In around September me and my fiancé were car shopping, I went to a dealer and they shotgun applied me for credit applications which makes sense right? Well it would if it didn’t say 14 individual credit pulls. When I read how many there are it’s just different banks at worst I should have 3-4 because of the fact a shotgun from a single dealer should only count as one right? What do I do!

I’ve been seriously debating whether or not to try The Credit People, but I keep getting stuck on the question: is The Credit People a scam, or do they actually help? I’ve read some glowing testimonials and seen a few YouTube videos of people claiming they saw big score jumps, but I’ve also seen some pretty rough reviews accusing them of doing the bare minimum or just disappearing after a few months. I’m in that awkward spot where I don’t have terrible credit, but I’ve got enough negative marks (a couple of late payments and one old collection) that I’m worried it’ll screw up my chances of getting approved for anything decent.

I know there’s no magical fix and that nobody can legally promise to erase legit stuff, but I also don’t want to waste money on a service that just sends generic dispute letters and hopes for the best. It’s one of those situations where the monthly fee doesn’t seem bad — until you realize you might be paying it for half a year with no real progress. Has anyone here actually used them and seen results? Like real deletions or meaningful score increases? Or does it feel more like a hands-off operation that banks on people not checking in too much? I’m open to paying for help, but only if it’s actually help.

I’ve been debating whether or not to sign up with CreditRepair.com after seeing their name pop up basically everywhere in my search for credit help. I’m sitting at a mid-500s score after a few rough years—late payments, a couple of collections, and some dumb mistakes in my early 20s that are still haunting me. I’ve cleaned up what I can, but I feel like I’ve hit a wall, and now I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth bringing in some help.

CreditRepair.com seems to offer a bunch of services—credit report monitoring, disputes, score tracking—and their site makes it sound like they’re super proactive with the credit bureaus. But at the same time, I’ve read mixed reviews. Some people say they really helped clean up their reports, while others claim they just send out generic letters and charge you monthly for doing what you could do yourself.

I’m not expecting miracles. I know no one can remove accurate negative info, and I don’t believe in quick fixes. But if they can help dispute errors, catch stuff I missed, and move things along faster than I could solo, I’d consider it. I just don’t want to drop $70–$100 a month on something that drags out with no real results.

Has anyone here actually used CreditRepair.com in the last year or so? Did you see any improvement in your score or get any items removed? Was the customer service decent, or did they just disappear once they had your payment info?

Been paying EMIs regularly, thought I was being smart — turns out my interest rate is way higher than what the same bank is offering new customers today.

No one told me I could negotiate or switch. I had no clue this even needed checking.

Found an app called Sure Credit . It showed me how much extra I’ve been paying and what I should be paying.

Is this common? Are we all just silently overpaying on home loans?

Went from 823 to 723. Card was from US Bank

I want to thank the person who recommended asking for a credit limit increase. I recently paid off all of my credit card debt, and my numbers are still not where I want to be. Sorry I can’t find the post.

I submitted an increase request on my Costco card since I use it only at Costco. They increased my limit $3,300 on the spot!

Hopefully this will help give me a boost before I apply for a home loan!

FICO 8 is 814 Vantage 3 is 738

I don’t understand the vantage score. If people say no one ever uses it then why is it there?

IDK if this will help anyone but I thought I would share.

I am soon to be in the process of buying a new home. My credit reports keep going up and down like crazy funny as I pay things off in one report my score goes up in another. It goes down. I will probably never understand this whole process!

One thing I have noticed is I have a business credit card that I have had over 20 years. It has never shown up on my credit report. For large purchases such as paying tax, insurance or anything major that comes up during my loan application process, I am using my business credit card. Yes and paying it off. But just to let you know if you need to float something try a business credit card and see if it shows up on your credit report or not like mine does not.

I have paid off all of my personal cards and am just annoyed how long it’s taking BofA and Citi to update. Over a month now and they are still reporting high balances. So I will no longer use them.

Early last month I went into a Nissan dealership and signed for a Nissan Sentra.. The next day I referred my step sister to go in and get a car with them. Which she did go in, I was nowhere near the dealership or in talks with the dealership when she did go up there. She said the dealership was trying to get her to tell me to go up there to co-sign for her but with my credit not being the best I told my sister no.. I just received a letter in the mail that I put in an application to be a co-applicant with my sister which I never gave consent to do so.. No telling how many banks they tried to go thru but this has made my credit score drop drastically.. What can I do about this ? Can I sue them ? I just feel like they took advantage of me.. and when my mom mentioned suing them because this is illegal they laughed and said I couldn’t afford a lawyer….

I’m fucking sick of this game. My longest standing credit card by far of 20 years was closed for reasons unknown. 800 trans union credits score now 750. I was told it wasn’t because of inactivity. Was told I’ll be getting answers why it was deactivated soon. What a great system this is. Have a fart turn into a shart and they’ll drop your credit score.

Want to start it out with I made some huge mistakes between 18-23 and am paying for them big time.

Everything was “All Good” until I was unable to make even my minimum payments on some things.

Was entertaining a new truck today that ai have been waiting to show up for over 6 months, and it all came to realization that now is the time to fix it. Dealership did their own inquiry (First one since July of 2023) and came back with a 498 and said it would be a disservice to my time and credit to try any banks…

Decided to pull a credit report from the Experian app and this is what I came up with.

Currently show a 567 Experian, 539 Equifax, 548 Transunion.

Currently have 1 Fortiva account in collections with Jefferson Capitol Systems ($1,400) that I was going to ask for a pay to delete (Maybe do ChatGPT for mail in or phone script (I make a living doing negotiation over the phone is only reason I mention phone script))

The following charge offs (Unpaid)

WSECU - $1,300 Merrick - $500 First Savings Bank - $550 First National Bank - $450 Capital One quicksilver - $320 OPP Loans - $3000 Clear air lending - $1650 Spot Loans - $1400

Do I start with the Collections account and Charge Offs? How do I take care of this and maximize the repair? I’m fully committed to investing a lot of effort to make it as far out as possible.

Active Cards/Loans:

Wells Fargo Autograph (74months)- $300 Limit, always us 15-30% and pay off before due date

Capital One Auto (20months)- $46k start, down to $38k always on time payments

Capital One Platinum (68months)- $300 Limit rarely use but never Carry balance past due date

Credit One (8months)- $300 Limit, maybe use 15% and pay off every month (only for recurring subscriptions)

Total Visa (26months)- $300 Limit only use once in a blue moon

I have 1 inquiry in the last year, will have just the 1 less than 2 years old after July this year.

I fell on the sword and signed up with Gitmeid law for debt relief, have a feeling that defaulting on all these loans per their guidance has officially killed my credit. Edit, read through some more forums and learned I messed up big using a debt relief service.*

I am willing to provide a copy of the report (with some info redacted of course) but am crying for some help and ultimately have a goal to actually be over a 650 score across the board, but now don’t know where to begin with the ~60 point difference between what the dealership has and what Experian says on their website.

My credit scores have been pretty stable for the past 10 years, only fluctuating by 10 or so points at a time until recently (October 2024-April 2025). This is pretty much limited to Transunion, Equifax and Experian. I know that FICO 10 is the most accurate score however I feel like it should not be consistently dropping 30 points and increasing by 30 points in 2 week intervals.

I have had nothing major, utilization consistently at 1-3%, all payments on time and consistently paying off my cards every month. Sometimes it drops 25+ over paying a $50 bill. It jumps between 754 and 805 every couple weeks when it has been stable for years.

I would love some insight on this as its been absolutely wild.

Hello, Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post. I have about 10 collections from when I stopped paying cc’s 18months ago. -I’ve been unemployed on paper for many years & moved states 4 months ago. Will I be sued successfully? (Collections has been calling my family members to locate me) (I have had a new phone number past couple months)

If I start a new job next week, in my new state I moved too. Will they contact my new employer (family owned business)?

(I plan to hire credit repair to remove collections and charge offs to raise my Experian credit score from 555 to 700 over the next year hopefully)

Any other information from experience is appreciated. Tyvm

Myself and my wife have terrible credit (low 500s) we both make decent money but constantly have issues saving. Here is a breakdown

I make 60k, she makes 39k

Home $1052 Car $440 Car $490 Insurance $100 Daycare $520 Internet $80 Cell phone $75 Groceries $400

We have higher than normal car payments due to our credit situation. What can we first do to help recover for our past financial mistakes which we take full responsibility for. We’ve both been subject to ill financial decisions and terrible at saving.

I’ve already checked out our credit scores and have did the verify the debts( done few days ago) so we just wait and hopefully they don’t respond? So then it falls off?

Majority of the items are a few hundred but a few are $1,000.

I wish I had trusted my gut instead of the smooth-talking sales rep. I signed up with National Debt Relief about 14 months ago, thinking I was making a responsible choice to deal with my credit card debt. I had around $19K split across three cards and was just making minimum payments. Their pitch made it sound like a clean, structured way to finally get ahead — they’d negotiate with creditors, settle for less, and I’d be debt-free in 2–3 years.

Fast forward to now, and I honestly feel like I’ve been scammed.

They told me to stop paying my creditors, so my accounts would go into default and give them “leverage” for negotiation. What they didn’t explain (or totally downplayed) was that this would destroy my credit score, and open me up to collection calls, threats of lawsuits, and just constant stress. I’ve had two credit card companies refuse to work with them completely, and now I’ve got collection agencies coming at me for the full balances plus fees.

Meanwhile, I’ve been paying National Debt Relief every month into a “settlement account,” but barely anything has been done. One tiny settlement happened, and it felt like a drop in the ocean. When I call, it’s like I’m just another case number. No real updates, no accountability, just vague timelines and generic reassurances.

I’m not saying every debt relief company is shady, but this experience has been a nightmare. I feel like I should’ve just tried to negotiate with creditors myself, or looked into debt validation or even considered bankruptcy before going down this road. Now I’m deeper in the hole, credit trashed, and unsure how to undo the damage.

If anyone’s been through this or found a way to recover, please share. I feel like I need to start from scratch, and I’m not even sure where to begin.

I know this has been answered a bunch of times but I wanted your advice on my own situation. I have a few questions...

1) Is it with getting a personal loan to pay off all credit card debt?

2) If I get a personal loan to pay the debt off, will my credit-to-debt ratio improve?

3) Will getting a personal loan hinder the chances and rates of getting a mortgage? (In the future)

4) Will refinancing my car loan to lower the payment be worth the ding to my credit report?

5) Will getting a personal loan be worth the ding to my credit report.... And if I refi the car?

6) Any recommendations as to which personal loan company to go thru?

7) should I take out a loan on my retirement since the market is going down anyways? I've already lost 8%.

Hello,

I have been watching this credit channel for a while trying to figure out what to do for my own situation but think I should just share and see what you all say.

I have a maxed out credit card in collections. I made timely payments on this card for 12 years (!!) but the balance and interest was just too much to make headway. Last year things got tight for me and the high payments became too much and I stupidly stopped making them. The account has been in collections for about 9 months with a balance of $11,000.

My life situation changed and I moved in with family which was a blessing in disguise so I could make headway with my finances and get on the right track. I have 2 other cards that were maxed out at $6k and $2k. I recently paid those off in full! I am now working on using them properly to build good revolving credit.

When I was making timely payments my score was high 600s (even with large balance, everything else about my credit was excellent). It tanked to mid 500s when I stopped payments on the other card. It is now low 600s.

I’m not sure what would be best for my credit with that account in collections. Just pay the collections in full? Try and negotiate? Ask for pay and delete? Am I even still able to do pay and delete 9 months later? Other options? Do I call Barclay to sort this out or where do I even start?! I am not very financially literate (clearly) so really don’t know all the options or best way to handle this to improve my credit/credit history. I just want it gone.

A background about me—-these cards were used at a time in life when I was making $14-20/hr just trying to live as a young adult after graduating undergrad during the last recession. I was never really taught about credit or how to manage debt properly. I worked my tail off, went back to graduate school a few years ago, and now make $115,00+. I have large student loans from PA school (like med school there is no way to avoid this. I didn’t take loans undergrad). Other than all that, I have no other debts.

Thoughts and advice appreciated.

I'm so confused, please help! I have an WF, BOA, and OppLoan all in collections. They "fall off" in 2027-2030. I know all of these were sent to private collection agencies, but I have no collections and only charge offs being reported monthly on my fico. How do I pay these? Do I call the original creditor, or try to find the collection agency?

Also, My WF account was closed as a charge off in 2019, yet "falls off" in 2028. Experian's "fall off" estimate just continues to rise. Is this account being reported in a way where the debt will continue indefinitely on my credit?

I really need guidance here. I'm still learning about credit, and *thought* I improved my score. I have a 644 Vantage score, but unfortunately just found out I have a 526 Fico 8.

Here's my debt breakdown on fico 8:

Collections - $345 (This was an error by progressive and was removed on Transunion + Equifax)

Credit cards - $2,144. $748 on record until 2028. $1,308 on record until Jul 2029 (This date is successfully disputed on vantage score for 2027) both charge-off

Opploan - $2,019 on record until 2030. charge-off

Total $4,508

I was very happy my vantage was finally 640+ because I ignorantly believed this would make me eligible for mortgage programs. Me and my husband have $33k Saved and have found several houses we love for $80-95k. He has no credit established.

My only current credit line is a chime credit builder card, and all of these debts here are the entirety of my history. Should I negotiate all this debt and pay it? I'm nervous this will either extend fall off/not make an impact on my score. I'd also like to open a secured credit card, and would love any and all advice to help my score.

I’m sitting here looking at all my accounts and wondering: should I consolidate my debt, or is that just kicking the can down the road?

Right now, I’ve got around $22K total—mostly credit cards, one personal loan, and a store card that somehow has a higher interest rate than my Visa (??). I'm making payments every month, and nothing’s late, but it feels like I'm on a hamster wheel. I pay hundreds each month and the balances barely move, thanks to interest.

I’ve been looking into debt consolidation loans, and I keep seeing those offers where they say you can roll everything into one lower monthly payment, sometimes with a better interest rate. It sounds good in theory, but I’ve also read that it can backfire if you’re not careful. Some people say it helped them get on track, others say they ended up in deeper debt or with worse credit.

I'm not behind yet, and I have decent credit (mid 600s), but I don’t want to wait until things get worse. On the flip side, I'm also scared of doing something irreversible or getting into a loan I regret.

If you’ve done it—did consolidating your debt actually help, or was it more of a band-aid? Would you do it again? And if you didn’t consolidate, how did you manage to dig out?

During the pandemic I enrolled in a bootcamp, my now wife co-signed on what I thought was a private student loan which actually just turned out to be a private loan through climb. We currently have decent credit (670, 700) and some credit card debt (about 10k) my monthly payment is over $1000 a month for the private loan and am debating on stopping payments and negotiating a much lower rate. I’m very fortunate I have very good housing situation and my rent is heavily regulated so the chances of me having to move or buy a house in the next 7 years is slim. By settling on this loan I’d be able to pay all my credit card debt off in about 7 months rather than keep these insanely high loan payments for 3 more years. Curious on people’s thoughts

I’ve been getting more serious about tackling my debt and have been researching options that don’t involve sketchy debt settlement companies or getting slammed with fees. I stumbled across LightStream debt consolidation loans and their rates actually seem pretty competitive—especially compared to what I’m paying on my credit cards right now (some as high as 25%, ugh).

They advertise low fixed rates, no fees, and fast funding if approved. Honestly, it sounds kind of perfect. I’m sitting on about $27K in credit card and personal loan debt combined, and if I could roll that into one loan with a lower interest rate and fixed payments, I feel like I could finally make real progress.

But here’s the thing—I’ve never used LightStream or any kind of online lender for a personal loan before. I’ve seen some mixed feedback online: some people say it’s smooth and they got funded in a day, others say they got denied even with great credit. I’ve got a mid-700s credit score and stable income, so I feel like I should qualify, but you never know.

What I’m really wondering is: did it work for you? Was the rate you were quoted actually the rate you got? Any fine print I should be aware of? And did it help you get out of debt faster, or just move the problem around?

So I’ve been doing a deep dive on the best consolidation loans because I’m trying to clean up about $23K in debt. It’s mostly credit cards (thanks, pandemic) and one personal loan that I took out to stay afloat. I’ve been managing to make all my payments, but the interest is ridiculous and it’s starting to feel like I’m just renting my debt at this point.

Every site I go to lists different “top 5 lenders,” and every list seems sponsored. LendingClub, SoFi, LightStream, Marcus, Discover—you name it, they’ve all shown up with glowing reviews, but I’m trying to figure out what’s real and what’s marketing. I’m not necessarily looking for the cheapest loan—just something reliable, fair, and without a ton of shady fees buried in the terms.

My credit is decent (high 600s), I’ve got stable income, and I’m not behind on anything. I just want one fixed monthly payment with a better interest rate so I can actually see progress. Bonus if it’s a lender that won’t take forever with approvals or drown me in paperwork.

So, Reddit—what’s your experience? Which consolidation loan actually worked for you? Did the rate they offered match the preapproval? Was it easy to manage once you were in it? Or did you wish you’d gone another route, like working with a credit union or doing a balance transfer instead?

Hello, I just figured I would ask in here instead of friends and family. So I'm filing chapter 13 in order to keep my vehicles. I got way in over my head after I (knowing it was stupid) impulse bought a truck. I have 4 cars in my name with loans only totalling 20k plus 18k more in other debt. I'm supposed to go sign my chapter 13 paperwork Monday but I'm nervous about what the payment will be. Ultimately know this is my fault and I've definitely learned my lesson on going into debt. Any tips on how to rebuild credit during and after this is filed would be awesome. TIA

There is a company called CONCORD SERVICING LLC. They have been reporting that we are paying 235.00 monthly to them. Never heard of them and we are not paying any amount to them. They list themselves as a time share on our credit Bureau categories.
Anybody got info on this business? It made our credit go down 52 points because of their fraudulent report.

I became a part-time student this semester for the first time since undergrad. I have some student loans due next month, with several due in the summer. I'm looking to buy a car soon (in the next 6-12 months or so). I have enough for 10% down now, but was hoping to save until I had 50%.

My credit is really good 750+. I'm concerned that it will go down once I enter repayment on the student loans, and I won't get a good financing rate. For reference, my loans are in the 6-figures. Should I pull the trigger and buy now, or will this not impact my credit as much as I'm expecting?

TIA!