Oh okay thanks for the advice! @kmechelles I'll let my sister know because she's going for a mediation next week.

@jaxmama, things like that are part of the divorce decree. If we didn't agree on settlement, the court would have. We agreed on everything so court would cost less and only have to go once. He was in the Navy. Since he got to stay on the ship, he paid them off because I still had bills and things for my place.

Yeah we have one of those from Capital One, but thank you! @xalyssasays 😊

I work for a bank. We have something called a secured card that is basically a credit card w/ your own money... Almost like a debit card. But you pay yourself back. For example I think the minimum is like $300. So you give them $300 and they put it as your balance of the secured card. So when you use it you're using your own money but you still pay it back.. It's a little confusing to type out but I work at Wells Fargo and as long as you get approved it will either help your establish credit or help build your credit up faster since its your own money. Hope this helps!

Oh okay gotcha @kmechelles Do you mind me asking how you and your ex husband solved the credit card issues? Just asking cause my sister has a few and her ex husband won't pay and said he's not going to because she also spent off of his. She didn't know if that was right or not.

@jaxmama, get with a bank. It may cost a fee but they'll run your entire credit report from day 1. My Credit Karma shows all of mine but I've only had 3 credit cards and a car loan. 2 of the cards were with my ex husband. They're showing $0 but open. By being open, that's an open line of credit that's really not open. According to the credit union they're through, they're closed out and have been for years. Transunion shows them open so that's what banks see.

@sktraum, If I had Victoria's Secret it would so be maxed out haha! @rosangelamom See I tried that! And the hospital billing department was like no we need all of it in one payment I'm like okay well I don't have 5 grand in my back pocket!

Yeah same problem @kmechelles 😁 unfortunately I was careless at 18 and opened like 5 credit card accounts and maxed them out and stopped paying. But once I picked myself up I paid them all off and of course by then they were closed out! But I do have an account with Credit Karma and they don't list all my accounts only like two of them.

As far as medical bills in and out of collections as long as u are on a payment plan u can't be reported to the credit bureaus so u could literally pay $20 per mo and you would be fine

Just mail payments anyways if u feel better that way. They will just send a revised statement. But ya I had hospital bills from the ER too I never paid. By paying off my revolving Accts ( visa, mc, Amex, Victoria's Secret and lazy boy) I was able to get my score up 175 points in 2 months.

Thanks @rosangelamom I will keep that in mind!

Credit Karma will show you what is reflecting on your score. I have medical bills, a credit card and a medical line of credit. My two lines of credit are the only two things on my report. I do need to write dispute letters from credit cards that were paid off and closed out over 5 years ago still showing active on my report.

Yeah see I always wondered because anytime I've paid medical bills in the past they took it off the credit report. My only problem is that one of our bills is 5 grand from an ER visit when my husband went because it was late and when I asked them if I can do payments she kept saying no it has to be in full. Like I don't have 5 grand just to pay lol. @sktraum

Collection accts are not necessarily reported to credit yet so try to arrange a payment for those first. Run a free credit report to verify this. Increase your credit by using your credit card like your debit and pay your normal bills with it. Make sure not to use more than 30-40% of your max avail credit tho. Pay the credit off with your debit in the same month.

I was told medical doesn't affect ur score if u pay a bill off. Like if ur trying to raise ur score, paying a medical bill off won't help raise it. Idk, maybe ??

Haha funny thing is getting a mattress was my first plan. I'm trying to talk my husband into it cause I've always known furniture stores help a ton for anyone! @guaderrama_babies2

@jaxmama, get you a new bed or a nice living room set and that should help tons.

Yeah that's what I figured and have been debating on! Thank you @guaderrama_babies2

furniture stores are good for raising your credit score

@sktraum,

Yeah we had someone who those mortgages tell us to pay off the most recent past due and whatever we could. But hospital bills don't affect your credit?

I met with a credit analyst before purchasing a house. He told me to pay off any revolving credit accounts first. Those affect ur score the most. Don't bother paying anything in collections as ur score was already affected when it was turned over to collections. Medical and dental accounts do nothing. Any questions just ask me if u want!