“Hi Steve,
My name is Mel and I recently discovered your web site. I have a few questions and hope you can assist me.
I have several debts from 2004 and 2005 that I owe. All are now with collection agencies. Since I owe these debts and can afford to pay them, I want to pay them. I’m running into a few challenges, though, and am wondering if you can help me.
1.) For some of the debts, I’ve been told that paying them off will not help my credit report. Is this true?
2.) I’d like to have all of my old debts paid off by October 31st and then begin saving for a house. I know that I will need to re-establish credit. However, I’m not really interested in having a credit card again. I’ve been using my debit card for several years and it has worked fine. I was thinking of getting a secured credit card for $500. Is that enough to re-establish credit?
Thanks in advance.
Mel”
Dear Mel,
A closed and paid collection account is better than an open and old one. Close the door on all the old open debt and let’s get to work rebuilding your credit.
If you want to get the best mortgage rate you’ll need a good credit score. To get a good credit score you can get back into the credit game and show you can handle and use credit. The longer the account are open and in good standing, the better.
Just follow the steps in this past post and that will get you going.
Please update me on your progress by
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