ForumsFinancing Tips

Salazar, The important thing about credit cards is to make the payments ON TIME.
As you said, you were 1 day late on the card. As you found out, that is a NO NO.
Now that you have your Am Exp card, pay a day or two before the DUE DATE.
Over time, you could increase your limit and build up credit.
You are young and maybe a credit counselor could help.
Good luck, LUCKIEST

Discover is a great card to have and a great company to do business with. I get 2-5% cashback on just about every purchase i make and love it. So with that said, i wouldn't focus on getting rid of it and i would focus on getting a better understanding of your credit so you can leverage discover & amex better.

Get your credit reports - you get a free one every year from all three agencies. Review them - print them out and mark EVERYTHING negative. If you have ANY collections, write a CERTIFIED & SIGNATURE REQUIRED letter to those collection companies and ask them for a debt verification. Tell them you don't want an address verification but you want actual proof of the debts in forms of invoices/receipts & itemized line items. The onus is on them to legally prove that you owe anything that is on your credit report.

Wait the 30 days and if don't get a response from the collection agency dispute the items off your credit report as "not mine". This will have the credit reporting agency put a temporory hold on the collection and it won't count against you. Again, keep in mind the CRA's make money by making you look bad so they won't really work to get it removed. They will probably come back a week later either saying "Updated: verified" or "removed". If they come back saying "updated verified" send the credit agency (experian, equifax, transunion) copies of your certified letter with the timestamp of the delivery/signature and then say "Credit Agency failed to respond to inquiry within the 30 days required by law, please delete this from my credit report" and it will be GONE.

if the collection agency comes back sand shows proof of the debt then all is not lost. Send them a polite letter saying that you offer a 50% settlement for deletion. This means that you're offering to settle the debt if they delete it off your credit card for 50% of the balance owed. 9 out of 10 times they will accept this and you can move on. If its a really bad charge you may fight tooth and nail to get it cleared up or removed or deleted but most of the times leverage yourself and don't offer to pay the full balance - they didn't buy the account for the full balance so use your bargaining rights since you are actively seeking to clean it up to the best you can.

Believe it or not credit reports get dirty.. dirty as can be. I've had utility companies charge me after cancellation and 5 years later get a collection notice for a few hundred bucks out of the blue. 9 out of 10 times its there mistake and even if its yours the onus is on them to either prove it or settle it. Sometimes it gets even dirtier - utilities usually write off losses as a tax deducation and some dirty utilities also sell the debt outside of that to double up on the "bargain" of the debt. That is ILLEGAL so especially if you have any late utilities showing up ask for proof of not just the debt you owe but also proof that the utility hasn't already written off the debt as a loss and received a tax benefit from it. Most collection agencies will just drop the collection and move on because its fraud to double profit like that. It happens a lot becuase things get lost but collection agencies won't tell you that.

SO while this may not help you get a credit line or bank its just my way of telling you to understand your credit and work to clean it up. I moved around a lot and noticed how many utility companies always claim you owe them something or missed a payment or whatever it was were on my credit report and it HURT for a long time. A little grunt work, 25.00 in postage and my scores went from low 600's to near 800's and discover and amex love me now

Hi my name is Amy wesley. I would just like to introduce myself. I am owner and CEO of Nickels and Dimes Advertising (www.nickelsanddimes.biz) and a published author. Nickels and Dimes Advertising designs, creates, and prints original brochures, flyers, newsletters and business cards for business and personal use.

I have a suggestion for you. This may or may not deliver the results you want in the time frame that you want. But instead of going in to debt to get a loan, have you ever thought about doing a fundraiser? This can be a great chance to meet and greet with members in your community and pass out some business cards and get your business out there.
Fundraisers that support some kind of charity seem to yield the best results. You can do some research, find out what kind of organization or charity you wish to support, and donate a % of proceeds from that fundraiser to that charity and put the rest toward trying to pay off those $3000.
Best of Luck
And don't forget to look us up, www.nickelsanddimes.biz.

I also recommend prosper.com.