So I have a credit card that I have defaulted on. I'm coming onto some money and I was wondering, would it be better for my credit score if I...

Pay it off in one lump sum

or

Pay 80% off and then make payments on time for a while.

If it is already a negative mark on your credit it will be there for 7 years from time the debt originated or became delinquent. It probably would best to show it a collection account but paid instead of having a balance yet to be paid.

Since you already defaulted on it - paying it off would be better.

I thought paying it off would be better. But then something told me, maybe showing I CAN make payments on time will help! But oh well.

I thought paying it off would be better. But then something told me, maybe showing I CAN make payments on time will help! But oh well.

I think it would be better to have a delinquent account showing paid. They want to see that you can make monthly payments on time with a current account. Once you have defaulted, at least it shows you eventually paid it off. Just know that a payment of any kind can restart the time frame it appears on your report.

Paying it would be better!

making payments would be better.

how late are you on your payment?

Pay it in full but also contact the creditor to see about removing it. Some will work with you if you are paying it in full so that a negative mark is not shown. Better to have no mark than a negative mark.

making payments would be better.

how late are you on your payment?

I agree making payments would be better.
Creditors don't want to know that you can't make the monthly payments but you eventually will pay it off when you come into money.
They want to be assured you are capable of making the monthly.

making payments on it will look better in the long run to future creditors. Sure its nice to pay something off but now your trying to rebuild your credit and you have to pay on things to do that. Because thats shows you hav credit, by paying it off you no longer have credit.

i was unemployed for 9.5 months & defaulted on 2 cards. very not like me, but i had $0. i was able to pay off the card w/ the smaller balance monday. HAPPY DANCE!!!!! i started making regular payments as soon as i got another job & have been paying for over a year. anyways, they told me it would report as "account closed - paid in full". even if the account is closed, it's better to be closed w/ current, regular payments then closed w/o payments.

you could call & see if they'd take the lump sum as complete payment since you've probably had lots of over the limit &/or late payment fees tacked onto it. otherways, i'd say, pay the lump sum so you don't spend it on other things & then pay as much as you can each month to get it taken care of. your interest rates are prolly sky high. i paid in $1600 in the last year & it only affected my balance by $700.

Well to begin to make payments on it, they will then calculate all late fees, interest etc retro'd from the default date to the point that you start paying on it. Then they will continue to charge you late fees for every payment AFTER that b/c it's been such a time b/c you defaulted. Unless you make that large lump sum to 'pay it current'. At this point, you have a stable balance that you can pay off and be done with it. It will remain for 7 years from the time of first being reported as defaulted, but after paying it, it will show as a closed acct. AS LONG AS you ask them to completely close it. If you don't, it will show as paid, open acct.