finally debt free but still w/poor credit

Time is your friend on this one - once the negatives start falling off your report, I think you should start to see an improvement in your score.

Congrats on becoming debt free!

congrats! i am basically debt free but my credit is wrecked - and to be honest even though it is hard to have bad credit it is so much better to be debt free!

I'm glad to hear it. Good going. I've just started my journey.

Here is one way that you can build credit. I did it and it works. It just takes a little time.

1. Go to a bank and purchase and CD (certificate of deposit) and wait about a month. Make it about $500 - $1,000. Don't worry about being out of money, it won't be long.

2. After a month apply for a loan in the same amout as the CD.

3. Use the CD as collateral. There isn't a bank out there that won't do it. It's a secured loan.

4. Make the loan for about 12 months and pay it off. (Remember, you're not getting back into debt because the CD will pay it off in case something happens.)

5. Once the loan is paid off then you can cash in on the CD.
Instant positive credit.

If I remember corectly when I did it years ago it only cost me about $1.11 when the interests were levied.

awesome idea! thanks..all banks will loan against a cd? great!

Did you do it yourself orgo through a settlement company? If so, which one?
Connie

i settled all of my accounts myself w/out any settlement company. the majority were settled at tax times and others were on a monthly payment plan. but my score suffered badly..i guess its the price you pay to be debtfree!!! good luck..

what I'm interested in is how did you manage to show zero balance on settled accounts? if you settled for less then owe how possibly they report you account with zero balance?