Just paid all of my Collections Accounts

Hi Everyone! Brand New Here.

 

Just paid off all of my collection accounts in the last 2 days.  I had only about $2300 in total debt and was able to negotiate and pay it all off. 

 

What happened with me is I finally got brave enough to actually check my scores and see what was on my credit report.  I knew it was going to be bad.  I don’t know if anyone else has had a problem with avoiding the truth like this but I would get white envelopes from collection agencies and I would put them in a drawer so I didn’t have to acknowledge that they existed.  Sometimes the amount wasn’t even that bad but it was enough that I wasn’t able to pay them off right away and calling/making arrangements would have meant that I would have to admit that I had a problem and it was really hard for me. It feels good to have faced my problem and to know that I wont get myself into this situation again.  It’s really embarrassing to admit I’m a 38 year old woman and I have bad credit.  And it got so bad that I don’t even have a major credit card – just a debit card.  My friends at work would never guess. I make a good living now thanks to a new career path in the last 2 years…and I have the appearance of having it all…but when I am out shopping with my friends and the clerk at the department store pushes and recommends saving “an extra 15% on today’s purchase if you use your store charge” – I always have to say “no I don’t have one”…. to which my friends AND that darn clerk will always say “go ahead… just open one, it will only take a sec and you can just pay the bill as soon as it comes in…think of what you’ll save”… then I start sweating and get really embarrassed knowing that I would never be approved…and have to say NO… so here I am trying to fix my mess!  I can only go up from here I guess!  It’s time to be real – with myself.

 

So somehow I had the nerve to finally check what was on my credit report… first I went to freecreditreport.com and got the triple score,,, the commercials after all these years wore me down and I paid the $…and with one eye cracked I hit the button to finally see what I had been avoiding… this was just a few days ago

 

As of today 3/10/10 the scores are the same at freecreditreport.com

TU – 584

EX – 584

EQ – 589

 

Today I checked MYFico.com and it said

TU 578

EQ 610 

 

strange that there is such a difference between the 2 sites!

 

I am wondering how paying my collections accounts off today will affect my score.  Some say that paying collections accounts all at once will lower the score… esp. if I paid a “settlement offer” versus the total due

 

this is what was on my report (of course the status hasn’t been updated because I just paid in the last day):

 

Old Utility bill (electric) from 2005 $163.40 -  Paid 3/9/10

 

Old Utility Bill from 2004 $84.00 – : Paid 3/9/10

 

Capital One Visa went to collections in 2004 - balance $0 (bec went to CA)

 

Capital One MC went to Collections in 2004- balance $0 (Bec went to CA)

 

Portfolio Recovery Collections since 2009- Capital One Visa – Balance $1001.00 -  Paid 3/10/10 settlement $633.40

 

Portfolio Recovery Collections since 2009- Capital One Visa – Balance $907.00 -  Paid 3/10/10 settlement $540.00

 

Bank Of America went to Collections – Balance $0 (bec went to CA)

(Paid the CA $760.00 to satisfy - CA NOT on my report)

 

HSBC BAnk Visa went to collections – Balance $0 (bec went to CA)

(paid a CA to $360.00 satisfy - CA NOT on my report)

 

NCO FInancial CA reporting $314.00 unpaid Bank Of America Checking Account Overdraft – they are no longer holding the debt - 3/9/10 paid to another CA who bought the debt about 60 days ago but did not post their info to my credit report.

 

Auto Loan: Mazda American Credit opened Jan 2003 $20,800- Closed Sept 2008 (no repo! thank god) 30 days late 27 times, 60 days 1 time, 90 days 0 times. paid off, satisfied.

 

JCPenny Credit Card opened in 1995 still in good standing with a $124 limit – I forgot about this card for YEARS. I don’t even have a jcpenny card in my possession nor do I shop there anymore.

 

$5800 State Of New Jersey Tax Lien dated 2007 – I have no idea what this is but I am now married and I am suspecting that it is related to my husband and his house or his income tax for the year 2007 – in 2008 he was told that there was an error on his income taxes for 2007 and this might be what is showing up on my report because we are married.  I have printed a letter to mail to the state and ask to show proof of what this is tomorrow.  It has no description on the report.

 

So with the exception of the $5800 tax lien that I know is not technically “mine” I have paid off everything.  Some have been settled and agreed upon at a reduced fee and the full amount has been paid on others.  As of today, I am completely free of collections.  Will my score get better soon?  Or will it get worse before it gets better?

 

I really need a new car soon and am wondering how my previous history with Mazda may help or hurt me.  27 times I was over 30 days… 1 time over 60…

 

sorry for the lengthy post… I wanted to be as detailed as I could so that someone could help me.  Any and ALL advice & help would be greatly appreciated!