Greetings to all of my fellow adventurers:
I am new to the forums and after a long while of rebuilding my credit on my own, I have hit a snag. In college they handed out credit cards like lollipops and I partook of the goodness. Once I left school, I realized the mistakes I'd made and made an effort to rebuild my credit. Starting in the low 500's I took steps to raise my scores enough to purchase a home and a car. Since then I've had some dings as a result of being lazy and ignoring things that could have easily been taken care of. Now my scores have dropped again and I'm ashamed of myself. I want to do better while I don't need credit.
My focus is on joining the 700 club.
Here is my picture:
EX: 607
TU: 558
Since obtaining these scores from MYFICO, I have paid off two credit card balances of $500 on a $600 limit and a secured card of $100 on a $300 limit. I have a $2000 balance on a $2700 limit that I am gnawing away at now. I think I should either close the secured card or send in money to raise the limit. Not sure which.
I have 3 collections. One is a paid medical of $120. I plan on GW the OC that I paid. One is $211 from AT&T from 2004 that I will attempt to PFD to the CA. The third is a $58 paid utility that I plan on GW to the OC.
I have two 30 day lates on a deferred student loan. I took a semester off to have my daughter and the loans went into repayment. I plan on GW this too.
As you can see, this is all really petty stuff. I just wasn't taught about the importance of credit and so I didn't take steps to protect mine. If a company made me mad, I just wouldn't pay them. Now I know who gets hurt the most in that game.
Please let me know what steps you think I should take that may help.
