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My rebuilding journey

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jrwa81
Regular Contributor

My rebuilding journey

I have found this forum incredibly helpful.  I have been lurking and reading for a while.  I have learned so much about credit and rebuilding, which has enabled me to get a great start on my journey.  I thought I'd share my rebuilding progress to help keep me accountable and on track, and maybe it will be helpful to others who are just starting their own rebuilding journey.  My husband and I plan on purchasing a new home right around this time next year, so I've been very actively working on settling outstanding collection accounts that are currently hurting my credit.  I've also opened up quite a few credit cards over the past few months to help grow my positive credit over the course of the next year.  I do have a few credit cards that I've had for a couple of years that I hardly use as well as an auto loan that has also been open for about two years and these have definitely helped me to establish some positive credit and boost my scores a fair bit.  I am now in the gardening phase and will not be applying for any new credit until we are ready to apply for our mortgage loan. 

 

When I first started repairing/rebuilding, my scores were in the low to middle 500s across the board.  As of today, my FICO scores are an Experian of 648, a Transuion of 635, and an Equifax of 642, so I've made some definite progress and am definitely headed in the right direction.   My current credit utilization is at 20%, which I am going to be reducing to 10% or less this month.

 

Here are my open accounts in good standing with no late payments:

Capital One secured card - SL $500, balance $49

Citi Diamond secured card - SL $300, balance $74

Kohl's charge card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

Target charge card - SL $300, balance $63

Indigo card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

Credit One card - SL $400, balance $94

Destiny card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

First Premier card - SL $500, balance $74

Fingerhut charge card - SL $500, balance $272

Aspire card - SL $1000, balance $382

Auto loan with Credit Acceptance - balance $17,684

 

COLLECTION ACCOUNTS 

Security Credit Services/Glass Mountain Capital - original amount $711, settled for $458 and will delete

Security Credit Services/Emergent Business Group - original amount $1145, settled for $450 and will delete

Jefferson Capital Systems/Dynamic Recovery Solutions - original amount $462, settled for $254 and will delete

 

Resurgent Capital Services - There is a very small collection from these people on my Transuion and Equifax reports for $236.  I contacted Resurgent to try and settle this and do PFD, but they claim that they have no record of an account for me and now won't respond to my emails, so I have reported them to the CFPB, Better Business Bureau, and have mailed in disputes to the two bureaus that this collection account is showing up on.

 

CHARGE OFF

Verizon Wireless - Amount owed $2717 - I thought that this was settled when we left Verizon about 3 years ago and have just found out that IC Systems is collecting on Verizon's behalf, so I sent them an email today hoping to settle for a lesser amount.  I hope to hear back from them tomorrow.  If not, I will call.  

 

So, that is my situation as of right now.  I'm hopeful that once those first 3 collections are deleted (I just paid them last week), I will see a decent score jump.  We plan to buy a new home next spring or summer, so this should allow me plenty of time to get things "cleaned up" in preparation for that.   I will post updates as things happen!  

 

4 REPLIES 4
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: My rebuilding journey


@jrwa81 wrote:

I have found this forum incredibly helpful.  I have been lurking and reading for a while.  I have learned so much about credit and rebuilding, which has enabled me to get a great start on my journey.  I thought I'd share my rebuilding progress to help keep me accountable and on track, and maybe it will be helpful to others who are just starting their own rebuilding journey.  My husband and I plan on purchasing a new home right around this time next year, so I've been very actively working on settling outstanding collection accounts that are currently hurting my credit.  I've also opened up quite a few credit cards over the past few months to help grow my positive credit over the course of the next year.  I do have a few credit cards that I've had for a couple of years that I hardly use as well as an auto loan that has also been open for about two years and these have definitely helped me to establish some positive credit and boost my scores a fair bit.  I am now in the gardening phase and will not be applying for any new credit until we are ready to apply for our mortgage loan. 

 

When I first started repairing/rebuilding, my scores were in the low to middle 500s across the board.  As of today, my FICO scores are an Experian of 648, a Transuion of 635, and an Equifax of 642, so I've made some definite progress and am definitely headed in the right direction.   My current credit utilization is at 20%, which I am going to be reducing to 10% or less this month.

 

Here are my open accounts in good standing with no late payments:

Capital One secured card - SL $500, balance $49

Citi Diamond secured card - SL $300, balance $74

Kohl's charge card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

Target charge card - SL $300, balance $63

Indigo card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

Credit One card - SL $400, balance $94

Destiny card - SL $300, balance $0 (never used)

First Premier card - SL $500, balance $74

Fingerhut charge card - SL $500, balance $272

Aspire card - SL $1000, balance $382

Auto loan with Credit Acceptance - balance $17,684

 

COLLECTION ACCOUNTS 

Security Credit Services/Glass Mountain Capital - original amount $711, settled for $458 and will delete

Security Credit Services/Emergent Business Group - original amount $1145, settled for $450 and will delete

Jefferson Capital Systems/Dynamic Recovery Solutions - original amount $462, settled for $254 and will delete

 

Resurgent Capital Services - There is a very small collection from these people on my Transuion and Equifax reports for $236.  I contacted Resurgent to try and settle this and do PFD, but they claim that they have no record of an account for me and now won't respond to my emails, so I have reported them to the CFPB, Better Business Bureau, and have mailed in disputes to the two bureaus that this collection account is showing up on.

 

CHARGE OFF

Verizon Wireless - Amount owed $2717 - I thought that this was settled when we left Verizon about 3 years ago and have just found out that IC Systems is collecting on Verizon's behalf, so I sent them an email today hoping to settle for a lesser amount.  I hope to hear back from them tomorrow.  If not, I will call.  

 

So, that is my situation as of right now.  I'm hopeful that once those first 3 collections are deleted (I just paid them last week), I will see a decent score jump.  We plan to buy a new home next spring or summer, so this should allow me plenty of time to get things "cleaned up" in preparation for that.   I will post updates as things happen!  

 


Not bad. If any of those have an annual fee or a monthly fee also. Shut it down before the new years fee comes creeping up. Plus FICO doesnt care for more than 50% of the total accounts reporting a balance. So pay down all the accounts and only let 1 report a balance of say $20. Let the statement post. Then pay it off before the due date. Your leaving points on the table. Keep chugging along. If they were all opened in a short time frame. Let them chill and age. 9 revolvers is plenty to start the rebuild.


Message 2 of 5
Jordan23ww
Valued Contributor

Re: My rebuilding journey

Great job so far and congratulations on all your progress so far! You're doing great! I wish you continued success.

 

I went through a rebuild starting Back in August 2019. One of my Fico scores was a 583 at the time. I had 4 cards and all 4 were maxed out. I also had a student loan in default.  

 

Now I have 17 cards no balance on any of them and the defaulted loan is back in good standing. You can do this, just keep doing what you're already doing and you should be fine! Best wishes to you on your rebuild journey and when the time comes on your mortgage application! 

      


Message 3 of 5
Eyepinpools
Regular Contributor

Re: My rebuilding journey

It's my understanding they mortgage scores take new accounts that are under 18mo into scoring. I would chill on opening any new lines if you plan to apply in 12mo.  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken. 

goodluck on the rebuild and getting your collections removed. 

Message 4 of 5
jrwa81
Regular Contributor

Re: My rebuilding journey

Yes, I am fullly aware about opening new accounts.  That is why I said in my original post that I am now in the gardening phase and will not be applying for any new credit until it's mortgage application time about 10 or 11 months from now.  However,  I needed these new accounts as I had a VERY thin file and I needed to establish positive lines of credit, whcih these cards have done and have really helped to raise my scores since opening them.   

Message 5 of 5
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