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While settling credit card debt for less than amount owed, how else can I improve my credit score?

Question : While settling credit card debt for less than amount owed, how else can I improve my credit score?
My credit reports tell me I can improve my score by paying down my debt (which is happening slowly) but give little other advice. Also, my credit reports state that some of the debt will drop off in 2011, so should I settle or wait until then?
settling credit card debt

Best answer:

Answer by Lisa W
Try paying on it. Are you willing to have no credit for 3 years?

This entry was posted by admin on September 3, 2010 at 6:22 am, and is filed under Banking. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

Comments (5)
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#1 written by Janice S 1 year ago

If you settle your credit card less than the amount owed this will be reporting to the credit bureaus (equifax, transunion, and experian). When you work with an credit or debt management company make sure you tell them you want to have your credit cards as reported paid in full. So companies do not do that but you can search for some. I used this company but I am sure there are many around. http://www.endthisdebt.com/card_debt.cfm

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#2 written by netdebt1 1 year ago

Credit Scoring companies look at your debt balance to total credit line ratio.

In general you want to be around 50% so if you have more than one credit card pay down those that are close to their limit first.

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#3 written by Mike Jones 1 year ago

Paying your debt on time is the main step to improve your score. Following are another tips :
• If you anticipate having a short-term problem paying on time, contact your creditors immediately to work out a plan to keep late reports off your credit report
• If you now have past-due bills, bring them current and keep them current
• Consult a professional, legitimate credit counselor if you have a serious situation such as a job loss, divorce or catastrophic medical expense. Avoid scam artists.
• Keep all credit card balances as low as you can. Those high debt-to-credit-limit ratios will lower your score
• Pay off your debts. Don’t just transfer them from one account to another. Having less open accounts with the same total balance will lower your score if you are up to credit limits
• Don’t close out unused accounts. Keep them active but at zero balance if you can
• Don’t open new accounts if you don’t need them and don’t open several new accounts in a short period . This can lower your score.

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#4 written by ripcurl367 1 year ago

There are a number of things you can do to raise your credit score, but making on-time payments is one of the best. For more information, you might try the following site.

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#5 written by jpocia03 1 year ago

If you settle for less on your credit cards, then this will “hurt” your score. Because it is reported on your credit that you have settled for less. Unless, you can speak with your creditors and enter into a signed agreement that they will report to the bureaus that your have “paid as agreed”, regardless of you paying less than owed.

Another way to help your score is to make sure that you don’t cancel any cards that are in good standing. Keep the trade line open, and use it time to time.

Also, don’t over extend yourself. If you carry too much revolving debt, or if you have to many inquires it will hurt your score.

I suggest going to myfico.com, and download the pdf. Read it it’s free.

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