To be honest, I would focus less on your credit score and more on yourself. You’ve made a huge W in getting a new job and getting your own place.
Once you’ve repaid your debt you should be able to get a secured card from Capital One, Bank of America, etc and use it responsibly.
It’ll take time for your score to go up but as time goes it will.
Edit - Also, make sure to tuck away money in an emergency fund. Having that will make life much easier.
Just start with the smallest one and try to settle it. Then move on to the next. One payment at a time, one account at a time. Your credit score is ever changing and as you make the efforts, it will slowly improve. It won’t take as long as you think. I was in the 570s a few months ago and am now up to 630s. It took some effort, negotiation, and disputes, and there is still work to do, but you can do it. Good luck to you.
Bad credit is limiting yes, but you can still live a normal life. Like most people are saying, you don’t even need to pay attention to your credit right now. Focus on yourself, your life, save money. Once you’re on solid footing revisit your credit and negotiate where you can and just be patient and let time do the rest
Having good credit isnt life or death. You can survive without using credit whatsoever, many people do.
Let everything go to collections and focus on getting a steady income stream and get your housing and food sorted out. 7 years will fly by anyway and it will likely take you that long to get secure anyway.
Kikoff will help you. Emergency fund is big. Stay away from secured cards. You need reporting, not access to credit.
A kikoff credit builder loan will help your score climb.
I’m sorry you had to go through all that, I’m scared to death of becoming homeless in this economy. Looks like lots of good advice here, I wish you the best.
It’s not hopeless, it just takes time and diligence to stay on the right path. As others have said, an emergency fund is crucial just in case. It will give you some cash on hand if an unexpected expense comes up or it could be the cushion you need to make the minimum payment on a cc if things get tight. Obviously, that’s not ideal but it’s better to make the minimum payment and maintain your credit repair journey than to miss a payment. You’ll see progress if you stay the course.
Man, if you made it through homelessness you’re already winning. If you have health on your side, time will help. Remember, it is what it is. Move forward.
Back in 2020 my credit was 530’s. Bad decisions and three charged off cards. I slowly started paying off debts once I landed a job in 2021 and have been focused on those cc debts and anything else in collections. My credit score is now 722 with my first credit card opened up. I’m working on opening up my second credit card right now. It takes time but you can do it! Remember to not beat yourself up about it. We all make mistakes, but we learn from them and can apply them to helping us with future decisions. See what payment plans you can have with debts (make sure it’s reasonable). Start from there, goodluck!
That’s how we did it too. I don’t take his advice on everything (I don’t think the average person can get by easily without a credit score as he recommends), but for getting out of debt, I found no better way.
You dont need credit in your situation. Pay off the debt, then worry about your credit score. Youre not buying a house for a looonnnnnggggg time and you really need to do whatever you can to avoid needing financing for a car
Not to downplay the importance of credit score, but as I’ve seen elsewhere I think your primary focus right now has to be on the fact you’ve pulled yourself from some extreme depths and are back on the right path.
Definitely focus on getting that stabilized and having at least a small emergency fund before paying things off. Once that’s in place then negotiate.
I used secured cards and I still have 4 cc in collections, I'm paying off one and paid another off. My score is 640 and I have about 6000 CL between the cards I have. I even got a card for care credit when my dog was sick and I still have an account in collections of theirs. Secure cards and sometimes you can use bills and rent to boost the score on Experian
There’re many secure credit cards that will approve you. Not the typical predatory ones but the credit builder ones. They work the same when it comes to credit building.
As someone who had to repeatedly start all over, once you start paying off accounts, especially the ones that went into collections.. you’ll start getting pre-qualified letters and being able to get approved for cards again. I would concentrate on building a decent savings and charge offs before they go into collections, then collections but try to do a pay for delete. After that, all you need is a low limit card and time before your score goes back up.
Banks are always looking to give out loans. That’s how they make money. Once you start making progress on the loans you have, call the creditor and settle for a lump sum, offer 50% and a payment plan and settle. They will come off your credit report within a month of completed payment plan. You’ll get new cards in no time.
If you haven't negotiated a payment plan yet, when you do go to do one, include that you want the reports be removed from you're credit when they're paid in full. Remember, this is a negotiation. You can ask for whatever. Doesn't mean they will, but they have the ability to remove them, it's their reports. Doesn't hurt to ask and if they agree, then it can give you something to look forward to so you can feel less hopeless.
You have the most leverage in these negotiations BEFORE you start paying the debt back. Keep in mind that if this is debt sold to a debt collector, they bought it pennies on the dollar. Even if you agreed to only pay back half of it, they'd be making profit, so you have some wiggle room to get some things you want while they get the profits they want. They can't lie to the credit bureau for you, so don't ask for something like for them to report to the bureaus that you always made your payments on time when you didn't. But they can NOT say stuff to the bureaus, like NOT tell them you had this debt.
Also, stay away from credit "repair" agencies. I see them lurking in your comments. They're all scams. Seeing the one in your comment section made me make a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/xv24Q5xrWe) on how they're scams. If you're every considering using their services, I suggest you read my post first.
Anyone passing by, do not listen to these credit repair companies. They're all scams.
If reports are legit, there isn't a way to dispute. Not a single way. Any company that pitches otherwise is scamming you. Their plan is to lie in your name for you (aka break the law) to the credit bureaus to try and get things charged off. Now, could a charge be on your report longer than it should or could a report be wrong? Yes, but 999 times out of 1000, that isn't the case, and it doesn't sound like the case here either.
The method of these scam artists is trying to leave you room to lie to them about the reports (the lie being that the charges aren't legit, even though they are) so that they can sign a disclosure that to the best of their knowledge, everything they say is true, and they have you sign a disclosure that basically means any legality issues fall back onto you (Up to 3 years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000 for first offense). Then they dispute and hope these bigger companies don't have the time of day to counter, which results in an auto victory for you. Or rather, I should say YOU hope for that. They don't care because theyve already gotten your money
I'm assuming all this is what this company meant by "if disputed correctly"
First off talk what you know, not all credit repair companies are scams, there are some legit companies out there that do good work, maybe you got scammed by a company that’s not reputable. Second don’t generalize because our company has helped a whole lot of people, last time I checked scammers don’t help people, we have plenty reviews and we work close with a lot of mortgage loan officers to help clients get into homes. We actually love what we do as far as helping people. Third speak on what you know and have experience with as the things I speak on are from actual experience and success with proof. Your negative thinking is the main thing that discourages a lot of people from finding solutions. Just say you don’t know what you’re doing or talking about before down talking and speaking on what you don’t know. We have intensely studied FCRA, FDCPA, and TILA and have executed successful disputes, arbitration, demand letters and legal complaints on behalf of clients to get them results. The fact is that you can dispute actual charge off accounts that you created, the thing is you have to look for inaccuracies and incompleteness in the reporting, also if you call the company and conduct an audit requesting specific information that may not be reporting accurately you can get accounts removed. Also by checking your contract and finding out if the company has abided by all terms you can spot violations that will void the overall contract and release you from liability of the account. There are multiple ways to get accounts removed from your report, most people just don’t know how. Just say you’re one of them.
I am talking what I know, and I know any credit "repair" company saying "you can DEFINITELY get those charge offs removed if disputed *correctly*" is peddling a scam. How do you know "DEFINITELY" they can be removed if you don't even know how they got on there? What do you mean by if reported "correctly" if they are legitimate? You're selling a product, basically guaranteeing it'll work for a situation, a situation that you don't even know about. That's a scam. If it talks like a duck and walks like a duck.
Can some be legit? Sure, but there isn't enough LEGIT errors on credit reports in the entire world to give enough "repair" work needed to keep in business all these credit repair agencies that there are. It's simple math. If there's enough work for 10 companies to be in business yet somehow there are 1000 companies in business and profiting, that means there's enough people being scammed to support 990 companies, because where is all the other "work" coming from? It doesn't exist but people are still being charged for it.
Also for you
>Plenty of ways to get reports removed, most just don't know how
I highly recommend EVERYONE to call a credit bureau and ask them if there is any way to get a report removed if it is legitimate, if it is your debt and it is under x years old that's allowed by law. You will, without a doubt, be told no and that the only way to get a report removed is if it's illegitimate.
Edit: also btw they blocked me after this comment so I can no longer talk in this thread or see their scams.
Edit 2: so I decided to make an [entire post](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/xv24Q5xrWe) about this lol
>last time I checked scammers don’t help people,
They make people believe they can help. Then help them out of their hard earned money
>Third speak on what you know and have experience with as the things I speak on are from actual experience and success with proof.
Do you believe you are the only person here with experience in these things? Give me a break.
>Just say you don’t know what you’re doing or talking about before down talking and speaking on what you don’t know.
You should take your own advice.
>We have intensely studied FCRA, FDCPA, and TILA and have executed successful disputes, arbitration, demand letters and legal complaints on behalf of clients to get them results. The fact is that you can dispute actual charge off accounts that you created, the thing is you have to look for inaccuracies and incompleteness in the reporting, also if you call the company and conduct an audit requesting specific information that may not be reporting accurately you can get accounts removed. Also by checking your contract and finding out if the company has abided by all terms you can spot violations that will void the overall contract and release you from liability of the account. There are multiple ways to get accounts removed from your report, most people just don’t know how.
Since you told OP these can be removed, what inaccuracy did you see in their post? Just curious since you seem to have spotted something. Also, you do realize that, if there is an inaccuracy, the creditor still isn't required to remove the charge-off. They are required to correct it. To say these can be removed is a blatant attempt to to take someone's money.
To be honest, I would focus less on your credit score and more on yourself. You’ve made a huge W in getting a new job and getting your own place. Once you’ve repaid your debt you should be able to get a secured card from Capital One, Bank of America, etc and use it responsibly. It’ll take time for your score to go up but as time goes it will. Edit - Also, make sure to tuck away money in an emergency fund. Having that will make life much easier.
Credit score goes up faster than you expect once you are settled and able to pay the bills. Definitely focus on life situation first
That’s the truth. 👍
Good advice here. 👍
I would really focus more on building a small emergency fund first before anything else. Say, 1000 bucks.
1. Focus on saving 6 months emergency fund 2. Afterwards, focus on paying the smallest debt to the largest. 3. Get a secured CC
Just start with the smallest one and try to settle it. Then move on to the next. One payment at a time, one account at a time. Your credit score is ever changing and as you make the efforts, it will slowly improve. It won’t take as long as you think. I was in the 570s a few months ago and am now up to 630s. It took some effort, negotiation, and disputes, and there is still work to do, but you can do it. Good luck to you.
You're not hopeless, you've taken the first step and you have a great foundation to turn it around. You got this.
Bad credit is limiting yes, but you can still live a normal life. Like most people are saying, you don’t even need to pay attention to your credit right now. Focus on yourself, your life, save money. Once you’re on solid footing revisit your credit and negotiate where you can and just be patient and let time do the rest
Having good credit isnt life or death. You can survive without using credit whatsoever, many people do. Let everything go to collections and focus on getting a steady income stream and get your housing and food sorted out. 7 years will fly by anyway and it will likely take you that long to get secure anyway.
Kikoff will help you. Emergency fund is big. Stay away from secured cards. You need reporting, not access to credit. A kikoff credit builder loan will help your score climb.
I’m sorry you had to go through all that, I’m scared to death of becoming homeless in this economy. Looks like lots of good advice here, I wish you the best.
It’s not hopeless, it just takes time and diligence to stay on the right path. As others have said, an emergency fund is crucial just in case. It will give you some cash on hand if an unexpected expense comes up or it could be the cushion you need to make the minimum payment on a cc if things get tight. Obviously, that’s not ideal but it’s better to make the minimum payment and maintain your credit repair journey than to miss a payment. You’ll see progress if you stay the course.
Man, if you made it through homelessness you’re already winning. If you have health on your side, time will help. Remember, it is what it is. Move forward.
Back in 2020 my credit was 530’s. Bad decisions and three charged off cards. I slowly started paying off debts once I landed a job in 2021 and have been focused on those cc debts and anything else in collections. My credit score is now 722 with my first credit card opened up. I’m working on opening up my second credit card right now. It takes time but you can do it! Remember to not beat yourself up about it. We all make mistakes, but we learn from them and can apply them to helping us with future decisions. See what payment plans you can have with debts (make sure it’s reasonable). Start from there, goodluck!
Look up, Dave Ramseys' snowball effect. It'll tell ya how to get out of debt as quickly as you possibly can.
That’s how we did it too. I don’t take his advice on everything (I don’t think the average person can get by easily without a credit score as he recommends), but for getting out of debt, I found no better way.
You dont need credit in your situation. Pay off the debt, then worry about your credit score. Youre not buying a house for a looonnnnnggggg time and you really need to do whatever you can to avoid needing financing for a car
Not to downplay the importance of credit score, but as I’ve seen elsewhere I think your primary focus right now has to be on the fact you’ve pulled yourself from some extreme depths and are back on the right path. Definitely focus on getting that stabilized and having at least a small emergency fund before paying things off. Once that’s in place then negotiate.
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I used secured cards and I still have 4 cc in collections, I'm paying off one and paid another off. My score is 640 and I have about 6000 CL between the cards I have. I even got a card for care credit when my dog was sick and I still have an account in collections of theirs. Secure cards and sometimes you can use bills and rent to boost the score on Experian
There’re many secure credit cards that will approve you. Not the typical predatory ones but the credit builder ones. They work the same when it comes to credit building.
As someone who had to repeatedly start all over, once you start paying off accounts, especially the ones that went into collections.. you’ll start getting pre-qualified letters and being able to get approved for cards again. I would concentrate on building a decent savings and charge offs before they go into collections, then collections but try to do a pay for delete. After that, all you need is a low limit card and time before your score goes back up.
Banks are always looking to give out loans. That’s how they make money. Once you start making progress on the loans you have, call the creditor and settle for a lump sum, offer 50% and a payment plan and settle. They will come off your credit report within a month of completed payment plan. You’ll get new cards in no time.
If you haven't negotiated a payment plan yet, when you do go to do one, include that you want the reports be removed from you're credit when they're paid in full. Remember, this is a negotiation. You can ask for whatever. Doesn't mean they will, but they have the ability to remove them, it's their reports. Doesn't hurt to ask and if they agree, then it can give you something to look forward to so you can feel less hopeless. You have the most leverage in these negotiations BEFORE you start paying the debt back. Keep in mind that if this is debt sold to a debt collector, they bought it pennies on the dollar. Even if you agreed to only pay back half of it, they'd be making profit, so you have some wiggle room to get some things you want while they get the profits they want. They can't lie to the credit bureau for you, so don't ask for something like for them to report to the bureaus that you always made your payments on time when you didn't. But they can NOT say stuff to the bureaus, like NOT tell them you had this debt. Also, stay away from credit "repair" agencies. I see them lurking in your comments. They're all scams. Seeing the one in your comment section made me make a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/xv24Q5xrWe) on how they're scams. If you're every considering using their services, I suggest you read my post first.
I worked with a credit restore company and they helped me clear everything in like 3-4 months. Well worth it to get that reset.
First of all congratulations on your new job & apartment! Definitely worry about yourself and everything will fall into place! Best wishes xo
Check your states limits on debt charge offs. I have gotten rid of several debt charge-offs inducling collections.
You can definitely get those charge offs removed if disputed correctly on your credit report. Have you tried yet to dispute?
Anyone passing by, do not listen to these credit repair companies. They're all scams. If reports are legit, there isn't a way to dispute. Not a single way. Any company that pitches otherwise is scamming you. Their plan is to lie in your name for you (aka break the law) to the credit bureaus to try and get things charged off. Now, could a charge be on your report longer than it should or could a report be wrong? Yes, but 999 times out of 1000, that isn't the case, and it doesn't sound like the case here either. The method of these scam artists is trying to leave you room to lie to them about the reports (the lie being that the charges aren't legit, even though they are) so that they can sign a disclosure that to the best of their knowledge, everything they say is true, and they have you sign a disclosure that basically means any legality issues fall back onto you (Up to 3 years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000 for first offense). Then they dispute and hope these bigger companies don't have the time of day to counter, which results in an auto victory for you. Or rather, I should say YOU hope for that. They don't care because theyve already gotten your money I'm assuming all this is what this company meant by "if disputed correctly"
First off talk what you know, not all credit repair companies are scams, there are some legit companies out there that do good work, maybe you got scammed by a company that’s not reputable. Second don’t generalize because our company has helped a whole lot of people, last time I checked scammers don’t help people, we have plenty reviews and we work close with a lot of mortgage loan officers to help clients get into homes. We actually love what we do as far as helping people. Third speak on what you know and have experience with as the things I speak on are from actual experience and success with proof. Your negative thinking is the main thing that discourages a lot of people from finding solutions. Just say you don’t know what you’re doing or talking about before down talking and speaking on what you don’t know. We have intensely studied FCRA, FDCPA, and TILA and have executed successful disputes, arbitration, demand letters and legal complaints on behalf of clients to get them results. The fact is that you can dispute actual charge off accounts that you created, the thing is you have to look for inaccuracies and incompleteness in the reporting, also if you call the company and conduct an audit requesting specific information that may not be reporting accurately you can get accounts removed. Also by checking your contract and finding out if the company has abided by all terms you can spot violations that will void the overall contract and release you from liability of the account. There are multiple ways to get accounts removed from your report, most people just don’t know how. Just say you’re one of them.
I am talking what I know, and I know any credit "repair" company saying "you can DEFINITELY get those charge offs removed if disputed *correctly*" is peddling a scam. How do you know "DEFINITELY" they can be removed if you don't even know how they got on there? What do you mean by if reported "correctly" if they are legitimate? You're selling a product, basically guaranteeing it'll work for a situation, a situation that you don't even know about. That's a scam. If it talks like a duck and walks like a duck. Can some be legit? Sure, but there isn't enough LEGIT errors on credit reports in the entire world to give enough "repair" work needed to keep in business all these credit repair agencies that there are. It's simple math. If there's enough work for 10 companies to be in business yet somehow there are 1000 companies in business and profiting, that means there's enough people being scammed to support 990 companies, because where is all the other "work" coming from? It doesn't exist but people are still being charged for it. Also for you >Plenty of ways to get reports removed, most just don't know how I highly recommend EVERYONE to call a credit bureau and ask them if there is any way to get a report removed if it is legitimate, if it is your debt and it is under x years old that's allowed by law. You will, without a doubt, be told no and that the only way to get a report removed is if it's illegitimate. Edit: also btw they blocked me after this comment so I can no longer talk in this thread or see their scams. Edit 2: so I decided to make an [entire post](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/xv24Q5xrWe) about this lol
>last time I checked scammers don’t help people, They make people believe they can help. Then help them out of their hard earned money >Third speak on what you know and have experience with as the things I speak on are from actual experience and success with proof. Do you believe you are the only person here with experience in these things? Give me a break. >Just say you don’t know what you’re doing or talking about before down talking and speaking on what you don’t know. You should take your own advice. >We have intensely studied FCRA, FDCPA, and TILA and have executed successful disputes, arbitration, demand letters and legal complaints on behalf of clients to get them results. The fact is that you can dispute actual charge off accounts that you created, the thing is you have to look for inaccuracies and incompleteness in the reporting, also if you call the company and conduct an audit requesting specific information that may not be reporting accurately you can get accounts removed. Also by checking your contract and finding out if the company has abided by all terms you can spot violations that will void the overall contract and release you from liability of the account. There are multiple ways to get accounts removed from your report, most people just don’t know how. Since you told OP these can be removed, what inaccuracy did you see in their post? Just curious since you seem to have spotted something. Also, you do realize that, if there is an inaccuracy, the creditor still isn't required to remove the charge-off. They are required to correct it. To say these can be removed is a blatant attempt to to take someone's money.
What is your company
Don't bother with so-called 'credit repair' companies. They just take your money to do disputes, regardless of if the account is reporting correctly.
Agreed
OP said nothing to indicate the charge-offs are inaccurate. Stop spreading lies in order to gain unsuspecting clients.
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I wouldn't do this, OP.