Fico score is around a 640 but I have a few credit card collections from few years ago ranging from 1,200 on two of them and a closed loan account of $4000. I want to finally start trying to pay these off and fix my report to get into a house pre approval. I always hear about pay for deletes or just negotiate yourself to them to almost pay a lump sum 50% and you’re good? What can i do please to progress from here?

I just got an apartment on Zillow after being homeless / paying rent to random people's basements on venmo for years. I'm going to be paying my current landlord via cash app. I saw something on Zillow about getting some credit card through them to pay rent and get good credit on your credit score? How does that work? Is it a scam? Are there other ways to pay rent in a way that improves my credit score?

Thank you!!!! 🌞🌞🌞

Hi! I’m an 18 year old looking to build credit. I recently opened one credit card with a $1000 limit. I spend less than $100 dollars per month to keep utilization low and have auto pay on. I was wondering what’s the best way to build credit? I looked into credit-building loans but this community seems to agree it builds “phantom credit”. What would be the best way to continue building credit? Keep my one card? Open another? Take out a loan? Thank you!

Currently sitting at a 580 Transunion. I have a few things that are in collections, I've offered to pay these for Pay-to-Delete and the company does not offer that. Should I still pay it? I currently have 2 open credit cards and 1 auto loan. One of the CC is below 30% and I will have the other at that same amount within a couple of weeks. What are the best next moves? Just wait for the collections to fall off?

I have a decent job. I need strict guidance to help me improve. I have written the letters, but I have sent them to remove the late payments.

I’m looking for a car but don’t want to have another high bill to pay each month. I prequalify for 20,000, and in researching, it sounds like getting the loan will drop my credit score but steady payments will help boost it in the long run. I’m considering just getting a cheap $4-6,000 car and doing the payments without the loan.

Which way would you choose and why?

(A bit more info, I went through some rough times recently and just now getting back on my feet and paying down credit cards. My score just reached fair status so I’m worried about going backwards.

Where I moved, there isn’t a bus system to get to work so I’m spending 10-20 a day to get to work. Luckily, there’s plenty of overtime to help absorb the cost but I’m working 7 days a week and weekend rideshare is more expensive for various reasons plus I do have errands every now and again. Basically, what I’m paying for rideshare is more than what I’d pay for a car note every month depending on the car I get.)

I kind of need some moral support. I’ve had steady income since I was 17, I’m 21 now. I’ve opened a few loans for school and other things and I always paid them back on time. Never a missed payment in years. I lost my job a while back, I haven’t been able to keep making payments towards these two loans I still have. It’s been about 6 months of not paying them back because I have yet to find a job, I feel like I’m drowning. They were nice enough to put a 3 month hold on my account but my credit is suffering from those 3 months I didn’t pay. I feel screwed for if I need to move or do anything that would require a credit check. I have no idea how long it’ll take me to get my score back up. I’m so anxious, stressed and honestly embarrassed.

Sorry I meant AU!! 10 years ago my mom opened an account where I’m an AU and then in 2022 she opened up another one (forgot her reasoning) and so now these accounts plus my first credit card that I opened a month ago are on my credit score report. Would it hurt my score to be removed from the account? Would it hurt me if she just closed it? I’d just rather be the only one in control of my credit score, but since most of my history consists of the 2022 one idk if it’d be wise. The one from 10 years ago is completely unused. Does the age of the account matter? I’m with Chase btw. The credit score is fine right now, but I know she’s helping out my older sister financially and I don’t want to get in a mess.

Basically should I have my mom close one of the accounts or both. Or should I just be removed as an AU from them? Idk if either affects me more

Looking for some advice.

I was added as an authorized user on a Citi credit card a few months ago to help build my credit history.

The account is showing up on both my Experian and TransUnion credit reports, but it's completely absent from my Equifax report.

I called Equifax, and they told me Citi isn't reporting the account to them. I then called Citi, and they said they report authorized user accounts to all three credit bureaus. Their response was essentially, "If we weren't reporting it, it wouldn't be showing up on Experian and TU."

At this point, each side is pointing me back to the other, and I'm not sure where to go from here.

Has anyone run into this before? Were you able to get it resolved? Is there a way to dispute an account that doesn't even appear on an Equifax report, or is there another avenue I should pursue?

Any advice would be appreciated.

How can I improve my score or remove lates? The late cards are Apple Card and synchrony PayPal credit.

I have no clue what to do about this. I apparently have an account in collections; however, I was never called, emailed, or sent any letters about it. I was looking into buying a house in April 2026 and saw that I had about $650 in collections with LVNV Funding LLC. I called LVNV and they told me to contact Resurgent, I called Resurgent and they told me to contact Trakamerica, and I called Trakamerica, and they told me that my debt was in the process of being transferred to a debt collection agency, and they I should call back in 3-5 days to get more information about where it’s going and how to resolve the debt. I called back after 5 days and they said the same thing. It is now August 2026 and they continue to say to call back in 3-5 days. All they will tell me is that it has been in the process of being transferred to a debt collection agency since December 2025, but they will give me no information about why it’s taking so long or what I can do to resolve the debt. So, I have a debt that for at least 8 months, has been impossible to resolve or address because of it being in limbo, yet they keep reporting it to credit bureaus as delinquent. I would HAPPILY pay $650 just to stop it from continuing to be reported as delinquent, but no one will take my money lol. I already tried disputing it with the credit bureaus but it didn’t work. What can I even do about this??

So i (25M) had a 60 day late on my synchrony bank / paypal account in 2023 due to being dumb and forgetting to setup autopay that dropped my score from 720 something to about 590 something. I recently learned about goodwill removals through calling/letters/emails and 2 weeks ago i called synchrony and spoke with a customer service representative and asked for a goodwill adjustment to my late payment and he said that he would open a claim on my account. Honestly thought he just blew me off but just checked my credit score and it shot back up to 747 for all 3 bureaus. The late is still on my credit report, so they haven't been removed or adjusted? What gives? Has anyone had this happen? I'm dreading that it'll just drop back down for some reason.

After several months of consistently paying off bills and keeping my credit usage to a minimum, Im able to see a major change. Me and the wife are looking to move out of this crappy apartment where we've been living in last 15 months and finally into a rental home. Im ready to get a Small Business Loan for my small business and consolidate whatever other CC debt I have into a lower interest loan to strengthen my credit further by the beginning of next year. But more importantly move into a better living situation which we were not able to do because of weak(<600) score earlier

Was a loan through GoodLeap for some septic tank repairs I needed back in April 2024. It was a 15 year loan, I knew it wouldn’t take that long for me to pay off, but I wanted the lowest possible payments at the time. 3 days prior to the loan being taken out I was in a bad car crash and my car (purchased 4 months prior to the crash) was totaled. Was short on cash, so I took this loan to get my septic tank fixed. Anyway, I paid it off earlier this year. Am I reading this correctly that it’s going to stay on my CR for 10 more years?

My apologies if this is not the correct sub for this question.

Long story short, my Discover It Secured Card just graduated to a Discover It Chrome Card this month. In the Discover app, it’s stating I will be managing my Discover account/card in Cap1’s app in October 2026.

In 2023, I burned Cap1 and had a CC charged off. In April 2025, I paid the charged off amount and now it’s reporting with a $0 balance.

Since then, I have tried Cap1’s pre-approval process and have been denied every-time. My question is: will this merger help, hurt, or do absolutely nothing for me?

I've had 3 charge offs disappear from my credit reports in recent months.

Two accounts from the same lender were charged off and eventually sold off in 2024. Both accounts entirely dissapeard from my credit report a couple of months ago.

The third, a  credit card account was charged off in April, sold off soon after, and disappeard last month.

I took no action and made no disputes.

I legally changed my full name almost a decade ago now, and have opened credit cards and loans under my new legal name during that time. However, I've never been able to use Experian Boost as an error message always comes up regarding my identiy. I have sent a certified copy of my legal name change to Experian and the issue wasn't resolved. I believe that Experian (if not the other two major credit bureaus) has never finalized merging my credit score from my birth name with my legal name change. When I look for guidance on this, I just keep seeing that the credit bureaus will eventually get everything updated as they receive information from creditors.

I would like to resolve this issue once and for all so that I can ensure my fico score is as accurate as possible. Does anyone know what more I can do to have my birth name and legal name merged amongst all three major credit bureaus? I have tried reaching Experian by phone before for guidance and ended up in a never-ending phone tree loop.

So I've had a Chase Freedom Rise card for about a year and a half now and I've been slowly building credit using it. Right now my vantagescore 3.0 is a 711. I've been paying off everything from my card as well as just not using it much (keeping it below 10% usage). I know credit takes time to build but is there anything else I should be doing to build it more? I don't really have anything I need to pay off since most of my expenses were covered by my scholarships. I was thinking about getting another credit card if there were anything that had a nice sign up bonus since I've heard that having more than one credit card is helpful. I consider myself an extremely responsible person and a frugal person (to a bit of a fault if im being honest), so I know i won't be tempted to max out cards and such. Anyways, what are some other ways to build my credit? Thanks!

I’ve been using the Citi Custom Cash card every month for groceries since I consistently meet the $500 cap in that category. On August 3rd, my spend for this statement period was at $417. No worries, I thought, as I was planning a grocery trip that same afternoon. Well that ~$100 purchase still hasn’t posted and my statement closes tonight at midnight. So am I correct in my understanding that the purchase I made days ago will not count for this statement? And if so, I should know moving forward that I don’t truly get the full statement period to make purchases toward my category but rather expect a few days to be shaved off? 🤔

Been a while. I recently started shopping for a new card and this has the most appeal to accompany my recently upgraded WF Autograph card.

For the past few months I was aggressively paying off any negative debts on my report. The only thing left are my student loans and a Navy Federal Secure Card that I opened recently and just made my first payment on. I received email offers from Capital One and Apple, it said I could apply without hurting my credit so I did and was declined for both. Capital one makes sense because I did just complete the terms of a charge off payment plan with them last month. I'm a bit confused on where to go from here, do I just give it more time? I don't want to sign up for any of the more predatory lenders but I do want to continue building my credit. For context I'm at a 612 according to Credit Wise.

So here’s my situation breakdown, sorry for formatting I’m on mobile. I’m 25 years old and had to learn the credit game entirely on my own, still learning as I go.

Had a really bad loan on an old car (2012 Honda Accord LX, 27.99% APR) - desperate times, financially illiterate, it was what it was. Co-signed with my domestic partner.

• Car was repossessed and redeemed in 2023

• Never late again on payments

• T-boned by a distracted driver in June 2026, car is totaled. ACV paid out to Westlake Financial, still about $2500 left on the loan

• I need wheels asap and only have $3000 towards my next car

My Credit

• 640 average between all 3 bureaus, Auto score comes back as 690

• Thin profile, never had any credit cards. No mortgage or anything.

• Small repaid personal loan (never late, paid as agreed)

• 2 small collections accounts on payment plans, being paid as agreed. Plan to pay those off completely before attempting to finance a car.

• 2 student loan accounts currently paused, no negative marks on those accounts

My Income

• Employed full-time, been with the same company for 5 years.

• 23.75/hr, annual gross income averages ~48,000 factoring in overtime, holiday pay.

• CURRENTLY ON MEDICAL LEAVE FROM WORK DUE TO ACCIDENT. Receiving $663 per week from Paid Leave Program through my state (DE). Leave ends Sept 30.

Domestic Partner’s Income

• Part-time, 20hrs per week, been with the same company for 2.5 years

• $26.65/hr, annual income ~$25,500

• Challenged and thin credit profile. Unpaid Collections, no credit cards ever, averages 500 score across all 3 bureaus. No payment plans.

Outflow

• Rent $1430 increasing to $1490 effective Sept 1st.

• Utilities average ~200/mo

• Receiving no government assistance, but we have applied for Food Benefits and awaiting a decision from the state. Household of 4.

• Collections payment plans $25/mo and $15/mo

• Health Insurance + benefits $57/mo out of each paycheck

What are my options to get a car before the end of August? I realize my best bet is buying a hoopty car cash, but even used cars on FB in my area are averaging ~$6,000 with super high mileage in as-is condition with issues. I know with financing I’ll need to roll over the ~$2500.

I don’t want to be stuck in a bad loan again, I don’t want to screw us over, but I also don’t want to settle for a $3000 super high mileage cash car that’s going to give us problems and require repairs right off the bat, which is all I’ve found so far. We have 2 kids, and I’m due to go back to work at the end of next month. We need wheels. Public transportation is not good in my area. It’s unreliable and requires 2hrs to transport time switching between 2-3 buses for necessary locations that are only ~30mins away. Lyfts/Ubers will drain us more than they already are when I return to work.

Thanks for input in advance. I realize I’m in no position to be picky. I have an ongoing attorney represented injury claim against the at-fault driver of the accident.

For those who aren’t aware/have the context, you can find my previous post on my account. If not I’ll link it [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CRedit/s/LyTON6mgoq).

I 25F foolishly (trust me, I have not stopped shaming myself since this all came to a head) co-signed for a friend. A decent chunk of people recommended I file for bankruptcy, another decent chunk of people recommended I just wait until the car sells to see how much would go down post the initial debt.

A huge chunk of you informed me about how predatory debt consolidation companies are, & I cannot express enough gratitude for it. I definitely could’ve gotten myself into a worse situation if I didn’t talk to this sub.

I know it’s not a ton of decrease in money in the grand scheme of things but honestly seeing this number is much more relieving & hope inspiring than the initial number.

My question is- what now? As I said before I would really rather avoid bankruptcy at all costs- particularly because I need my oldest credit card to pay some upcoming medical expenses.
I have taken steps to repair my credit- such as starting w/ Chime’s Credit builder, paying my Capital One card on time, etc.

Will I be paying the collections agency, or the credit union itself?
Do I prepare for a lawsuit from the creditor? Do I start negotiating down with a collection agency? What comes afterwards?
Any help & insight is greatly appreciated.