matman1490

NEVER make a payment to a collection agency... the debt they are trying to collect on is an old debt they BOUGHT from someone. Any money you pay them goes into THEIR pockets and not back to the original creditor.

Collection agencies exist to make money for themselves, not to help poor misguided consumers realize the error of their ways.

If you are getting collections notices from the original creditor, by all means pay them what you can, but, make contact with them, and ask if they will remove, or update your file to 'PAID AS AGREED' once the balance is paid n full. If they agree, then ask them to put it in writing, and keep it handy.

Make your payments, then after all is said and done, send copies of everything to the credit bureaus, and demand the line item be removed.

If you can't work something out with the creditor, or the account has already gone to a 3rd party collector, than its game over.. you could pay the debt, but, nothing you do will improve your credit score, and no one will have any incentive to make changes to your score.

At that point, you're better off just considering the matter closed, and letting the line age off your file in 7 years.

with a $300 limit and high fees, i would suggest pay it off every month, at least in the begining to get started. It would get you into the habit of making a fukk payment, and leave the card open for use, which helps credit utilization scores.

plus if you get used to making a payment of 100 or so bucks a month now, it wont seem hard to do when you have a $5000 card carrying a balance a few years from now, your budgetwill already be established.

one last point, the fee structures on a $300 card are rediculous. think about what could happen.. you have a $100 in card on the card the same time you get a little behind, then the fees suddenly tack on, and boom there $79 bucks, on a card with a low ceiling of $300. that only gives you a hundred bucks or so headroom to get through the next month, until you make the next payment, and if something else happens, suddenly you are over limit and in real trouble...

pay it in full every month while you get re established... then after you get past a couple limit increases, you can start making smaller payments.. after you have some breathing room on the card.

it depends on the item, and what was done to it.. your reports are UPDATED every 30 days usually, but, that doesnt always mean lines were REMOVED.

typically, POSITIVE lines stay on as long as the account is open and active, until 10 years past the date the account was last active.

NEGATIVE lines on the other hand, can stay on your reports for a full SEVEN YEARS from the date of first delinquency, for stuff like late credit card payments, or-

TEN YEARS for stuff like public records like judgements or bankruptcies. or-

INDEFINITELY for things like tax liens, and some judgements. It depends on what exactly it is, and what state you live in, as to exactly how long it will stay.

Things like student loans USED TO BE removed after bankruptcy, but, the laws changed in the early 90's to stop that. Consult a local attorney for specifics.. My student loans were removed, after we found out they were part of a BK filed in 1995. You may or may not get lucky. again, check with an attorney.

time.

you took out new credit, which decreased the amount of overall available credit the banks feel you can qualify for.

keep the balances on credit lines going down, and overall credit useage to less than 45% of available open credit, and keep making the payments on time, every time, and just give it time to age, and your scores should improve.

save what you can over a couple of months and buy a beater car that you can afford for cash, and drive that while you pay donw your balances... make every payment on time, and keep paying yourself something, every month into savings, for a 'rainy day' fund.

Realize that fresh out of school EVERYONE is broke, and saddled with student loans, you are not alone, so don't sweat the fact, you are driving a used car.

Even James Bond, or Bill Gates started somewhere. so forget what it looks like, you need transportation at this point not a chick magnet.

Put your time in at work, pay the bills down, and save something every month... 50 bucks? 100? 250? whatever it is, then stick to it, and put the same amount aside every month with out exception... consider it a 'new car downpayment' payment, and pay it every month just like you pay any other bill.

after the first 12-18 months in the beater mobile, then take the car, ( it's in decent shape, because you bought it right, and take care of your cars, right??) Take the car, the downpayment fund cash, and your improved credit score down to the car lot that has the best end of model year deals, and apply for a new car loan.. If you buy it right, you should be in line for some end of model year dealer incentives, on top of everything else you bring to the table..

make sure your debt to income ratios are reasonable, and you should have no problem gettng a new car by year 3.

good luck.

when you have a 590, the best credit card to have is one, anyone will give you... typically, you need a 620 score with a decent income, before anyone will even look at you.

do a merged credit pull from all 3 bureaus, with the scores, and see exactly what else is on your report, that might be causing the 590, resolve that, and keep making the payments on time. untill then you need to keep your blalances down to less than 45% of your available credit, and just give it time.

good luck,

if you have a 590 score, there is a real reason for it. you have a public line, like a judgement, you missed a few payments, you defaulted on something... something is bringing you down bigtime.

get a merged credit report from all 3 bureaus with the scores, and see exactly what is on your file, then go from there... there has to be some reason for the 590, which is not a good score. anything below 620 is 'poor'.

keep paying the bills on time every time, and follow established methods to dispute any errors you find, then pull another scored report..

good luck.

if the bill hasnt gone to collections then no... it would have nothing to do with your score...

If you have already gone to collections then yes, it has a real negative effect immediately.. -50 -100 points easily..

did you pay the cards off directly or make payments to a collector or debt collection agency?

If you paid the card off directly, then give it time for the file to update, it could take 90 days... if you made payments to a collection agency, then there's no telling when if ever it would show.

if you are getting denials, then you are only hurting youself by banging your head against the wall.. NO means NO..

take the capital one card, and spend the next 6 months using it to buy gas for the car, and pay it off every month.. at the end of the 6 months they should hit you with an automatic line increase, take it and keep your balances below 45% of your available line at ALL TIMES. DO NOT go over for any reason, not even for a second.

Make every payment early or on time, never even a day after the due date. keep that up for the months 6-12, and you should see a big increase in your scores, and at least 1 or 2 new card offers in the mail.

Have patience, and stop begging. the 'good' cards will find you in time.

refi the house first get past that and then work on the car...

car shopping and getting several pulls makes you look desperate...

on the other hand, if you are shopping for a mortgage, and they do more than one pull in a short period of time, it is assumed to be all the same transaction and the multiple pulls dont hurt you.

do the house first, then the car.

time heals all wounds... nothing happens 'fast'..

how old is the debt?

less than 2 yrs, I would start working with creditors to see if any of them would take payments, contingient on removing or updating my status to 'pays as agreed'.. anything else wont help you. If they refuse, then do nothing, and let it age off your file in 7 years.

If you have credit items older than 5 years, I would leave them be and let them age off.. if you contact them now after several years, you risk resetting the clock on the debt, and even after paying it off you would still have a negative mark on your credit file.

nothing happens overnight, everything takes time.

lower your balances

pull your credit from all 3 bureaus and work to remove lines that are over 7 years old, out of date, or just worng.

Start with that, wait six months and do another credit pull.

FWIW it took me five years but i managed to go from having no score to 710. It can be done, its just not gonna happen overnight.

a business plan that screams security and profitabilty.

a personal credit history, that includes a decent score, and a high income to expense ratio.

established business credit with a decent score.

a rich uncle.

a very large down payment (>30%) and a loan secured by real estate and business assets.

a solid background in restaurant management, and stable employment history.

your score only changes in response to some change on your report.. when some line ages off after 7 years, the score changes... when you apply for a new card, and the bank does a credit pull the score changes...

to expect the score to change when nothing else has, is just not how it's done.

Charge offs stay on your report for 7 years from the first date of delinquency.. If you were late 30 days on your XXX credit card june, july 2001, paid on time, August, and then missed september 2001, this charge off would start the clock based on your june 2001 payment, so it would stay on your credit reports untill june 2008.

Realize that anytime that debt is sold to a collector, they will try to collect from you, and report this to he credit bureaus as a 'new' debt. If they manage to make contact with you, that WILL reset the clock and the 7 year period starts all over...

Federal tax leins, judgements, and court orders can take 7 or 10 years or even longer to fall off dependingon your circumstances.

tried applying for this card, with all 3 scores at or above 710 and was REJECTED! and $12K in savings and checking accts. too bad citi.. You blew it wwhen you denied, me, i'll never make that mistake again.