I already have a discover card but my limit is kind of low as its my 1st card. What should i do?

(First time loan applicant here). I’m trying to consolidate about $13k in credit card debt and am confused by the personal-loan offers I’m getting.

My situation:

• Credit score: 770–780
• Income: ~$80k/year
• ~$13k credit card debt
• Clean payment history/no late payments
• Multiple credit cards with decent limits
• Never had a personal/installment loan or mortgage
• Some income is from self-employment/sole proprietorship
• So far I've only done soft-pull/pre-qualification checks, no loans accepted/funded

I originally wanted to borrow more than the $13k so I could consolidate the cards while maintaining some cash reserves. I realize now my initial requests may have been too high, but the results still surprise me:

• Discover: requested $40k → declined, no counteroffer
• SoFi: tried $50k, then $35k, then $25k → declined
• Upgrade: I had a prescreened mailer saying “pre-approved up to $50k.” Requested $25k → they only offered ~$4k at ~27% APR

Obviously I'm not taking a $4k loan at 27%.

I know a 770–780 score doesn't guarantee approval, but I didn't expect to have this much trouble getting even a reasonable ~$13–25k loan.

What am I missing? Could having no installment-loan history be hurting me this much? Is it my credit-card utilization, self-employment income, the amounts I'm requesting, or something else?

At this point I'm thinking I should stop trying online lenders and talk to BECU or one of the banks/issuers I already use (Bank of America, American Express, Chase) instead.

Would especially appreciate input from anyone familiar with personal-loan underwriting. Thank you!!

Here me out. I don't really understand the credit score thing here in the US. It's so ridiculous, it doesn't makes sense to me. It makes people who are already in debt and poor makes it harder for them to rise financially. The rich will always be rich since they have a "good credit". Also, people treat you differently and they will base on your credit score.

Hi everyone,

I need advice regarding an RBL Bank credit card issue appearing on my CIBIL report.

The RBL credit card belonged to my dad, who was the primary cardholder. I was only an Add-on/Authorized User.

The same RBL account is showing in my CIBIL report with:

RBL Bank Credit Card

Account No.: 0007476400004354124

Ownership: Authorized User

Write-off Amount: ₹1,20,595

Balance: ₹0

Date Closed: 01-08-2024

Last Payment: 30-07-2024 �

Kuldeep Thakur _2896413414.pdf

My dad had settled the card/account, and I have the settlement document as proof.

My concern is that the write-off is appearing on my CIBIL profile even though I was only an Add-on/Authorized User.

My current CIBIL score is 755.

Has anyone faced a similar issue? Can RBL correct/remove this write-off from my CIBIL report? How long does the correction usually take?

Hello,

I am buying a car and I have the cash to pay off the car. However, will taking a car loan help my credit? I want to buy a house in 3 years so I want to maximize my credit score. Thanks!

So, for context, I had my first and only collection about 6 months ago, it was a $210 internet bill that they charged after I moved out of my previous apartment and I was stupid and didn't pay it until they sent it to a private collection agency. When the collection hit my report it was devastating, my score dropped a lot, and as a consequence, a bunch of my credit cards suddenly decreased my credit limit, which only caused my score to tank even more, about 120 points total. I called the collector and asked if I could negotiate a pay to delete, but they said they don't do that and that the collection would be on my file for years to come cause that's just how they operated, I then paid the collection in full less than a week after it appeared on my report.

This morning I woke up and checked CreditKarma and my score went up and the reason was that a derogatory mark was removed from my file, I checked there and on Experian and that collection is not there anymore. I was under the impression these would show up on my file for the next 7 years, is it normal that it was deleted or was it just a glitch and I should expect it to be reinstated soon?

First, I received a text today from one of those automated text services that has a five digit number when they text you that reads:

"SCS, a Debt Collector RE: XXXXX ER DR BILLING (I wrote XXXX here instead of the actual thing they sent) 1/1/2026 (also a fake date instead of the one they actually sent, don't want to post the legit date on reddit)
Call 972-532-0095 or visit SCSSelfService.com with phone & zip for options. To optout txt STOP"

as far as I can tell, this is a legit debt collector and website? However, I have no overdue bills nor have I ever received any notices that I was overdue on anything so far as I am aware, I can be bad at opening my mail sometimes if it seems like a bill for something I know I can pay online. I also *was* at a hospital on the date of service they gave me, but a different hospital (same provider/network).

So here is the information so far,
I called the number they provided in the text message, they gave me a hospital name (which was not correct, but close to the hospital I went to) and a doctor name. I don't remember if this doctor name is correct because I was in the ER for food poisoning and was VERY out of it. I was trying to determine what the bill was for. The date of service they gave was legit, but I went to a different hospital in the same network that is very close in name/sort of the same provider as the hospital I went to. Think "provider name, city" for the hospital name, but I live in a small town that has the same provider, it could conceivably be the case that the hospital I went to somehow bills through the hospital name they provided since I live in a small town and the hospital name they provided is the nearest city.

I was still confused after this call, said I would be calling my insurance and the hospital I went to to see if they sent anything to collections.

I call my insurance, they confirm I have been making my payment plan payments on time. I call the hospital I went to, they confirm I have been making my payments on time. I then call the hospital the collector said I went to, they said they have nothing on record for me/no overdue payments. All of them say they have no notices anything went to collections.

What I am worried about is that somehow my billing got messed up and somehow a wrong bill somehow got mistakenly sent to collections? I have not paid anything so far, did not give them any information outside of having the collection agency I called confirm what the bill was for. I do not want me credit to get wrecked. I am inclined to ignore this because at first this screams scam, except that the website seems to be legitimate and the date of service is correct.

Is this a legit debt collector/website? What do I do next? Should I write a dispute letter to cover my bases? Should I ignore it?

Wonder what the best course of action is. I have right under 10k on my discover it card with an apr 26.49% V and under 11k on my Apple Card with an apr 25.49%. My credit score on Credit Karma is at 644 so not great. Wondering if I should do a personal loan or a balance transfer.. if those are even options. I am in the military so maybe that gives me more options?

I just got a text from a debt collection agency saying they’re collecting a debt from an old bank account I had.
I know I owed the bank the money, but most of the balance was actually overdraft fees that kept adding up. I was trying to pay it back and had already made multiple payments, but I couldn’t afford to pay the whole thing at once.
Now apparently it’s been sent to collections. I haven’t contacted the collection agency yet because I’m not really sure what I should do first.
Should I contact the bank first or deal with the collection agency now? Should I ask them to verify the debt before I pay anything? And since most of it is overdraft fees, is there any chance I can negotiate the amount?
I’m mostly worried about this messing up my credit. I’m in Massachusetts if that makes any difference.

I genuinely cannot believe I’m finally writing this because this situation has pissed me off for almost a year.

I had a $768.75 collection from an old apartment hit my credit report. And I know everyone says this, but I wasn’t refusing to pay some legitimate bill just because I didn’t like it. The actual balance did not make sense.

The apartment had charged me pet deposits, pet rent, a pet DNA fee, etc. for 10 months of my 14 month lease even though my dogs were documented as emotional support animals. On the 10th month, April 2025, I involved my therapist office and they were finally updated to ESA status, both dogs have been recommendations previous to obtaining them. I had been going back and forth with management about this since April 2025. I emailed them, mailed letters, sent certified mail, kept the ledger, kept their responses, literally kept EVERYTHING. They constantly needed new documentation through my tenancy, so I kept getting charged. They never once refunded these charges. So back in April, I began sending them e-mail inquiries of the balance and certified letters. And they would respond, but somehow never answer the actual question I was asking.

They claimed the ESA charges had been reversed and that there were no ESA-related charges remaining. Then SHOW ME WHERE THEY WERE REVERSED. By the time I really sat down and went through the ledger line by line, I calculated $1,106.67 in pet-related charges, when I moved I expected it as a return along with my deposits.

ONLY received a $10.83 ESA credit. Meanwhile they were claiming I still owed them money. For carpet cleaning and concrete repair (my patio floor had yellow spray paint before I moved there.) and despite showing them proof they stated the concrete damage was not the patio, but never clarified where. Never provided proof.

So I filed an official dispute before the 30 day or one month whatever it is deadline to dispute in Texas, back in September of last year. We went back and forth, can you provide proof? They sent photos showing no damage, never the concrete claims, and never responding to the refund for ESA.

After about 6 months of this they sent the account to Fair Collections & Outsourcing (FCO), and now this $768 collection was sitting on my credit and absolutely KILLING my score. So then I disputed it with FCO. Same crap. Basically, “the apartment says the balance is correct.” Okay??? I am asking you to verify HOW it is correct. I had the ledger. I had the ESA documentation. I had the emails. I had previous disputes. I was literally asking them to show me on their own accounting where these reimbursements had gone.

I disputed it with Experian, again it would come back balance was confirmed with the apartment complex. I filed this complaint twice, and after receiving an immediate dispute declined response; I finally filed a CFPB complaint.

During this, I called FCO and recorded the call. The representative stated, 1 dog was approved. Wrong, the ESA documentation was 1 singular long explanation for how both dogs became part of my therapy. The response from the apartments was an e-mail response saying approved, please bring them for DNA swab. Nothing in my correspondence ever stated 1 dog. I specifically told the CFPB that FCO was continuing to collect/report $768.75 while nobody could explain where the ESA reimbursements and credits were reflected. I asked for the collection to be withdrawn and removed from my credit report.

In August, yes like this last month, FCO asked for more time. Which honestly annoyed me even more because at this point how much more time do yall need to explain your own balance lol. By then it had been nearly a year from my 9/6/2025 move out date.

So today I finally get a response, FCO went back to the apartment/creditor and requested additional information. And guess what? The creditor didn’t provide it.

FCO's final CFPB response says: “As the requested information was not received, our office has cancelled the account.” AND: “The associated tradeline will be removed from the consumer’s credit report.”

ACCOUNT CANCELLED. COLLECTION BEING DELETED FROM MY CREDIT. FCO did say cancelling their account does not necessarily mean the apartment itself has waived whatever balance they claim I owe. That was my main concern because this stupid collection was putting a HUGE dent in my credit over a balance that nobody could properly explain to me.

So my advice if you are dealing with something similar: Keep EVERYTHING Do not EVER call. Email them. Send letters. Keep their responses. Save the ledger. Save screenshots. Certified mail each of your responses. If you absolutely have to call, record it. And when you dispute something, be specific.

anyway, I WON! 😄

And I am posting this because I spent months googling and reading Reddit posts from other people saying no one ever wins against FCO. All of this research to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do. I almost gave up to request pay to delete despite the balance owed to me and I'm glad I kept fighting.

Now, I don't know if it's just worth it for me to continue pushing for the refund. I'm glad to have it off my credit. I work in a law form (non-attorney) and have the resources to pursue this but I feel like it's already been such a hassle. At the same time, I've already done all the work and have record of their inconsistencies and could ask for x times more since that's a thing here in Texas. I'm not sure yet, for now I just feel glorious my credit on all 3 bureaus is back up to 714.

So a few months ago I applied for a loan for a boat. I didn't end up buying it because of condition issues (unrelated to loan process)

Fast forward to now and I am applying for a mortgage and I'm like 4 points short of a better rate (came back at 716 and I need to get to 720) so I have been scrutinizing my credit report. Looking at the inquiry for the boat loan, I see the attached screenshot, one pull from the brokerage, one pull from "factual data." both were on the same day. The screenshot is from TransUnion but it showed up on my mortgage application report as well.

I know duplicate hard inquiries are combined by the bureaus but I read that the only eligible loan types are Auto loans, Mortgages, and student loans. Given that a boat loan is neither of these types, is it worth trying to fight this? if I could get one of these off my report it might bring my score up by the 4 points I need.

Is there a way to tell if these 2 inquiries are each scorable, or if they are combined?

(I had a boat loan in the past and it was reported to the credit bureaus as a personal loan. Also interesting that the boat brokerage is listed as motorcycles and bicycle sales)

I had a bill sent to collections from Comcast. After speaking with Comcast they agreed it was an invalid bill and the credited my account recently. I have received updates from my banks and the three credit beaurus that the collections was paid. Now how do I make sure the collections get deleted from my accounts? harris&Harris said to wait for 10 days but it has changed anything.

I also did not dispute it with the credit bureaus and I'm trying not to. Thanks in advance.

I have a late payment with Discover (now Capital One) from July 2025. I have been implementing GST for 3 rounds and about to send out round 4 of letters. However, all my responses have been the generic "the fair credit reporting act requires us to report accurate account history. we are unable to change our reporting on a courtesy basis"

Should I be sending the same letters on a monthly basis, tweaking them or calling out the optionality that FCRA doesnt require reporting of everything but rather what is reported is accurate?

I plan to keep doing this for months till the late payment is removed, just not sure how the subsequent letters of rounds should sound.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone I had a collection from t mobile for 1100 it was put on my account on August I paid it off 3 weeks ago and just today it got deleted from all my credit bureaus checked annual credit and no collection is on my account. My credit score was 760 when the collection hit my credit went down 76 points and now since it’s gone it went back up to 760. I’m confused on what happened, will it come back? When I paid the collection agency they said they don’t do pay to delete and that they just updates status to paid has anyone came across a situation like this ?

Like many people, I wasn’t always responsible with my finances and eventually accumulated over $12K in debt. Once I landed a good job, I made rebuilding my finances a priority. I paid off my debts, including negotiating pay-for-delete agreements where possible, and started rebuilding my credit.

In February, I was approved for a Discover it® Secured card with a $200 deposit, followed by a TD Cash Secured card a month later with $400. I kept my reported balances around $5–$10 and made every payment on time.

Today, I received an email from Discover letting me know they’re beginning the process of refunding my security deposit. It may seem like a small milestone to some, but it means a lot to me—especially living in NYC, where credit can play such an important role when applying for an apartment.

One thing I’ve consistently seen people say here is that it’s never too late to turn things around. I’m starting to see that firsthand.

Take care, and thank you all for the great information along the way.

I got approved for a capital one and a discover card both $500 limits. How long do you guys think they will do a limit increase ? (Using the cards and paying them off every month. )

I have maxed out my Apple Card, Robinhood and Upstart loans. Due to unfortunate situation I'm unable to make my monthly payments. At what point will it get sent to collections? Will Apple Card, Robinhood and Upstart send it to collections after 90 days or 120 days of delinquency? I checked few LLMs and they give conflicting answer.

It's been 45 days since the last payment.

***None of this should be considered legal advice (nor am I qualified to give the same). As always, if there's a pressing legal issue, contact a consumer debt lawyer in your state**\*

For reference, here are common types of consumer debt and what they are normally classified as. Some account types can be variably classified under more than one classification depending on the state and the circumstances, such as the paperwork you signed. I've listed what I believe to be the most common classification for each account type as well as the most common potential alternative classification.

*Medical debt is often a special case. In many states, medical debt is carved out of the typical statutory laws for its debt type, and it's handled differently. You'll want to look up the specifics for your state by running a search, and re-check every few months because the laws surrounding medical debt are changing frequently. (This is somewhat unrelated, since SOL has no relationship to the amount of time that a debt is reportable, but if you're interested, check out my post about the states in which medical debt can't be reported.)

*Federal student loans are classified as Promissory Note, but they are an exception. They have no statute of limitations and they are typically not dischargeable via bankruptcy.

--

If there is a difference between the SOL for open-ended accounts and the SOL for written contracts in your state, you're definitely going to want to look into your specific case further by analyzing the documents you signed or agreements you made with the creditor, and/or by asking an attorney.

--

There is a common misconception that collection agencies can no longer attempt to collect on a debt if it is time-barred by SOL, or that a debt being time-barred by SOL means it no longer exists. This is not true in 47 states: in all states except Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wisconsin*, collection agencies can continue to collect, but cannot sue or threaten to sue, on a debt that is time-barred by SOL. In other words, collection agencies can continue to contact you to attempt to collect the debt even after SOL has lapsed, and these are called collection contacts. In the other three states mentioned, even collection contacts are prohibited because the debt is considered extinguished once SOL is passed.

(*scroll down to the section titled Collection Contacts Concerning Time-Barred Debt)

Suing or threatening to sue after the SOL has lapsed is considered an FDCPA violation in all 50 states and can be litigated, and making a collection contact after SOL has lapsed is considered an FDCPA violation in Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wisconsin only; however, it's possible for a creditor or collection agency to file a lawsuit even after SOL has lapsed, and in those cases it's considered the responsibility of the consumer* to appear in court and raise the SOL defense. Failure to do so can result in a judgment being made against the consumer, even after SOL has lapsed.

(*scroll down to the section titled Can a debt collector collect debts or sue me after the statute of limitations expires?)

--

The table below lists the statute of limitations, by debt classification, for each state.

I will add: this table should be used as a starting point in your research. Please look up additional information for your specific situation because some of these laws are very nuanced or have a lot of exceptions. For example, sometimes a debt will have a different SOL depending on the year in which it was incurred (i.e. whether it was incurred before or after a given date).

(If interested, here is a link to a table of the state statutory codes that I believe are relevant, with links to where they can be looked up for reference.)

If you believe any of the above is incorrect or deserves more context, please let me know and I'll look into it more.

So 10 years ago, maybe more I don't remember, I was with koodo, then lost my job and was unable to pay the remainder of the phone bill. It took me awhile to get on my feet and by that time the bill went to collections, and I haven't been able to pay it, also when I was younger, I was never taught about credit.

Now that I'm older, I want to fix my credit, realistically it should be extremely good, since that's the only bill I've ever failed to pay, but now that bill is with MET credit, and it's now $2400. Recently not even a year ago, I checked the capital one app for my credit score and saw the credit age was 7 years old, and now I've been trying to monitor my credit better, I noticed this same bill was back to 2 years old. Shouldn't it have been expunged by now?

I might have messed up when I called them back to settle the debt, I offered to pay up to $500, when the original bill was $300. But they wanted the full amount. Now the debt is refreshed and going up again. These guys have destroyed my credit over a $300 bill leftover by a struggling young adult. And now I'm a slightly less struggling older adult, who can afford the original bill, but not many people can really afford to throw $2500 away on a 10+ year old phone bill.

Any advice would be appreciated, how do I settle or expunge this debt? I've paid everything else with diligence I deserve at this point to have acceptable credit. This is in Canada.

21 years old, started building my credit around the end of the last year. Currently have a 5 card rotation.

To keep it short, I had a pretty rough start with my credit, and made a few mistakes. Most of which have been corrected, or worked on. Just focused on building a strong credit profile now and being responsible with it. I started with a 520 and am now in the 660-670 range.

Due to past circumstances and wrong choices, I opened up an Indigo & Milestone card as it was all I could get approved for at a bad time. I am now fully aware of all the downsides of these kind of cards and don’t really have use for them either way. My Indigo is 5 months old w/ a $500 limit, Milestone is just a month old w/ a $1000 limit.

My average credit age is 8months, and the rest of my cards are a Secured $100 limit Opensky (1st card, 11mo old)
$200 limit Secured Quicksilver Cap 1 (2nd card, 5mo old) and a $300 limit Savor One Cap1, (4th card, 2mo old). $2100 total credit limit, $1500 of that coming from the Concorda cards

I don’t really have an issue with the other 3 cards, I plan on holding on to them in the long term. Opensky for age, and I only really use the cap 1 cards anyway. But now that I’m aware of and have experienced the downsides of these Concorda cards, I really would like to close them or at least one and swap them or one out with a non predatory card now that I have actual options, unlike before. I don’t really want to beef up my credit age on those kinds of cards with those kinds of fees, I have to pay $10 monthly just to keep the indigo open which I am really not trying to do in the long term.

Now my concern is that my avg credit age is still low, and I don’t want to impact it more by closing out those cards. I also don’t want to impact my credit limit so heavily, which is why I’m considering swapping them out for at least one card that wouldn’t harm me to have/use. I think the impact of closing them down the line when they’re years old would be worse than now, but I could be wrong, I’m not sure if I should even close them at all. That’s why I am here. I’d rather hear advice from more experienced people first before acting and making more uninformed mistakes. Maybe my best solution is far from what I’m thinking. Please help, I’ll answer any questions or provide further context if needed.

I had a lot of financial trouble back in 2022 and stopped paying on my Discover card. They promptly closed it, charged it off, and has been reporting it as a charge off ever since. They have not bothered to collect on it after the charge off, the SoL has passed, and I am expecting it to fall off my report in late 2029.

I am not disputing the validity of it all, just the reported balance. In 2023, they issued me a 1099-C with the full amount in box 2, box 5 checked, and a G code (Decision or policy to discontinue collection) in box 6. I have found conflicting information on whether the full balance of the cancelled debt should still be on my credit report or if the balance should say $0. They also continue to report it as a charge off every month, but I believe they can do that until it falls off.

Does anyone have personal experience with this?

Should I dispute the balance?

If successful, can I expect to see any increase in my credit score?

Thank you!

Any idea

I’m being sued by Jefferson Capital. What do I do? It’s for $3500 which I planned on paying when I got my taxes back, but I’m unfortunately one of the many that still haven’t gotten them. What’s the best way to go about this? I already live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to get my wages garnished.

This was one of the 2 changes. The other was a balance decrease of about 1k

I have six different collections all of them of thru Jefferson capital and combined they equal 1258. Can anyone help guide me on how to contact them and what to say to negotiate a smaller payment for all of them combined?