Recommended Next Step

[armywifelong03]

I just paid off my last successfully settled debt and I am looking for next steps advice.  

Long story short, I got into financial distress after helping a family member.  As we all know, things snowball and then get out of control.  I just settled my last three debts!  I did it all on my own and I am really proud of that because I ALMOST sought help from a company.

Is my best next step to just sit tight for a while?  For context, this was just my credit and didn't involve my husband at all.  So, we still have two cards in good standing, our vehicles and mortgage.  So should I just not do anything and let everything settle and see how those postiive tradelines affect my credit and see improvement or are there certain steps I should take to start to recover? 

Thank you!

[Vinjints]

Big congrats on getting out of your debt responsibily. Take a minute and celebrate it. I think next steps include sitting tight and letting this new positive news report and hopefully boost your score. What sort of negatives are on your report now?

Do you have any plans for new credit in the near future (new car loan, etc.)? If not, I would look to adding to your credit profile, since you only have two cards between the two of you. What are the two cards and who is the primary on each?

[armywifelong03]

Thanks for the advice!  

I had lates on one Citi card, settled and paid. 

Upstart Loan, settled and paid. 

B of A card, settled and paid.

Lowe's Synchrony, settled and paid. 

They were all charged off, but I somehow came out with zero collections reporting on my report.  I had two in collections, Upstart and Lowe's.  

We don't have any purchases planned anytime soon. I just want to let my credit heal.  We have a USAA Amex that I am primary on, a Chase Sapphire I am primary on and two NFCU that my husband is primary on.  I guess we have four total in good standing. 

[1lifeisworthit]

Hello OP.

I'd just sit tight.

Almost all credit score building is "Pay on time, every time, over time."

Key word here is time

Get comfortable with just sitting in your own space for a while, not having the restlessness of having to "change something" or to "fix something"

Yes, there are tweaks and fine-tuning that can happen... once you have some sort of history of basic on-time payments. Change something when something needs changed and not until then. As for fixing something, you've fixed all you can. Let time do its work now, without your fiddling and messing about.

If you do this right, you won't be fiddling any more, for the rest of your life. It'll all be matter of fact and just "work" as it should.