Hey Guys:
I have decided that I want to buy a house by the end of next year. My credit journey over the last seven years have been riddled with collections, a bankruptcy and late fees. I laid out everything in the credit report about a month and a half ago and started going through and paying off the collections. I initially had about 9 collection accounts, with balances ranging from $52 - $13,500. All ranging in age from 1 year 8 months to 4 years. Over two days, I paid off all of them except for the $13,500 one. I am debating whether I should pay the large collection off in full or do a lump sum payment.
I also have some old accounts that is not part of the bankruptcy and not in collections that are in the charge off state. They are both auto loans. One was part of the bankruptcy and the other was from late last year. I do plan on paying off the one from last year, but not sure exactly how to go about doing that. The one from the bankruptcy is at least 6.5 years old, so I don't know if I should just have that age out??
So, after a week of waiting, my credit alerts started showing up. Balances paid, credit report activity detected, collections accounts being removed, etc....It almost got to the point where when I would see an alert, I would get excited to see how much my score went up.
As far as my scores go; they started in the high 400's. Before anything was paid on. Now, as of 9/14/2020, my Equifax is 539, TransUnion is 582 and Experian is 559. My TransUnion jumped the most; about 90 points in a month.
Also, within the last two months, some old accounts dropped off of the report. I had a foreclosure in 2016 that just came off. Also, one of the charged off credit cards that was part of the bankruptcy came off. Based on the TransUnion credit report, I have another charged off credit card that will come off in November and also the bankruptcy in December. So, I am hoping just with those two things for the score to jump as well.
I previously had an AMEX card before the bankruptcy, and that got bundled into it. After a few years, AMEX started mailing me that they "want me back". I just needed to pay the balance that was owed to them, then I could get an Optima card from them with no credit check. I opted to do that, since I had no other credit card on the report. I have had that card now for about a month and use it regurarly for everyday purchases and pay it off every week. I'll keep a small balance on there for the reporting, but will pay it after a bigger purchase is made.
My plans are to pay off the last collection by the end of the year. Also, have AMEX start reporting on the new card and getting my utilization and payment history up. Hopefully, by the time that the bankruptcy falls off, I will have a score and payment history worthy enough to get a credit card with a higher balance. Then use that and pay on it for a year to have more utilization and payment history for getting a house.
The things that I don't quite know what to do with are the auto account from last year with a balance and whether to pay the last collection in full or lump sum. Also, the auto loan that is 6.5 years old. Pay it or age it?
Let me know if my thinking is sound or if there is a flaw. I put together my plan from reading the forums and from what I thought would be best.
Let me also put out there that I have a student loan back from 2006 that is currently in deferrment. There is about a $12.5K balance of $18K. In the interest of getting the score higher, should I pay that down to less than 10%? And is that onsidered an installment loan or something else?
The AL included in the BK should show a zero balance, note Included in BK and I would not be paying it off..... The recent one I would negotiate for a reduced payoff amount. If you only have one credit card you need to obtain 2 more revolvers ASAP to drive your Fico. Welcome to the board 
The AL does not show a zero balance. It was a chapter 13 bankruptcy, if that matters. Should I dispute that and with who? It was a Lexus lease. The bankruptcy was discharged early and the other accounts listed in the bankruptcy also don't show a zero balance. Fortunately, the rest of the accounts will drop off the end of the year.
I'm thinking that I'll get a few more cards once the other stuff falls off the report by the end of the year. Would it be easier to get a card from the same bank that you bank with?
I just applied for the Capital One Platinum card. Got approved for a whooping $300 credit limit. Doing this application was on a whim. I think I'm going to wait until the end of the year to do anything else. Let the AMEX and capital one age a little and get the report in a better position.
Been a while since the last update, but have been making progress on all of my chargeoffs and collections.
The lastest update was for an auto chargeoff that ended up being less than I thought I had to pay. The original notice of sale from the lender said I owed ~$11,500.00. Fast forward a year and I called them (American Credit Acceptance) to get the pay off amount. The lady on the phone said the pay off amount was just over $8,500.00. I got that cashiers check in the mail the same day and waited for it to be processed. A few days after the check got delivered, I called them again and they confirmed that the account was paid off and closed. I waited a few more days, then opened a dispute with Equifax and TransUnion to get the status updated faster than them just reporting it.
The weird thing was that the late payments that were originially from 2019 went up to 2021, so my Equifax score dropped 57 points. But, I hoped that it would correct itself. Two days ago, I got an alert that the account was updated on Equifax. Balance $0 and no more late payments. As in wiped out. Those were the only late payments that showed on open accounts. I was thrilled. My 57 point decrease jumped back up to the previous score.
It's a long post, but the credit rebuilding has somewhat become an obsession for me now. The day that the Fico reports get refreshed is a wonderful day for me. I see rebuilding journeys where there was an 100 point increase over a year or so, but when I started paying things off in August I was at ~485 (Fico 8). I am now at 652 (Fico 8) with only one more collection to pay and months of good payment history. This is not the end, and definately have a ways to go yet. Thanks to all on this forum that have taught me the ins and outs of the credit game.
As anyone will say here, it takes time. And it can seem like it takes forever. But with a good attitude, we will all push through it. The small items are easy to pick off and see your score improve. The larger one's just take time and perserverence. But it's all worth it in the end.
@uphill_slipnslide wrote:As anyone will say here, it takes time. And it can seem like it takes forever. But with a good attitude, we will all push through it. The small items are easy to pick off and see your score improve. The larger one's just take time and perserverence. But it's all worth it in the end.
Indeed, I'm just a very impatient person, lol. 
I'm hoping to get my last collection off sometime this year/early next year (which I will because it's with PRA and PRA deletes once paid/settled) and hopefully see a huge boost when I do so. 
Hey Guys:
It's been a little while, but I have been grinding away at the last collection. I feel like I should change the title of this thread from "Getting a house soon" to something else. Not sure what yet. My house goals have changed after looking at the market and trying to internally justify spending what I would on a mortgage every month.
Anyways. About a week ago, I called NCB Management and setup a wire transfer for the full amount. The representative said that the account will get deleted off of the report. First the balance will zero out (which it did), then the account will get deleted about 60 days out. They report on the 15th of the month (Hopefully will get deleted then). That all took place on a Friday. The money went out of the account on Saturday or Monday. I started getting alerts Saturday that the balance decreased and account was closed. No real score change. I thought there would have been a good score bump because that was the last collection with a balance. That weekend also happened to be when the FICO reports refreshed, but the new reports didn't show the zero'd balance yet. A weird side effect from the collection account closing was that the original creditor (Santander) account was removed from my reports. I don't think I was part of the class action suit with them.
I have also been very diligent with practicing the AZEO method for my credit cards. The card I normally keep a small balance on got zero'd out, because I forgot to by a stick of gum. So now another card is carrying a balance and just reported in the last day or so.
There is also a student loan from 2006 that I have been starting to pay down over the last few months and plan to really pay it down by the end of the year. Once I get it to ~90% paid, then I will be paying the monthly amount. My fear is that if I pay it off fully that it will have a negative affect. The account is 15 years old. It's the oldest by far and closing it will definately bring my AAoA down.
The goal that I have right now is to get the FICO 8 scores to at least 700 by August. I definately feel like I can do this, or surpass it if I keep it up.
August 2020 FICO 8 Scores:
Equifax: 539
Experian: 536
Transunion: 560
May 2021 FICO 8 Scores:
Equifax: 642
Experian: 666
Transunion: 627 (Always seems to be the lowest one)