Rebuilding after a foreclosure….

Mar 182010
 

This is my first post so please excuse me, if I break any protocols.

 

My background:  Quite honestly, I’ve never been very smart when it came to credit (turns out I am bi-polar which greatly decreases impulse control).  I have always carried high DTI on my CCs, and have never gotten A+ APRs on any loan or CC.  In 2/06 my DW and I bought our first house, and I immediately started screwing it up.  My first late payment came in 5/06, then I did OK until I was out of work with no short term disability available.  That was the beginning of them end.  We fought for the next year to keep the house before finally having it FC.  Along with heFC, we had a 2nd mortgage, 4 CCs that were late, and a truck and boat payment.  Once the FC was final, we rented a house, where we have been for the past 20 months.  We were still fighting with paying the CC’s and loans but were still delinquent more often than not.  After I lost my job AGAIN, we were able to get started on CCCS in 1/09, and the bank renegotiated our loans in 7/09. In early ’09 our TU FICO was 589.  I went to look at a car this month, and when the dealer pulled my CBR, my score was 616 (not sure which CRA).

 

Now for my question:  When the house was FC on, I told 2nd Mortgage Co. GMAC, and stopped paying on it.  I haven’t heard a peep from them since.  Last month I get a call from a CA that apparently bought the defaulted mortgage, saying they want to pick up where Ieft off($585/mo).  I told them i am not working, and am only collecting disability.  About 5 minutes later they were offering to let me pay $25/mo for basically the rest of my life. 

 

Now the DOFD is 5/2006, and my report estimates that it will fall off 5/2013.  Will there be any thing else derogatory added to my report or negatively affect my FICO if I don’t pay it vs.. paying on it for the next 60 years?  My goal is to have my FICO in the mid to upper 600′s so I can buy a house in another year or so, and in the next 2 years buy a new vehicle without having to pay sub-prime rates.  Is that possibility given my history, or should I maybe wait 5 years, instead of three to increase my score?  Thanks!!