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Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

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gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?


@Anonymous wrote:

I would dispute all accounts to see who dropped then take the advice of the others. That is what I would do but some would advise against because they are your accounts.


Actually, advocating someone dispute valid information in their accounts would be a credit repair violation here on myFico. The dispute process is to be used to correct inaccurate information only. Disputing things can have some consequences that no one wants to have.

Message 11 of 22
McNugget
Regular Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?


@jsully87 wrote:

Also -- curious about Authorized User accounts - after a Divorce -and charged off -- can I get them off my report??

 

 

I just went on Portfolio's website.

I have 4 accounts listed - and 2 they are saying to call another number. ??? Guess they don't want my money.

 

Portfolio Associates:

Capital One - $3505

Synchrony Bank (Amazon)-$4596

Barclay's - $1974

Capital One - $1359

 

 

Midland Funding -

 
Maurices
8578563509$422.32
VS
8577517069$1,319.50

Buckle

8579050934$983.72
Express
8579075177$802.49
Overstock
8579021862$1,797.45
Pier 1
8579071349$1,005.88
Walmart
8578406615$938.95

 

I also have Jefferson Capital - for Fingerhut $3306

 


The 20k will cover everything but that last Fingerhut account.  Pay everything else in full, then call Fingerhut to make an affordable payment plan.  I'm somewhat against negotiating down bills in which I made legitimate charges for tangible items that are still in my posession.  Pay for them.  You might be able to negotiate a "pay to delete" kind of thing.  You tell them you'll pay in full IF they delete reported derogatory information.   Get that in writing.

 

I've been where you are.  I still have a chunk left to go, but I've gone from having over 75% utilization down to 31% in 3 months time.  It feels good to know that I'm doing this the responsible way, and I'm using this as a lesson to myself.

 

Hope you are feeling better.  

 

| Amex BCP | BoA Cash Rewards | Cap1 QS | Cap1 SavorOne | Chase Freedom | Chase Sapphire Preferred | Citi DC | Citi Simplicity | Discover It Cash Back | JCrew | USB Cash+ | Target (AU) |
Message 12 of 22
Shooting-For-800
Senior Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

I am confused how $20k covers 55 accounts.

Rebuild started in 2014  -  $100k unsecured credit in 2017  -  $500k unsecured credit in 2024.

DON'T WORK FOR CREDIT CARDS ... MAKE CREDIT CARDS WORK FOR YOU!



Message 13 of 22
pgtackle2003
Frequent Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

The previous poster actually added up all the outstanding balances the postser listed. These add up to about 20k if you exclude the Fingerhut account.

Message 14 of 22
simplegirl
Valued Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?


@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

I am confused how $20k covers 55 accounts.


The 55 negative accounts could be negative payment history rather that something you have to pay back. I have 15-20 negatives reporting but that is because all my accounts have late payments on them.








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Current Score: 503 507 507 2/19
Goal Score: 680


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge





Goals:

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Message 15 of 22
jsully87
Regular Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

I actually have $67k in debts - just some
Is student loans and some is current.
If I knew how to post a picture in here from my phone I would.

I’m just trying to
Figure out the best way to spend the money and boost my scores. All original creditors still reporting as well as the new collections accounts. Some have reported as early as a few months ago. DOLA is 12/16 for most collections accounts or early 2017.

I was thinking of just paying the ones I posted before just because they’re easier to do - just go online and pay. Most listing the 40% settlement offer.

Should I just pay them or would that hurt my score more??

Does it change the original creditor tradeline once it’s paid?

Myfico EQ 670 / TU 625 / EX 614 Jan 11,2015
AAoA : 4yrs
Mine: Cap1 $500 | Cap1 $300 | FH 1100 Store Cards : $2750CL
AU QS 750 | AU Cap1 1000 | AU Cr1 500 | AU Fp 300
Message 16 of 22
pgtackle2003
Frequent Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

I am not completely clear, so want to clarify. The accounts you listed before, are these all now listed as Charge-off? If so, as you mentioned these all now have collections accounts that are also showing on your report?

As you'll find the most important part is getting these items removed from your report. So in this case you are dealing with 2 negative items (the original creditor and the collections account). It's important to know if the account balances from the original creditor show 0$,  if there is a collections account for a specific creditor, the original creditor should show 0$. If not, that is grounds for a dispute as it's inaccurate (since the debt has been sold).

 

If it were me in this situation, I would call the original creditor and tell them I'd like to get the accounts paid. They will likely tell you it's been sent to a collections agency. However, they do have the ability to pull the debt back if they choose to. I would then work to get the account paid. The advanatage of this is the collections account would need to be removed since it's no longer a valid account. You can try to negotiate with the original creditor to do a Pay for deletion, they may or may not agree to this. At the very least negotiate a 'Paid In full' to report on your report.


Keep in mind this is not the only way to approach this. There might be some other folks on here a bit smarter than me that may have ideas that would work better. In any case putting the 20k towards these accounts in some manner will certainly increase your scores.

Message 17 of 22
jsully87
Regular Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

Thank you.

Yeah I’m pretty sure all of the OC show $0.

I really hate being on the phone as I’ve been trying to pay two things for days and just keep getting rerouted thru automated systems. If they have an online way to pay - that’s most likely how I’ll do it. I know it’s lazy but I really don’t feel like messing with it as much as I don’t have to. I’ve even been looking into just paying someone to do it for me. I have more that 20k to play with - I just figured I’d start with that and go from there.

I found a person that will legally seller finance a house to me AND report to the CBs so that’s good I don’t have to worry about struggling with a mortgae lender.
Myfico EQ 670 / TU 625 / EX 614 Jan 11,2015
AAoA : 4yrs
Mine: Cap1 $500 | Cap1 $300 | FH 1100 Store Cards : $2750CL
AU QS 750 | AU Cap1 1000 | AU Cr1 500 | AU Fp 300
Message 18 of 22
pgtackle2003
Frequent Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

The only way to really have someone negotiate and take care of these balances for you, is through an attorney. You have to fill out some paperwork that states they are legally allowed to act on your behalf. That in itself may get expensive. I completely understand the issue of just not wanting to deal with it as it can get time consuming and a lot of them talk to you like you're a lesser person trying to settle older debts.

As for seller finance I would get all documentation reviewed by an attorney. I have never done one and am not familiar but I could see where there may be something that is easy to overlook but has big ramifications later.

 

Good luck with everything.

Message 19 of 22
jsully87
Regular Contributor

Re: Help me spend $20,000 -- pay collections or nah?

Yeah I’m doing it the same way as any other conventional closing - as well as title search and survey and inspection etc. everything is going thtu the title company.

Hopefully them reporting to my credit as well will help my scores too.
Myfico EQ 670 / TU 625 / EX 614 Jan 11,2015
AAoA : 4yrs
Mine: Cap1 $500 | Cap1 $300 | FH 1100 Store Cards : $2750CL
AU QS 750 | AU Cap1 1000 | AU Cr1 500 | AU Fp 300
Message 20 of 22
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