Where Do I Go From Here?

[Anonymous]

Greetings fellow members,

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 
I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

For now you are OK with these two cards but you'll want to add a couple to help your scores grow more quickly. Having threee revolving lines and an installment is often seen as the minimum ideal number and mix of accounts to boost scoring because it allows you to report a small balance on less than half of your cards. I'd wait on applying until the negatives are handled to boost your odds of approval and SLs though.

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 

Who are the creditors? It's possible one or both would be open to a goodwill deletion and that would help a lot.

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

Paging @calyx for the loan knowledge - if there's a way to deal with this, she's the one you want to hear from.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

Do you have any other loans? If so, and if you have the means to pay it off, it may help, but it may also close the door on any late payment corrrction possibilities. I claim no knowledge of that kind of thing. Also, if the student loan is your only loan/installment, closing it can cost you your "credit mix" points. To me, your best bet is:

1 - address the negative parts of your reports as mentioned above. It's very hard to dramatically improve with numerous derogs.

2 - goodwill letters on the chargeoffs (search out "the goodwill saturation technique" as written up by BrutalBodyShots - excellent breakdown of how to methodically wear them down)

3 - enact any plans on the loans that Calyx can provide you with

4 - most importantly, promise yourself and hold yourself to it - no more lates of any kind, ever, on any account, no matter what. Not even by an hour. It's a mindset you have to lock yourself into or maintaining a good score will never be possible. Lates that are less than 30 days aren't reportable but they're a black eye in the lender's internal records. A one-hour late may bar you from a CLI for 2-3 years with a lender, even though no one else knows of it. On time all the time - it's the best way to stay in the good graces of your lenders and allow yourself to grow with them.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to follow up with any questions

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply!

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

For now you are OK with these two cards but you'll want to add a couple to help your scores grow more quickly. Having threee revolving lines and an installment is often seen as the minimum ideal number and mix of accounts to boost scoring because it allows you to report a small balance on less than half of your cards. I'd wait on applying until the negatives are handled to boost your odds of approval and SLs though.

- When you say couple, do you mean about 2 or 3 added? On top of what I already have?

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 

Who are the creditors? It's possible one or both would be open to a goodwill deletion and that would help a lot.

- One was Chase and the other was Citi Bank.

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

Paging @calyx for the loan knowledge - if there's a way to deal with this, she's the one you want to hear from.

- Thank you. I appericate that.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

Do you have any other loans? If so, and if you have the means to pay it off, it may help, but it may also close the door on any late payment corrrction possibilities. I claim no knowledge of that kind of thing. Also, if the student loan is your only loan/installment, closing it can cost you your "credit mix" points. To me, your best bet is:

1 - address the negative parts of your reports as mentioned above. It's very hard to dramatically improve with numerous derogs.

2 - goodwill letters on the chargeoffs (search out "the goodwill saturation technique" as written up by BrutalBodyShots - excellent breakdown of how to methodically wear them down)

3 - enact any plans on the loans that Calyx can provide you with

4 - most importantly, promise yourself and hold yourself to it - no more lates of any kind, ever, on any account, no matter what. Not even by an hour. It's a mindset you have to lock yourself into or maintaining a good score will never be possible. Lates that are less than 30 days aren't reportable but they're a black eye in the lender's internal records. A one-hour late may bar you from a CLI for 2-3 years with a lender, even though no one else knows of it. On time all the time - it's the best way to stay in the good graces of your lenders and allow yourself to grow with them.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to follow up with any questions

Truly appericate the info you have given me. That is pretty much all I have at the moment. So I just need to get rid of those 2 COs and have them removed then figure out the situation with the school because that right there is be hurting me a lot. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

For now you are OK with these two cards but you'll want to add a couple to help your scores grow more quickly. Having threee revolving lines and an installment is often seen as the minimum ideal number and mix of accounts to boost scoring because it allows you to report a small balance on less than half of your cards. I'd wait on applying until the negatives are handled to boost your odds of approval and SLs though.

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 

Who are the creditors? It's possible one or both would be open to a goodwill deletion and that would help a lot.

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

Paging @calyx for the loan knowledge - if there's a way to deal with this, she's the one you want to hear from.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

Do you have any other loans? If so, and if you have the means to pay it off, it may help, but it may also close the door on any late payment corrrction possibilities. I claim no knowledge of that kind of thing. Also, if the student loan is your only loan/installment, closing it can cost you your "credit mix" points. To me, your best bet is:

1 - address the negative parts of your reports as mentioned above. It's very hard to dramatically improve with numerous derogs.

2 - goodwill letters on the chargeoffs (search out "the goodwill saturation technique" as written up by BrutalBodyShots - excellent breakdown of how to methodically wear them down)

3 - enact any plans on the loans that Calyx can provide you with

4 - most importantly, promise yourself and hold yourself to it - no more lates of any kind, ever, on any account, no matter what. Not even by an hour. It's a mindset you have to lock yourself into or maintaining a good score will never be possible. Lates that are less than 30 days aren't reportable but they're a black eye in the lender's internal records. A one-hour late may bar you from a CLI for 2-3 years with a lender, even though no one else knows of it. On time all the time - it's the best way to stay in the good graces of your lenders and allow yourself to grow with them.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to follow up with any questions

---

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

For now you are OK with these two cards but you'll want to add a couple to help your scores grow more quickly. Having threee revolving lines and an installment is often seen as the minimum ideal number and mix of accounts to boost scoring because it allows you to report a small balance on less than half of your cards. I'd wait on applying until the negatives are handled to boost your odds of approval and SLs though.

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 

Who are the creditors? It's possible one or both would be open to a goodwill deletion and that would help a lot.

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

Paging @calyx for the loan knowledge - if there's a way to deal with this, she's the one you want to hear from.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

Do you have any other loans? If so, and if you have the means to pay it off, it may help, but it may also close the door on any late payment corrrction possibilities. I claim no knowledge of that kind of thing. Also, if the student loan is your only loan/installment, closing it can cost you your "credit mix" points. To me, your best bet is:

1 - address the negative parts of your reports as mentioned above. It's very hard to dramatically improve with numerous derogs.

2 - goodwill letters on the chargeoffs (search out "the goodwill saturation technique" as written up by BrutalBodyShots - excellent breakdown of how to methodically wear them down)

3 - enact any plans on the loans that Calyx can provide you with

4 - most importantly, promise yourself and hold yourself to it - no more lates of any kind, ever, on any account, no matter what. Not even by an hour. It's a mindset you have to lock yourself into or maintaining a good score will never be possible. Lates that are less than 30 days aren't reportable but they're a black eye in the lender's internal records. A one-hour late may bar you from a CLI for 2-3 years with a lender, even though no one else knows of it. On time all the time - it's the best way to stay in the good graces of your lenders and allow yourself to grow with them.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to follow up with any questions

---

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

So! I am at a point where I want to start gearing towards the right direction. At this very moment I have the following..

1 charge card (2013) & 1 credit card (2020). The charge card has a balance right under 1k and the credit card is fully paid off. 

For now you are OK with these two cards but you'll want to add a couple to help your scores grow more quickly. Having threee revolving lines and an installment is often seen as the minimum ideal number and mix of accounts to boost scoring because it allows you to report a small balance on less than half of your cards. I'd wait on applying until the negatives are handled to boost your odds of approval and SLs though.

I had 2 CO but they are paid but still showing on my CR. 

Who are the creditors? It's possible one or both would be open to a goodwill deletion and that would help a lot.

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

Paging @calyx for the loan knowledge - if there's a way to deal with this, she's the one you want to hear from.

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

---

Do you have any other loans? If so, and if you have the means to pay it off, it may help, but it may also close the door on any late payment corrrction possibilities. I claim no knowledge of that kind of thing. Also, if the student loan is your only loan/installment, closing it can cost you your "credit mix" points. To me, your best bet is:

1 - address the negative parts of your reports as mentioned above. It's very hard to dramatically improve with numerous derogs.

2 - goodwill letters on the chargeoffs (search out "the goodwill saturation technique" as written up by BrutalBodyShots - excellent breakdown of how to methodically wear them down)

3 - enact any plans on the loans that Calyx can provide you with

4 - most importantly, promise yourself and hold yourself to it - no more lates of any kind, ever, on any account, no matter what. Not even by an hour. It's a mindset you have to lock yourself into or maintaining a good score will never be possible. Lates that are less than 30 days aren't reportable but they're a black eye in the lender's internal records. A one-hour late may bar you from a CLI for 2-3 years with a lender, even though no one else knows of it. On time all the time - it's the best way to stay in the good graces of your lenders and allow yourself to grow with them.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to follow up with any questions

---

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[calyx]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

---

OK, so given that it's a school loan (federal?), and Navient, this is not going to be an easy or fast fix, but you might be able to get it.

Do you have proof of their mistakes (as in, you have proof of payment and/or their fouled up reporting)?

If you don't, get it - get proof that you were under a forebearance or deferral and/or that you paid appropriately (bank statements, etc - also download any record of payments from Navient's site if they let you - my servicers have had that option in the past, but I don't have Navient loans).

Call Navient directly - talk to a nice representative, be super polite, and see what you can get out of them.  Hang up and call again (HUCA) as many times as you want.   Keeps detailed notes of every exchange (dates/times, names, etc).   If you can get them to send you any records or agreements that they messed up your reporting, that would be great.

Once you have their agreement to update their erroneous reporting and/or what they did wrong, send them a request to correct their reporting in writing.   CMRRR, for proof that they got it if necessary.   If they refuse or don't update, then take all of that proof again, and send it to the CRAs to dispute/asking for an update.

IF the CRAS open disputes and after investigation opt to not update the information correctly (for whatever reason), move on to file a complaint with the CFPB regarding the incorrect reporting (complain about Navient, not the CRAs - they're just reporting the information that has been furbished to them from the servicers, it's not really their fault if they've been given the wrong information).

All of this is with the basis that there's been a provable error.   I'm hoping in this case they've misapplied/didn't report when you've paid or that you had a forebearance/deferral in place before you didn't pay.   If they didn't contact you, if there was a retroactive forebearance/deferral or you had one put in place after becoming delinquent, things could get messy.

Navient doesn't generally report until someone is 90d late, and if you were delinquent and they applied or misapplied incomplete payments (not saying you did, but this is something I run across when helping people), it might not be something you can effectively fight.

[calyx]

I mean to address this, too:

My current scores are roughly around the mid 600s and I'm trying at least to be close to 700 if possible. In my situation what would be my best bet? Can I pay off my student loan in order for the payment history to be current? If that even makes sense? Because I do recall paying off one loan and it did boost my CS some time ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

If you are currently behind, paying off the loan will bring it current, but will not change the reporting of any lates that have already happened.
Navient doesn't do "PFD" like deals (if I pay off the amount, will you remove the delinquent reporting?) - they will cite the HEA, which is an additional set of statutes that dictates how student loans are handled (again, federal loans).

IF for some reason this is not a federal loan, then I would go ahead and use the carrot (I'll pay it off if you'll remove it), but if it's federal, just make sure it stays current and work on correcting the incorrect back history.

Paying your aggregate loan amount down to 9% (so all loans, not just this SL, if you have more than the SL) would help your score a bit, so if you have the cash on hand it might be worth doing.

[Anonymous]

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@calyx wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

---

OK, so given that it's a school loan (federal?), and Navient, this is not going to be an easy or fast fix, but you might be able to get it.

Do you have proof of their mistakes (as in, you have proof of payment and/or their fouled up reporting)?

If you don't, get it - get proof that you were under a forebearance or deferral and/or that you paid appropriately (bank statements, etc - also download any record of payments from Navient's site if they let you - my servicers have had that option in the past, but I don't have Navient loans).

Call Navient directly - talk to a nice representative, be super polite, and see what you can get out of them.  Hang up and call again (HUCA) as many times as you want.   Keeps detailed notes of every exchange (dates/times, names, etc).   If you can get them to send you any records or agreements that they messed up your reporting, that would be great.

Once you have their agreement to update their erroneous reporting and/or what they did wrong, send them a request to correct their reporting in writing.   CMRRR, for proof that they got it if necessary.   If they refuse or don't update, then take all of that proof again, and send it to the CRAs to dispute/asking for an update.

IF the CRAS open disputes and after investigation opt to not update the information correctly (for whatever reason), move on to file a complaint with the CFPB regarding the incorrect reporting (complain about Navient, not the CRAs - they're just reporting the information that has been furbished to them from the servicers, it's not really their fault if they've been given the wrong information).

All of this is with the basis that there's been a provable error.   I'm hoping in this case they've misapplied/didn't report when you've paid or that you had a forebearance/deferral in place before you didn't pay.   If they didn't contact you, if there was a retroactive forebearance/deferral or you had one put in place after becoming delinquent, things could get messy.

Navient doesn't generally report until someone is 90d late, and if you were delinquent and they applied or misapplied incomplete payments (not saying you did, but this is something I run across when helping people), it might not be something you can effectively fight.

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Thank you for that. I will get my proof in order and will be moving forward and taking it from there. Also, would it matter if I used CK dispute? I did before and it helped (not on this) but something else.

[calyx]

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@Anonymous wrote:

---

@calyx wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Greetings fellow members,

I have a ridiculous amount of lates all coming from a school loan (Navient) which in reality they messed up on my payment history.

---

OK, so given that it's a school loan (federal?), and Navient, this is not going to be an easy or fast fix, but you might be able to get it.

Do you have proof of their mistakes (as in, you have proof of payment and/or their fouled up reporting)?

If you don't, get it - get proof that you were under a forebearance or deferral and/or that you paid appropriately (bank statements, etc - also download any record of payments from Navient's site if they let you - my servicers have had that option in the past, but I don't have Navient loans).

Call Navient directly - talk to a nice representative, be super polite, and see what you can get out of them.  Hang up and call again (HUCA) as many times as you want.   Keeps detailed notes of every exchange (dates/times, names, etc).   If you can get them to send you any records or agreements that they messed up your reporting, that would be great.

Once you have their agreement to update their erroneous reporting and/or what they did wrong, send them a request to correct their reporting in writing.   CMRRR, for proof that they got it if necessary.   If they refuse or don't update, then take all of that proof again, and send it to the CRAs to dispute/asking for an update.

IF the CRAS open disputes and after investigation opt to not update the information correctly (for whatever reason), move on to file a complaint with the CFPB regarding the incorrect reporting (complain about Navient, not the CRAs - they're just reporting the information that has been furbished to them from the servicers, it's not really their fault if they've been given the wrong information).

All of this is with the basis that there's been a provable error.   I'm hoping in this case they've misapplied/didn't report when you've paid or that you had a forebearance/deferral in place before you didn't pay.   If they didn't contact you, if there was a retroactive forebearance/deferral or you had one put in place after becoming delinquent, things could get messy.

Navient doesn't generally report until someone is 90d late, and if you were delinquent and they applied or misapplied incomplete payments (not saying you did, but this is something I run across when helping people), it might not be something you can effectively fight.

---

Thank you for that. I will get my proof in order and will be moving forward and taking it from there. Also, would it matter if I used CK dispute? I did before and it helped (not on this) but something else.

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CK just funnels to the CRAs.
I always tell people not to start with a dispute because it seems to cement things badly with the student loan servicers - once they verify that their data is correct it seems to be more of an uphill battle.   You need to get the servicer furnishing correct data first and a dispute won't do that most of the time.