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Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

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Trigunn423
Established Member

Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

I have been rebuilding my credit for some time now and need some guidance on how to get into the solid 600s across the board.

I have a cap 1 secured card for 200 that is now on the 8th month with a low balance (under $25 reporting) 
Chime secured card now reporting 0.00 balance (using it sporadically to keep it active)
Car loan just recently opened in August 2021- I am ahead of payments with my next payment being due Dec 20th (Payment is 585/month with a crazy high interest rate of 19% I want to refinance for better interest rate sooner rather than later, but I'm trying to get my credit scores to jump to 630-640 range) 

My fico scores are: Experian 612, Transunion 575 and Equifax 594

I have a paid off charge-off reporting on my credit

Delinquent student loan debt
A Verizon bill that I have no idea where it is from and I can NOT get this removed I have tried multiple times over the last year- it keeps reporting as updated and recently the date changed to 2017. I have not received debt validation and the CRAs will not remove this account- they keep saying the debt has been verified- I don't know how to get rid of it and I do NOT want to pay even $50 on this. (They report the balance as $2009) 
A comcast bill which has been removed from 2 accts but refuses to leave one. I don't know how to get rid of this either- it's less than $600 should I just pay it off directly to comcast and have it removed from my credit report? It literally came on my report this year out of no where it IS valid though- from when Covid first hit and I comcast refused to assist after my business shut down in March 2020- we just reopened.

A $225 progressive bill that I will not pay- I cancelled my progressive auto insurance (which was paid in full) when they wanted to raise the rates by over $500 to add a driver to my insurance. Cancelled this policy without ever approving the additional rate the same day they sent over policy change documents. They then told me I owed 225 for a final bill.

That is literally everything on my credit report. 

What should I be doing to increase my scores? Or at this point do I just sit and wait? If I pay off any of the above debts will that boost my score by a lot? Does anyone know if the student loan debts are depressing my scores and if so what is the best way to have the delinquent records removed?

Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance


@Trigunn423 wrote:

I have been rebuilding my credit for some time now and need some guidance on how to get into the solid 600s across the board.

I have a cap 1 secured card for 200 that is now on the 8th month with a low balance (under $25 reporting) 
Chime secured card now reporting 0.00 balance (using it sporadically to keep it active)
Car loan just recently opened in August 2021- I am ahead of payments with my next payment being due Dec 20th (Payment is 585/month with a crazy high interest rate of 19% I want to refinance for better interest rate sooner rather than later, but I'm trying to get my credit scores to jump to 630-640 range) 

My fico scores are: Experian 612, Transunion 575 and Equifax 594

I have a paid off charge-off reporting on my credit

Delinquent student loan debt Could you explain more on this in a new post because then I can ping our SL expert. List dates and lates.
A Verizon bill that I have no idea where it is from and I can NOT get this removed I have tried multiple times over the last year- it keeps reporting as updated and recently the date changed to 2017. I have not received debt validation and the CRAs will not remove this account- they keep saying the debt has been verified- I don't know how to get rid of it and I do NOT want to pay even $50 on this. (They report the balance as $2009) Go to a Verizon store and see if its for real or not. That is if you never had service with them. If your werent a customer. Have them fix it.


A comcast bill which has been removed from 2 accts but refuses to leave one. I don't know how to get rid of this either- it's less than $600 should I just pay it off directly to comcast and have it removed from my credit report? Another go to a Comcast store and offer to PIF and see if the CSR can make a call to have it removed. It literally came on my report this year out of no where it IS valid though- from when Covid first hit and I comcast refused to assist after my business shut down in March 2020- we just reopened.

A $225 progressive bill that I will not pay- I cancelled my progressive auto insurance (which was paid in full) when they wanted to raise the rates by over $500 to add a driver to my insurance. Cancelled this policy without ever approving the additional rate the same day they sent over policy change documents. They then told me I owed 225 for a final bill. If you have documentation that the policy was cancelled and there was no balance. You can file a claim with the CFPB. Or file with your states Office of Insurance Regulation. You may have to pay if the results dont go in your favor after filing compliants.

That is literally everything on my credit report. 

What should I be doing to increase my scores? Or at this point do I just sit and wait? If I pay off any of the above debts will that boost my score by a lot? Does anyone know if the student loan debts are depressing my scores and if so what is the best way to have the delinquent records removed?


Stop filing disputes. Each time it comes back verified. It updates as new and you take a score ding. Make another post on the SL situation.


Message 2 of 8
AlleyCat26
New Visitor

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

So I had similar issues about four years ago. However what I did was ended up paying a Comcast bill that went into collections at Comcast not the collections then turned around and put a note on my credit file indicating that through financial hardship the account was delinquent but paid. It took four years for it to drop from all three CRA's.  Then I gradually started applying for credit and getting it. My scores are still inconsistent but I did recently get pre-approved for a mortgage with a lender to purchase a home. Its gonna take a lot of patience and time for it to get to where you want it.  

Message 3 of 8
Trigunn423
Established Member

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

My Student Loan Debt

 

$18433 - US Dept of ED - serious delinquency reported 120+ days late
$22,442 - US Dept of ED - serious delinquency reported 120+ days late

Fed Loan Servicing - Closed - 0.00 reporting (but that's because it's been changed to above I think) 

These loans are from 2003-2006- I paid for a few years and then fell behind (mental health issues, low income job, raising a family, etc over the course of a decade. I did have this under a payment plan at one point and due to income status was at 0.00 deferred payment but I had to re-apply every year and didn't know.) 

Thank you for the advice on Verizon and Comcast! I'll head into both this weekend and see what I can find. I will also file against progressive; I do have proof of balance being 0.00, policy cancellation date and the new policy date for my Geico.

Message 4 of 8
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

Good luck on your little venture to the stores. I'll ping @calyx and see what options you have with 18 yr old SL's.


Message 5 of 8
calyx
Super Contributor

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

Question about those student loans - are they defaulted (or are they current)?
Usually that's when I see reporting directly by the dept of ed (typically it's through servicers, like Fedloan).

Happy practitioner of AZE7or8or9or10 | Team Finances > FICO
Message 6 of 8
CyberChick
Contributor

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

With the Coronavirus protections/support, the federal student loans should be reporting as current for the last year. 

Message 7 of 8
Trigunn423
Established Member

Re: Rebuild Plateau- Stuck in a rut and need guidance

It's been a little over a month since I last posted- I'm giving a brief update. 

My scores have increased some: 
Experian 616
Equifax 603
Transunion 587

I now have:

Cap 1 reporting for almost a year perfect history- 0.00 balance ($200 limit)
Chime reporting for almost 3 years perfect history 0.00 balance
Merrick Bank reporting 2 months perfect history $53.00 balance. ($600 limit)
Target Redcard which is not yet reporting. (opened to take advantage of the holiday coupons/percentages off)


American Acceptance car loan: reporting since Sept '21; perfect history. 

The only bad thing on my CR right now is Student Loan Debt which I previously posted on- nothing has changed there.

At this point, I guess it's time to garden? I haven't seen any substantial increase and I'm guessing the reason is both the age of credit being low, inquiries from both the car loan and getting the Merrick card.



Message 8 of 8
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