Is it even worth it to fix bad credit?

[CrabbyGolfer68]

My son, who is still at college, managed to run his credit score into the ground by the age of 21. He can't afford credit repair, and from what I'm reading on these forums, it might not even help because all of the debt is actually his. Apparently it will fall off after 7 years, so my advice was to close all of his credit cards and wait until then, saving money along the way. But I'm not an expert with these things. Is there anything that he should be doing that will be better in the long run?

[Japhet11]

Hi CrabbyGolfer,

As someone’s who has been down the road or ruining credit before the age of 21, I can assure you that it’s not the end of the world. It’s going to be a tough road over the next few years, but with a few tips it won’t take 7 years to get his finances in order.

It seems that your son’s first step is going to have to be budgeting. If he’s blowing through credit card limits then moving on to the next card, he’s living beyond his means. Unfortunately it’s going to take a little maturing on his part. Hopefully this was a learning experience for him.

I wouldn’t advise that he closes out any active lines of revolving credit if he still has any. Part of the credit score is the length of his credit history. So the longer it appears that he’s been using credit the better. If those balances are high though, he needs to start paying them down. Plus, when he shows that he’s responsible with the credit that he has, it will make those older debts look like rookie mistakes.

If possible, he’s also going to want to pay off any outstanding debts he may have run up. If he leaves them unpaid, they’ll remain a black mark for the full seven years. Even though they are supposed to stay there for 7 years whether he pays or not, a “paid in full” debt is much better than an unpaid account.

It’s not so much a matter of your son trying to fix bad credit, but rather establish new credit and more importantly, establish new credit habits. If you or your son have any follow up questions, or you just want me to take a look at his credit reports to see where he stands now, check out MyCreditGroup.com.

[frank]

Hi CrabbyGolfer,

Im certainly not a credit expert but I think its totally worth it to start repairing. It just makes things so much harder with bad credit. I have a buddy who couldnt get a job because of his credit and its not even like a high security job or anything. Today good credit is a must (IMHO)