Credit Rebuild Thread - Looking for Advice

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

First off, I want to start off by thanking all of the active members on this board.  You really can learn and do more for yourself than if you were to hire anyone (by the way, dont hire anyone lol)

My current scores are not terrible.  Low to mid 600's.   I am just looking for advice on what accounts to target first, and kind of move from there.

**Notate accounts I am most worried about

Current Collections Account:

Portfolio (was judgement) - Just finished last installment for PFD and should be falling off within the month (currently reporting a $584 balance, but again I have paid this off).

Midland Credit (Caesars CC) - Have payment plans for PFD.  3 payments left and they say it will be removed in April (hence my payment structure, they were always firm on April falloff date.

**Midland Credit (Capital One - Judgement)** - Long story short, orginal court date was in 2020, was moved to COVID.  I was in the hospital for a good chunck of that year (not COVID related), never knew it was re-scheduled, etc.  They have a judgement and authorization to garnish wages (they have had that for over a year and have not started).  I have called and asked for ANY breaks knowing im in a bad spot.  The only option they gave me was to PIF and all at once.  Would you keep trying or just save up, PIF and call it a day?  Try to negotiate better terms? This account would be removed once paid.

ConServe (College OC) - This one is the most frustrating to me.  I paid this off instantly after realizing I even owed the college money.  The rep on the phone told me it would be removed from reporting (learned the hard way of not getting written documentation of this.  I have reached out to the school, filed a BBB claim, is there any other route to take other than filing a CFPB claim?

Charge Offs:

Mission Lane (C/U $645 of $500):  This is not my account, I have sent the required documents to dispute this that the creditor requested (affadavit, etc.)  Hoping this will be removed soon.

First Premier Bank (C/U $853 OF $725):  This is bizarre.  Its not my account, they have been sending letters to an attorney (addressed to me).  None of the information is right and they also made me file documentation stating as much, which I have.  Hoping this one will also be removed soon.

Caesars Rewards/Comenity (C/U $O of $2,000):  They sent me to collections even after I made a couple of payments and sent proof of hardship.  Sent Goodwill/harship letter out today, but I am assuming this will most likely stay (this is linked to the Midland collection I am paying)

Upstart (C/U $0 OF $10K):  Truthfully dont ever remember getting this loan, but I have plenty of emails saying I paid.  I may just ask for a debt validation letter and go from there?

**Barclays (C/U $8,759 of $7400)**:  I honestly am too afraid of this account to have even reached out to them.  SOL should be up on all bureaus by end of year.  If going by what state it was opened in, SOL just passed.  Obviously my biggest debt, and I know they wont delete, so I am at a loss for what to do here.

Chared Off/Payed Off:

Regions ($0 of $1000):  This is paid in full, but is reporting 18 missed payments.  I dont know how, as this was a credit/loan type account directly linked to my banking at the time.  It should have never allowed me to be late?  Sending GW letter but I dont know if there is any hope with the amount of lates.

Chase Freedom (C/U $0 of $1500):  I paid this off with a settlement.  2020 when I had the medical issues I could not make this work.  I sent out a goodwill/hardship letter today, but this will most likely stay.

Active Accounts w/Issues:

Citi Double Cash (current util. $500 of $1000):  Paying this down to under 100 within the next month.  Big issue here is previously mentioned medical issues had me miss 5 total payments.  Sending GW letters, but I have no idea if they will accomadate.  I havent been late with them in over 3 years.

Mortgage:  This is active, paid as agreed, and have not been late in over 3 years.  I have something like 19 total lates.  I reached out to them with the medical issues, all of which I had to document, they put me on a federal plan, and told me to not pay some months.  The plan didnt wipe anything out and I still was counted late when they told me not to pay.  I also called and set up an auto debit for payment.  Except they put it in as a promise to pay, and this cost me like 3 30 day lates in a row.  I dont know what I should do to try and get the lates removed, as it is a mortgage and it is active.

Paid As Agreed:

Capital Quicksilver 1 ($2K of $3k):  I should have this paid to under 10 percent in two months.  Getting married in Feb and have been using this way more than normal.

Discover It (Auth User - $0 Bal)

AMEX Plat (Auth User - $0 Bal)

Average Credit Age:  2.5 years

Total CC Use:  23%

Payment History:  77%

If you are still with me, thank you.  I would just love your advice on what to try and tackle first.  What might help my score the most, etc.   I was tackling the collections first, and with just one more to go, I need a strict gameplan to attack some of the other items.  Any recommendations would be appreciated.  Any additional information you may need I can provide.

End goal:  Getting married in February.  I would love to re-fi my house and add wife to the mortgage (sometime this year).  I know banks hate collections/chargeoffs, but some (especially Barclays Account) could take me quite a bit to pay off.  Can cover about 1k in debt payments per month to fix issues.

Thanks everyone, your advice is very much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Well you do have a lot going on.

Not knowing your income it is hard to see if there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Your intentions to pay all this off is great but can it be done in a resonable amount of time.

In a case like yours I think you should consult with a bankruptcy attorney. A chapter 7 or 13 may be your best way to handle all this and wipe all this away so you can start your new marriage without this hanging over your head.

At this point I am not saying a bankruptcy is the way to go since there is very little information here to go by but you really need to see a BK lawyer for advice before you tackle anything at this point.

Thanks

Mark

[Anonymous]

I don't really feel as if it's that bad.  Collection wise 2 are being removed within the next couple of months.

For the other 2, one has been PIF and the other I was trying to see my best options to handle.

Getting goodwill on my mortgage and Citi cards missed payments might be tough,  but there seems to be some inaccuracies I can dispute.

The big account is the Barclays one, which again, without more knowledge, I'm afraid to engage with until the end of the year.

I've seen success stories on here with double the collections, etc, and I don't think bankruptcy is the way to go in my personal situation.  Appreciate the feedback though

[simplegirl]

I agree that bankruptcy shouldn't be an option because I had so much debt to pay bakc barely making any money yearly but still got almost everything paid off. You handled most of it so far i would just say get the credit card paid down the Capital One because of the high balance on it. Goodwills are difficult but not impossible to get so I would at least try. 

Also for the midland credit judgement since they already can garnish your wages I'm not sure if you want to continue to try and pay less on it because they could just get the full payment either way.

As far as the charge off that agreed to be removed the CFPB would be the only option but i could be wrong.

The barclays one I don't want to stir you the wrong way but if you can take the chance and wait until the SOL runs out I would.

Good Luck On Your Rebuild!

[Anonymous]

Just an update, Paramount balance now zero, should be falling off soon. 

The two accounts that are not mine I have sent in affidavits on and hopefully those can be resolved soon.

Going to call Midland and see if they are interested in negotiation anything at all.  Will update but ideally would like to have a solution with them in place by EOM.

Next steps from there will be to pay down CCs and then see where I'm at and gameplan from there.

[Anonymous]

Update:

- Portfolio collection has now been removed (Well 2 of 3, Experian should be falling off any day).

- Midland account three payments left, then that will fall off

- Midland judgement:  Still have not called in to set up an agreement, even if it's a full PFD.  Hope to have this at least agreed upon by EOM

- ConServe:  We are still going back and forth, no resolution yet.

Accounts That Weren't Mine:

- Had to create two identity theft affidavits, plus answer Mission Lane and First Premiers questions, for accounts I did not open.  There is a lot that goes into these types of cases, and they don't clear up quickly im finding out.  Hopefully these get taken care of soon, it would definitely help things out.

Misc. Updates:

- Semt my first GW letter to Citi (did two addresses).  Also sent one to Chase for COVID reasons.  No responses but these were the very first ones I've sent out.

-Had to dispute Caesars OC as they took away my payment history and only are showing missed payments.

I have purposely not been score checking often, as my goal is the accounts I'm working on, then I will worry about score.  I have my sleeves pulled up, and hoping by April I'll be collections free, and will just be worrying about a few charge offs.

Really just updating to show people once this is done that if you put in hard work and some research, you can greatly improve your scores by yourself.  I don't want people to waste the hundreds of dollars a month on CR companies that don't work, when you can do everything for free with much better results yourself.

[Anonymous]

Another Quick Update:

- Mission Lane, after all the documents they requested, took one day to confirm the account was fraudulent and they said this will be removed in the next 14-45 days.

Great news there, glad to get that one off of my list so I can focus my attention on some of the other accounts.

[Anonymous]

Long overdue update on this:

- Mission Lane account removed from report

- First Premier Bank account removed from reporting (this was such a frustrating process).

The two open delinquencies I have (Both Midland), one I owe two more payments on, the other I will have resolved by next week.

This leaves only a few less than desirable trade lines.  I still have had no luck getting Conserve to delete, even though that's what they told me they would do.  It's such a small amount, paid in full and over college courses, one would think that would be really easy to remove.

I will continue to update this thread as updates happen.  I did just want to show it you keep at it, positive results can happen.

[Anonymous]

Great work! Keep reporting in. Any luck on your mortgage lates?

[Anonymous]

No luck on the mortgage lates yet, but I have been in touch with a department.  They have sent me so much in terms of documentation, from here I think I can use the reporting against what they have sent me and go from there.  These were around 4 years ago, so score wise, they might not be making a massive impact, but re-finance wise, I'm sure this needs to be addressed.

FACO scores are into the 700s, so I've come a long way.  Still a little bit left to go, but by around May I should be looking pretty good.

I will continue to update with anything I've been able to do, tips, etc.