Which ones are updating every month? If they continue to update then they hold you back more than the ones that are not. Get rid of the newest updated ones first as once they stop your score can start to recover. If they won't do a PFD. I'm pretty sure CapOne will not, then goodwill letters are the next best thing.
@Anonymous wrote:I'm new to posting in the forums. I've been reading for a year or so and working on improving my scores but I've reached a plateau. Backstory...I lost my job in 2/18, I had just moved across country and was carrying high balances on all of my cards when those accounts were charged off and closed and my score dropped 200+ points over the next 6 months. My avg starting score was 414 and I'm now hovering a little over 550 on all 3 bureaus. I've focused mostly on keeping good payment history with the accounts I still have open and trying to settle my debt and collections as I've been able to. I'm just now in a place where I can really start tackling my debt but I'm trying to figure out which of my baddies is the most important to address first.
Goods/Open
Nordstrom - $300 limit/ no balance
Self Lender - matures 4/2020
Both of these are always paid on time.
Baddies (13)
Student debt (this was paid off but it's still on my negatives, I found an error in it so I disputed it last week *fingers crossed*)
Cap One - Chargeoff $550 (I did the monthly payment plan they offered me should be paid off 6 months)
NFM - chargeoff balance $1,016
Credit one - $400
BOA - $440
Cap One/Neiman Marcus - $1,100
Comenity/Williams Sonoma - $1,000 Could you list what the credit lines were so we can see what the util is on each account? And the dates these were charged off.
Pheonix Recovery Grp - $8,900 (After I lost my job I had to move to an apartment that was less expensive and when I moved out they charged me so many fees I didn't realize before had I known I would have just stayed and made it work. I've tried to work with them but they're total **bleep**).
I also have collections accounts for basically every credit card above. If the above accounts still have a balance on your reports. They haven't be sold to the CA's just yet. You could try and set up a payment plan before thats happens and ask them to recall the debt.
I realistically can tackle 1 of these accounts a month except for the Pheonix Recovery Grp. But I'm unsure where to start, should I try to go back to capital one since I'm already paying on the account and offer to pay the balance in full for PFD? Cap1 doesnt do PFD unfortunately. Very very very rare. Also realistically is paying off these small accounts going to improve my score? If I can't do PFD will it still improve my credit profile?
I've been hovering around the 550 mark for a solid 5 months now with no improvement. I just opened a secured SKYPass VS and hopefully that will make a small impact.
Keep the card you got now. Fix whats broken first so the scores go up which means better cards after the cleanup than during the mess right now. Once cleaned. More doors will open as the CO's age. Hopefully the OC's will take payments and that will get rid of the collections on your reports. Good Luck!
