Current Accounts and Advice

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I currently have 5/7 open accounts in good standing. 

4 separate credit cards that total $5,100 in debt that I am actively paying down monthly in good standing

1 Student Loan with high debt but I am actively paying monthly in good standing

1 Account in collections opened on July 2013 (4yr 4 months), account status open, original creditor Speedy Cash, now turned over to AD ASTRA RECOVERY SERVIC, last reported Nov 1, 2017. The balance is $1,142.  I have paid 0 of the balance

1 Account in collections  opened on Sept  2015 (2 year 2 months), account status open, original creditor Tmobile, now turned over to ENHANCED RECOVERY COMPAN, last reported  Nov 19, 2017.  The balance is $383. I have paid 0 of the balance.  

Credit Age 1 year 7 months

100% payment history

54% of total balance utilization used

I also have 11 closed accounts most from former student loans that were consolidated into my current one

1 Hard Inquiry
My credit score is 626.  

What should I be attacking first and are the closed accounts impactful in my rebuilding?  

Thank you!

[Gidgetmom]

If it was me, I would start with the high utilization on the credit cards.  That will help bring your score up.  

If you can afford to pay the collections, it will look better on a manual review of your credit report.  Once paid, you can start a Goodwill letter campaign and hope they remove the trade lines.  

I can’t answer your question about the closed loans hurting your score.  Were they closed in good standing?  Are there any lates on them?  Were they defaulted before consolidation?

[Anonymous]

- There are 6 closed accounts from student loans that were open on Aug 2010. (7 years 2 months) Those had late payments and were permanantly assigned to government.  The account was closed on April 7, 2014 and was closed because they were defaulted. 

- 1 closed account from student loans that was open Sept 3, 2008.  Closed on Mar 2010 that was transferred in good standing no late payments and says its paid off 100%. 

- 3 closed account from student loans that was open Sept 3, 2008. Closed on Mar 2016 that was transferred in good standing no late payments and says its paid off 100%

-1 Closed account from Auto Loan opened on May 3, 2013.  Closed December 2016.  Had 90-119 days late on the report.  100% paid off original amount.  I plan on disputing this because we refinanced this car with another credit union.  (Not sure if that is the right call)

Thank you for everyones help

[Adkins]

Unfortunately it's pretty much impossible to get lates removed from government student loans, you're going to have to let them age off. 

[Anonymous]

What is the difference in GW campaign and PFD?  In my situation, the goodwill letter campaign is to the CA or the OC?

[Adkins]

PFD - you pay either the CA or OC and the collection gets removed from your credit report.

Good will campaign is where a collection is reporting as zero (no money owed) but it's still on your report. You're writing in to get them to remove the collection from your report.

[Adkins]

As for paying the OC or CA depends on how old the debt is and each company or business. If the debts have been sold off and the OC really no longer holds them, then you'll have to deal with the CA. Sometimes the OC will still have the debt but assign it to a CA to get the money for then instead of the OC doing that themselves.