“I’d like to buy a home, but have some credit issues. Do you know where I can find out how to improve my credit?”
Answer:
(Part 1 of a multi-part answer…)
Here’s a tip from San Diego credit repair expert Derrick Evens of “Perfect Credentials” (858-571-0271, derrickevens@yahoo.com):
Credit repair/improvement tip: COLLECTIONS…
“Don’t ever pay a collection unless you absolutely must. When you pay a collection, it updates your ‘activity date’ on the credit report and causes the scoring model to think the collection just happened.
This can cause your score to go down drastically, which means you just paid money for a lower credit score! If you ever need to pay off a collection for some reason, make sure you get a letter of intent to delete from the collection agency first. Believe me, they won’t delete it, but at least the letter will give us the ammo we need to have it deleted for you.
Remember, a collection is a collection is a collection is a collection. Whether the balance is $1, $1,000,000, or $0, the damage is done as soon as it hits your report and the only thing that will help is if it can be deleted.”
