I would recommend reading the below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization
My 11 Rules to Credit Rebuilding
FICO Score: What to pay down first?
@gdale6wrote:
You want to settle anything that is updating monthly first, these updates keep your fico score from moving up. For the CAs you try the PFD if they do not already have a stated deletion policy like PRA and Midland have.
There are some extra things that can be done with those medicals
Medical collections are some of the easiest to get removed from your CRs, here are the steps that you should follow to address them:
1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.
Free mortgage scores
UNOFFICIAL LIST of credit cards and which score they provide
EX2 + 3 Bureau report for $1 at Experian or CreditCheckTotal (part of Experian). Cancel in 7 days or less to avoid the reoccurring charge.
TU4 WyHy quarterly score. Not sure on membership requirement. Maybe hard pull TU?
EQ5 Get a savings account with DCU. Soft pull EQ to be a member. Free monthly score.
Reported maxed out cards is a score killer.
You want to maintain AZEO All Zero Except One card reporting a small balance e.g. $5-$10 when applying.
You'll get a score penalty if reporting all zero.
You might want to address any derogatory you have; delinquency, charge off, collection, etc. If they are updating monthly, it'll keep your scores suppressed.
@Anonymous wrote:Where to begin. I never understood credit, I just thought if I worked a full time job and paid my important bills I`d always be good. Unfortunately life hit quickly, I gradutated high school, and had a child the following december. I put off college, was ready to go, but I thought it was the right thing to do was get a full time job with insurance and a 401k, fortunately I had a connection to a good construction apprenticeship.
I had a capital one credit card with a $300 limit, when I was 18, a small $3500 personal loan from the bank. The car blew up, had to get another personal loan from a credit union for $2500 to rebuild motor. Long story short, child came, I instead of arranging payments because I didn`t know I could, I let everything go delinquent. I ended up paying off everything eventually. Never used credit or loans again, until years later, I had a 10 year gap of nothing until a few years ago, I`m 35 now. After having our first kid, we got hit with twins, yup we weren`t ready. We`ve rented since. I`ve tried jumping into a mortage, we can`t keep renting anymore. I`ve checked credit and the mortage company sent my consumer report. I paid off everyhitn that was on it and here is what I had paid off. I realize I screwed up credit utilization, but I hit a rough patch.
Capitol 1 Platinum- $300 limit, $296 balance to $0 as of 2/26. 1 30 day late in 1 year
Credit One Platinum- $300 limit, maxed, paid to $0 2/26. 1 30 day late in 1.5 years
Personal Loan- Orig. amount $2000, paid off 3/6, no lates, exceptional payment status
Collection CAINE-WEINER $374, paid full 3/6
Green Dot Bank- $94, paid full 3/6
One United- $63, paid in full with money order. Really hard to get that charge off closed account paid through them.
SO of course 2 more collections popped up.
RMPSVCS- Medical $247
AFNI was held by Enhanced Recovery from At&t Uverse- $335
This is all I have left to take care of, my mortage guy said today to get the Credit Karma app and get to 700, it`s algorithum is 50 points more than FICO models even though they use the FICO 8.
I feel like I was closer, now my credit dropped today, because of AFNI. Here are my scores as of today.
EX FICO 8- 584
MyFico TU- 581 as of 2/26 with nothing paid yet
EQ- Credit Karma says 594, Equifax website says 500?
Credit Plus who pulled my credit for a mortage said 575.
I`m so sorry for the long email, but we need this. I worked my whole life and did the best I could being young with 3 kids. We finally have learned how to save and budget correctly, this is the final stage of no debt, and save the max for down payment on a home, which we have a little started already, along with being able to pay off this stuff now if needed.
Thank you to you all, I`ve read so many posts and it`s all been so helpful. My patience is being tested for updated scores even though I know it`s going to be at least 3 months until things report back, but I hope I`m doing this right.
Go to the medical office and to a AT&T store and ask to pay them on the spot in leui of removing the collections. No phone calls or e-mails. In person face to face. Then go to experian.com. Get the free trial for your FICO scores and cancel before the 1st week ends so you dont get a monthly fee. Forget CK. Great job on paying all that off. After 24 months the 30 day lates will hurt a lot less than now. Good Luck!
@AllZero wrote:Free mortgage scores
UNOFFICIAL LIST of credit cards and which score they provide
EX2 + 3 Bureau report for $1 at Experian or CreditCheckTotal (part of Experian). Cancel in 7 days or less to avoid the reoccurring charge.
TU4 WyHy quarterly score. Not sure on membership requirement. Maybe hard pull TU?
EQ5 Get a savings account with DCU. Soft pull EQ to be a member. Free monthly score.
@AllZero OP is trying to get things in order to get a mortgage. Getting new cards and HP's doesnt apply to the OP's situation. You dont want to apply for anything around a year before applying. Your 4 pasted posts a couple minutes apart dont apply here. Yes CCT. But thats about it. Why go thru all the joining credit unions to get mortgage scores when you get them for $1. To much work. Use the KISS method. They're not rebuilding. They're trying to get 2 things removed.