Few questions: I have charges offs but 100% payment history / Should i pay my CO accounts in full.

[Iceemk4]

Was told about this forum a few months ago and since then I've learned a lot. This is my first time posting so i just wanted to say hello and thank you to everyone!

I have a few questions that I cant find the answers to though.

I had 3 CC accounts that I stoped paying for back around October of 2018. I made a few bad decisions and I didn't know any better. ( 1 was recently was deleted from experian and TransUnion. Not sure why but I read that sometimes accounts can get deleted from your report even before the 7 years so yay!)

My questions are as follows:

1: If the 3  accounts were charged off, how does credit Karma and experian still show i have 0 derogetory marks and 100% payment history and should I be worried about this changing and dropping my score (its been almost 5 years )

2: Ive been thinking about getting a small loan to pay my charge offs but i dont know if this is a good idea considering the age of the accounts. Considering we want to buy a house within the next year or so and i clearly need to get my credit up for that, should I do this? I dont want my credit to be the reason we cant move forward if we actually somehow find a good deal in this crappy market.

Finally,

3: Should I pay the reported balances in full because for 2 of the cards huge percentage of the reported balances are feesfrom when i stopped payment. None of these cards were maxed out when I stopped paying. High usage yes but not maxed.

My score was around 700s when all this happened and Im finally trying to get things fixed (yea i know, kinda late but you live and you learn)

Thanks for any help!

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Info

Current Scores:

From Credit Karma

TU: 583

Equifax: 605

From Experian

Experian: 640

TU: 644

Equifax: 627

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Account 1:

BESTBUY/CBNA (Store card)

last payment: Sep 01, 2018

Payment status: Charge-off

Limit : $750

Past due reported balance: $1,218

(removed from Experian and TransUnion this month (March 2023) remains on Equifax)

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Account 2:

BANK OF AMERICA

last payment: Sep 01, 2018

Payment status: Charge-off

Limit : $700

Reported balance: $1,044

Account 3:

CRDT FIRST (Tires plus store card)

last payment: Sep 01, 2018

Payment status: Charge-off

Limit : $657

Reported balance: $744

[EAJuggalo]

Check your state laws and see if you can still be sued for them.  I believe most states are 4 years so that wouldn't be an issue. 

No mortgage lender is going to to touch you with open charge offs on your report, you will be required to pay them before any mortgage.

Don't trust Credit Karma for anything other than what is actually in your report.

The balances being reported are counting towards your utilization.  The best thing you can do from a scoring perspective is pay them in full as soon as possible so you can put some time between paying them off and looking for your mortgage.  Alternatively, if they are outside the statute of limitations for your state, you may be able to negotiate to settle for less, this is a more time consuming process and will not look as good on a manual review as paid in full.

How many open accounts in good standing do you have now?  What are their credit limits?  And how much of a balance do you have on them?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

If you want a chance of banking with BofA again, pay them back. Citi will forgive, but it takes time. They'll also sell the debt. 

[FireMedic1]

Please ignore CK and their scores. Means nothing. If your able to settle or even pay in full on all the accounts. Do so. No new apps for credit before sitting down with a mortgage lender within a year. Once they all show $0 balance. No longer updating each month you'll see a score change. Then do a 3B pull from here at MyFICO and look at your FICO mortgage scores. See where you sit. Throw out the high and low and theres your score.

[RopeIsGettingShorter]

Kinda in the same boat as you...I just might have more shambles to climb over right now lol. Stumbled across this forum a few weeks ago and learned a great deal already. Just listen to the people and their advice. They're nice folks and know their stuff! Good luck 

[tnhomestead]

Depending on what state you live in, you can be sued up to 10 years i believe. Each state is different, so look it up.

Also, as soon as you start looking for a mortgage, some of these debts are likely to come out from the woodwork. Get them paid off now, it's not a huge amount. See if you can get a reduction in the bill since it has been a few years. Other option is wait for the 7 years to report, but for this much seems like a waste of time. Good luck!

[OmarGB9]

Definitely pay the COs. Regardless of age, unless they're aging off before you begin mortgage shopping, they'll definitely affect your application and approval odds. COs count against your utilization and if they're updating monthly, they're doing even more damage. Also, you'll have to pay them anyway before mortgage lenders will even consider your application.

And as others have said, ignore CK's stats. Just use CK for monitoring the information on your reports. But ignore the suggestions and ontime payment history and the scores. What I'd suggest is pulling your actual FICO scores from either here (MyFICO) or creditchecktotal.com. That way you'll know where you actually stand at the moment. 

[Iceemk4]

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@EAJuggalo wrote:

Check your state laws and see if you can still be sued for them.  I believe most states are 4 years so that wouldn't be an issue. 

No mortgage lender is going to to touch you with open charge offs on your report, you will be required to pay them before any mortgage.

Don't trust Credit Karma for anything other than what is actually in your report.

The balances being reported are counting towards your utilization.  The best thing you can do from a scoring perspective is pay them in full as soon as possible so you can put some time between paying them off and looking for your mortgage.  Alternatively, if they are outside the statute of limitations for your state, you may be able to negotiate to settle for less, this is a more time consuming process and will not look as good on a manual review as paid in full.

How many open accounts in good standing do you have now?  What are their credit limits?  And how much of a balance do you have on them?

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Thanks for the replay! Im in florida so its says 5 years. As for the accounts I have :

JPMCB CARD SERVICES

(Auth User)

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $4,000

SYNCB/CITY FURNITURE

(Auth User)

Open balance: $1,907

Credit limit: $6,000

CITICARDS CBNA

(Auth User)

Open balance: $1,112

Credit limit : $9,500

NAVY FEDERAL CR UN

Open balance: $592 (Current balance Not reported yet: $730)

Credit limit: $600 (Current Limit Not reported yet: $1000)

CAPITAL ONE (Quicksilver)

Open balance: $445 (Current balance Not reported yet: $0 (balance transfer to navy Federal card) )

Credit limit: $500

COMENITYCAPITALBANK/IKEA

Open balance: $302

Credit limit: $1,300

NAVY FEDERAL CR UN

Open balance: $0 (Current balance not reported yet: $413)

Credit limit :$400 (Current limit not reported yet: $2000)

DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $1,200

WEBBANK/AVANT

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $500

CAPITAL ONE (Platinum)

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $300 (Current limit Not reported yet: $400)

FETTI FINGERHUT/WEBBANK

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $1,200

MERRICK BANK

Open balance: $0

Credit limit: $500

[Iceemk4]

Thank you all for the replies. Clearly looks like paying the COs is in my best interest so im going to have to come up with a play for taking care of them. If i do go ahead and pay them though,  will they still fall off my report after 7 years? Ive done some digging and it seems they will but i figured i would ask.

[Iceemk4]

@EAJuggaloWasn't sure if i tagged you correctly the first time. had to edit the reply so idk if you got the notification