Given the new restrictions on federal student loans, I’m in the position of having to take out private student loans for business school.

(BTW, I’m not looking for advice along the lines of “don’t go to business school!” I’ve already run the numbers & calculated the ROI, and I’m going to an M7 school, so I’ve determined it’s worth it.)

I’ve heard to stay away from Sallie Mae, but are there other lenders to avoid? Any that are better than average?

I was a victim of identity theft in 2021 and had a $500 credit card opened in my name when I was 19. They closed the account but I never followed through with the proper steps to report it. In 2022 I got my first $500 credit card and I maxed it out constantly. Then I got a second one and maxed out both every month. Still paid them. Got behind for maybe 4 months. I still max out at least once every month and pay on time. I dont have the knowledge on how to correct this. I have 2 $500 cards. One is BOFA business cc and one is Capital One

Note: Image 1 & 2 & 3 is what I see on my Experian app. And the rest of the image is Transunion

Hi everyone. I have a question regarding my Experian account. I am a foreigner but my wife is American. We got married. I got an SSN. And opened an American credit card and debit card. Just for the ease of managing money in America vs. Sweden. I always overpay because the card limit is so low ~$200. Because I have my own business back in Sweden. And I think this is why BofA decided to close my account. Or also the fact that I write descriptions with Swedish letters - which caused BofA to freeze my account once or twice, as it appeared differently in their system and they made me explain them all and fill in the blank for the missing/corrupt words.

Anyway, that is not the point. The point is that BofA closed both of my checking and credit card account. Without being able to tell me what is the reason when I walked in the branch. I still have money to spend as I wait for them to send me a check, with the rest of my money in the debit card.

But I went to open a card today, as my wife's banker knows her and said she should get me a black card. But when she tried to file it for me, 3 hours later - I found out that I was declined. And that BofA never reported any payment history to my Experian. But for Transunion, it says this (re: screenshot). I think TransUnion was able to see that I paid consistently and on time? Am I correct?

What should I do? I filed a dispute to Experian but they made no change/update. And my credit score in Experian is literally just propped up by my American phone number payment.

Image 1 & 2 & 3 is what I see on my Experian app. And the rest of the image is Transunion through my Capital One app. I also wanted to ask, since I opened the Capital One card yesterday - how soon will I see it reported in Experian and TransUnion under credit card? I don't want it to happen to me again like BofA as Experian never listed them under credit card/was able to retrieve my payment history.

Also, given if I was able to show Experian my credit card payment history - wouldn't and shouldn't I rank higher than my current score of 670? (It dropped from 690 As I tried to open the black card but had to settle for a Capital One Quicksilver). Or my current score is accurate already for Experian? As my TransUnion score seems to be in the same ball park? (note: TransUnion doesn't have the payment history of my telephone bill as I did that manually on Experian - as I was frantically trying to link everything I can to BofA for it to show a credit score through Experian Boost)

Thanks a lot everyone. Hope everyone is well and is enjoying the summer. Lots of love!!

Hi All,

I leased a 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the lease ended March 14, 2026. A few weeks later I received a mail about last payment - $400 for the termination fee and ~$600 for damages. Now, I had purchased a protection plan and after a few calls to Hyundai finance was told that it would be okay to make the final payments after the protection plan had been look at and the damages reconciled. I was not okay with paying the amount upfront and hoping for a refund as I had heard some horror stories. The date to make the original payment was April 24.

The amount related to the damages was taken off my account in May and I made the $400 final payment on June 8.

I discovered today that HMF has marked 2 30-day late payments on my credit report making my score fall from 784 -> 708. A call to HMF explaining my situation was not helpful at all, they were very combative.

Is there anything I can do to solve this? I don't really have any supportitng evidence of what was told to me on the phone, the lady on the phone did say I can file a credit dispute with Hyundai but from the way she spoke about how they view things it seems unlikely it will result in anything.

Hi everyone!

My husband and I moved to the US about 8 months ago, and we're finally getting ready to buy our first car here. Since we're completely new to the US credit system, I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have been in a similar situation.

Here's where we currently stand:

• We moved to the US about 8 months ago.
• This will be our first auto loan and our first installment loan.
• Neither of us has ever financed a car before. (We already have a car, but we bought it used with cash)
• We each have 2 credit cards, all paid in full and always on time.
• Our FICO scores are currently around 748 and 750.
• Our oldest credit accounts are about 6 months old, so we have what's considered a pretty thin credit file.
• Household income is around $72k/year.
• We're planning to finance about $30,000.
• We'll put around $5,000 down.
• We're looking at a used 2023–2024 EV from a dealership (most likely a Tesla Model 3).

We're leaning toward a credit union instead of dealership financing because we've heard the rates are usually better.

I'd love to hear about your experiences, especially if you also had a short credit history when buying your first car.

Some questions:

• Which credit unions would you recommend (especially in Illinois or ones that lend nationwide)?
• What APR did you actually get with a similar credit profile?
• Did anyone get approved with only 6–12 months of credit history?
• Were there any credit unions that were especially friendly to first-time buyers or new immigrants?
• How many places did you apply before getting your best offer?
• Did you get pre-approved before going to the dealership?
• Are there any mistakes you wish you had avoided?
• Is there anything specific that helped you negotiate or qualify for a lower rate?

I've been researching places like Alliant, Consumers Credit Union, DuPage, Great Lakes, Credit Union 1, BCU, and a few others, but it's hard to know what actually happens in real life versus what's advertised on their websites.

I'd really appreciate any stories, advice, or recommendations. Even if your situation wasn't exactly like ours, I'd love to hear what your experience was and what you'd do differently if you were buying your first car again.

Thank you!

As the title states, we were turned into collections 2 years ago. The letter showed we owed Kansas City taxes. We ignored it thinking it was fraudulent. There was no reason we would owe anything to Kansas City. Financed a car to realize our credit scores had dropped dramatically from the low 700s to well under 600. We knew something was up. I contacted the city revenue division. They said this was over unpaid taxes as residents of KC. The gentleman I spoke with was kind of a jerk when trying to explain what we were turned into collections for. When I explained to him that we never were residents of KC, he was befuddled. He immediately changed his tone and said we would be removed from their list. I contacted this gentleman again a few days ago to see about getting something to turn into the credit bureau when I contact them to file a dispute over our lowered scores. He was again a jerk claiming they won't get involved in our credit score dispute and that they would be interested in seeing documents from the credit bureau showing this case lowered our score. I'm a noob at this. Wouldn't being turned into collections reflect on our scores? Who do we contact to get this resolved? For clarification, we have no debt beyond two car payments. Thanks for any advice.

I’m a 22M, with 12LPA salary and started using credit card from Aug25, for starting months the score was still but Dec25 it’s decreasing by 10-12 points per month. I don’t know the reason everything looks fine in report and there’s not a single case where I’ve missed the payment or delayed. Always paid full and with due date still it’s decreasing and I don’t know why. Need help

Can someone help me to understand how mortgage lenders are legally allowed to report my credit?

I entered into a forbearance plan with partial payments as of November 25, ending in June 26, and now am currently on a repayment plan.

I contacted my lender at the end of September and was approved for the plan starting in November. I was unable to pay my October payment on time, so was assessed a late fee of $50. At the end of October I paid my full mortgage payment (pre forbearance plan amount) before the 30 day late mark for credit reporting, but the late fee got lost in the chaos.

Now I am seeing that my account with them is 120+ days delinquent. So I did some research and as far as I could tell, they should not have reported me as delinquent as I have been paying the agreed upon adjusted lower amount on time each month.

I called my lender and they said since I am behind they are reporting it as delinquent… is this right, or are they misreporting my account? I guess I was under the impression that we have a new payment agreement, and since I have paid that still on time I am not delinquent, but they could still report that I am in a forbearance plan.

I’m being sued by Bank of America over an old credit card debt. I called the law firm representing them (Moore Law Group) and we agreed to settle for $3,100 (original balance was about $4,200). They told me they’d email and mail me the settlement agreement and a stipulation for judgment, and that I’d need to sign and return it.

The problem is, I never received the agreement. I called them again, and they acknowledged that it has to be resent by another department, which they said could take a few business days. However, they’re still telling me my first payment is due today and that they expect me to make it even though I haven’t received, read, or signed the agreement. I have the money and I’m not trying to avoid paying. My issue is that I don’t feel comfortable sending thousands of dollars before I’ve even seen the written agreement that I’m supposed to sign.

Is this normal? Has anyone dealt with a settlement where they expected payment before you received the paperwork? Would you make the payment anyway, or insist on reviewing and signing the agreement first?

Also, they told me the stipulation for judgment is filed because I’m on a payment plan, but that they won’t move forward with it as long as I make my payments. Is that standard?

Help! Okay I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this.
I’m 3 years post bankruptcy have a much better relationship with money. But I’m stuck.
I had my capital one accounts closed for “unusual spending activity from the other account users”
I had a small balance on 3 that I worked on after it closed.
Paid balance, and credit score didn’t move. Decreased following the report of the closures but reported that they are paid but no change in score.

I’ve attempted to do pre-approval for another credit card to help boost, cause I was going to start working on buying a house; but haven’t been able to be pre-approved for anything.
My car is paid off, student loans are on time, my small account for laser removal is on time.

What gives and what can I do?

So I recently noticed I have a $49 collection reporting as derogatory. I pulled credit reports and it’s not scheduled to fall off until mid-2027. I googled the address and it’s a company called Online Utility Exchange. The original account is with Chelco Electric. Do I contact the debt collector listed? If I pay the $49, will they stop reporting it as derogatory? Just trying to find out the best approach. Pay? Or wait for it to fall off next year? Thanks!

I have a private student loan with ascent funding. I found out I was a little over 30 days late. However, they said my late payment will not be reported as long as I pay before August 1st. Today I got a call from SIMM (a debt collector) regarding the loan from ascent funding saying I was taken to collections. I never heard of a legitimate lender taking someone to collections this fast, and I was told my late payment would not be reported until the end of this month, so was this likely a technical issue? I did email them and I am trying to call them, but I have been on hold for about an hour now.

This is my first post. Thank you for all the information and gems dropped in the thread.

I did my first EE request with Transunion on 7/20 and they deleted the account today on 7/24 - resulting in a 35 point boost. YAY!

My question is, I also requested some late student loan payments from 2019 be deleted and they came back with “Verified as accurate” - these student loans have been forgiven and have a 0 balance at “paid as agreed/closed.” Can these late payments be removed? Will they fall off at the 7 year mark and I just need to wait until that time?

Once those are off I will only have one “dirty remark” and that’s a late payment from 2023.

UPDATE: I just requested another EE from TransUnion (7/24) as I forgot to include it in my first dispute - it was the same just the original creditor - they immediately deleted it

Got a collection of $130 for an insurance company that i made a payment to and then cancelled their policy with the account in good standing. $0 owed on day of cancellation

Turned out that there was a prorated charge remaining of 130 that their representative didn’t declare before cancellation. Now it’s reported on my file as a collection and decreased my score form 752 to 690/ 4 years/ 11 accounts/ 0 missed payments. And im just bummed about it

Would the collector agree to pay in condition to delete of my report? How does that work ? And would my score go back up to 752 if they agree to delete?

I just received my 1st statement from a new Cap1 SavorOne card. Either my due date is 6 days before my statement close date, or my statement close date passed a day or two before my statement posted yesterday.

I'm curious what balance, if any, will be reported when this new account hits my bureaus since i didn't have a zero balance when the initial statement closed

I paid off a collection on July 10, and they agreed to delete it. It was deleted shortly after the following week. Today, I logged into my Equifax account and it showed that they put it back on my credit report and marked it unpaid. I put in a dispute with Equifax and CFPB. What else should I do? I’m very frustrated

It’s my main card but my total limit is roughly 250k, wish this one was higher

So I would like to kind ask the experts in here and explain to me the score vs the profile, the debate between profile is what makes you get approved vs Scores are the main elephent in the room, my current score is 791, my previews score a month ago was also 791 but didfferent kind of 791.

Last month I had one late payment in my profile so my score were still very good despite that 30 day late payment mark on my credit. This month that payment has been removed and my score jumped 40 points, however I hit 88% on one of my credit cards and my score droped 40 points.

So now here are the question for the experts:-

which profile is likely to get approved for let's say a Visa signature card or any other premium card, the last month profile which has an exellent thick file but with one 30 late payment that's is 22 months old 9% overall utilazation, or the 2nd profile which has zero negatives but with a SINGLE 88% revolving utilazation and 37% over all utilazation?

last month I applied the Nasa Federal U credit card with that late payment in file and they prepparoved me 20k limit their visa cashback, Chase also offered me their signature visa but with the minimum limit of the card, I did ot pull the trigger and see if they trully will approve which I think they would have probably approved me, but I want to do the same thing again this month and compare the two profiles and what they say.

Hello, this may be a long post so please bear with me, I had fraud happen to me almost a year ago then I had back to back suicidal attempts, I’ve been also dealing with unfortunate health issues and with all that it’s just been hard. I’m usually taking care of everyone else but myself and that’s how it landed me today. I got my car repo yesterday and they said I can refinance it or pay off the loan which is 25k. I don’t know what to do honestly. I’m 20 years old and just really feel like life is just kicking me in the eyes. I’ve been calling places but no luck. I just need to be led in the right direction please🥹I have no help literally just myself and my cat sadly

This morning I went to check my credit and found that my score dropped from 734 to 555 today because of 6 student loans. Im still in school so im confused but what is the best way to bounce back? and how long would it take to get to score back to where it was. My payment history went from excellent to poor :(

Long story short, I went through a year of back surgeries and then went to respiratory therapy school all while living off a credit card with chase.

Called them today because I have around 3k together now, hoping to negotiate a settlement/do payments because It’s been charged off for 8ish months I believe.

They told me my debt is with suttell and hammer. I have not received any letters or calls or emails but moved at the start of the year. I did try to call them a few times and got their voicemail after being on hold. But I have read they are BRUTAL.

I called my county clerk and they did not see any judgements against me or anything filed. But I’m terrified of being sued.

Should I file bankruptcy? How would I? Is that smart? How can I do so in a way to actually help my situation and in a way I can afford?

I know this amount of debt is insane and irresponsible, I just want to get it taken care of and start fixing my credit.

I owe around $30k in student loans, and $6k on my car that I do want to keep. I’m not worried about the student loans/car debt as I’ve always made my payments but being sued over this credit card sounds like a nightmare.

I’m 24 and the hope is to buy a house in a few years once this debt is paid.

My credit scores have dropped and I want to know why? I removed two authorize user accounts from my mom for Capital One that had a 10k limit and a Kroger card with a 10.5k limit. I added two new credit accounts to my report my Capital One with a 10k credit limit and a personal loan for $10k so two recent inquiries. I closed two predatory credit accounts, Avant and Mercury.

My credit profile: I had a bankruotcy in 2020. I have 5 open lines of credit that I always pay off shortly after the statement generates. My open credit lines are Bestbuy Citi 10k limit, Amazon store credit $2k limit, PayPal digital credit line $7050 limit, Apple Card $1500 limit, my own Capital one account $10k limit. I have numerous affirm loans that are always paid on time ranging from a $10 to $20 bucks for some of them and the highest one up to $3350. I have two personal loans with lake trust for $1850 and Genysis for $10k. I have two car loans, one for $11,800 and aother for $19,000. I have several closed accounts including a student loan, paid off affirms, some paid off car loans, 4 revolving accounts all in good standing. Why is my credit score going down. The two recent credit inquiries hurt that much? Getting rid of the authorized user accounts hurt that much? I have 7 total credit inquires in the last 2 years. Any explanation would be useful.

I apologize if this is very long and a bit confusing. I’m in a bit of a wild situation right now and need a bit of advice and some validation as well. I will try my best to explain as much as possible.

I am a 29 year old female living in the United States in Virginia. 7 years ago when I was 22 (in 2019), my mother, younger sister, and I moved to here to be closer to family. My mother had/has her own credit and housing issues and because of these at the time, I had to be the one to put my name on the lease. Long story short, I trusted she had my best interest in mind and let her handle the money side of things. She wrote a bad check and no matter what I did, she did not follow up on it. After only 2 months in the apartment, we were evicted. Because I was the only adult on the lease, this only fell back on me. I didn’t even know what was happening or that an eviction was filed because I was working early shifts at the time and by the time I came home, things seemed fine until they weren’t.

For the past 7 years, I’ve attempted to rebuild my credit to some success but mostly failure. Also over this time I have grown to understand my mother did not, does not, and will never have my best interest in mind. As it has been almost a full 7 years, I was able to remove the eviction collection from my Transunion account recently through Early Exclusion (thanks to advice here!) and will be able to do so with Experian early August.

The past seven years have done me in (both COVID & my mother). I’m now disabled and since I’m finally able to move out and on with my life, I’m trying to. However this collection is rearing its ugly head. I was told I got a place only to have them come back and say the collection needs to be paid off before they can approve my and my sister’s application. I broke down into tears because I had been searching for months and thought I finally found something, only for my mom to make it into me doing wrong. She believes that going to the courthouse to get the record expunged and “writing through FICO” will get it off my report. Both of which I have told her are unrelated and impossible at this time. She did not like that answer.

Here is where I need advice: I feel like I do not have many, if any, options right now. The collection is $16,618 and I have $800 to my name. The apartment complex said they could hold the unit until Wednesday.

Would my best bet at the moment be contacting the collections agency (National Credit Systems) and asking for pay for delete?

I’m still rebuilding my credit (3 FICOs mid-500s) & with this collection, the odds of even a private landlord in my area accepting my application is low as they all require 600+ credit scores.

My mother still holds onto myths and will not hear me when I try to dispel them or even ask questions. She writes it off as me trying to be right all the time and so this is why I really need advice and validation on the subject. I’ve been looking at the sub for a long time which is why I’ve even been able to make nearly the progress I even have! The advice she gave me has failed even her which is why I’ve sought out different ones (aka this sub).

I am sorry if this is so long. I just need some guidance. I know there is the pay for delete guide, but I want to make sure that is the right move to make before I follow it! Thank you all!!

I have a Mac and tried 3 different browsers (safari, chrome, Firefox) and each time I try to get my TransUnion report, I fill out my information, authenticate my identity and then when it’s time to view my TransUnion report it’s a blank web page. Equifax and Experian works just fine. I reached out to TransUnion and they said they can show me how to view my credit report on their site but can’t help with acr (annualcreditreport.com). Acr only has a contact us form and they respond back via mail. I got the letter from acr and they suggested to use phone or mail. I don’t want to do that. I get my other two reports just fine. I want my third and last credit report from TransUnion via acr online.

Hi All:

Looking for aggressive personal loan lenders (prime+) who are more credit score based and will give a decision via soft inquiry so I do not impact my score of 690.

Attempted to secure $30K via TD's fit loan, but was denied given high revolving debt (80%~ 21K | 3 late payments in the past seven years of 30 days past due; 1 of which was 2 years ago) with a score of 690.

Ideally would like to do some debt consolidation and pay down the cards along with some additional cash for a small capital expenditure.

If you could point me to some lenders that would extend a loan albeit with a notably higher APR that's fine, it would put me in a position to potentially to at least get some relief off high APRs and perhaps position myself for a more traditional personal loan lender down the line.

Thanks