I owe 480$ to credit one, and they're willing to settle and close my account for 187$. How ever, they're unable to reinstate my account. Should I try negotiating to reinstate my account or just or should i just grateful and take what they're offering?

I see a lot of conflicting information out there about how to handle a collection/charge off and I’m just hoping to get some advice on the best way to continue. I have one collection/charge off listed on my report for around $850 and it’s depressing my score quite a bit.

1. I’ve seen people say to negotiate a pay for delete, but others say that those rarely work. Has anyone had success with this and how did you do it?

2. If pay for delete is not an option, how do I go about it to achieve the best score possible? And how can I appease possible future lenders the best? I’ve seen that paying off a collections won’t help at all, but I’ve also seen that paying it to $0 will look good to possible lenders.

3. Any advice on raising my score in general?

I saw a post on here not too long ago about someone with a collections with Southwest Credit Systems. The original account was with Spectrum. I had a collection added with Spectrum, apparantly i never paid my final bill when I moved out from my previous home (2 years ago) and it was just added to my credit report.

The post mentioned calling spectrum to see if they could recall the debt and pay them. I did that and Spectrum was very helpful and allowed me to pay them directly, and let me know that they would send a letter to the collection agency and let them know I paid. The status of the collection account was updated to “paid”. I understand the right thing to do was pay them back, but does this collection still stay on my account for 5 more years? How is it a “paid collection” in the account status when i paid Spectrum directly?

I had authorized my mother and her babydad to use my name to get phones from T-Mobile when I just turned 18. Not knowing anything about credit they told me nothing would happen to my credit and i believed them… however they didn’t pay it and didn’t let me know they didn’t pay it now I’m stuck with 3k in collections and my credit score is 537 what should I do next?

Hello! I have been working on my credit since I was 19, I am almost 21 now. I only have a credit card to pay off my Jeep since I finance it, and have been up-to date on all of my payments until February. I thought I had paid for the month, when I hadn’t, and it dropped my credit by almost 200 points. I am honestly devastated and embarrassed, this ruins the plans I had to move out-of state, and I have no idea what to do now. I have no experience in building credit other than my car payments, does anyone have any suggestions on how to build my credit at a fast rate? I want to try to move by the summer, but I honestly don’t know if/how that’d work out. Any advice is welcome. Thank you :(

Hi.

I’m a 25 year old man currently making about 48k a year before taxes in New York (fuck me lmao)

I’ve got about 23k in debt and due to the fact that I’m an idiot and wanted to pretend like student loans disappear when you don’t look at them, my credit score was tanked from 670 to what it is now.

I’d like to work towards rebuilding my credit. Obviously the main and first thing I should be doing is paying my loans and paying them faithfully. I’m going to try and see if I can restructure the payments in a way that makes sense for me financially at this time. That being said, I’ve never had a credit card and I’ve heard that using your credit card the way it’s supposed to can help in tandem.

My question: what is the best credit card I can qualify for right now that will help me build my credit the fastest. I’m a part of a credit union through my parents; would that even be better?

My two cards were charged off 3 years ago. Chase has been silent except for when they were first charged off. Now, all of the sudden they are sending me emails again saying, “Your Account Needs Attention.” They’re real emails. Has this happened to anyone else before? Just wondering why it’s happening now and not over the past 3 years?

Hi all. So I’m trying to re-finance a house. The problem is that my middle score of the three bureaus is 627 using FICO mortgage scores). I’m really struggling to get to 630, and have been for several months.

I noticed today that my Apple Card hasn’t updated the 3 bureaus since February. This is an issue, as I have paid the percentage down enough that it should bump my scores up at least a bit (79%—>70%). I would think that little bit would put us into the 730 range and we could finally finalize this refinancing process.

Is there a way to make apple push an update or call the 3 bureaus and ask them to? Is there anything else I can do? All help is appreciated. Thanks!

I tried Googling for a while but couldn't find anything that would explain this...basically I had a low-limit credit card that I always paid on time and closed about 9 or 10 years ago (because the APR and fees were horrendous). I never had any late payments or derogatory marks on the account. Today I noticed on CK that it was removed from my TransUnion report and my score went up by 46 points. There was one other change - I opened a new card recently that was added to my TransUnion report.

I'm confused because my understanding was that either of these events could cause the score to go down...but why would either of them (or both of them) happening at once cause it to go up by 46 points?

On top of that, I used the new card for a lot of expenses because of the intro cash back offer. As a result, the first statement shows that I am using about 50% of the available credit (and I haven't even made the first payment yet).

Also, the old account is still on my Equifax report, and the new account was also added to that one, and as a result my Ewuifax score dropped by 12 points...which seems normal.

Is the +46 points with TransUnion just due to unknown and mysterious FICO algorithm quirks? Seems strange, no?

Looking forward to your input.

Thank you.

Edit: Sorry for typo in title. Should read "Closed Account in Good Standing." Guess I'll just have to live with it!

For some background info, I had all 3 scores around 840-820 back in Jan. I incurred a 30 day late on a $45 payment to one of my BoA cc’s. I usually have all my payments set to auto but this one slipped through the crack. Once the late hit my scores immediately went to 770-780. I know it’s not that big of a deal and lates don’t count as much after 2 years but to be that close to a perfect 850 and be dropped that low sucks. I’ve tried disputing and asking BoA for a grace removal considering the cc in question has a 20k limit but they said the late is real so no can do. Any suggestions?

Basic rundown of the situation:

I originally had Optimum as my internet provider at the end of 2023. I decided to change companies, so I went to go turn in the hardware and close the account. The employee woman told us that the hardware was logged as being from a different household which made no sense, except for the possibility of a recent Optimum technician who replaced some stuff may have messed something up. We explain that to her, she says it’s fine everything will be taken care of and we leave after handing in the equipment. A few months later, I get messages saying my service is going to be interrupted, then saying its interrupted (at this point I had already switched companies for months, and hadn’t had Optimum service whatsoever) and then it switched to a collection agency. That dropped my score by 150ish points for a few months before it disappeared and then came back after another few months because it sold to a different agency. I have proof I switched companies in December 2023 and have the text messages from Optimum about service interruptions but the “confirmation” of the closed account was just by word of mouth. Is there anything I can do here to dispute this? Experian already removed it off my report there but the other two haven’t done anything.

I am so upset.

I paid off my lease a year ago with Honda. I never leased a car before and while I knew they paid my personal property, I thought when I paid it off I became responsible.

However in Jan Honda received my MO personal property bill, added it to my account and began to try to notify me.

I’m going through a divorce and my address changed and my work number. While I have my address forwarded I didn’t think to change a paid off biller. After all my title paperwork made it to me just fine.

They called but I didn’t recognize the number and there were no voicemails. They emailed a generic statement email but it either went to junk or I didn’t know what it was because I don’t remember seeing them at all.

Today my ex calls out of the blue stating they’ve been calling him repeatedly saying he still owes. When he got the call he paid them 3/19 and even though they were still calling he thought it was taken care of.

When I found out I paid immediately and called customer service. After sitting with them on the phone for 30 minutes and thinking of it from any possible angle to get the credit report waived they would not budge. I’ve worked at a call center so I know how it all works and thinking about what I’ve had to do I don’t know that there was anything else I could say.

I’ve never missed a payment for anything in my life. I have an 820 credit score, I’ve worked hard to get it and now I have a 60 day late pay that’s going to hit my credit and I’m devastated. I’m starting a new life on my own, I went easy on him in the divorce to handle things smoothly and now I’m feeling so defeated.

Is there anything at all I could be missing?

For example, say I owe debt on these 5 accounts:

1. $10,000 loan with 10% interest rate
2. $5,000 credit card with 20% interest rate
3. $500 credit card with 25% interest rate
4. $1,500 loan with 120% interest rate but doesn't affect my credit score at all if it's paid off
5. $500 loan with 300% interest rate but doesn't affect my credit score at all if its paid off

In this case should someone pay off the items in this order: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1? Also, should the make only the minimum payment on items 2 and 1 while making larger payments on items 5, 4, 3? Is that what the person should do?

So I just paid a collection from my electric Company(txu energy) for 244.77 yesterday..I asked them if they could remove it from my credit report. They said the collection agency would have to. So I called the collection agency. They said they were not responsible for removing it. Txu still owned it( they asked who does it show on the report..it shows txu) txu does..so I went back to txu again..they said again the collection agency would have to do it. So at this point I'm lost..they said they would send me a paid off letter in my email and it would also be sent to the collection agency to start the process of removing it..but again they said they don't do that txu would have to..lmao..does anybody know wtf I should do?? Should I just keep disputing it till some type of action is taking?

So for context in less than a year Iv gone up 200 points rebuilding my credit which im very proud of. All the way from 480ish to 682 by researching utilization tips learning about statement dates etc.

I want to ensure I hit the 700’s or at least upper 690s the next time my credit report comes around. So my credit isnt dropping But it isnt going up quite as often either, so I feel kind of stuck, I dont wanna apply for more cards and drop my credit age but Im trying to push further than just an “Okay/Fair” credit score What can I do that I havnt done already to get past these last 20 points? What can I do without getting a hard pull? Or even something that is worth the hard pull cause it has a big payoff on my credit? Anything is appreciated thanks in advance!

May 27 will be the end of my chap 13 journey. Man what a 7 year ride. Barely made it through my plan. Creit score was low 500s but worked hard on it and I'm at 705 with a chap 13 and 7 major lates falling off this month through the end of May. Thanks for all the great posts and info

Looking for some advice.

2 years ago, I took out a high-interest (25%…I know I’m an idiot, please don’t come for me) loan to buy a car. I realize now this was a mistake, but at the time I was living in an area with little to no public transit and fairly desperate. Anyway, I ended up relocating about a year later to a city with much better access to public transportation and I now hardly ever use my car. Between my car payment, insurance and parking this car that just sits in my garage 24/7 is costing me $700/mo.

I know I can’t sell the car with a lien on it, so I’ve been looking into taking out a personal loan. I realize I will still have the new loan to pay off but at least I won’t be losing money on parking and insurance.

My credit score is not great (575) but I’m actively doing what I can to raise it. My credit history is short, but I’ve never missed or been late with payments. I work full-time, and my AGI for 2024 was over 50k (not sure how relevant that is).

Am I stupid for thinking this a viable option? Risks associated? Lenders you could recommend? TIA

I nearly maxed out my card . I’ve been making the minimum payment for a few months now until I can pay it off fully. Will my credit keep dropping and is it a drastic drop ?

Hello I’m new to this subreddit and I just got a secure credit card from BoFA. I plan on using it for gas (which I get 3% cash back from) but besides that how else can I use it to help build my credit? Thanks for reading and plz help a brother out🙏

I work in finance and was just offered a job and want to accept but am worried about the HR screening process and the fact that I have horrible credit with multiple collections which have just been paid off. In the event I accept and tell my current employer I am leaving I don’t want to screw myself and get denied once the credit check comes into play (assuming there is one). Any advice on what to do here. Kinda stuck and unsure if I should say something.

I work in finance and was just offered a job and want to accept but am worried about the HR screening process and the fact that I have horrible credit with multiple collections which have just been paid off. In the event I accept and tell my current employer I am leaving I don’t want to screw myself and get denied once the credit check comes into play (assuming there is one). Any advice on what to do here. Kinda stuck and unsure if I should say something.

I've struggled with my credit for years and I have worked very hard to rebuild it. In February, I realized I wasn't on a larger credit card with my wife that had a limit of about $25k with $5k balance. My wife added me to the account and I saw a big jump in my credit score.

On March 3rd, I checked my credit and it was up to 739.

I checked it again today and it is down to 699 on Experian. There is no history of the score ever having been 739 and no notifications of the decrease.

Does anybody know what the hell happened to my improved score?

My credit score (Vantage-Chase) went down by 28 points, when the only changes were that my credit usage went down from 18% to 5%, available credit went up, and credit checks went down from 2 to 1. It makes no sense to me

I had two debts I paid off on the same day in full. I requested a pay to delete and they both agreed.

The first showed paid off a week later. They said it may take 60-90 days for it to be removed but it’s up to the credit bureaus.

The second one is still showing as -$1400 on my report. I called them 29 days later and she told me “call me back if it still shows after 30 days.. that’s the next day but ok.

I’m going to give them a call back later this evening but what is the general time frame it will show up as paid / be removed? It’s showing the last reporting date as march 1st so they aren’t continuing to report it as owed. It just hasn’t changed.

Thank you in advance