@Anonymous wrote:Alright, I figured this could either go here or in "Rebuilding Your Credit," but since I'm less seeking advice and more seeking input, I chose here. We'll start with the basics. I'm car-shopping, and I know the car I want.---- ~35k. I'd like to purchase at the end of December if possible, or as late as February if that's what it takes. Unfortunately that's my deadline.
myFICO scores as of 11/14: EQ 632, TU 631, EX 619
That was with a total revolving credit limit of $800 and $273 in utilization. Since then I tacked on a $7,000 CC, upped my $500 LOC to $3,500 and my $300 CC to $400, as well as paid down my CC balance to $3. So my credit utilization should change from $273 / $800 -> $3 / $10,900. Hoping for a small bump here.
More relevant to this thread, those scores also contain some collections accounts. They reported as such:
TU Only: Sep 19, 2011: $99
TU, EX: Oct 24, 2011 $2,368 ////// EQ: Jan 2012: $2,368
EQ, EX: Jul 18, 2014 $201
EQ, EX: Jul 18, 2014 $420
The latter 2 were from unpaid medical expenses in 2011. It is my understanding that FICO 08 doesn't even count collections under $100, and I am also aware that older collections have less of an impact. I doubt it's even worth disputing my CR to move EQ's date to Oct 2011 for the second one.
Anyway, I called the CA for the $99 and we agreed to a PFD. I paid, and the lady had me print a disclosure showing their intent to have this record deleted. I figured any FICO 08 scores wouldn't even factor this one, but it was a cheap baddie to get rid of so I saw it as a no-brainer.
I then called the CA for the $201 and $420 charges, and also agreed to a PFD. In this case she assured me they would send a delete letter for each account to my address, and even solidified it by checking with her manager so as not to make empty promises. And, while I recorded both phone calls (iPhone jailbreak win), I felt the need to inform her in this call that this was being recorded and asked if she was still offering the PFD, which she said yes to. So I paid off both of these accounts as well.
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What do you think? I can't currently afforrd to pay off the last one or I'd seek a PFD as well there (I am currently making payments as arranged a while ago). But is that a big deal? If I get rid of 3/4 Collections accounts, including 2 that posted just 4 months ago and leaving only one from 2011, will the 3 year old collections account hit me very hard still? Could I expect to see a decent score bump with those last two being deleted, since collections accounts have less impact over time?
And what do you think about my paying off the debt outright without first requiring certified mailed PFD letters from the CAs? At the least, I did record both calls and redundantly had them reassure me that the credit history would be deleted. Thanks!
Welcome to the fourms. You did good paying off three out of four. Although you are correct that FICO 08 ignores collections under $100, there is no guarantee that the car dealer that you go to will be pulling scores based off of FICO 08. Furthermore, if they pull your credit report they can see the collection, even if FICO ignores it for scoring purposes. So well done.
I would expect an increase in your scores based off of your actions regarding UTIL and collections, especially with the removed collections being so recent. However, I would temper your expectations, as that last collection will prevent your score from going up significantly. However, the increase may be enough to get you approved and approved at a better rate.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.
First, in regards to the 3B Monitoring, read this. It goes into a good amount of detail, and answers your question better than I could:
In regards to your question about PFD'ing the collection onto your credit card which will raise it's UTIL, the answer is an overwhelming yes. Having your last collection removed from your CR will raise your score MUCH more than raising one card's UTIL to 30% will decrease it. Also, it's much easier to pay off UTIL than it is to PFD a collection, as you can always make CC payments. As long as you can pay towards the credit card and not make late payments, go for it.
Removing your last collection makes a much bigger difference than removing all those that came before it.
@Anonymous wrote:
No, the remaining one unfortunately would be cosmetic...financed laser eye surgery.
Don't give up on account of one person. Call and talk to somone else. If that doesn't work, start sending emails. Many people get turned down only to have another person start saying yes.
Also, I would do a search in the 'Rebuilding your Credit' forum for Portfolio Recovery. There is a massive thread in there about getting them to delete if I remember correctly.
@Anonymous wrote:
@-NewGuy- wrote:Also, I would do a search in the 'Rebuilding your Credit' forum for Portfolio Recovery. There is a massive thread in there about getting them to delete if I remember correctly.
I did read through much of that thread already. The grounds that they had the account deleted on (reporting the Collections account as a Revolving account with late payments) doesn't apply to me. The only related entry in Revolving is the original creditor's charge-off.
The members of that thread escalated this issue to the PRA Ombudsman. While I don't have the same ammunition to fight with as them, I went ahead and e-mailed the Ombudsman seeking a PFD. I'll start a thread in the Rebuilding section with the e-mail I sent, seeking advice and tracking my progress with trying to remove this CA.
Good, well done 
. The rebuilding forum will have more people suited to PFD advice. Just remember, PFDs frequently don't happen with the first person you talk to. I had to email the CEOs, CFO, COOs, EVPs, and SVPs of one or two companies to get some done, so just keep doing what you're doing.