Thanks very much Paula, but you guys have no idea about the financial aid piece to this puzzle. I will eventually need some help with this also because it is very complicated and I will have to most likely provide medical records to get out of that, but I that is a story for another time. One step at a time. Thanks for you support. This is a good place to be. I can see that I will be here for a long time to come.

Clifton, if you say that you are thinking about filing for bankruptcy and you plan on contacting professionals for assistance, please and I repeat please stay away from those offers and agencies that suggest that they can clean up your credit for a nominal fee. Those places are nothing but a rip-off; they take your money and do nothing to help your situation and I highly recommend against filing for bankruptcy if you can. I know that many states had new laws that went into affect a few years back so you may find yourself still having to pay on debt that you thought you could wash away with the bankruptcy plus it doesn’t look good to creditor. Just by reading your posting it sounds to me that your credit may not be as bad as you think or describe since you were able to obtain credit from both Capital One and HSBC. If you’re serious about cleaning up your credit, you can do this yourself and it’s free. My suggestion is to pull all three of your credit reports, print them out and sit down with a highlighter. Take a good look at what you have and if you see any accounts that are older than seven years (the Last Activity Date & not the opened date must be at least seven years ago) dispute those accounts with the credit reporting agencies online. In the comment field just write, “last activity was in 1987 and the account is more than seven years old, please remove this item from my credit report”. If there are some accounts that are less than seven years old and you are willing to pay and settle them, then contact the creditor and ask if you can make some sort of payment arrangement. In that arrangement request, ask if they will be willing to remove the account from your credit report once the account has been paid in full. (many collection agencies will do this) If they agree to remove the account make sure you get something in writing so that when the account has been paid off and for some reason it never gets removed you can submit a copy of that letter to the credit reporting agencies to have them remove it. Clifton, it’s going to take time and patience but you will eventually get there. Good Luck and let me know how it goes!

CapitalOne has not contacted me and they already sent me a letter stating that if I make my first 3 payments on time they will increase my limit to 500 dollars. I already sent them a payment for 80 dollars. I did not see the old account on my experian file. Maybe it might appear on my others. I need to check. Until then, maybe I should go with the flow with CapitalOne.

Clifton, I agree with Craig. It’s obvious in his answer to you that he knows exactly what he’s talking about. Your new account doesn’t have any relevance to the old charge off account. If Capital One hasn't contacted you directly asking that you pay off the old debt then don't contact them and if the old capital one account does not appear anywhere on your credit report like you said, I would just disregard the letter that you received from the collection agency. However, I do know for a fact that Capital One has been known to try and collect on old debt by offering individuals credit cards will limits that are equal to the charge off balance. Once the account is paid in full you are allowed to keep using the card and the credit limit. (Ex: Say that your charge off debt was $1200, Capital One may settle for $900, they will issue you a credit card with a limit and balance of $900. You make normal monthly payments just like you would do with any other credit card. Once you start paying down the card, you are given the available credit to use and once the balance has been paid in full you get to keep the card and the $900 limit.)

I will not screw up with this new CapitalOne card or my other 3 cards. My credit is too important to me. I have learned my lesson and I am still learning. What I need to do is to figure out how to get my credit report cleaned up. I might have to file for bankruptcy, but I need to consult some professionals. I am glad I got a leg up by praticing good credit habits now. Thanks Craig.

Well, if I am using my new Capitalone card and making the scheduled payments on time, why would they close the account? Maybe I should keep a balance so they can make a little money off of me. I will give them a call next week and report back to you about a game plan. My credit report is ugly, Meya. UGLY. There is a lot more I have to share with the board. But one step at a time. This is not going to be fixed for a long time. Thanks again for your advice and support.

If Capital One has already issued you a new credit account then they will not cancel your new one unless you default. Capital One has already written off the "old" account as a loss and sold it (probably at about half it's former value) to whatever collection agency owns it now. Your mention of "keep(ing) a balance" has no relevance on the issue. If you have not already called them regarding the previously written off account then I would advise you not bring it to their attention unless you are calling to make arrangements to pay it off. What would be the point?

I am assuming that if you do not pay your old account, that they would close your new account. When they close your new account, your credit report would say that it was closed by them, which does not look good on your credit report either. That is why I was assuming that you would probably want to make out a min payment plan to pay the old one off.

Well, if I am using my new Capitalone card and making the scheduled payments on time, why would they close the account? Maybe I should keep a balance so they can make a little money off of me. I will give them a call next week and report back to you about a game plan. My credit report is ugly, Meya. UGLY. There is a lot more I have to share with the board. But one step at a time. This is not going to be fixed for a long time. Thanks again for your advice and support.

I am assuming that if you do not pay your old account, that they would close your new account. When they close your new account, your credit report would say that it was closed by them, which does not look good on your credit report either. That is why I was assuming that you would probably want to make out a min payment plan to pay the old one off.

I am a little confused: What do you mean by a NEW account closed by creditor??

I have the PremierExpert credit monitoring service that only gives me my Experian file.

I don't think that is a good credit monitoring service, try:
www.mycreditkeeper.com
www.truecredit.com

They will give you all 3 cra's. As far as Capital one and the settlement, you might as well go ahead and settle with them. No need to have thier old charge off and a new "Account Closed by Creditor " on your account. You are truely in a hard situation. Seems like just when you think everything was going well.....BAAM.....right in the smacker!

Hello everyone. I just received my new Capitalone card last week and a creditor sent me a notice stating that I owe 1,600 dollars from an old Capitalone account yesterday. I guess they had me flagged if I was ever granted another account by Capitalone. Why would Capitalone extend me a line of credit if I owe them already?? Would they give me credit limit increases on my new card with this old account hanging over my head? Plus, I know I dont owe them this much. The letter states they want to settle, but if I settle they are going to want the full settlement up front and in full and I don't have that amount of cash right now. This is also the case with HSBC. I have two cards with them right now but I have a mark on my credit report for a card I had with them (an old Household acct??). Anyway, this old HSBC account appears on my Experian file but the old Capitalone does not. I have the PremierExpert credit monitoring service that only gives me my Experian file. Maybe the old Capitalone account is listed by the other bureaus. Anyway, I want both of these old accounts removed from my file. Any suggestions from anybody would be greatly appreciated.