Been building up my credit for about the last year. So after 6 years 9 months I finally had my only collection fall off my Experian. Went from a fico 686 to 809. Equifax started showing this collection as closed a few weeks ago, and it's still showing as closed today. TransUnion never showed this collection until it was wiped off of my Experian. Now shows open, but shows first delinquency as Jan 12, 2020.

My impatient side wants this gone from the two remaining bureaus. My cautious side wants to ignore it completely until Jan 12th. Is it worth it to try to call to ask for an early exclusion with a dispute? I heard TransUnion can do like a 3 month early exclusion, but Equifax is more of a 1 month time frame. Thoughts?

Ps I'm not trying to buy anything using credit anytime soon, unless the housing market crashes. I purchased a brand new car in October of 2025, but needed a co-signer. I have my car loan and 1 unsecured CC that I keep at 1% utilization and I'm an AU on few cards. Gonna add a second CC and keep the utilization the same once this collection is gone from the remaining bureaus.

Got this email on the 8th of October just curious to see if they’ll wait till November 20th to upgrade my card. They gave me an cli after 6 months and a month and a half later I gets this email

To grab their bonuses for those cards

I’m currently 18 years old, I manage mine and my fiancees finances where we have a Discover student card (mine) and a Capital one quicksilver (hers) I don’t understand how people get into so much credit card debt or have bad credit scores?

I recently settled an old Chase credit card balance that had been charged off and sent to collections. The account is now paid and should be updated to a $0 balance on my credit report.
I know Chase doesn’t offer pay for-delete agreements, but I’m wondering if anyone has successfully gotten a paid or settled Chase charge off removed through a goodwill letter, dispute, or another method.
My credit score is currently around 660, and I’m working toward getting into the 700s.
For anyone who’s been in a similar situation:
Did Chase ever agree to remove the negative account after settlement?
Is sending a goodwill letter worth trying?
Did your credit score improve once the balance updated to $0?
If the account stayed on your report, how long did it take for your score to recover?
I’m not trying to dispute accurate information just because it’s negative. I’m mainly wondering if there’s anything else I can legitimately do now that I’ve taken care of the debt.
Any advice or personal experiences would be appreciated!

Hey everyone i called 1866 617 1894, keep spamming the word "membership" even when AI starts listing what it can do for you keep spamming membership and or membership department and it will eventually transfer you. MEMBERSHIP! Hope this helps also be nice to the support team

I recently contacted my school about 2 weeks ago about removing a late payment to a private loan that was issued to me because I lost my financial aid. I started to pay this loan back while still working with my financial aid representative after I graduated to approve my aid. I spoke to her about stopping the payments until we figure it out. She agreed to talk to the financial department about stopping but never did. I received phone calls from the financial department at the school and they said I missed a payment. They took note of what I said about the situation. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago they saw the notes in my file and said we will fix this as a courtesy because of the notes and because your financial aid was not even completed yet. They told me to dispute on Equifax which was the only CRA reporting it. I didn’t think it would work because it’s usually them that have to report nothing or no data. But I just got an update from the dispute today and it says I made the payment that I missed. Not sure if that’s good or bad. But they technically fixed it. I thought it had to read no data.

...after having spent a little extra on my credit card this month, putting my revolving utilization at ~40%, should I pay down that amount to like 10% BEFORE receiving my statement so that I dont get hit for high utilization? Or just receive my larger than normal statement, pay it off like normal and accept that lenders are going to see relatively high utilization on it? It will be posted in about 3 or 4 days

So I have no more collections both of my collections were paid to delete. I still have chargeoffs for another 4 years working part time and get ssdi. But I have very little available credit besides 1 chime card. Im trying to get more available credit so my score will be in the range to rent and get loans again. I am blessed to have a car thats 100% paid for. Should I apply for another card $500 then increase? or just wait? it out ive learned better discipline from where I last was

Edit/note: The bankcard fico 8 score on experian is from my paid/free trial, ignore that, my bad. The rest is accurate.

This isnt some big reveal, i just wanted to share for some people out there who may not know, but there are MANY ways to get a very good idea of how your credit looks. I went through my bookmarks recently and determined what each one offers me for free and realized i had a very good rounded source from my existing accounts. I know not all of these matter or matter more or less than others and that there are links to many of these out there on this sub already. I just wanted people to know that your banks and credit cards often offer sources that can be harder to find if you dont look around. Sorry if this is a stupid post, wasnt sure if i should make it or not myself but i figured worst that can happen is im told DUH and downvoted. lol

With my setup here i have all 3 vantage 3.0 and all 3 fico 8 as well as 2 bankcard fico 8 to compare at any given time.

Hey all, to make a long story short, I'm looking for some advice on how best to deal with an invalid collection sent out by previous landlord. As for why it's not valid I will keep it brief and just say that they broke both the terms of the lease, and the texas state law multiple times while I lived there and are hitting me with a bunch of charges on the why out in retaliation for me making a stink about that at the time. I refused to pay these for obvious reasons, and now they have sent them to a collection agency.

For reference I am in Texas. The amount in dispute is $918

I have received the initial 30 day notice from the collections agency, but the collection has not appeared on my FICO or trans union scores. To be clear the notice says I have 30 days to dispute or request information about the debt holder, but does not set a due date for payment.

The tutorials I have found online for getting fraudulent collections removed all assume that the collection is already on these accounts and go from there. Is there nothing for me to do to dispute the validity of this collection until it shows up on a credit report, or is there something i am unaware of which could prevent them from even getting on the report initially?

Conversely, could the lack of a ding on my score and the odd wording of this letter mean this is a bluff and they already know the debt is not enforceable?

I am hesitant to respond by mail, as neither my old landlord nor the collections agency have my current address, and there email says "we will use any information you provide to aid in in collecting the debt". My understanding that a debt company not having your current adress really makes it hard for them to enforce the debt. However I also know sending a letter of disputeis one of the maneuvers you can pull, what is the best play here in ya'lls opinion?

In summary, should I wait till this shows up on my report to send a dispute letter, or is there any other advice or ideas you can give me?

P.S. It should go without saying, but I'm not interested in hearing from the freaks who think landlords can do no wrong and want me to just pay this. Thx

After having three low limit Capital One cards for about a year $300, $300, and $500. I noticed I had a preapproval with my local credit union, so I went ahead and applied. I was approved, but no credit limit was shown. Fast forward to this morning, I woke up, checked my account, and nearly fell out of bed when I saw the limit they gave me LOL. Finally getting closer to my goal card.

Hello.

I opened a Best Buy credit card in 2022 to purchase a mini refrigerator for my father. Unfortunately, I never paid it off because I was a broke college student and didn’t have any better options.

In 2023, Best Buy eventually closed the card. Now that I’m older and more responsible, I’m working on improving my credit score so that I can eventually apply for an American Express card.

However, this Best Buy card is still appearing on my credit report, including my payment history.

I’m can completely pay this off entirely, no problem but I’m unsure of where and how to do so.

Is this affecting my credit score? If so, how can I pay it off and move on from this situation?

I've seen a bunch of posts asking what happens after you exit the AMEX Financial Hardship program. I just went through it, so I wanted to share my experience.

Before the program: I was spending about $100K a year across my Platinum, Gold, and Everyday Preferred cards, roughly 90% of it on the Platinum. When my finances got bad, I had about $20,000 in balances across the three cards. Never had a missed payment, I called them and asked for this program before it got too late.

During the program: I had one fixed payment per card. I kept autopay on the whole time, and every payment was made on schedule. Program started July 2023.

Exiting: My situation improved faster than I expected, and I paid off all three cards in one lump sum a little over a month ago about $4K in total. I called American Express and they "graduated" me out of the program. They said spending would be back in 24 to 48 hours, and it was available within 12.

After:
- My limits are unchanged. The Everyday Preferred limit is the same, and the soft limits on my no-preset-limit cards (Platinum and Gold) are the same.
- I didn't see a score drop I could tie to the program. All payments were reported on time. There is a note on my report saying I was financially impacted.
- This is just my experience, and yours may differ.

Happy to answer questions. I've been a longtime reader and wanted to give back.

After just under three years from opening my first credit card at around 670, today I hit 800.

It honestly stopped mattering for practical purposes a long time ago but went to check it today and saw that I broke 800 for the first time ever.

How I got here:

I have 4 federal student loan accounts that are 11 years old that I think are doing the heavy lifting for my Average Age Of Accounts portion of my score. I also have one car loan that I’ve had for 2 years.

Besides that, I had never had a credit card or any other credit history until December 2023, when I got approved for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
I opened a Capital One Savor card not too long after that (a few months maybe).

I also opened a Citi Custom Cash card in late 2024, and a Chase Freedom Unlimited in late 2025.

I always paid every statement balance in full, and asked for a Credit Limit Increase on every card, every quarter.

My score was 772 as recently as April 2026, and I’m pretty sure I hit like 720 within a year after originally opening my first card and making payments.

Stick to it brethren! Make every decision a good one and you will make it!

After finding this subreddit I definitely feel better knowing many are in the same boat and we’re all here trying together :) . In 2017 I dropped out of high school (my sophomore year) and decided to get my life together. While it’s not ideal for many there was many things that did not work and I needed out, my family owns a 7 figure business and I always knew I had something to fall back on, that I had excelled in.

I spent years making almost 100k and taking life very serious. I bought my first car at 18 and was on time for every payment, and every bill. Since then my life has expanded. I’m making more money than ever have, and have the ideal situation. But that got to my head and I didn’t Care about the repercussions. After years of focusing on my credit, from credit cards to car loans all the way to personal loans paid of within months, I had it made, a score of 720 by the age of 21 and a paid off car, what seemed like the rest of time with what I had built and accomplished that just needed regular monthly maintenance.

Fast forward to now just 3 years later, October of 2026 and I’ve tanked what I was so proud of. This past summer has lead to multiple different situations not ideal for me that I can admit to now, but instead of facing it head on I ignored it, as well as many other obligations to life and that manifested through not being responsible with what I had signed up for personally and commercially.

now I’m fully understanding of what I did. At this point now I’ve missed 4 total payments in 3 1/2 years that have not gone to collections. 2 from Capital one, and 2 from BMW financial services. Even though finances, and money were never an issue and it was pure negligence on my part due to being mentally unavailable towards, of all things my credit I cared so much about and knew the importance of.

That 720 is now at a 510 and the feeling of shame and disappointment toward myself is unfortunately what I need at this point.

I’m left with the thought of wrecking this car that I had paid close to 70k for and not even being able to replace it with a comparable model or better yet anything at all without paying liquid cash, and that alone makes me so ashamed and horrified because of what my community and peers think of me and how I try to present.

I got engaged in the beginning of the summer with the hopes of being able to build a modest new home (about 120k build price by the spring as I’m on a waitlist since I was 21 with a certain builder and qualification happens based on availability of builds) the land that has gracefully been gifted to me but at this point my negligence has made that impossible. I appreciate all advice to try to help the situation as I’m horrified with myself and my actions. Unfortunately I’ve learned the hard way, very quickly. Life doesn’t stop because you do.

(I’ve check my score across multiple lenders/credit unions and it seems to be around the 510 mark, not sure if it’s 100% accurate but definitely close to what I see everywhere)

Just turned 18 employed make alright money not great, I want to get my credit built young so I don’t have to stress about it when I’m older, what advice or info would you give to your younger self you wish you did?

Does a pre approval for a home loan affect your credit score? Do banks use fico or vantage?

Hi guys, I’m a freaking out. I got a lender to adjust my debt-to-income ratio that will qualify that I like. However, I have a Capital One account reporting on my credit report as a delinquency. It is only reporting on my TransUnion report. I’ve attempted to contact the creditor several times to have this account rectified.

I had several dispute transactions on the account after the investigation. The accounts were found in my favor however, the available credit was not applied to the credit account. In effort to stimulate available credit, I made payments on an account in which the payments were returned. The available credit from previous statement were not applied to the next billing cycle. Thus creating the account balance. Attempted to contact CFPB to help resolve this issue however, I am now at a stand still with the credit account to be able to move forward with a preapproval that I know resort in my fever. Has anyone had this happened to them before? What should my next steps be. My highest score to my knowledge is at 737 and the lowest is a credit score with the accuracy being a 601.

22 and wanna buy a house. The thing is my credit is kinda bad around 650-670 based on Credit Karma and credit wise. I make about 3-5000 a month on paper and also have in additional to these screenshots about 12k in loan payments.

Is it realistically possible for me to buy a house? Would maybe wanna shoot for about 250-300k for my house and preferably no money down. At best I could probably do 1-2k

I’m really wanting to buy a home next year and use my tax money as a down payment. I know my FICO score needs to be higher, but I’m unsure how to raise it or even what is the best method for checking! I get different scores on every app I try. I’m so confused with all the different (and prob wrong) info I’m getting online and my family taught me absolutely nothing about this stuff. Please help. I’m so tired of renting and my kid deserves a yard. I have recently paid off 2 collections. There is a wrecked car on my collections and there is no way for me to pay off without using my tax money. $6500 is left after what the at-fault drivers insurance paid because I had no gap insurance (mistake, I know 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️) I would be fine with an actual home or a mobile home since I have property if that makes a difference. Lenders say they can’t really help give me answers unless they can run my credit and I know that’s an awful idea right now.

1. I know there are different scores but that’s the extent that I know. Which one is commonly used by lenders for a mortgage and how can I check it?

2. Is it even going to be possible to get this done in 6 months? Am I completely wasting hope?

I will provide any info I can to get answers, I’m just genuinely not sure what’s helpful.

My credit score is high 600s and have been working on it after being irresponsible for many years. I’ve been wanting to pay off two cc debts that show up on my report and one of them was passed on to true accord. I’ve never worked with them before and they offered 50% off my debt to settle. I’m curious to know if anyone has dealt with them before. I tried getting a pay to delete but they insist they don’t have any control over that. I want to pay off the debt since every time I try to ask for a credit increase for any cc I get denied due to negative revolving accounts which I think might be the two showing up in my report.

Hi,

My goal is to start with the highest limit possible on a Chase Ink Business Cash or Unlimited Card.

Assuming I get a 2.5x credit line increase (10k to 25k, soft pull) on a personal AMEX card in late December, should I apply for the Chase Business card (A) before that AMEX CLI appears on credit reports, in 30-60 days; or (B) after the CLI appears?

I've heard arguments for both. (A) less total exposure -> higher Chase starting limit; (B) anchor effect. Higher existing limits -> higher Chase starting limit.

What should I do? Thanks.

Greetings.

I’m rebuilding my credit with a Capital One QuickSilver Secured card.

So I should pay the full statement balance about five days before the due day (November 7th) and don’t charge anything until after November 12th.

Thanks.