@Anonymous wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:@OmarGB9 From your experience how long after settling debt does it reflect with the scores/report? 2-3 months?
It can take up to 3 months, but in my personal experience, it usually takes 2 months max. Your experience may vary.
Usually the first month they update the balance with the remaining balance minus the settlement amount, and then the following month they finally update the balance to zero.
@OmarGB9 Good good, thanks man!
Being that I have capital and discover secured cards plus indigo, you think it makes sense to get the TDbank secured card as well?
If TD Bank graduates, yes. You could replace the Indigo card with it.
Just did it, closed the indigo card, recieved it in the mail never activated and now its closed. (kept reading more threads here that indigo never graduates and no CLIs so feels good to close it)
Opened the td bank secured card with $500 limit, they did say it does graduate as early as 7 months and did mention they want to see <30% utilization (which we know already)
So know all three of my secured cards graduate plus I get my amex plat back which I'm assuming once my scores are better I can get another card from them at some point..
Oh also my bestbuy citicard today updated to 0 balance / settled for less. Rest of them should be updating in the next 2 weeks I hope.
Want to see what kind of a jump I'll see on the scores when they do update and it drops my total utilization to under 10%.
Grats on closing the Indigo card, and hopefully your TDBank card unsecures quickly! One note though. They say keep utilization under 30%, which yes is good, but people often think they can't charge more than 30% of their limit; what lenders mean when they say "keep it under 30%" is to keep the reported balance under 30%, mainly for scoring optimization, but also to not spook your creditors, especially if you're just starting out your relationship with them. However, you can use the card as much as you want, up to 100% of the limit even, so long as it's paid down to <30% before the billing cycle closes and the next statement comes out.
Anyway, keep us posted on your reports! Hopefully you will see some score increases from those settlements!
@Anonymous wrote:@OmarGB9 Thanks man!
Tu updated today with the bestbuy citi showing settled, I'm kinda shocked it jumped so much, from 601 to 633 now, now will Eq and Ex also gain points once they update theirs as well?
Shocked since the bestbuy settlement was the lowest, wonder what will happen when sofi loan ($16,000) and citi mastercard ($20,000) show settled too, you think it could reach close to 680-690 range so fast?
Nice score bump! Yes they should see some increases too, hopefully, but it may not necessarily be the same amount. Sofi loan probably won't yield much, if any points sadly because it was an installment loan, not a revolving account, so therefore it wasn't factoring into utilization. Citi should yield some points too. As for score range, I'm not sure about 680-690. Maybe around 640-660 because the negative accounts will still be there, and you also still have the Amex COs, so there'll be a score "ceiling" for a bit which will probably keep you from hitting 700s until most or all of the baddies fall off.
@Anonymous wrote:Quick update on the scores, exactly a month ago they were Eq-611 Tu-601 Ex-596, today got the update and they are Eq-632 Tu-653 Ex-621, moving in the right direction thats for sure!
Amex got around 8k left to pay, working on finishing it in about 2-3 months, also selling the house and do wonder what negative effect it will have on my credit initially, plan is to buy another house in about 18+ months from now.
Today ended up joining Navy federal, set up checking & savings and got approved for cash rewards cc with $1,000 limit to my shock, wasn't expecting that at all..
I would have been nowhere close to this had I not found these forums, and more than likely going through one of those debt settlement companies that you pay and arm & leg for everything that you can do yourself!
Keep positive all and keep asking questions to all the amazing people here.
Congrats and thanks for the update! 
Keep chugging away at Amex, once it's paid off you should hopefully see another score bump!
And congrats on the NFCU CC! I would suggest you go ahead and close the Indigo card now, since Navy's card is WAY better, and should qualify for a CLI after 3 FULL statements and 91 days. And by full statements I mean the full 25 day billing cycle, not a partial cycle <25 days.
@Anonymous wrote:@OmarGB9 🤙 Already closed the indigo card, once I got the tdbank secured one!
Regarding amex, wonder if you've heard this before, so last time I made payment I asked how the process is in getting the platinum card back and the agent said that I would be getting the platinum back as well as the optima card, now from reading the forums here it seems to be just one not both, you think its something new or a mistake on the agents part..
I think it's a mistake because their rules are if you hold an Optima card, you can't get any other Amex card for a year.