Collections & Rebuilding

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2020

Greetings ~

Long time reader, first time posting here on myFICO so apologies in advance if my search fu was just weak and this has all been answered before.

I have a few questions that my research isn't providing answers for so I thought it best to come to the pros.

1) Between EQ and TU I have 11 items in collection. Yes, I do need to pull EX as well in case anything is hiding in the shadows.

I'm confident that I can clear, at least, 6 in the next 30 ~ 45 days. That said do I challenge them all first or just start paying them off? Then when it comes to payment do I go "Goodwill" or "Pay to Delete" letters in hopes of having the derogs nuked off my file? Or just suck it, pay them off and stop dreaming?

2) I've read a lot about AU and high limit accounts like My Jewelry Club. Is a 5K AU better/worse than a 5K My Jewelry Club? Should I go for both if possible?

3) Family needs a car so I'm shopping for one in our budget now. I know my rate is going to suck big time, but... we need a vehicle. How long after the initial purchase should I wait until I explore refinance options (especially knowing that my score will be going up once I start paying off collections).

FireMedic1 · ‎07-03-2020

Please list out who the collection agencies are so we can see who does PFD and who doesnt.

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2020

@FireMedic1 wrote:
Please list out who the collection agencies are so we can see who does PFD and who doesnt.

Aldous & Assoc

Professional Finance Co

Wakefield & Assoc

Credit Svc Co

LTD Financial Services

Account Brokers of Latimer Co

Alpine Credit Inc

FireMedic1 · ‎07-03-2020

@Anonymous wrote:
Greetings ~

Long time reader, first time posting here on myFICO so apologies in advance if my search fu was just weak and this has all been answered before.

I have a few questions that my research isn't providing answers for so I thought it best to come to the pros.

1) Between EQ and TU I have 11 items in collection. Yes, I do need to pull EX as well in case anything is hiding in the shadows.

I'm confident that I can clear, at least, 6 in the next 30 ~ 45 days. That said do I challenge them all first or just start paying them off? Then when it comes to payment do I go "Goodwill" or "Pay to Delete" letters in hopes of having the derogs nuked off my file? Or just suck it, pay them off and stop dreaming? Getting things especially charge offs are next to impossible.

2) I've read a lot about AU and high limit accounts like My Jewelry Club. Is a 5K AU better/worse than a 5K My Jewelry Club? Should I go for both if possible? Neither. Fix the past first. More credit doesnt heal the past.

3) Family needs a car so I'm shopping for one in our budget now. I know my rate is going to suck big time, but... we need a vehicle. How long after the initial purchase should I wait until I explore refinance options (especially knowing that my score will be going up once I start paying off collections).

You'll need to get your free annual credit reports which are free weekly. Go over them and each collector is collecting on 1 of the accounts. If the OC shows a $0 balance. They sold the debt to the collector. If the OC has a balance the CA is collecting on their behalf. So if the OC shows a balance. Try to settle with them in exchange for recalling the CA. If its been sold. Then settle with the CA's. Getting GW's and deletions are about a 1% success rate. Especially now with what going on in the world. Good Luck

FireMedic1 · ‎07-03-2020

None of those CA's you listed I've never seen as PFD companies. Sorry.

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2020

You'll need to get your free annual credit reports which are free weekly. Go over them and each collector is collecting on 1 of the accounts. If the OC shows a $0 balance. They sold the debt to the collector. If the OC has a balance the CA is collecting on their behalf. So if the OC shows a balance. Try to settle with them in exchange for recalling the CA. If its been sold. Then settle with the CA's. Getting GW's and deletions are about a 1% success rate. Especially now with what going on in the world. Good Luck

Planning to reopen my account at USAA. They offer free monitoring for all 3. If I go that route should I still request free copies directly as well?

Edit ~ Have been reading up on medical debt and HIPAA. If I am understanding it correctly 4 of those might be cleared soon....

gdale6 · ‎07-03-2020

@Anonymous wrote:
You'll need to get your free annual credit reports which are free weekly. Go over them and each collector is collecting on 1 of the accounts. If the OC shows a $0 balance. They sold the debt to the collector. If the OC has a balance the CA is collecting on their behalf. So if the OC shows a balance. Try to settle with them in exchange for recalling the CA. If its been sold. Then settle with the CA's. Getting GW's and deletions are about a 1% success rate. Especially now with what going on in the world. Good Luck
Planning to reopen my account at USAA. They offer free monitoring for all 3. If I go that route should I still request free copies directly as well?

Edit ~ Have been reading up on medical debt and HIPAA. If I am understanding it correctly 4 of those might be cleared soon....

Direct copies from annualcredit are preferrable as they are straight from the CRAs themselves and not run through other software. USAA is good for monitoring.

Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:

1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2020

annualcreditreport.com ?

^ this the site?

@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You'll need to get your free annual credit reports which are free weekly. Go over them and each collector is collecting on 1 of the accounts. If the OC shows a $0 balance. They sold the debt to the collector. If the OC has a balance the CA is collecting on their behalf. So if the OC shows a balance. Try to settle with them in exchange for recalling the CA. If its been sold. Then settle with the CA's. Getting GW's and deletions are about a 1% success rate. Especially now with what going on in the world. Good Luck
Planning to reopen my account at USAA. They offer free monitoring for all 3. If I go that route should I still request free copies directly as well?

Edit ~ Have been reading up on medical debt and HIPAA. If I am understanding it correctly 4 of those might be cleared soon....
Direct copies from annualcredit are preferrable as they are straight from the CRAs themselves and not run through other software. USAA is good for monitoring.

Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:

1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.

Anonymous · ‎07-03-2020

@Anonymous wrote:
annualcreditreport.com ?
^ this the site?
@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You'll need to get your free annual credit reports which are free weekly. Go over them and each collector is collecting on 1 of the accounts. If the OC shows a $0 balance. They sold the debt to the collector. If the OC has a balance the CA is collecting on their behalf. So if the OC shows a balance. Try to settle with them in exchange for recalling the CA. If its been sold. Then settle with the CA's. Getting GW's and deletions are about a 1% success rate. Especially now with what going on in the world. Good Luck
Planning to reopen my account at USAA. They offer free monitoring for all 3. If I go that route should I still request free copies directly as well?

Edit ~ Have been reading up on medical debt and HIPAA. If I am understanding it correctly 4 of those might be cleared soon....
Direct copies from annualcredit are preferrable as they are straight from the CRAs themselves and not run through other software. USAA is good for monitoring.

Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:

1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.

yes! The CRs are free to oull weekly through 4/2021 (as @FireMedic1 , stated above). They do not include scores, but are the most comprehensive CRs around, also including entire payment history (vs just the past couple years) and "estimated date of removal" for TU, "on record until" for EX, and "date of first delinquency" for EQ (the date it naturally ages off EQ would be 7 years from that date given), which will help you determine when accounts will drop off and when you can implement EE (early exclusion), and this is especially important if they will not do PFD.

I have also found CAs do not report to all 3 CRs, so it is important to get all 3.

Good luck!

Anonymous · ‎07-07-2020

I personally would avoid things like my jeweler. You are trying to rebuild and be responsible. In less than 9 months I have gone from 501 to 620. I still have unpaid collections but have not added to them. I started with an open sky card and used and paid off each month. Bought a car financed through capital one 23% interest but more on that later. Next got an offer for indigo unsecured. Next was Navy Federal secured and finally a newbie called grain. Grain gave me a 1k loc at 12% that I use to pay off the car.each week I am seeing a rise in my credit so far. Navy federal has yet to report and grain also has yet to report so should have a nice increase when they do and also helps my utilization.

My issue with the my jewelers is this. $99 membership for 5 k credit line. Great for utilization but then for it to report you need a purchase of at least $100-$120. That's $200 already for some jewelry you don't need. Then if you want to keep building payment history you have to keep buying stuff you don't need. Use that $200 towards a secured card. Pay a small bill then take the cash you normally would pay it with and pay off the card rinse and repeat. This is not a race. Take your time and learn how to use credit while you build it. 5k is too much temptation to use more also

As far as the car is concerned. It is 17656@23% payment is 473 for 66 months. I use my grain loc @Anonymous% to make a payment of $1000 last month. Then I sent the 473 I normally pay to grain. Next step is I make a budget and stick to it. I determined after bills, money to waste and enjoy, gas, food, etc I still have another $400 left each month. I pay another $200 to grain then make my regular payment it was $18 this month. I added enough to get my balance down to 200 and I'm reporting a 20% utilization just made 2 on time payments and every other month I'm paying $1000 on my car. Car will be paid off in less than 2 years. And unlike the past if something happens I can always just make regular payments until I can start the cycle over again.