How Much to Charge?

Feb 022011
 

Hi,

 

My bankruptcy was discharged in December of 2009, and I’ve just received a new Orchard credit card with a $300 limit. My question is, does it matter how much I use the card? Would it help if I charged it up near the limit and paid it off every month, or would charging $25 a month and paying that off have the same effect? I can easily use it for my groceries and things if that would help. Does anyone know?

 

Thanks so much!

GW with a balance owed or after paid in full for closed credit cards

Jan 192011
 

I have several credit card accounts that were closed when I went very late.  Two accounts reached 150 days late, one 90 days, and one 60 days.  Approximately 6 months after I brought the accounts current, I attempted GW letters with no success.  I’ve recently passed the two year mark since I was late on any account.  I was thinking of trying a new round of GW letters.

 

I still have minimal balances on the cards.  I can pay them all off next month (feel like throwing a party when the last payment posts).  Are they more likely to respond favorably to a GW letter if I send it now while I am still making payments or does it matter?  

 

The cards are Cap One, BofA, Chase, and Discover.  I have since opened a separate Cap One card never late, so I can try to point to that as far as a continuing positive relationship.  I have a mortgage and HELOC with BofA that also went 150 and 120 days late at the same time, but those accounts are also caught up and haven’t been late in two years, so I can try to point to that in terms of rebuilding a positive continuing relationship.  But with Chase and Discover, I don’t have anything continuing with them.  Once I pay them back completely, do they have any incentive to remove the lates through GW?  Of course, it’s not like I’m going to threaten to stop making payments if they don’t remove them, so I don’t know that it matters one way or the other, but thought I’d ask.   

 

I have also thought of trying a second round of GW letters for the mortgage and HELOC, but I am nowhere near paying those off so my question doesn’t specifically apply to them.  Plus, I’m wary of attempting GW with them again.  After my first GW letters, they reported in the comments section “Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA guidelines.”  I was finally able to get that comment removed on all reports for the HELOC, and EQ has removed it from the comments for the mortgage, but I can’t seem to get it removed from the comments on TU. 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

New Here… Lots of questions!

Dec 172010
 

Hi Everyone!  New here, and have been browsing the forums and bookmarking a ridiculous amount of awesome information.  Still trying to put it all together and make sense of it, but I guess that’s why I’m here!

I’ve decided that 2011 is going to be MY YEAR (dangit!) and I will have improved credit within 6 months, and even better credit by next Christmas. 

That being said, I have NO CLUE where to start, but would like to begin my preparation(s).

Anyone in the mood for a little hand-holding?  I feel like I don’t have a brain cell left thinking about all of this :(

 

I am one of those that screwed up my credit when I was younger (only 23 now) and got involved with some people that gave me crappy advice. Currently, my scores are somewhere in the low 500′s… of course, this is from freecreditreport.com, and from reading here those are FAKO scores.  Boo.  So I think my first step would be to pull my REAL reports and have current, correct info? I always believed that if I paid my debts, my score would go up… silly me for thinking it would be so easy! :)

I’ll try my best to keep this organized:

 

1) I have many medical bills on there for stupid small amounts.  How do I go about handling these? I can easily pay them off, but then how do I get them removed? I read all of this PFD, GW, HIPAA, etc… I don’t understand when you decide to send which one?  What if I’ve already paid a couple… any hope for those being removed?

 

2) Some collection accounts are “charge-offs” … can I pay these and get them removed? Also, some of them say “closed” even though there is still a balance owed?

 

3) Old accounts such as Verizon/Cox/Banks… do they work with PFDs/GWs?

 

4) I’m currently a student and took out a loan so I can go full time and stay home w/ my daughter.  Will these loans show on my credit when I start paying them down?  Will these make a difference, as long as they’re paid on time? 

 

5) If I’m offered a settlement, do I take it, or is it better to pay in full?  How do you handle these?  Do I not pay anything until I have something in writing that the debt will be removed?

 

6) I had a repo 2 1/2 years ago (stupid stupid stupid) … and have a notice from Honda/Collections that I owe 5000 something.  However, I also received a letter that there was some settlement and they sent me 1500?!  Does this mean I don’t owe the 5000??  Even if I do, they offered to settle on 3000 something.  Can I get a repo removed?! … Ok, just looked at my credit report I pulled from October, and the repo isn’t on there?!  Am I looking at the wrong thing?!

 

7) Do I tackle the old ones or new ones first? 

 

8) What’s this SOL and why does it matter so much? (I’m in CA)

 

9) Here’s the toughie:  My ex wrecked my car in May (Happy Mother’s Day to me!), and it was beyond repair.  I called the finance company and was told I needed to pay the past due balance, and they would take care of it.  Ok, no problem… paid it, and then received a letter 3 days later saying that I had to pay another 1000 bucks within 2 weeks or else they were going to auction it off and consider it a repo. (wtf!) So after much arguing, I gave up and requested that they send me all the statements and how much is left on the car (before auction).  They refused.  They refused to give me a receipt for my p/d payment as well (that was cash… I went in person).  So I refused to pay them any more money.  Also, on one of my credit reports it shows that the car went from 10.5K to 11.5K within the first month I had it, then it started coming down from that number (what is this all about?!??).  When I asked they said it was “late fees”… BS… 1K in late fees within a month?  Anyways, they still won’t give me any info on the car, auction, insurance, nada… What am I supposed to do?  Last time I checked, this wasn’t on my credit as a repo (yet).  I’m sure there’s something I’m missing but this is all I can think of for the moment.

 

10) There are a few positives on my credit… like a car that was paid and never late on payments back in 2005 or so, and some furniture I financed that is paid and closed.  I think the car the oldest thing on my credit history, and it’s decent.  Then things went downhill from there lol.

 

11) How can you tell if something was a “hard pull” or “soft pull” inquiry?  Are companies allowed to pull your credit report multiple times after you have an account with them? Should I be concerned with this?

 

That’s all for now… Thanks in advance for your help :)

 

J

 

Collections & AAoA

Apr 102010
 

This may be a dumb question but I’ll ask anyway.  Do collections accounts get factored into your AAoA?  Does it matter if they’re open or closed?

Does credit limit matter to rebuild?

Mar 232010
 

I am in the process of rebuilding my credit and I am going to get two secured cards to help raise my score.  Does the credit limit amount matter?  I know to use around 10-20% for carrying a balance to boost the score.  Does it matter if I make the limits $300 or $750?  If I only use 10% each month will it have the same affect on raising my score no matter the credit limit?

 

Thanks for all your input!

Student Loan Deduction

Jan 272010
 

Hello,

 

I had an old student loan turned over into collections, roughly for $9,000. The CA advised me they worked with Sallie Mae and offered me a settlement of $3,800, which I accepted and paid in full. I was previously paying $110.00 per month and the CA said they were still charging me 30% interest on the balance of my loan. My question is, Can I claim what I paid plus the interest on my upcoming tax return. Does it matter that this was turned over to a CA. I haven’t got a tax form from them, however I only settled about a month ago.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks,