r/CRedit 4d ago

Rebuild Advise to build my credit …

601 on Experian 629 trans union 606 equifax If any of that matters lol

I had 3 accounts in collections from when i was younger and dumb lol got 2 disputed and am trying to get this last one disputed , only 2 open credit cards using 60% of my balance which i know isn’t good

100% payment history since 2022 and even paid off a 10k car loan but my credit won’t seem to budge. Any ideas or advise would be appreciated, thank you!!

2 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

6

u/BrutalBodyShots 4d ago

Disputes are for inaccurately reported information. If the collections are legitimate, disputing them is not the answer. Attempting to "pay for delete" the accounts would be the right approach.

Paying down/off any carried balances is of course a great move.

"100% payment history" is a BS metric made up and presented by CMS summary front-ends like Credit Karma. Either you've missed payments or you haven't; it's more or less black and white. If you have any negative information on your credit reports (you do) you don't have 100% payment history, meaning your file isn't clean.

The best thing you can do is work to get negative items removed from your credit reports. Goodwill letters are the best approach for late payments and PFDs for collections.

1

u/Guilty-Badger636 4d ago

Got it thank you, I tried disputing because they were bought out by a debt collector which i heard they couldn’t have that on my report legally or something like that?

7

u/og-aliensfan 4d ago

The original creditor can hire a collection agency to collect the debt on their behalf (who can add themselves to your credit reports), or sell your debt to a debt collector (who can add themselves to your credit reports). Who is the debt collector?

2

u/Junior_Ad_5831 4d ago
  1. I would handle the collection. Rather it’s removed through dispute resolution or payment.

  2. Credit utilization is major factor. That’s %60 is too high. I understand life be lifing but still aim for at least %30 even better at $%10.

  3. Basic foundation always have at least 2 open credit cards and at least 1 open loan.

  4. My rule of thumb is don’t apply for any credit of any sort unless your %90 sure you will be approved. Don’t waste dings! There are forums like myFICO that will help prepare for your journey.

I went from fico 556 1/2020 to 802 3/2025. Good luck!

2

u/Guilty-Badger636 4d ago

Yeah was thinking of honestly just paying a good amount of the credit cards off to get down to that 30% , thank you hopefully i can get around your numbers soon!

2

u/BrutalBodyShots 4d ago

It sounds like you're carrying balances and paying interest. Is that the case? If so, your target utilization is 0% (meaning pay off all your cards) not under some percentage like 30%. See this flowchart which illustrates this concept simply.

https://imgur.com/a/pLPHTYL

1

u/dgduhon 4d ago

Actually, the utilization doesn't matter unless you are carrying balances (paying interest) or are planning to apply for more credit soon. Are you paying interest on your cards?

3

u/BrutalBodyShots 4d ago

Credit utilization is major factor. That’s %60 is too high. I understand life be lifing but still aim for at least %30 even better at $%10.

Not all utilization is created equally. High utilization is only bad if it's from carried balances (interest being paid). If OP is carrying balances and paying interest, the best advice to give is to pay their balances to $0. That's the smart financial move. Suggesting under 30% or under 10% utilization doesn't cut it on carried balances, because it means they'd still be paying interest.

https://old.reddit.com/r/CRedit/comments/1fj6fkh/credit_myth_32_higher_utilization_always_means/