I have about 25,000.00 in unpaid debt from 4-6 years ago,(divorce etc etc etc) and I am tired of having the county Sheriff coming to the house a few times/year. It's time for me to start the credit improvement process. I have called the three largest collectors, and have agreed on settlements that I will being paying out settlements to about 18,000.00 between the three. I am 37, and earn about 65-70K/year now. I didn't care about credit for the past 4 years, so I never checked my reports, or required any loans.
Last month I got interested in credit scoring, found this site, and now I am addicted... I was shocked to see my scores weren't that terrible for completely disregarding all payments to my creditors at the end of about 2007. EQFX shows a 621 score, but with 25,000.00 in bad debt balance. TU shows 522, with only 6800.00 in bad debt balance. According to the calculator, paying about 85%+ towards these debts, could bring my score up a whopping 100-150 points. Could this be true????
Great site this is!! My first thread!!
Starting Score: 521 TU, 597 EQ, 574 EX on 6/20/2011
@mtrsprt wrote:I have about 25,000.00 in unpaid debt from 4-6 years ago,(divorce etc etc etc) and I am tired of having the county Sheriff coming to the house a few times/year. It's time for me to start the credit improvement process. I have called the three largest collectors, and have agreed on settlements that I will being paying out settlements to about 18,000.00 between the three. I am 37, and earn about 65-70K/year now. I didn't care about credit for the past 4 years, so I never checked my reports, or required any loans.
Last month I got interested in credit scoring, found this site, and now I am addicted... I was shocked to see my scores weren't that terrible for completely disregarding all payments to my creditors at the end of about 2007. EQFX shows a 621 score, but with 25,000.00 in bad debt balance. TU shows 522, with only 6800.00 in bad debt balance. According to the calculator, paying about 85%+ towards these debts, could bring my score up a whopping 100-150 points. Could this be true????
Great site this is!! My first thread!!
Greetings mtrsprt!! Welcome to the forums!
Paying these down will help your overall utilization since these are still being factored in. Can I ask, how close to the actual balances did you settle for? I ask because sometimes you can send them goodwill letters to have the late info dropped.
These payments are being sent to CA's (collection agencies)? Once a debt is sent to collections, the CA's are much more willing to remove the bad info if paid in full...or nearly in full. Here is a great thread I found here for example GW letters. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/GW-Example-Letters/m-p/4521/highlight/true#M12...
I also wanted to add, since you're new here, in my sig block is the guide to common abbreviations. I always suggest clicking that link & keeping it handy until you don't need it any more. We use those often...usually to save time, but also if we're too lazy to type it all!! 
Glad to see you join us! This place was my Godsend several years ago. I learned so much & owe the folks here for helping me. You can't beat the knowledge base. Collectively, we've been through it all, we judge no one...and we've likely dealt with any CA name you bring up!
Welcome again & come back often!
Mo
Can I ask, how close to the actual balances did you settle for? I ask because sometimes you can send them goodwill letters to have the late info dropped.
Welcome again & come back often!
Mo
Thank you for the kind welcome mo! The three large balances are all between 50-55% settlements.
I would contact them again. Maybe by email this time. Google the names of the CA's looking for senior execs. Ex: "ACME CFO" or something similar. I'd drop them all an email asking for a GW gesture for removal of negative info. their addresses are usually [email protected] hehe
All they can say is no. The you find another name! :0)
I got one to drop way early after payoff. It can be done.