No, don't dispute anything that's accurate. That'll only hurt you. Forget that part of their advice. However, they *are* correct about tackling that BoA CO. Pay in full or settle so it can stop updating monthly (if it is), otherwise at the very least it'll stop factoring into revolving utilization.
For #2, sad to say thats not gonna happen. At best you can *maybe* get them to delete the late payments via GW, but not the whole TL. Anyway, it would be more beneficial to only get the late payments deleted, because if/once they are, the TL becomes a positive one which would help contribute to your scores.
#3: Definitely address this collection, as $27.8k is a lot of money, and undoubtedly they WILL come after you for it, one way or another. Of course see if you can negotiate it down to the original amount, or even less if possible.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks Omar, appreciate the feedback.
As far as the BoA CO - any tips on how to approach negotiating this? I have the funds to pay in full, but I'm not sure if I should be taking a stab at negotiating this to pay it partially (reach a settlement). My biggest priority is getting this deleted, so if paying in full is the only way to do that, I will.
To be honest, getting it deleted will be nearly impossible, as OC's rarely delete; you can try asking for GW (goodwill) removal once paid, but for the best odds of that to work (which would still be slim at best), it'd probably have to be paid in full. You say the account was opened in 2014, but when was the DOFD (date of first delinquency; the first missed payment that led up to the charge off)? This could make a difference as well, because if the account was charged off in 2014, that means it would fall off sometime next year, so you may be able to just wait it out.
@Anonymous wrote:Got it, great points and thanks. The account was first delinquent (or 30 days late) in May 2015. It was then first declared a CO in Nov 2015. How much longer would this have to be waited out for it to fall off? Is it worth contacting BoA and paying the balance in full if it's still going to be reported as a CO and will therefore keep eviscerating my credit score?
If first delinquent (DOFD) May 2015 then approximate drop would be May 2022 though it may actually fall few months ahead for one or more bureaous based on early exclusion. In my experience, Experian will typically report a removal date of about 3 months and actually drop it.
Given the length of time since the account has been closed, I would predict high probability to negotiate a settlement for much less than full balance (perhaps even as low as 25%) but I have no experience settling debt with BOA. Unlikely that you will get BOA to agree to delete the account entirely even with full payment but you can ask.
The other items in terms of late payments can only be tackled with goodwill campaigns.
And for the record, any "credit repair specialist" that advocates disputing everything as a starting point is not someone I would recommend working with in my humble opinion. Disputing valid debts only hurts you.
There is nothing this person acting on your behalf can do that you cannot do yourself and you don't have to pay yourself a fee for doing so.
@Anonymous wrote:Got it, great points and thanks. The account was first delinquent (or 30 days late) in May 2015. It was then first declared a CO in Nov 2015. How much longer would this have to be waited out for it to fall off? Is it worth contacting BoA and paying the balance in full if it's still going to be reported as a CO and will therefore keep eviscerating my credit score?
Okay, so then that would put the DOFD as May 2015, therefore it would fall off around May 2022, meaning you have ~1.5 years left of reporting. Do you happen to know the statute of limitations (SOL) in your state? Most likely you are already past it, but if you've made any sort of contact with BoA and acknowledged/paid/agreed to pay/made a partial payment, the SOL may have been reset. If that's not the case, then most likely you can try to negotiate a settlement as mentioned above. If the account is updating monthly, then paying it off will stop it from updating and stop it from being factored into your utilization as a maxed account, helping boost scores.
@Anonymous wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Got it, great points and thanks. The account was first delinquent (or 30 days late) in May 2015. It was then first declared a CO in Nov 2015. How much longer would this have to be waited out for it to fall off? Is it worth contacting BoA and paying the balance in full if it's still going to be reported as a CO and will therefore keep eviscerating my credit score?
Okay, so then that would put the DOFD as May 2015, therefore it would fall off around May 2022, meaning you have ~1.5 years left of reporting. Do you happen to know the statute of limitations (SOL) in your state? Most likely you are already past it, but if you've made any sort of contact with BoA and acknowledged/paid/agreed to pay/made a partial payment, the SOL may have been reset. If that's not the case, then most likely you can try to negotiate a settlement as mentioned above. If the account is updating monthly, then paying it off will stop it from updating and stop it from being factored into your utilization as a maxed account, helping boost scores.
I live in California, but after doing some research, there is a lot of conflicting information as to what the SOL here is. I've seen 4 years as the most common number. If I'm past it, how does that change how I approach this? Also - even if the account is closed, it looks like it is updating monthly as the Charge Off number is "59", meaning nearly 5 years. Would paying this off really help that much even if the account is not deleted? I guess the utilization factor of this specific account is seriously hurting me, as the outstanding balance of the CO is $683, and the original max credit allotted to the account is $600.
I believe it is 4 years in California, yes. If you're past it, you just have to be careful about what you say and making any payments/promises to pay. You have to be ready to either settle/PIF in one lump sum, or if you're going to make payment arrangements, be sure you can keep up with them, because as soon as you make a promise to pay/payment arrangements, the SOL is reset. This means they can sue you for the remaining balance if you fail to follow through with your payment arrangements. That said, being the debt is fairly old and out of SOL, you *should* be able to negotiate a settlement if you choose to, and save some money.
Since they are updating monthly, then yes, paying/settling will help your scores out quite a bit because
1) the account will stop updating, allowing the negative to begin to age, and
2) you should immediately see a score boost once the zero balance is reported because as I mentioned earlier, the CO is being counted against your utilization as a maxed out account, which hurts your scores. One the zero balance reports, there should be some score increases.