@Golfisfun wrote:So I have a question. I'm dumb to all of this but I had two really bad credit cards go to collections and charged off. Covid and losing my job I fell behind in everything. So I'm trying to locate the collector but I have a question about the impact on my credit.
I had a score of 680. It's now 481. How would I even start to rebuild this and any chance I can get those two credit cards in collections off my credit report if I pay the debt?
Yep, there's a chance they can be removed. Depends on who has the collections and if they will accept a pay for delete.
And you start by getting all three reports from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
Those should have the information you need to start settling the collections.
Kudos for taking the steps to start rebuilding. It can certainly be done and fairly quickly if you do it right. I was where you are a year and a half ago. No bankruptcy, but a ton of late payments, mortgage foreclosure and a couple collections. I don't remember which one, but I remember one of my scores was 472. I raised my scores more than 200 points in less than a year.
If you want a more detailed plan of attack, come back here and list out all your accounts. Creditor Name/Credit Line/Balance/ APR/ Status ex: charge off, collection, closed, ect. Lastly DoFD. The people here are amazing and have a wealth of knowledge. And will gladly give you some advice on how to move forward.
Good luck
Welcome @Golfisfun
Pull your reports as @Singledadof3 from annualcreditreport.com. If any of those cards show a balance. Deal with the creditor. They still own it. If its a zero balance. They sold it to the CA. Now the creditor is out of the picture. List who the 2 CA's are. They may be ones that do PFD once settled or PIF. The CO status will stay. Theres no deleting a charge off.
Call them and work out a settlement. They do (PFD) pay for delete and the collections will be removed.
"If you pay off your account, we will request that the credit bureaus remove the account. This request for deletion applies to accounts that are paid in full or settled for less than the full balance. It may take up to 45 days for you to see a change on your credit report. "
One question cause I don't think anyone really addressed this: do the original creditors still show up on your reports? Cause if so, while Midland does PFD, their reporting won't be deleted until after 2 years from DOFD (Date of First Delinquency, or when the original account first went delinquent and never became current again). Also, the original creditor (OC)'s reporting will unfortunately remain the full 7 years, although it'll have a zero balance.
