No, it won't. It's not like credit card debt where lowering utilization improves your score.

As time passes ( years, not months ) the impact of the delinquency gets less and less.

The only thing that fixes this is paying the debt and time.

It's not that much debt, certainly not enough for the stress you describe.

I disagree with selling the car. You need reliable transportation for work and safe transportation for your child.

3k buys very little these days, especially if you aren't car savvy enough to fix things yourself.

Prioritize your debts: living expenses>transportation>everything else until you get back to full time employment.

If you can't pay the credit cards, you can't pay them. Not enough debt to file BK, unless you actually get sued.

FYI: 401k accounts are exempt from debtors, even in a bankruptcy. Don't touch the 401k.

Doubly so since parts of NC are going to be in the mid 80's today.

But we know it's just Fool's Spring ;)

File a police report.

Restart the fraud claim with the police report.

Ignore Credit Karma's scores. They are useless.

They have their own scoring model - Vantage Score - that is not used by lenders.

Only FICO matters.