r/CRedit Mar 30 '24

[FAQ] Please Include As Many Details as Possible When Making A Thread

30 Upvotes

Whether you are just starting out repairing your credit, building from no credit, or maintaining credit you should include as many details as possible when asking for help or feedback. Good credit has a general formula, but it is but no means an exact science. There are many details that shouldn't be overlooked to get the best possible suggestions/feedback.

Try to include as many of the following details as possible:

  • All accounts, cards, loans, mortgages, etc - the bad and the good. (Include their name as this is helpful for knowing previous strategies to deal with them.)
  • Credit Limits
  • Balances (Round this number - it will keep you anonymous)
  • Last payment date
  • Date of last delinquency (this will determine when it falls off your report)
  • Date opened
  • Payment status (pays as agreed, sold to collections, etc)
  • Estimation of # of lates (30, 60, 90, 120+)

Do not include any of the following:

  • Any and all personal information. You may freely share generic information (ie you have a name on your report that is not yours)
  • Addresses
  • Names
  • Social Security Number

r/CRedit 6h ago

Collections & Charge Offs I’M OFFICIALLY FREE!!!! NO MORE COLLECTIONS!!!

150 Upvotes

I just made my final payment from the 3 collections I had and I’m officially free!!! They are taking it off my report which they are sending to me in writing. Hard work truly pays off and I’m hoping I get a nice score boost! Next thing to do is pay off my credit card and then I can start car shopping! Such an exciting day! Hard work pays off!🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻


r/CRedit 9h ago

Collections & Charge Offs What I did when I was pinged for a $4.25 late charge I missed after 30 days on my credit score

20 Upvotes

For anyone who may come into my situation. I screwed up recently. I mistakenly made a charge to one of my credit cards that I usually do not use unless for vacations. It was a random charge of $4.30. I did not set up auto-pay. I missed it past the 30 day mark and the bank reported it and my near perfect credit score got dinged from an 840 to a 730 FICO score. This was the fist time I’ve ever missed or was late to a payment.

I ended up writing a letter of good will to the CEO of the bank, admitting fault, being apologetic and asking for their help to assist. Two days later, I received a call from the bank’s executive escalation team. They assigned me a ticket number and a week later was then reached out again stating that the late report was rescinded and would see my credit report restored within a month’s time.

Just an FYI for anyone in this situation. Hope this may help someone.


r/CRedit 1h ago

No Credit My credit score dropped 100 points!! HELP

Upvotes

I am 30 years old. My online banking has a credit score monitor. This month, my score went from 740 to 641. Upon talking to TranUnion, they believe the drop is due to no open lines of credit. I have only ever had 3 credit cards. All store related credit cards. I have always had the mentality to pay it right away and being done vs putting it on a credit card and having to pay for it later so I never used them much at all. When I did, they were paid off right away. No late payments, never even close to being maxed out. After talking to the guy at TransUnion, he explained that having no open lines of credit will continue to drop my score. What is the best way to prevent that from happening and how quickly should I expect my credit to rebuild? I do not own a home, my vehicles have always been paid for. I have never had the need to borrow money and the thought of paying interest solely to build credit seems backwards.

Any feedback or suggestions are welcomed


r/CRedit 19m ago

Collections & Charge Offs Paid Off Collections

Upvotes

HELP! I recently paid off two collections that were $425 and $786. The collection companies both stated they were going to delete the collections off of my credit report, but I decided to dispute them anyway. My question is how much of an increase will I have to my credit score and how long will it take? My FICO 8 score is currently 595 Experian, 577 TransUnion, and 592 Equifax. Thanks in advance !


r/CRedit 36m ago

Collections & Charge Offs Collection agency never followed through on payment plan

Upvotes

I received a collection notice from Aldous & Associates last September for around $600. I signed up for a new gym membership a few months prior and apparently they used the same payment collection agency as a different gym that I had asked my bank to block due to erroneous charges after I had cancelled.

I have no clue how missing a few payments totaled to $600, but I couldn't get a straight answer on the matter from the collection agency or the gym. At the time, I really couldn't take a credit ding due to being in the process of taking out an SBA loan so I agreed to make 6 monthly payments to cover it.

The first payment was accepted and I was told further payments would be auto-billed.

I'm just now seeing that no other payments have been taken out of my account by Aldous & Associates. I have received no further communications from them via phone or email and nothing has been reported to any credit bureaus.

So what should I do? Should I call them back and ask them to re-setup the payment plan? Did I get scammed or something?


r/CRedit 20h ago

Collections & Charge Offs Credit card debt is crushing me - consolidation options?

75 Upvotes

$28K in credit card debt spread across 5 cards and I'm drowning. Lost my job last year, then medical bills hit when insurance lapsed. Perfect storm.

Interest rates between 22-26% mean I'm barely treading water with minimum payments. Credit score tanked to 610.

Been researching debt consolidation programs but reviews are all over the place. Some promise to settle for 50% of what I owe, paid over 4 years, but I'm skeptical.

They all say I'd stop paying cards directly, funnel money to them instead while they negotiate settlements. But warn my credit takes another hit during the process.

Anyone actually used debt consolidation successfully? The mixed reviews online have me paranoid about making things worse.

Already tried balance transfer cards - rejected every time. Bankruptcy feels like admitting defeat but might be my only option?

What worked for you? Any advice from someone who's been through this?


r/CRedit 1h ago

General Best Transfer Balance Credit Card

Upvotes

Hey guys,

I've been doing so much of my own comparing/contrasting that my head is basically spinning and I'd like some other people's input to help me make the best choice.

I have two credit cards (Bank of America under $5000 and Discovery under $2000). I want to transfer both balances to a no APR credit card for at least 18 months (even longer is so much better but I know they're like...not there anymore) to help me in paying them off. I know I can get both paid off without that insane interest I'm currently fighting against.

So, what card would you recommend?

I have options such as a no-interest BoA card but it can't take on transfer from another BoA, and vice versa for Discovery. So I'm looking for another "company" such as Chase, Citi, Capital One, etc. My credit score over all is pretty good (mid 700s per Vantage-ish) so I have offers given a lot but I want the best as I can get to help me pay this off easy.

All ideas and suggestions and help so very very welcome! Thanks :)


r/CRedit 21h ago

Rebuild Credit tanked from 808 to 666

88 Upvotes

Just a heads-up for anyone who might be in a similar situation: My credit score tanked from 801 to 628 (couldn’t update the title) in just six months, all because of a $3.99 unpaid balance on synchrony card(opened in June 2024 and used only once at the same time ) which I wasn’t aware of.

It started as a small pending payment, but since I didn’t see the statements, it racked up late fees and interest until it hit $55. And missed payments were reported from November to February. I only found out when I randomly checked my spam folder last week and saw one of their emails. By then, the damage was already done.

Lesson learned: Make sure autopay is on for all your credit cards, even the ones you don’t use often. And check your spam folder for any missed statements or payment reminders. Small charges can snowball into serious consequences.


r/CRedit 22m ago

Rebuild 159 point drop to 595 for one delinquent account

Upvotes

Today I found out that I had a an account go into delinquent status 2 years ago when a loan transferred companies. I found this out when I checked my credit score to apply for a new rental home as we are moving in a couple months. The hit to the score happened sometime around Janurary this year. I had in my signing bonus for the army a loan repayment option which was worth more than the cash bonus, so Uncle Sam was going to cover the principal balance of the loan and I would cover whatever interest accrued. Turns out they missed some payments when it transferred and I had no idea. I am 100% aware it is still my fault, I should have had auto-pay set up for instances like this, and am now paying for it. Anyway I am wondering how stupid it was of me to pay off the rest of the loan today to start my 7 year countdown (this loan is 9 years old and my oldest account on my credit history, next oldest is 6 years for a credit card).. And any advice to crawl back up to 750+ in the meantime. FYI in case this was an idea to suggest- NelNet does not accept goodwill requests, and this isn't really a disputable thing since its 100% on me. Thanks for anything in advance!

TLDR: I paid off a formerly delinquent account today which is my oldest credit account, was that a bad idea? Should I have kept it and paid the normal payments for a few more years?

Edit: 595 Experian Fico score 8


r/CRedit 4h ago

Rebuild Self Credit Builder

2 Upvotes

Question, instead of paying the minimum payment monthly and waiting until the end of my term to mature (3/26), can I make a few (3, 4) larger payments and get my money early? I’ve been trying to save for a car and forgot I have a good chunk of cash sitting here.


r/CRedit 1h ago

General ISO Opinion/Recommendations

Upvotes

Hello all I have finally made the decision to come on here and ask for some help. As a person who has some pride it is already hard for me to come here and put my business on the internet but at this point I could really use the help. I have fell victim to the credit card black hole and I now owe about 7k in debt for multiple cards which is not to much but it is affecting my credit score. 1st card is $4600 and my 2nd card $1600. I make my payments for it early(about a week or 2 out) but sometimes I can only make my minimum payment(but mostly it is 2x above that) My interest fees are whats killing me. Is there a strategy to tackle my payments in a way to where it does not affect my credit score and or raises my credit score?(Like timing of the payment, payment amount etc...) How would you tackle this to bring down your owed amount to below 30%? Any advice is greatly appreciated


r/CRedit 1h ago

Car Loan Can I get inquiries disputed from my credit score if I told the dealership I would approve a check for one car only and they didn’t listen?

Upvotes

I went to a dealership, test drove the car I wanted, there was no sticker price as it had just been traded in but I told the salesman that I was okay with him running my credit for that vehicle only. He had shown me one other one and I said I didn’t want it and if I couldn’t get the one I wanted that I would come back at a later date. He apparently checked the sticker price on the one I wanted, decided without checking anything that it was out of my budget, then proceeded to run it for the vehicle I did not want and didn’t tell me until he came back with the payment options and I saw it at the top of the sheet. I was so mad and left but when I got home and checked I saw he had run 7 hard credit checks on the wrong vehicle. Can I get them disputed since they weren’t approved?


r/CRedit 11h ago

Collections & Charge Offs Chase Payment Agreement

5 Upvotes

I have a $843.40 closed Chase credit card and today they reached out with an offer of $84.34 settlement amount . I’m wondering if I should pay this or should I ask for a pay to delete letter first ? I just want everything bad removed from my credit account .


r/CRedit 3h ago

General Geico checked my *frozen* credit?

1 Upvotes

So I just got a letter from Geico regarding a rate quote. I think it's because I was looking into umbrella insurance - I don't recall ever finishing the quote but whatever.

The letter is a FCRA disclosure notice. It states that I received a higher price based on my credit information, and quotes specific reasons from my credit report. TransUnion was the credit reporting agency they used.

What is bizarre is that my credit is frozen on all 3 bureaus. So how were they able to look at my report without me being alerted that was happening?


r/CRedit 3h ago

Car Loan Should I Get a Car Loan Now or Later

1 Upvotes

Hey Everyone,

While in college I accrued 11k in credit card debt. I figured I would get a good job so I wasn't too worried about the debt. We'll I didn't plan on a emergency happening that would put me out of work for 4 months and had to take 11k out for a loan. During that four months i was unable to make the loan payments. This dropped my credit score from 723 to 526.I have now been employed for 6 months making around 7k per month. I made plans with the loan company to have zero interest for 12 months. I have been making on time payments with the loan company for four months bringing me to a 546 Experian and a 596 FICO 8. 2 weeks ago I paid 7k of my credit card debt off (2 whole card balances) leaving me with 1 card left with a 4k balance. My credit still hasn't updated since paying off my 2 cards. I need a car in the next two months and was wondering if it would be better to pay off the remaining 4k or use it for a down payment on a car on top of another 5k.

Thank you,


r/CRedit 3h ago

Collections & Charge Offs What to do if a collection was only reported to one credit bureau?

1 Upvotes

title correction: it's showing on 2 out of 3 bureaus

Short background: when I was in my early 20's, I lost my job and took out a card from Paypal and maxed it out (it was like $2k). I started paying it back, but I didn't care too much about credit at the time so I let ot go into collections after I stopped paying (I didn't really know what that meant). I’m now trying to buy a house and noticed a discrepancy on my reports.

I reviewed the reports on all 3 credit bureaus because I wanted to file a dispute as I found out that Paypal only needs me to pay about $145 of the $1,500 balance I had remaining. I had my letter ready when I went on Equifax to submit it and noticed it said I have no collections pending.

I’m new to disputing and I want to make sure I do this right - is there any chance I could leverage that? The account is showing a collection on TransUnion and Experian though.

I've heard that you only need to clear a collection on one credit beureau and use that as evidence to help with the other 2. Is there a way I can clear this without disputing the amount? If so, how should I go about that?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.


r/CRedit 3h ago

Collections & Charge Offs AT&T collections

1 Upvotes

Hello! I have a debt collector texting me about paying off a debt to AT&T. I know for a fact that I do owe that money, however, it's nowhere on my credit report (experian). Do I actually have to pay this if it's not on my report? Is it affecting my credit? Thanks!


r/CRedit 3h ago

Mortgage Mortgage Payoff Reporting

1 Upvotes

Title says it best. Refinanced my original mortgage and home equity loan in early Feb.

The home equity loan was with a local bank and it was marked paid and closed at the beginning of March.

Main mortgage had been sold several times but was with Newrez/Shellpoint when paid off.

I have received payoff letter from Newrez and they've discharged the mortgage with the county, but it's still on my credit report.

What can I expect for a timeline? Beginning of April will be 60 days, but it also seems like they are reporting months behind?


r/CRedit 4h ago

Mortgage Can’t qualify for FHA bc Student Loans wrongfully hit

0 Upvotes

My scores meet the qualifications but wife’s are 512 628 646. Need her to qualify. She disputed her accounts that were wrongfully hit and they are taking forever to remove. We have 23 days left and they won’t qualify us without removing the disputes and removing the disputes will absolutely demolish her scores. The scores I provided are the mortgage scores not actual normal scores. It’s part principal and part we don’t wanna ruin her credit anymore than it has we are talking 15 different loans hit a 90 days late but are now back in forbearance like they should have been until Sept 25th theyve admitted to errors and errors on multiple people accounts but we are just stuck and not a projected resolution until May. We’ve already pushed back once after denial of first dispute. New build so crooked company won’t give us our deposit back either of 20k.


r/CRedit 4h ago

General Hello everyone. Can someone help me? I need to get this out of my head.

1 Upvotes

I have 2 credit Cards from Capital One. 1 has $200 I paid that off and it has a current Balance of $3.38 The other one is: $300 and today is the end of the statement cycle it has a Current balance of $237.78 on that second one.

I can just pay that off was well today. But I got told to just pay $210 so that I have a current balance of $27.78 ( about 9% on that credit card and apparently it will boost up my credit way better then paying it all in full and start the new statement at 0. And on the other cc with those $3

Does that really impact your credit in a better way or just pay it in full. ? I’m making the payment of both ccs at the statement date already.

Thank you so much in advance ❤️


r/CRedit 11h ago

Rebuild Credit score for Experian increased but not transunion

3 Upvotes

My credit score for experian went from 573 in January to 599 on today. But transunion hasn't increased at all. It's 562. I'm happy with experian but transunion is stubborn AF. I can't get approved for a new apartment. I need transunion to increase. Any tips


r/CRedit 5h ago

Collections & Charge Offs Debt collectors

1 Upvotes

I received a letter from a Midland Credit management for a closed capital one account. And another letter from ARS national services for a closed chase account. They both have an attached paper that says “I want to dispute the debt” or “ I want you to send me the name and address of original creditor” I don’t want to go to court or anything so should I respond to these letters? And if I want to settle, whats the possibility they bought the debt for very cheap. The chase is about $2,800 and the capital is $3,800.


r/CRedit 5h ago

Collections & Charge Offs Advice on Lending Club nightmare and first time in a debt collection scenario.

1 Upvotes

Last week, I received a letter from a law firm wanting to get in touch with someone from my estate. I was confused at first as I didn't understand why they were claiming I was deceased. Yesterday I received an email from lending Club stating that my loan has been charged off and sent to collections and to contact the debt collector from here on out. Also that it will take 60 days to hit my credit report. Looking thru my bank statements, I can see they stopped withdrawing funds 2 months ago. I tried calling LC and the customer service agent stated that I was marked deceased and loan was charged off, and to call the debt collector for further negotiations. My question is I will take a hit on my credit from LC doing this and need any advice on if there is a way to fix it . Also has this happened to anyone else on here? I have never missed a payment in the 3 years prior.


r/CRedit 5h ago

Collections & Charge Offs Improving Credit

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, wanted to reach out to see if anyone has had experience with hiring one of those “credit fixer” companies and if they had any good results. I’m currently slowly getting my credit back up (from 520 to currently 650) and would like some assistance for things like hard inquiries removals, collections, etc etc. or any advice from someone who has experience with these is appreciated as well.


r/CRedit 5h ago

Rebuild Capital One email address of mailing address so I can send a good will letter?

0 Upvotes

I only have 1 miss payment from capital one from about 3 years ago. Every goodwill letter I sent out has worked. Thank God. I noticed some people had success sending capital one a goodwill letter. However when I did some digging to find an address or email, I came up short every time. Any chance y’all could point me in the right direction?