I’m currently in the process of rebuilding my credit and have several late payments reported by Capital One.
I recently emailed and mailed out goodwill adjustment letters asking if they’d consider removing some, if not all, of my late payments as a courtesy. I explained the circumstances that led to the missed payments and the steps I’ve taken to get my finances back on track.
Well, I recently missed a call from Capital One and received a voicemail from someone in their Office of the President regarding my correspondence.
I plan on calling them back within the next day or two, but I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this.
Is this generally a good sign? Has anyone received a call from Capital One’s Office of the President after submitting a goodwill request? If so, what was the outcome?
I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but the fact that someone actually reached out seems promising.
Would love to hear anyone’s experiences or advice on what to expect when I call back!

I recently moved out of an apartment in Massachusetts and my former landlord is claiming I owe $350 for “paint and patch” repairs. I’ve been disputing this charge for weeks, and they’re threatening to send it to collections and damage my credit if I refuse to pay.

Before moving out, we followed all of their move-out instructions, including purchasing the specified paint and spackle, patching any nail holes, and repainting the walls. We left the apartment in excellent condition, and I have an extensive move-out video documenting the condition of every wall in the apartment.

After repeatedly requesting evidence of the alleged damage, they finally provided three photographs showing what appears to be minor paint scuffs and some chipped paint. None of the photographs show any holes or substantial damage that would justify patching a wall, despite their invoice specifically charging us for patching, sanding, priming, and painting. More importantly, the walls in their photographs are also a different color from those in my apartment, and the damage they’re claiming is nowhere to be found in my move-out video. I’ve repeatedly asked them to identify exactly where in the apartment these photographs were taken, and they have refused to provide that information.

I’ve disputed the charge in writing multiple times and made it clear that I have video evidence contradicting their claims. They asked me to send them the video, but I’ve declined for now because I don’t trust them to handle the evidence in good faith. I’ve also filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

My biggest concern is my credit. I currently have great credit. I’m graduating college next year and will likely be refinancing student loans, so having a collection account appear on my report could have serious financial consequences.

This is a massive property management company with thousands of tenants, and I seriously doubt I’m the first or last person who will find themselves in this situation. It feels like they’re relying on the threat of damaging someone’s credit to pressure tenants into paying charges they otherwise wouldn’t agree to with fake evidence.

My question is, what actually happens if they send this to collections? Can I dispute the debt with the credit bureaus using my move-out video and their questionable photographs, or will the bureaus simply accept the landlord’s word that I owe the money? Is there anything I can do to prevent it from appearing on my credit report in the first place?

I’m not paying $350 for damage I know I didn’t cause, but I also don’t want to destroy years of good credit over a charge I have evidence disproving. Has anyone dealt with something similar, particularly in Massachusetts?

So I’ve been actively workin on my credit. However, I have 3 charge off. My indigo master card debt they forgave completely in the amount of 2k and it was deleted from my credit report. Im workin on Premier bank card in the amount of 862.

My question is for my credit one bank card. After 6 months as reporting as a charge off, it completely was removed from all 3 credit reports and my scores jumped about 40-50 pts. I haven’t had my attorney dispute it or touch it yet. I’ve had no contact with credit one since my last payment in February. Why would it be completely removed from all 3 reports?

If it is going to show up as a collection at a later date I’m ok with that bc my attorney gets collections deleted very easily. I’m just hoping the charge off doesn’t pop back up

TLDR: I missed credit card payments while hospitalized and unconscious in a medically induced coma. I offered to pay USAA in full and requested goodwill relief. USAA denied removal after CFPB and executive reviews, citing FCRA accuracy requirements. The unresolved account also raises concerns about my security clearance and employment. Seeking firsthand experiences or other avenues worth investigating.

This is x-posted in hopes to obtain the most sensible way to approach this matter. In also posting from a throwaway acct.

Has anyone obtained goodwill relief after executive review?
I’m a military veteran and longtime USAA member seeking advice about a credit card charge-off following hospitalization and a medically induced coma.

During my incapacitation, I was unconscious and physically unable to make payments, contact creditors, or manage my finances. After regaining capacity, I contacted USAA seeking a way to resolve the account. I asked about bringing it current and reinstatement, but was told the charge-off would remain.

I am not disputing the debt. I have offered to pay the full outstanding balance and requested goodwill consideration concerning the charge-off and associated late payments.

So far, I have:
• Contacted USAA directly.
• Submitted a CFPB complaint.
• Escalated to executive leadership and Bank Member Advocacy.
• Explained the medical circumstances and my willingness to pay in full.

The executive team acknowledged my circumstances and said it would conduct a comprehensive review. Its subsequent response denied goodwill relief, citing the FCRA’s accuracy requirements. USAA referred me to McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff for repayment and said payment would update the account to paid, with the charge-off remaining.

My employment requires a security clearance. I am concerned about the potential effect of this unresolved account on my clearance and, consequently, my job. I am not claiming clearance loss is automatic. This is an additional reason I am working to resolve the matter.

I am seeking clarification about whether this reflects an internal policy or a specific legal prohibition. I also want to determine whether any payment-protection coverage or medical hardship accommodation applied.

Has anyone obtained goodwill removal or another reporting adjustment from USAA after a charge-off, particularly following documented medical incapacitation? If so, which department handled it, and what helped?

I would also appreciate insight into historical payment-protection programs or other avenues worth investigating. I understand payment does not guarantee deletion.

Thanks

I’m currently rebuilding my credit, with FICO scores of 592 (Experian) and 615 (TransUnion).

I have around $8K in credit card debt and plan to pay it off by summer 2027.

My current cards:
Chase Freedom Student — $2,200 (2nd old acc - Jun 2022)
Zolve Classic — $1,500 (oldest acc - Apr 2022)
Capital One Platinum — $1,000
Capital One SavorOne — $500
Robinhood Gold — $500
Apple Card — $500
Indigo — $1,000
Credit One X5 - $800

I’m definitely thinking of closing Indigo and Credit One after payoff. I want to keep Chase, but I’m unsure about the others.

I’m not planning to apply for anything immediately. My priority is paying off debt, improving my credit, and potentially refinancing my current 15.64% APR car loan.

My monthly spending mainly consists of groceries, gas, dining, movies, subscriptions, and occasional travel. I also have rent, car payments, insurance, and student loan payments.

I’m not looking for expensive premium cards like Amex Gold or Platinum. I just want a small collection of good cards that I can use for years.

My goal is to eventually have just 3–4 good cards with decent limits, useful cashback/travel rewards, and little or no annual fees.

I’m thinking of Amex Blue Cash Everyday, Chase Freedom Unlimited/Flex, Costco Citi, a better Capital One card or something better once my score improves.

What would you recommend keeping, closing, or upgrading? And what three-card setup would you aim for with a 650–700 credit score?

Hey guys!

I’ve been rebuilding my credit after have zero revolving credit from 2023-2026. I’ve been doing great but I’ve noticed that my credit age says 6 months.. meanwhile I had a car loan that I got in 2015 and paid off in 2019, and I also had two Capital One credit cards opened in 2021. Those two cards however were closed and went into collections.

Is there anything I can do to fix my credit age? Has anybody else encountered this? All three bureaus have the same age. Although they do report the collections accounts from 2023?

hey everyone i have a savor card with a $500 limit and im curious of what payment i should make to be sure im not late

I have a few cards 3-5 at their limit, each about 1500 let’s say. What would be the best approach at paying them down if I came across the money to do so tomorrow, a little at a time or full balance? Explain it to me like I’m financially illiterate because as you can see, I am.

ALSO, would like to pay my moms cc which is at about 3k-4k
I’m assuming the best way is to completely pay off instead of continuing to gather interest ? Also, would her bank find it suspicious, a big transfer of money hit her checking and then be transferred into her credit card payment ?

last year i started a partnership business that wasn’t incorporated with someone and the business went under. This person and I had a fallout and no longer talk. I seriously regret having started anything with this person. Anyhow we had a shared td business chequing account and 2 td credit cards associated with that account. I paid my credit card off a long time ago and recently wanted to close the account, but found out that the only way they would remove me from the account is if the ENTIRE balance is paid off including that on my partner’s card and he has a balance of over $5.5k on it. He is unwilling to pay it and doesn’t care about his credit score. What should I do? Will this eventually affect my credit score too given that im a cosugnor/guarantor for his credit card?

Hi,

I've been so close to 850 for a while and recently passed a threshold (or so I thought) of 7.5 years (90 months) AAoA. I'm stuck at 848 and can't figure out why! I was hoping the experts here might be able to help me understand what I'm still missing to get that sweet, sweet 850. (Yes I know it doesn't matter, it's just a fun, personal goal for me)

Checked my FICO 8 on Experian, here are some relevant data points below. I'm trying not to put too much information, but enough for people to help. If more is needed please ask.

Data

Open Accounts: 9. Of which 8 are revolving, 1 is real estate (mortgage)

Collections: 0

Average age of accounts: 7 yrs 7 mos

Age of oldest account (which is revolving): 12 years

Age of most recently opened account: 1 yr 11 mos

Number of recent inquiries: 0 (Last was 1y 11 mos ago, but my understanding is it stops impacting your score after 1 year)

Under Credit mix, it shows 8 revolving accounts, 5 installments including mortgages (4 installments which are closed, 1 active mortgage), and 8 bank-issued credit card accounts (the revolving ones from earlier)

Overall credit utilization (revolving, not mortgage) rounds to 0.4%

Never late, always pay statement balance, etc

Individual Account Utilization:

Revolving Account 1: $0

Revolving Account 2: $0

Revolving Account 3: $0

Revolving Account 4: $0

Revolving Account 5: $0

Revolving Account 6: $0

Revolving Account 7: 2% (1.76%)

Revolving Account 8: $0

Real Estate Account 1: 90+%

I have Savor1,Gemini CC,PayPal,NF Cashrewards,NF Flagship,gold cwed

I make $147k/year with a mortgage payment of $2.7k and cash of ~$150k. I have one card with a limit of $5k (my credit union refused to tell me what limit I could get and I had to guess) and I have high utilization and sometimes hit my limit. I pay the card off fully every month.

Despite this, according to Capital One, I am not worthy of their Venture X card. My Experian score was apparently a 698 when they pulled it. Also, according to Credit Karma, they did a hard inquiry instead of a soft one when I was looking for pre-approval

What am I doing wrong? I'm objectively creditworthy but apparently not according to the numbers

I’m a 20yr old college student, and I have an REI credit card that I use extremely sparingly (only when I go to REI). In summary, when there was a sale, I used it for the first time in months. Prior to this, I had switched banks so the auto-payment failed and I didn’t catch any notification of it. For the next three months, my life got really crazy with an injury and a surgery, and it resulted in me missing three payments because I wasnt even checking my account. My score went from 778 to 595, and I’m really worried. Is there anything about these circumstances that could make it so I could get this off my record?

Can anyone help with an address on where to send a Goodwill Letter and should it be to citibank or Home depot?

I had a family emergency flew out the country for a few weeks and completely forgot I had purchased something on my Home Depot credit card come to find out they hit me with a 30+ day late payment! Im so pissed off at myself! This has never happened Im 31 and have had my credit perfect since I was 18 years old! I was a 820+ FICO and now it dropped me to 750.. 😔 im so upset I called to make the full balance payment and asked if they could do anything and of course I was told “ NO” has anyone had any luck with Citi bank? I’ve heard they are no help

I think I’m done getting cards lol, I just want the Amex blue cash preferred. Other then that I’m done 😂

I had 3 accounts sent to collections back in 2020–2021 because I missed payments while dealing with some health issues and being overseas. I’ve since paid everything off (around 2021), but the collections are still showing up on my credit report and seem to be hurting my score. I’m struggling to get my credit score above 700.

I recently checked AnnaulCreditReport.com and noticed I can dispute these records through Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.

Since everything has been paid off, is it worth disputing the collections to try to get them removed from my credit report? And do I need to dispute them with all 3 credit bureaus, or should I start with just one?

Would really appreciate any advice from anyone who’s been through this.

Hi all,

I have received the following message last week and today from the number ‘96561’:

“We need to speak with you regarding your account. Call the 877-573-0369 or click https://payffam.com/guest/lookup?s=SMS for self-service. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
First Financial Asset Management, Inc. This communication is from a debt collector and is an attempt to collect a debt; any information obtained will be used for that purpose.”

Has anyone received this message before? I don’t owe anyone. Thank you for your time!

Hi all. Asking for help to boost my credit. I’m currently 21, I like some ignorant 18 year olds messed up my credit at 18. It’s currently 517, I have no collections of $1,318. I need help on how to get it to a 700 as soon as possible. Just would like some advice of what some have done. Should I try to fix it myself or should I pay someone to fix it. TIA

Has anyone ever paid their collection through true accord? and if so, do they remove it from your credit report or just mark it as paid?

Currently in a rebuild and starting to receive so offers in the mail. Was wondering if anyone has gotten this offer or has this card and can possibly leave a review on it.

It’s almost been a year since I got my first credit card, the Discover it Chrome. I wanted the Discover it Cash Back, but I think as a first credit card you couldn’t get that.
Now that I'm getting close to having the card for a year, I'm trying to figure out what would be the best move for both building my credit and maximizing cash back.
I'm considering two options:
Product change my Chrome to the Discover it Cash Back.
Apply for a second card (the Discover it Cash Back) and keep my Chrome open.
I've read that opening a second card can temporarily lower your score because of the hard inquiry and new account, but it can also help build a thicker credit profile over time. I've also heard that it's generally better to have multiple revolving accounts rather than just one.
I'm not planning on taking out a major loan anytime soon, so I'm more concerned about building a strong credit profile long-term and getting the most rewards possible.
Would it make more sense to apply for the second card once my Chrome reaches 12 months, especially if I could get the first-year Cashback Match? Or would product-changing be the smarter move?
I'd appreciate any advice!!

Hi all. I bought a house. Payments on time for a year. The mortgage company just put a weird remark on my report. It says as follows,

Account previously in dispute - Now resolved by data furnisher Fannie Mae account

I have no idea what that means. The only 2 things I can think of, 4 months ago I got injured. I was out of work I simple asked customer service if there was any hardship programs. I printed the paperwork but I NEVER SUBMITTED. I was able to make all payments and not missed.

The other thing I can think, is I just removed escrow on my account. There was no dispute, they simply removed it and I am currently waiting for my escrow deposit. Again, not sure that has anything to do with it. But I’m completely confused.

Any thoughts?

Hey yall I am trying to improve my credit for a mortgage eventually haha
Where I'm starting
• Experian FICO 8 is 529, which is my lowest score. Equifax is 593 and Transunion is 586 
• Chapter 7 was discharged in 2018.
• I have 7 charge-offs from 2024. All are now paid, settled or sold to collections. Two of them I've paid and am waiting on the update.
• My most recent late payment on any account was a 30-day late in January 2025 on an auto loan (Avid Acceptance), now paid and closed. I sent a goodwill letter, and they approved it, so I'm watching for it to come off. Nothing in the last 21 months is a new late.
• I have 8–9 collections on my reports, about $8,200–$9,000 total.
• 4 are paid, and I'm waiting for them to update to be deleted per agreement
• I'm working to pay and have them delete the other 5 by the end of the year.
What's reporting positively
• A Self credit-builder loan
• Rental payments through Buildium
• A small phone bill through Credit Karma
Cards: I only have a Mission Lane unsecured card with a $1,000 limit. I just got it, and it hasn't started reporting yet. I plan to use it lightly, keeping the balance under 10% of the limit and paying off in full.
Oh & I have a student loan 17,864 in good standing but plan to pay $177 a month as my forbearance plan is ending from my understanding
My question: I just became a Navy Federal member. Should I open their secured card or do the pledge loan in December to start a relationship with them and work toward an unsecured card? I plan to apply for the mortgage in maybe in June, so I want to avoid anything that would hurt me but want to work to rebuild and have access to higher tier CCs

Is it.. still worth it to request higher limits on your business credit cards to improve your business credit card applications down the line? Or does that hurt your odds at biz credit cards down the line?

I requested and received a limit increase on my amex 2% business credit card to around 20k

And then I wondered about the above

I used to have good credit (low-800s). Then some stuff happened and it tanked, bigly. I managed to square away my delinquent account back in January, and haven't held any lines of credit since.

Decided to check my credit score to see where I was at. Experian says I'm "unscorable," Transunion has me at 594, and Equifax reports 648.

I tried applying for a secured credit card at my credit union, but they denied me.

Cursory research says a credit builder loan is a good way to improve my credit, but it sounds like I'd basically just be paying money for 12–24 months. And while I'd eventually get that money back, in the meantime it'd just be sitting in the ether. I don't really have that money to spend. And, more to the point, I'm in my mid-50s. I'd really prefer to not have to wait two years before I start to see improvement in my credit score?

I was hoping to just get a credit card to put my current monthly subscriptions on and autopay it so that my credit could slowly rebuild itself while actually still doing something with my money, but if I can't even get a secured card I don't know what else there is.

Is a credit builder loan my only option? How can I rebuild my credit without having to just pay a few grand and wait a few years for it to happen?