Already in process repair advice?

[Anonymous]

I am pretty far into the repair process but I wanted to gain some insight as I near paying off collections from about 4-5 years ago. I have three monthly payments left, I settled the accounts by paying off the full dollar amount owed to the collections accounts.

I’ve heard doing so on older accounts actually hurts your score but I want to show the banks I am working towards repairing.

I have 4 credit cards right now. All paltry in credit limit with positive payment history, no late or missed payments, and below 20% utilization almost always with most accounts reflecting 10% or less.

The cards I have are Capital One Platinum, Capital One Quicksilver, Credit One Bank Platinum Cash Back, and an Indigo Credit Card. In total, $1,600. I have a revolving account from Fingerhut that was $300 but is down to $48 left owed, which is where I began my credit journey 5 months ago. My credit scores from Experian.com show me at 610 Experian, 619 TransUnion, 617 Equifax from 476 average 5 months ago.

My goal is a new car loan ($15,000 or less) in 6 months or so. I want to increase my credit limit with capital one and credit one. Also, would like to pay off Fingerhut and close the indigo account as they don’t do credit increases and then open a Discover It and Apple Card.

If you read all this, thank you, I need guidance now that I’m at this point. What should I do to make my goal achievable in the 6 months or so I want to achieve it in?

[AllZero]

You should consider joining a credit union for auto loan. E.g. DCU. Open membership. They'll soft pull EQ5. I'm not sure what score minimum is required for membership or auto loan. Let your membership marinade while your credit scores heal and hopefully increases.

[chiefone4u]

I would make sure the collections are paid off, then begin a Goodwill campaign to try and get them removed. The removal will bump your scores up more than zeroing the balance (even if you can't get them removed via Goodwill to collection agency, 6 months of age on the accounts may offer a small boost).

I would refrain from adding anymore accounts or inquiries to your profile until you've got the keys to your new(ish) car. The new accounts leading up to the auto loan are likely to limit who will loan to you and cause higher APR.

AZEO is another method you can use to potentially increase your scores. You already have your 3 credit cards to maximize your score-- let one report a balance more than $5 and less than 8%, while the rest of your credit lines are reporting $0.

[Anonymous]

How would you go about goodwill letters? As I may just pay them off early and just get them from out of my hair.

I also see on Experian that I should have 5 revolving accounts, that’s why I was doing one pre qualify a month. Is three actually better?

[chiefone4u]

For best results you need at least 3 credit cards. More cards only add to the thickness of your file.

With the upcoming vehicle purchase, you are likely to cause more harm than good opening or closing any of your accounts.

Pay your accounts in a timely fashion, and keep your aggregate utilization under 8.9% and no individual card over ~29%. Time is needed after collections are cleared up to improve your score.

As far as Goodwill campaign; the provided link should help you find your way.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Sto...

Best of luck!

[FireMedic1]

List who the collection agencies are your paying. FICO doesnt care who the creditor is. Theres no bonus points for having a Chase, AMEX, ect. Nor do they care how much of a credit line you have. Its how much is reported each month and as a rebuilder you should be following AZEO for best scoring. Lets see if you got a PFD collector.

[Anonymous]

The collection agencies I am working with are as follow:
Enhanced Recovery Collections: $352 but paying $112 a month. Just started my first payment on this one. Original creditor is Charter.
Convergent Outsourcing: $911, paying $227 a month. Second payment is due 12/14/19. Original creditor is T-mobile.
Regency, but it doesn’t say on my Equifax nor TransUnion what their name is. I just remember. They don’t show telephone number either. It’s medical debt. $85 and no payment plan yet as I can’t find the creditor on my reports anymore. It just shows as “——“ with half the account number X’ed out.
Finally I have a Macy’s card closed in 2015 with a. Credit limit of $100 but utilization of $335. I’ve called them and they sent it to Citibank for recovery. Citi doesn’t report but Macy’s reports it as “bad debt, written off.” I called citi and they said it is beyond the statue of limitations on collecting. I didn’t originally think it was a credit card because I worked for Macy’s. I thought it was a discount card. I want to pay it but I don’t know what the right move is on it.

I also have roughly $6500 in student loans as I try to achieve my degree in finance, ironically. These are current and I apply about $150 a month even though I don’t need to in order to keep interest down.

I didn’t go for a PFD because I have a very difficult time with proper communication. I have high-functioning Aspergers. Which makes confrontation difficult. Nor do they seem to care when they become less agreeable with me and I tell them.

[FireMedic1]

Well at least your paying on them and soon they'll be PIF and look a whole lot better on your reports. I was hoping it was Portfolio or Midland. Telecommunication companies are brutal to get PFD's from collection agencies. But many will take payment in full and recall the debt from the CA. That is if they still own it. We'll we tried. Good luck on your soon to be CA freedom!

[Anonymous]

I've dealt with ERC before. Over the phone they were rude and unaccommodating. Awhile after my collection was paid, I went to their site and asked for them to remove their entry as a gesture of goodwill. I don't know exactly how it happened, but in browsing my reports one day I noticed that ERC was no longer on there. Once they told me on the phone to kick rocks regarding a deletion, I gave up on them until I read of someone having success with this so I tried it. It must have worked because I was still three or so years away from the natural dropoff date.

Here is where I did the online request. For the reason for communication, I chose "I have a question" rather than anything related to disputing. I wanted to be polite and not come across as adversarial. And lo and behold, ERC did end up vanishing...

http://www.ercbpo.com/help/request/

[FireMedic1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've dealt with ERC before. Over the phone they were rude and unaccommodating. Awhile after my collection was paid, I went to their site and asked for them to remove their entry as a gesture of goodwill. I don't know exactly how it happened, but in browsing my reports one day I noticed that ERC was no longer on there. Once they told me on the phone to kick rocks regarding a deletion, I gave up on them until I read of someone having success with this so I tried it. It must have worked because I was still three or so years away from the natural dropoff date.

Here is where I did the online request. For the reason for communication, I chose "I have a question" rather than anything related to disputing. I wanted to be polite and not come across as adversarial. And lo and behold, ERC did end up vanishing...

http://www.ercbpo.com/help/request/

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Excellent. I think I remember that. ERC has done deletions. Not as rare as LVNV.