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Help me get back to 700.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Help me get back to 700.

Hi, I am currently working on a rebuild. With my next 2 goals being optaining a mortage and an amex card. my current exp fico 8 is 635. Trying to figure out my best move is.

open

Fingerhut 4 years good no lates 0 balance

care credit 2 years good no lates. 0 balance

Capital one secured 8 months good no lates 0 balance

target/store 6 months. no lates. 0 balance

credit one/amex 4 months good no lates. 0 balance

student loan 5000 havent started making payments yet. 

 

closed

Discover, balance 4400, on payment plan, 5 late payments from 1 year ago. 

First premier paid charge off. 

auto loan5 years paid good.

dollar loan center charge off 600. 

sun trust loan, 5000 charge off

 

ad astra collection 1300 

 

any advice would be appreciated. 

 

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
voxombmx
Valued Member

Re: Help me get back to 700.

When do you hope to secure a mortgage?  Knowing this will help with goals.

 

Pay in full or settle all of your charge off and collection accounts, you can request pay for delete or send good will request letters. Having any of these accounts showing on your report will not keep you from obtaining a mortgage, however underwriting may request a letter of explanation as to why the accounts came to that standing. 

 

Save. Do everything you can to have the 20% down to purchase a home. Paying PMI is terrible.

 

Practice AZEO and don't miss any payments on your cards or loans. Plant yourself in the garden and let time work its magic while you save and clean up the negatives on your account and your scores will continue to rise.

 

 

 


FICO 8 Score
04/06/17 [EQ 624] [TU 606] [EX 624]
11/29/21 [EQ 800] [TU 805] [EX 807]
Gardened 4/11/17-10/1/20
Message 2 of 10
simplegirl
Valued Contributor

Re: Help me get back to 700.

If your collection with ad astra is 2 years old already I would pay that so that it would be deleted off your credit report. Anything that is updating monthly would need to be paid for sure because the monthly updates will just keep your scores suppressed.








Starting Score: 494 503 521
Current Score: 503 507 507 2/19
Goal Score: 680


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge





Goals:

Get First Home in Summer 2025
Message 3 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Help me get back to 700.

How old are the charge off accounts? What is your timetable to get back to 700 and the timetable to obtain a mortgage loan. 

AD astra would do a PFD and you can actually call them and see if they can do a PFD for a lesser amount. Also plan on paying off the other charge off accounts and the ones paid off look closely if there can be any small irregularities in reporting that can lead to a dispute. If all the information reported are correct then look into GW given its pandemic and holiday season some companies are willing to budge. Continue managing the CC that you currently have and stay in the garden for quite sometime to build up your AAOA.

 

Message 4 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Help me get back to 700.


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I am currently working on a rebuild. With my next 2 goals being optaining a mortage and an amex card. my current exp fico 8 is 635. Trying to figure out my best move is.

open

Fingerhut 4 years good no lates 0 balance

care credit 2 years good no lates. 0 balance

Capital one secured 8 months good no lates 0 balance

target/store 6 months. no lates. 0 balance

credit one/amex 4 months good no lates. 0 balance

student loan 5000 havent started making payments yet. 

 

closed

Discover, balance 4400, on payment plan, 5 late payments from 1 year ago. 

First premier paid charge off. 

auto loan5 years paid good.

dollar loan center charge off 600. 

sun trust loan, 5000 charge off

 

ad astra collection 1300 

 

any advice would be appreciated. 

 


As mentioned above, AD Astra does PFD, if negotiated, and you may be able to also settle for less. I would deal with them sooner than later since if it sits too long, they sell to NCA, who under no circumstance will do PFD.

 

I would work on GW removal campaigns for any paid baddies. FP is known to be quite helpful and it could help you to get these paid baddies removed. I would search the forum for more insight on the GW technique. Just remember you may not get a "yes" the first time or the 10th time, but it is certainly worthwhile to keep working towards it since these stay on your CRs 7 years from DoFD.

 

I would also use the GW method for lates on otherwise positive accounts (Discover).

 

I would pull all 3 CRs from annual credit report for free (no scores). This is free to do weekly thru 4/2021. They are the most comprehensuve CRs around and will spell out DoFD on EQ (add 7 years for age off date) and the age off dates for TU ("estimated date of removal") and EX ("on record until") are given. If any of these are very old, and close to aging off, come back and let us know, as we can help you try and get them off your CRs a little early (TU and EX). Do keep in mind they may not be the exact same date, as EX build in a couple months of EE (early exclusion) into the "on record until" date.

 

Mortgage UWs will most likely want to see those COs/CA handled one way or another (PIF/settle) to proceed with the process. While settling does not impact your scores any differently than PIF, a remark of "paid less than full balance" will be made on your CRs and will be taken into consideration when applying for a mortgage. Regardless, do whatever is financially best for you, even if it does mean just settling.

 

If these COs are still reporting a balance, I would figure out a way to handle them before they end up going to collections.

 

If AD Astra is your only CA, then you should see a score increase once it is removed.

 

Once you start getting the balances down on the COs that are showing balances (as well as the closed Disco), you should also hopefully start to see score improvement there, too, as you cross utilization thresholds.

 

PFD is generally something only CAs are willing to do and not on your normal COs with the original creditors (Sutrust, etc). I would still try and most definitely with Dollar Loan (and the others, but do not expect a "yes"). They may be willing to remove the account in exchange for repayment/settlement.

 

It is also ideal to *not* apply for any credit products for 1 year from a mortgage app, as new accounts really can lower your mortgage scores. So I would not apply for any more credit until after your mortgage is funded. AMEX after mortgage. 

 

Once you feel like you are in a better position, you need to start getting your mortgage scores to see where you stand getting a mortgage. These scores will generally be different than you Fico 8 scores (which are generally not used for a mortgage). They may be higher or lower than your Fico 8s.

 

While working on the baddies, I would say 8 months minimum to mortgage to allow the newest account to hit 1 yr in age.

 

This is all just IMO, but I do wish you the best of luck in your rebuild!

 

Let us know if any of the age off dates are soon and make certain on those annual credit reports that all baddies are accounted for and there are no surprises.

 

Lastly, also as mentioned above, look into AZEO. You are being penalized some points for having all your CCs at $0. I would leave a small balance (<$20) on one of your bank cards (Cap One or Credit One only - not store cards like Fingerhut, Care Credit, or Target).

 

You have mostly to focus on the 2 COs and the CA. While doing that working out GW method on FP. Discover will be unlikely to honor GW, especially while still repaying them, but it is still worth a shot!

 

Good luck!

Message 5 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Help me get back to 700.

I'm a big fan of hammering away with GW letters.  Check out this thread:

 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/The-Saturation-Technique-Best-GW-adjustment-...

Message 6 of 10
Michizane
Regular Contributor

Re: Help me get back to 700.

Did the active cards you listed have any lates? The times that are mentioned is that since your last late or the age of the account? If it is age, then just let them continue to do so. And keep a bank credit card with a 1-10% balance reporting every month .Make sure you are aware of when the charges start to accrue interest in the 30 day range by checking your statements, and pay those off before getting charged interest. I learned the hard way that keeping a 0% balance on all cards can lose you some points that are noticeable when rebuilding. 

 

Since you have started with paying Discover, you might as well continue paying it. But you shouldn't get into payment arrangements on debts. Just save money, and make a pay for delete settlement offer on them one by one (might be best to start with the smallest so you can see yourself progressing). Your original creditors will most likely not agree to delete your charge off, but you might get surprised. Take out the collection, and do a pay for delete settlement offer. 

 

After you have settled all your debts or maybe gotten some of them deleted (and keep a 1% balance on your revolving accounts), your score should shoot up a couple points. Then maybe wait 2 years to save money for mortgage costs (downpayment, closing costs, etc) while keeping your credit clean. Once you maintain good credit behavior for 2 years, your score should be good enough to get a mortgage (assuming your income, rent history, etc is solid). From a mortgage standpoint try to keep a stable career and have great rent history to go with it, it can help cover the other parts that mortgage lenders look at (income stability). 

 

Along those 2 years, you might be able to get a decent daily driver unsecured credit card. Looks like the once you currently have are either specialized or rebuilder cards. 

Message 7 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Help me get back to 700.

Thx everybody for the help.

 

Just to update everybody...

 

I have paid off discover and deleted ad astra.

 

My fico which was at the time 640 has dropped to 590.

 

I give up.

Message 8 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Help me get back to 700.

First premier and dollar loan center have also been deleted.

Message 9 of 10
mja1970
Valued Member

Re: Help me get back to 700.

I'm sorry to hear about your score drop.  Something has definitely happened to cause that kind of a decrease.  How is your current credit utilization looking?  High utilization has a very high impact and can really drop your score.  It's ideal to keep your utilization at 30% or less.  Anything more than 30% will have a substantially negative impact on your scores.  Back when I had really high utilization, it was dropping my score a good 40-45 points.  It immediately went back up as soon as I got my utilization way down to under 30% and I went from a 610 to a 652.  Have any new collections/charge offs popped up?   Any recent late payments?

Message 10 of 10
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