Credit Repair

How can I repair my bad credit when all my cards are on charge off status?

My debts are about 3 yrs old now, and in charge off status. When I called up the companies trying to pay off these debts, they kept sending me to different depts and finally I got tired of the runaround. I really want to get my credit back in shape but don't know how to go about it. Any ideas?

Public Comments

1. Get in contact with the company and have them send you all that you owe. Then start making payments on them every month until it done with them, but if you owe A LOT I would call a credit counseling company and have them help you out if debt, by giving you one bill per month that covers everything. But while you are paying off your debt, start putting away at least $15.00 a week for savings that way you will always have money set aside in case something happens and you wont have to use your "bill" money to get by and thus you wont be late on payments.
2. get in touch with a moneymanagement company and you will see in about 36 months or so depending on your debt you will be debt free. charge offs do stay on your credit report for seven years. then ask yourself what is more important getting out of debt or repairing your credit?
3. A charged-off credit card means that your account is closed with the creditor and they have "charged-off" the debt as bad (uncollectable). They still expect you to pay the debt and can even file a lawsuit against you, but it all depends on how much debt are you talking about and what is your ability to pay? It's worthless to sue someone who has nothing, if you get my point. However, many credit experts will argue that you are in the driver's seat and you need to negotiate a deal which will do the following: 1. Only pay on debts that you can negotiate an amount and agree (in writing) with the creditor that they will not report it to the credit reporting agencies. Note: if you start making payments, this bad debt will stay on your credit report 7 years after your last payment. For example, if it took you 5 years to pay off this bad debt - it would impact your credit for an additional 7 years (in essence 12 years). 2. Negotiate with the owner of the debt - not the collector. 3. Use cash or pre-paid credit cards (stop charging). 4. Do research before you start paying on charged-off debts.