Good question... I dunno what is the answer to your question. I'll do some research and get back to you if I discover an anything. You should email the people at Discover Card as they probably could give you an answer..

No, I've been with the same bank for awhile now so it hasn't caused a problem. My focus is just getting my score up...

Well that's good news..

You might try devoting 6 months to a year to seeing what all you can get deleted..

Do you have any good TLs? If not, you might open a secured card or two and make those payments like clockwork. While you're cleaning up your report those TLs will be aging..

Edit: My bad. I just saw your Mastercard. That's a good start!.

This post has been edited by.

Elizabeth_Speaking.

: 18 November 2009 - 04:07 PM..

I'm going to go against convential wisdom here and say forget about your scores for a moment. Your first priority should be taking care of your bounced checks. Next, set up an emergency fund with an ample amount of cash that you can readily access, thus preventing you from bouncing any checks/overdrawing your account in the future..

Once you have shored up your own cash reserve/check situation, then you can begin paying (with Discover card) down the remaining credit debt...

Is all of this showing up on your credit reports now? Things like bounced checks, utility bills, medical bills, and overdrawn checking accounts probably won't show up on your credit reports at all until and/or if they go to collections..

If these are not showing on your reports now and your only concern is improving your credit score then paying (with Discover card) these off won't help at all. Even so, paying (with Discover card) them off now could benefit your future score since that would prevent them from going to collections and showing up on your reports later..

If they are showing up on your credit reports now, then you're in a bit of a tougher situation. Most of these would be showing up as collection items and paid collections are no better for your score than unpaid collections, so just paying (with Discover card) them off really won't help. If you want to pay them off, then best thing you can do is try to get them to agree to delete the item from your credit report after it has been paid (pay for delete or PFD). Ideally getting all of the collection items off of your reports should help your score significantly..

That said, however, you probably want to start by trying to get the collection companies to validate this debt. If they can't validate it then you may be able to get their tradeline deleted without even paying (with Discover card) them... and that way you can save the money you do have for the ones that do validate..

I would suggest doing the following:.

If any of the bounced checks, medical bills, utility accounts, or bank accounts have not yet reported and have not yet been sent to a collection company, then pay these to the original creditor. That will keep them off of your report and keep you away from more collections. Make sure that you save a copy of the bank check or money order that you use to pay them just in case they get sent to collections later. Occasionally items that are paid still get sent to collections mistakenly and if you can quickly and easily prove you paid it then it will save you some hassle in the future..

Any items that have been sent to collections and are reporting on your credit reports should be validated before you do anything. Hopefully this will get rid of some of them without you needing to pay anything. Any of the ones that are able to validate or still stick around you should try to negotiate a PFD to get it off of your report..

The charged off credit cards would work pretty much the same way... if they have been sent to collections, try to validate them with the collections company and/or do a PFD. If they haven't been sent to collections, then try to pay them to the original creditor to keep them from being sent to collections. Some creditors will agree to a PFD, but not many will. Try this and hopefully it will work, but you may just have to pay them at this point...

+1 emergency fund > If you don't have 3 months, this is a MUST, if you have 3 months Emergency Fund but not 6, this is a Really Should..

As mentioned above, paying (with Discover card) off debts that have gone to chargeoff/collection status will not help your scores at all. In fact, if they are very old, paying (with Discover card) them will hurt your score as it will bring the date of last action current..

My suggestion is to put the money in the bank, read through the newbie forum, triage your reports and then come back with more specific questions...

I dont get how paying (with Discover card) off a charged off account can hurt your credit score. It doesnt make sense. How does "Date of Last Action" hurt a credit score? I know that "Date of last Negative Activity" would hurt if it was recent...

It doesn't help to pay it off if it still shows on your CR. A paid collection is just as negative as an Un-Paid Collection. Since an Un-Paid Collection hurts your Credit Score, it reasons to say that a Paid Collection would hurt your Credit Score equally...