the past. You can still love them and protect your financial health.
And now I want to talk about your student loans. You have $11k and no degree. Until last fall I had $90k and no degree. I took out $40k over 10 years of very very part time attendance and stopped just shy of graduating because life got the better of me. I was 14 credits shy of checking that "college graduate" box. I finally finished by taking elective credits via StraighterLine and transferring them back to my college. I deferred payments for 10+ years through "in school" and hardship as well as just being too broke to make payments so my payment amount was $0. When I finally got around to looking at my balance I was floored to see it had more than doubled. I tell you this for two reasons: 1. don't beat yourself up about having student loans without a degree. A lot of people have been there and if you want it, a degree is not out of the picture for you and 2. once you're in a position to do so, pay your student loans. Don't make the mistake I did (and definitely don't default - if you can't pay, call them!).
Keep up the work you're doing great.
@Anonymous wrote:
Update! My score has increased tremendously. Still no update from capital One. But my student loans(navient) has finally been reported as current! My score is now 555. Still poor, but better than 408!
That is a great improvement in your score! You should see even more improvement once those collections are paid off and that low UTI starts to report! Excellent progress!