Hello! I've been a long time lurker and working on my credit for about 6 months. I'll post my story and then the debt so I can lay a foundation. Also, not sure which report would be best to post here to get the most comprehensive help? I'm paying for Experian, MyFICO and using WalletHub + Credit Karma... prob excessive.
Anyway, I have a boatload of charge-offs, collections (in dispute), and high DTI. I'm starting this thread to hopefully gain a better insight on how to handle my credit repair situation. I've already made the mistake of paying an agency to help me, and while they're getting inaccurate info and some items removed, I need to do the true work.
I'll post the action plan they gave me, but I'd like help from all of you if possible, as I never want to be in this situation again. I've had a few bumps in a my score but mortgage went down.. yuck. The whole goal is to purchase a home by July. My new SO is Pre-approved w/ good credit but I'd really like to be on the mortgage this round of life. Side note, all of the debt I post was in relation to a major hardship that lasted a few years (divorce, loss of mother and brother, stolen cards and so on). Debt is mine to pay so... let's do it!
Which report should I post here?
thanks in advance! 
Hi and welcome to the forums! Congrats on committing to rebuilding your credit!
You should actually pull all three of your reports from annualcreditreport.com. These are the most comprehensive versions of your reports and will provide you with much needed information -- such as when a derogatory account is due to drop from your reports. It's free to pull and a new, updated report will be available once per week through April.
Once you review all three, come back and list your accounts along with the following info:
- Lender or collection agency name
- Type (credit card, loan, collection, etc.),
- Status (current/paid, charge-off)
- Note any current or closed accounts that have late payments and if so, how many, month/year of occurence, and their severitiy (30-day, 60-day, 90-day etc.) -- if it's a charge-off, no need to note the historical late payments.
- Note the Date of First Delinquency (DOFD) for each charge-off and collection - this is the month/year the account first became delinquent and was never brought current. You can also note the Expected Date of Removal/"On Record Until" date listed on your reports.
- EQ lists the DOFD. EX and TU list an Expected Date of Removal or On Record Until date (but i forget which lists which).
- Reasons for your current disputes
You may also want to provide an estimate of how much money you have available to throw at your outstanding debt each month so we can offer more detailed advice.
The more info you are able to provide -the better the advice you'll receive. It may seem overwhelming at first but take a breath - you can do this.
You should have been able to download and save each report--- in any event, this info looks great but I'm on my mobile at the moment so it's hard to really review but I will get back to you asap (sometime this eve when I get back to my laptop) -- tho others may come along before then to help 😊
Ok- Sorry for the delay.
Added some comments in the last column of chart so you have to scroll over...
| Open/Revolving/Installements | ||||
| Amex | $1930/$2000 | Open, A/U account, Never late | Paying Down, Not spending | 96.5% util |
| Capital Bank/Open Sky | $93/$300 | Open, NEW 1/21, | Paid to Zero 1/15/21 | |
| Citi Card | $0/$$1,500 | Open, A/U account, Never late | Not updated since 8/2020, requesting removal, possiblly removed already | Should show as closed on your reports or be deleted. |
| JPMG Card | $7859/$8,500 | Open, A/U account, Never late | Keeping and paying down (my debt on ex's card), Credit History Needed 13Y | 92.5% util |
| JPMG Card | $0/$500 | Open, A/U account, Never late | Keeping on for DTI Help only | |
| Macys Store Card | $0/$400 | Open, A/U account, Never late | Keeping for DTI Only | |
| Sync/Care Credit | $8973/$10,600 | Open, JOINT, Never Late | This one is helping a ton bc I'm actually on as Joint not A/U | 84.6% util |
So you already know the high balance cards are hurting you. I understand you want to keep them - and that's fine, but if you don't have control over the spend -- and unsure how the primary account holder will handle the card's util in the future, you may want to consider removing yourself as it will hurt you more than it helps.
The one for which you are a joint card holder -- yes keep - just get it paid down asap.
The citi card should show as closed on your reports (or be removed) since your AU status has been terminated. Allowing it to continue reporting as an open account opens you up to an update in the future which could reflect a high balance or derogatory (though it would be easy enough to fix should this occur).
I assume you intend on retaining AU status on the Amex and I understand you're paying off your debt on the JPMG card - so for scoring purposes, you want to keep the utilization thresholds in mind. Your FICO scores will respond (rise / fall) as your balances move below/above the following utilization thresholds (red is too high): 88.9%, 68.9%, 48.9%, 28.9%, and 8.9%. I would recommend aiming for the next lowest thresholds as you make your payments -- so get both Amex and JPMG down to below 88.9% asap to get it out of max territory, then aim for below 68.9%, and so on. Once you get this debt paid off, you want to try to keep your aggregate util (total balances/total credit limits) below 8.9% and individual card util (balance/respective limit) below 28.9% for optimal scoring.
Notes in the last column with a full explanation below the chart:
| Closed/ Charg-off | |||||
| Cap One Bank, Secured | Paid in Full, was past due 90 days $200, owe $0 | Status Date: 03/2018 | 2/1/2018 DATE CLOSED | Portfolio Recovery | Goodwill Letter to OC to remove late payments. |
| Commenity Bank/Vsecret | limit $250, Charge off $525 | DOFD: 9/1/2017 | Opened 2016, 3/2018 sent to CA, Shows $0, CA shows $526? | Portfolio Recovery | Goodwill to OC after paying CA. |
| Kohls/Cap One | Limit $300, C/O @$605, Paid in Full on 1/19/21 | 3/2018 charged off | waiting on report update. Paid direct to Kohls | ??? Mystery | Goodwill Letter to OC. If CA not reporting, don't worry about it bc it's paid -- just keep your payment receipt. |
| Nordstrom/TD Bank | Limit $800, C/O @ $905, Payment Plan, Owe $810 | 9/2018 Charged Off | Paying off in two weeks… DOFD Mar 01, 2018 | n/a, in-house | Goodwill Letter to OC after payment |
| Sync/TJmxx | Limit $300, Paid in full at 60 days past due | 06/2017 Last update | Need to see if they/ll remove bad remarks??? Unsure here | n/a | Goodwill Letter to OC |
| Vervent>TBOM, Total Visa, Bank Of Miss Card | Limit $300, Paid in Full at Charge Off, paid $470 | 11/2019 Charged off | It's updating to paid, but need removed | LTD Financial | Goodwill letter to OC once updated to paid. |
OK - Your paid charge-offs (I'll get to collections in the next section) are going to continue to suppress your scores for as long as they remain on your reports, though your scores will begin to recover as they age from the last updated date. Paying them was a necessary step to elimininating the utilization and preventing future updates from the creditor. The only way to get accurately reporting paid charge-offs removed is via a Goodwill Campaign -- and this is the toughest part of the rebuild. Goodwills are letters you write to each creditor requesting removal of the entire tradeline, or removal of late payments only, as an act of goodfaith. They should be short and sweet but also personal while explaining why you defaulted on the debt (financial hardship, jobloss, illness, immature and irresponsible - whatever) and taking full responsibility for not meeting your financial obligation. Goodwills do not always work -- and they certainly don't always work the first time - but you have to keep trying. You've got several years before these will meet their 7 year period so... it's worth the effort. Many have experienced Goodwill success but it often takes several rounds of letters. I always recommend the Goodwill Saturation Technique - it requires a ton of patience, stubborness, faith and a little luck -- here's a thread on the process:
There are many successful GW stories with Synch, several with CapOne, a few with Commenity. TD Bank will be tough - unlikely - but still give it shot.
| Derog Installments | |||||
| American Honda Finance | Paid off 2019, past due 60 days late | Joint Account.. | Goodwill to OC requesting removal of late payments only. | ||
| Santander Consumer | $107 owed, PAID 1/08/21.. | Individual Account | Auto accident. Wasmt aware thart insurance didn't cover $107… | Derog, Paid | Goodwill to OC |
Is the Santander loan a charge-off or does it just have late payments? If it's a charge-off, your Goodwill needs to request deletion of the tradeline. If just late payments, request only the late payments be removed so you keep the tradeline for history. For Honda - request removal of the late payments only so you keep the tradeline -- if this account is still active, you may have to wait until the late payments age a bit and show additional on-time payments before they'll be willing to remove it.
(Post 1/2)
(Post 2/2)
| Issue: | |||||
CREDIT ONE BANK (CLOSED) | NOT MINE. Added as A/U, FRAUD, COB cant find me to be able to remove | $400 limit, CO at $800 | DISPUTE, | A dispute should remove this quickly - AU accounts are generally deleted without question upon dispute. | |
| Jefferson Capital systems | $2758, erizon | Fraud… Family… | Trying to get this removed. It's been reporting since 10/2019 after 120 days past due | Do you have a police report (I know - family - but do you)? | |
| Midland Funding | $371, Synchrony account, Not sure what it is | Not accounted for. Disputing | 2/2018 sent to colledctions | reporting monthly | Debt. Validation Request- Pay for Delete if yours |
| Paramount Recovery | $589, Medical Bill, Collections | 10/31/19 reported | Disputing, didn’t even live in this state | Wait for dispute results | |
| Paramount Recovery | $344, Medical Bill, Collections | 10/31/19 reported | Disputing, didn’t even live in this state | Wait for dispute results | |
| Portfolio Revocery | $526 | Vsecret | 2/2018 first reported | PRA will delete upon payment. | |
| Portfolio Revocery | $572 | Cap One Journey | 5/2020 first reported | PRA will delete upon payment. Send them your payment confirmation | |
| 5 CA's pedning removal NOW, United Rev Corp | all are medical bills |
So... Portfolio (PRA) will delete their collection tradeline after payment -- it's their policy.
The CapOne Journey is the one you paid after 90-days late, correct? So there shouldn't be a collection for them on your reports. You can send PRA a copy of your payment receipt and ask them to remove the collection or you can contact CapOne and ask them to revoke collection authority from PRA so the collection is removed, or, dispute the collection account with the bureaus as 'paid to original creditor'. If I'm mistaken and this is not the same CapOne you paid, and you still owe the debt, pay PRA so they can remove the tradeline.
Victoria Secret: The original tradeline shows a $0 balance because they sold the debt to PRA. When a creditor sells the debt, they have to update the balance to $0. If the creditor only transfers the debt to a collection agency, then they can continue reporting a balance and updating the tradeline monthly. In this case, the debt was sold so contact PRA and pay it - either in full or a settled amount, so they can delete the collection. Then begin your Goodwill campaign to have the OC tradeline removed.
Midland Funding will also delete their collection upon receipt as payment so long as the debt is at least 2 years old-- looks like you qualify. Since you don't know what this debt is, and have already disputed, wait for the dispute results. If it comes back verified, and you still don't know what the debt is, you can request a Debt Validation letter from Midland for more information -- keep in mind, they are not required to issue a debt validation but they might. You can also try calling them to get additional information. If it is determined that the debt belongs to you, pay it so it can be deleted. If you don't think it's yours, then you have to prove fraud.
PRA and Midland collections are low hanging fruit -- i'd probably take care of them first to get them out of the way, then move on to the Goodwills and focusing on paying down your current debt.
For the disputed medical collections - wait for the dispute results, if they are not yours then hopefully they will be deleted. If they are not deleted and are verified, come back here and get advice on the next move.
For the accounts you believe to be fraud -- you are going to have a hard time ridding yourself of the obligation without a police report. I know it's family so I understand if that's a step you want to avoid, but not obtaining a police report leaves you responsible for the debt and you may have no choice but to pay it so you can move forward. I would highly recommend placing a fraud alert and security freezes (both are free) on all three of your credit reports to prevent this from happening in the future.
Please ask any additional questions you may have-- I hope I covered everything (and hope my explanations are clear) but i don't know.. lol.