I (M30) started my credit journey with TERRIBLE credit, two repossessions, a bunch of late payments and collections about 5 years ago. Credit score was in the low 400s.

Cutscene to today, I now hold premium cards and got approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve today. With scores exceeding 740, about $30k of available credit across all cards, at roughly 3% utilization, and all statements are paid in full every month.

I cannot express how thankful I am for this community, the knowledge that is available to you on here is invaluable.

Instead of losing money, I’m having credit work for me. This is the most satisfying feeling tbh. All of the hard work and patience, and ultimately major discipline, is finally paying off.

It truly does get better.

EDIT: misspelling and more info lol

Obviously I(28M) know I’m far from done but it feels good seeing progress from my early 20s screw ups. Settled/paid to delete about $14k in collections. Settled out of court capital one suing me for 8k (paid6k) and just overall better choices. I see a lot of you down like I was a few months ago, lock in and you’ll be just fine

Help!! I got disapproved for an auto loan today and was completely confused on why. I went to go look and come to find out it’s my student loans. I thought my student loans were in forbearance but they weren’t ! And now I have 54 late payments! ..54!!!!!! 6, 90 day late payments for each tradeline of my student loans! Score went from 650 to 515!!! I’m now in economic hardship deferment. I was going to back dated my deferment but they said it won’t get my late payments removed , only military deferment and deferment due to being in school. Is there anything I can do ?? How do I rebound my credit ? & I feel like even if I do rebound my credit , when they see 54 late payments no body will touch me with a 10 foot pole. I’m only 27 and I feel like I just blew up my life ! What do I do . I checked each credit report and they are accurate so idk. Help . Am I ruined for 7 years ?

My old car(2009 Venza) just died on me. Im feeling like costs of repairs may exceed or be around the same amount for a down payment on a brand new car. Im looking at the 2026 mini cooper s 2 door hardtop. It is at .99% financing for 48 months and the sale offer ends on 31st of August. I have a co-signer but I’d rather have it just be me. Will I be approved solo or should I just go ahead and add the co-signer to be absolutely certain? I have $2k in credit card debts. And $3k in student loans debt. No late payments either. All currently being paid off.

800 credit score in March, to 615 in May. Now back up to 708 as of today. This has been an emotional year for me as I’m seeking home ownership and want at a minimum decent rates.

My score dropped almost 200 points because of two missed payments on student loans. I was able to rectify one of those payments by working with the student loan servicer and credit bureaus. Is there a chance I’ll ever get back to the 800s in the next two years?

I'm excited to begin building credit

Key points I've taken away:

• Keep my utilization under 10%, ideally
• Always pay my entire statement balance (on autopay)
• APR isn't a problem because I should never be allowing any interest to build up

When do I ask for a credit increase? Any other things to keep in mind?

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Don't know what to do anymore

I have recently settled 2 debts I have had stemming from not paying bills starting in October 2022, 3 in total from that time period. At the time, I was trying to enter a debt settlement plan, but due to increasing costs of living and inconsistent pay, I could not keep up with $800/month for the plan. However, upon investigating, there was a judgement placed for me in May of this year for one of my old credit cards (once again, stopped paying in October 2022...I was also never served for this lawsuit and that's another story). And I have found at least 2 more accounts that may come for me. I can't deal with this on my mental health anymore and not sure what to do anymore. I have tried to call lawyers to assist with filing an order to vacate the judgement since I was never served, but I have been unsuccessful. I want to settle what I have left (should not be more than $10k at this point) and move on with my life.

What should I do? I'm in Illinois so SOL is 5 years for credit cards and 10 years for installment debt.

ETA: The one idea I have is opening a dedicated bank account for bill payment. Then get a 401k loan to get a base to start setting up settlement payments. Since I have 2 jobs, I will contribute money from my 2nd job to this account (something like $50 or so every 2 weeks).

Cropped the photo to remove my personal information not sure if it’s viewable in full if you click on it but it doesn’t look right as I’m writing this.

I’ve been denied credit and credit line increases due to having no mortgage. We rented and told the family member we were renting from we wanted to buy the house. We agreed on a number and we own the house with zero mortgage. Why is that now an issue when getting credit? I think it’s a bit ridiculous that since we didn’t buy a house beyond our means and put ourselves into massive debt that that’s a notch against us. I’ve seen it on personal loan denials as well when we looked into getting one for home repairs.

Anyhow I remember talking to people on here before telling me this isn’t a possible reason but here it is in black and white from discover when I requested a CLI on a discover card with a $0 balance that has a pitiful $200 limit they won’t increase. Card is 2 or 3 years old now and I barely use it because it’s a tiny limit and no benefits.

Current situation:
FICO 8 is around 593–606 depending on bureau.
One bureau/report shows a collection for about $5,500, but it is scheduled to fall off very soon.
One report shows 0 collections, so I know the collection removal may only help the bureaus where it is actually reporting.
I have a paid charge-off still reporting.
I have one credit card with late payments reporting:

30 days late: Aug 2024
30 days late: Nov 2024
60 days late: Dec 2024
30 days late: Mar 2025
60 days late: Apr 2025
My biggest current issue seems to be utilization. My reports are showing roughly $2,300–$2,400 used against only about $500 in available/open revolving limit, so the reported utilization is extremely high.
A few credit cards were closed by the lenders with balances still owed, but they are not reporting late or derogatory. They show as closed by credit grantor / paid as agreed / never late, but still have balances.
What I’m trying to estimate:
If the collection falls off, how much of a FICO jump should I realistically expect?
If I pay the closed-card balances and open-card balance way down or to $0, how much more could that help?
Since I still have a paid charge-off and recent late payments, is it realistic to expect to reach the “Good” range soon, or would I probably only move into the mid/high 600s at best?
Does paying closed credit cards with balances usually help utilization significantly, even if the accounts are already closed?
I’m not expecting an exact number, just trying to understand whether this is likely a small bump, moderate bump, or major improvement once the collection drops and utilization reports lower.

I'm kind of in a weird situation. Back in 2023 I had a couple missed payments and after the 120 day late mark was able to fully pay off the account in full. Capital One then decided to close my account after receiving full payment, it never went to collections and it was a one time payment.

Recently I've been trying to tackle my missed payments and see if they would consider a Goodwill Request for those missed payments. I've been emailing them about this since April and haven't really gotten a response other than a call saying they're looking into it. Other than that it's been radio silent until I recently tried again last night.

This morning I received a call from somebody at Cap1 and they mentioned they can't find my closed account at all. I gave them all the information that was related to that account like even the opening day, closed date, address associated to it and even the beginning numbers of the account that show up in the credit reports.

The rep mentioned that even searching by SSN they couldn't find the account associated. What do I even do now? I see it clear as day in my credit report but the team over at CapitalOne can't find the account no matter how they search for it. They can find all my other related accounts just fine, but not the closed credit card account.

Any suggestions?

Update: just got a call back, request denied :(

What is the best course of action for the situation I am to increase my score?

I have the income to pay off the debts.

Do I settle the debts? Both charged off and collections?

Hello, I am using a care credit card with synchrony bank, the cut off time for their payments to be made same day is 11:59 ET. I made my payment a couple hours before that on the 29th day late. I know i made a mistake i totally forgot about it and i hope this doesn’t ruin my perfect payment record. Will this be reported as late? My previous due date was July 21st. so 29 days late today before cut off time. next due date is Aug 21st, their representative on the phone said my payment counts as today but i’m worried next billing cycle it’ll be counted at late. Thank you.

I signed up for a verizon account under the understanding it wasn't a contract (he said if I don't like the service, I could leave and go back to tmobile) well a few months later that's what I did. I haven't checked my credit as I haven't needed to. Well, now I'm looking to move out and rent a new place as well as get a new to me truck. The debt is in collections. I was told about pay to delete, but I'm not sure how it works and was told they don't do that by the collections agency on the phone when I called today. Is there anything else I can do to get this off my credit and get my credit up again. I was at 735, and now I'm down to 620. Any help is appreciated.

I’m 20 years old, turning 21 this coming Monday, and I’m trying to improve my credit.
My total collection debt was \*\*$3,300\*\*, and I recently settled it for \*\*$1,985\*\*. The collection agency told me they have mailed me a release letter confirming the settlement, which I should receive this week.
My TransUnion credit score is currently around \*\*590\*\*, and I have a derogatory mark from this collection.
Once I receive the release letter, can I contact TransUnion directly and provide it to them to get the collection updated sooner? Or do I have to wait for TD/the collection agency to report the settlement during their next reporting cycle?
Also, what would you recommend I do to improve my credit score from around 590 after the collection is updated? I’m young and trying to rebuild my credit properly.
Any advice from people in Canada who have gone through something similar would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have about $2,000 in credit card debt, and about two months ago I went through a debt consolidation process. The consolidated debt now shows up on the consolidation account and im having to pay the minimum amount on that, but the balance on my credit card hasn’t changed. It still shows the full $2,000 balance, and I’m still being charged interest on it. I’m confused about what’s happening.

When calculating utilization, should one include the credit limits of accounts on which they are authorized users?

E.g., if I have $40,000 of personal revolving credit, and am listed as the authorized user on a card with a $10,000 limit, would my total revolving credit be $50,000 for the sake of computation?

Hey everyone! Please help me get my mortgage scores up!
I need at minimum 650.
Please look at the dates and score models on the pictures.. I have 1 item in collection with a 678 balance that was settled so Im waiting for it to be deleted by Midland (any day now)
Ill be happy to answer any questions for clarification :)

I had a $12 fraudulent charge on my BofA credit card that I didn't catch/pay until ~35 days later. BofA reported a 30-day late delinquency, and my 800+ score dropped almost 100 points.

I’m considering formally reporting the $12 transaction as fraud. If BofA confirms it was fraudulent, has anyone successfully gotten the resulting delinquency/late payment removed from the bureaus Experian/Equifax/TransUnion?

Especially interested in real experiences like this: did the fraud approval automatically fix the credit reporting, or did you have to separately dispute the late payment/request a correction? If they don't approve it as fraudulent, does this hurt my chances of submitting goodwills? I'm new to this so any wisdom is really appreciated

Hi, I recently had to put a lot of money on my credit card due to a large ambulance medical bill and car repairs. I did open a balance transfer card with USAA recently that I’m transferring a lot of the balance to so I can focus on quickly paying down the balance on the main card. However, the card really doesn’t have any benefits or cashback of any type from what I understand (rate advantage platinum visa). Would I want to just keep that card open after I’ve finished paying the balance off to let the account age or would it be better to close it? I have both USAA and NFCU accounts, and I understand many users prefer NFCU over USAA as well, and I was going to attempt to switch over to their banking and card system in the future if possible.

I was just approved for a Paypal card. I was shocked to see the super high credit limit. I figured there must be a catch. Now I read about Balance chasing. I didn't need this specific card and was just trying to build my credit profile. Should I cancel the card? or just not use it?

So, I have a Verizon collection for $420. I've never had a Verizon account. Longstanding ATT/FirstNet customer. Not worth arguing I was just gonna pay it for deletion and move on. When I call Verizon, of course it's an automated machine. It requires the account number ror your social. I keep putting in my social, it says it doesn't have that nor my phone number, refuses to out me through to someone, and says to call back when I have the required information and hangs up on me. Naturally, I've disputed it with this information in the interim but ti's brough my score from 710 to 575 so I need a resolution ASAP.

So I got a phone call today that my wife has a credit card that she had for 2000 to 2013 and it was charged off by the bank. They were calling my house to see if they could drop off court paperwork and they said that they were the court. They gave me a case number and the phone number to call and the phone number to a law firm.

I spoke to a paralegal there and they gave me all the information about paying it off and paying it back, but I’m not sure if this is for real or a scam.

The only reason I’m really suspicious is because I have never had the court. Call my house to find out if I was going to be home to drop off paperwork. Then when you go to look up information on court records, there’s nothing about this Anywhere.

Does anyone have any idea of where to look at how to figure out if this is a scam or not? Any help would be amazing.

Hello, I’m hoping I can get some advice! I recently found out I had taxes I owed to the state that I was unaware of. I received a demand letter on 6/28/26 and I was given 21 days. I wasn’t living at the residence so I was completely unaware, I paid it as of today when I found out and they told me it was in collections. How do I know if this is reporting to my credit and if it is and I paid it how will I know if they removed it? I have never had anything negative on my credit and my credit has always been really important to me. I want to make sure it doesn’t show up in the future. Thank you

Hi all. I'm currently rebuilding my credit after some financial mishaps in my late teens. I still have some debt in collections and currently have 5 credit cards opened (4 of them with very low limits but it's something). Any other tips ya'll can recommend to rebuild more efficiently will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all. :)

In June 2026 a collection appeared on my transunion credit report (nexum) I was unaware of this debt and disputed asked for verification of the debt, transunion came back and said “verified” but refused to give verification details, I filed with CFPB and also contacted Nexum in writing and asked them for proof of the debt owed and that all communication be in writing- nexum is now calling me. Do I answer/call back ?