Credit Score in the 400's and I'm feeling awful :(

Question

I went from a 700 credit score to now 490 and I'm not sure how or where to begin towards repairing my credit. I separated from my husband 2 years ago because our relationship was becoming extremely dysfunctional and I didn't want to expose my 2 year old son to the disaster we were going through at that time. When I moved out I was only working part time as a school teacher and unfortunately had to let some of my obligations go unpaid which has ultimately affected my credit for the worse. Now 2 years later, I'm divorced though teaching full time and need to get my credit repaired, the thing is I'm not sure where to begin. I have almost 7 charge offs and 4 collection accounts and at this point I'm feeling lost and hopeless. I've considered using a credit repair agency but not clear how beneficial they really are? Please any advice, encouragement or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. 

Answer 1

waitingforamiracle wrote:
I went from a 700 credit score to now 490 and I'm not sure how or where to begin towards repairing my credit. I separated from my husband 2 years ago because our relationship was becoming extremely disfunctional and I didn't want to expose my 2 year old son to the disaster we were going through at that time. When I moved out I was only working part time as a school teacher and unfortunately had to let some of my obligations go unpaid which has ultimately affected my credit for the worse. Now 2 years later, I'm divorced though teaching full time and need to get my credit repaired, the thing is I'm not sure where to begin. I have almost 7 charge offs and 4 collection accounts and at this point I'm feeling lost and hopeless. I've considered using a credit repair agency but not clear how beneficial they really are? Please any advice, encouragement or help would be greatly appreciatedc. Thanks. First step is to get your reports, which you apparently have done. Second step is to "triage" the damage. Separate them into groups - Charged off accounts that have not gone to collections, Collections that are updating each month, and collections that are dormant (not updated in a year or more).The first group does the most scoring damage, and has potential to worsen - they can spawn more collection accounts, and judgements. The second group does the maximum damage that collection accounts can do, and the third group does the least amount of damage. Try to work out repayment plans/settlement agreements with the first group - the priority is to get them settled and reporting a $0 balance. That will result in better score right off, because those balances will not be used in your UTI portion of FICO scores. The second group items you want to approach each one ONLY if you have the ability to pay in full should they turn very agressive in you negotiations. You want to try to negotiate a PFD if at all possible. While you are doing all of this you also want to work on establishing new credit. You may have to open a couple of secured credit cards to begin with if you have no current credit accounts at all. I would suggest beginning with Capital One and OpenSky if you need to go that route. Avoid predator lenders like First Premier and Credit One. Do you have any current credit accounts at all?