Cap1 CO Help

[Anonymous]

Hey FICOfam, 

I'm attempting to right my credit to buy a house (shocking), but I currently have 2 COs showing from our friends at Cap1. 

The first is an auto loan, which was a CO back in 2015 (Oct-Jan 2016) but was then paid. Unfortunately it's still dragging my credit even though it has a zero balance now (because it was a charge off at one time), though I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about that at this point. 

The second is a credit card with a CO balance of $2250. It does not show as a collection, but a closed CO account. The 3 bureaus all report different last payment dates, but all 3 should fall off by next summer so I am in my final reporting year either way. 

Ideally I would like to see if I can swing a PFD on both COs by leveraging the CC balance (which still appears to be owned by Cap1?), but I'm not sure if such a thing is even possible. Has anyone tried something similar? 

If I want to try and settle, is it better to write a letter to the Salt Lake City PO box, call the 800 number (I am terrified of saying something "incriminating" on the phone but will try it if that's what typically works best), or to play a game of email roulette? 

I'm a little/lot extra nervous because I'm in my final year of reporting on the CC and I've heard a lot of horror stories when it comes to Cap1. If it weren't that we REALLY need to move asap, I would probably just wait it out. 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I've raised my CS about 100 points in the last 18 months or so, but I've been hesitant to poke the Cap1 bear and have left it for last. What has worked for you?!

Eryn 

[Red1Blue]

If you are so close to drop off have you considered EE request with CRAs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply! 

I hadn't considered it actially -- I'm still about 11-12 months out on the Cap1 card and I've heard the earliest you can EE is 6 months out (with TU) and 3 months with EX and EQ. I'm not against it at all, just haven't heard of it working for anyone previously -- maybe I'm wrong? 

[Red1Blue]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the reply! 

I hadn't considered it actially -- I'm still about 11-12 months out on the Cap1 card and I've heard the earliest you can EE is 6 months out (with TU) and 3 months with EX and EQ. I'm not against it at all, just haven't heard of it working for anyone previously -- maybe I'm wrong? 

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That is officially told. TU is 6 months early. EX is 3 months early. EQ is 1 month early (Do not touch EQ as they might mess things up) If you read the posts on this forum, recently some one posted they were able to submit 12 months ahead and it wa removed. Read the posts on the forum and you might find it. If I find the link for the post I'll send it to you.

[Joobie]

Good Morning. Capital One does not do PFD. They will not touch charge-off's except to update the balance. I've done a bunch of Goodwill campaigns only for them to tell me each time they would not be able to remove them. Late Payments are a different story.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! That's helpful. The CO could be worse I guess -- it is paid at least and has been a few years. Hopefully they'll take that into account when I apply for a mortgage. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I'll give that a try -- I had never heard of EEs until now!