Greetings:
1st time posting. Here is my situation. All three of my credit reports reflect a 6 years old "Charged off as bad debt" item from a bank account I once had that was closed by the bank after I over-drew my limit and due to a personal finance crisis did not pay the debt. Related is another same-worded item from the same bank on my three credit reports. My problem is that the first item (the bank account itself) shows a "Balance" of $107. The second item (overdraft credit for that bank account) shows $0 as the balance. My credit scores range from 639 to 660 right now primarily because of the Charged-off $107 balance showing in relation to the total credit limit on 3 credit cards I opened a year ago (total cards' limit=$1,120).
I have kept my new credit cards in good standing, no negative credit reporting for almost 6 years. By the way, these accounts were not turned over to any outside agency(s)- the bank still has the accounts apparently. Should I despute the $107 as being an invalid/innaccurate balance with the credit bureaus? After paying for one of my credit reports (I wanted to see my credit score, that is why I did not opt for the free ones), I let FICO "simulate" the best solution for my low score and it said my credit usage to availabe credit needs to be lower. I only owe $56 total on my credit cards and can only surmise it is the $107 on the charged off account that is dragging my score down. The simulator says my score would be between 715-725 if the problem was corrected. If I win the dispute, if I use that option, and the credit reports reflect a $0 balance on that account, will my score shoot-up to that 715 score range immediately?
My other thoughts as options- one is to up the credit line $500 on one of my credit cards (secured B of A card- just need to pay them the money to up the limit)- that would offset the $107 significatntly, I think? Or another option would be wait another year and some and let both accounts just fall-off my credit report (not the best option, as I'm thinking of buying a home within 4 months) Or I could contact the bank and try to work a pay-for-delete agreement just for the $107 account. I would like the best option that would be the quickest in raising my credit score in that 700-plus range, as I would like to buy a home as stated earlier, and receive a decent interest rate. Any insight/suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Welcome to the forums!
I edited your post to create paragraphs, none of your content was edited, tho.
--fused, myfico moderator
