Repair Credit Report Help
Fixing/deleting bad items on credit report?
I need some advice and some one with some know-how. I have about 11000 in bad debts on my credit report from when I was a little younger. I'm only 24 now, but it's been about 5 years. Included in these are a $6000 car loan. What is the best way to get these off my credit report or just up my credit score? Is it better to pay them off or dispute them? Does disputing really work? I've tried it once and it didn't seem to do anything. I'm sick of the creditors and collection agencies calling my house and I want to be more financial responsible. Any advice from any one that's been in my situation or anyone who works in this industry would be extremely helpful!
Public Comments
- You need to contact a credit reconstruction specialist. They have the ability to give you the right advice. Without disclosing every specific detail it would be very foolish to take advice from this forum. I have seen these guys do wonders.
- First you need to do a google search for your states statute of limitations on these items. If it has been 5 years now, chances are that these items are going to fall of your credit sometime within the next 2 years anyhow. Therefore, paying them at this point may not be in your best interest. However, if you want to make good on your old debts then a simple phone call to each creditor telling them that you want to pay the account(s) off and negotiating a settlement fee would be your best bet. They will most likely take 75% without even batting an eye and up to 50% if you negotiate well. Let them know that by paying these debts off you would like them to remove these items from your credit report. Most likely they will tell you by law they can not. When you write out a check though make sure that you write on the back where they have to sign something along the lines of "by cashing this check you are agreeing to remove this debt from my credit report" or something of that nature. By them signing and cashing the check that is a legally binding agreement. Disputing your derogatory credit can work for sure if the items are incorrect. However, if they are correct it rarely works, but you have to be persistent and continue to dispute these items over and over again until they are removed. Keep in mind though that even if they are removed they can be added back to your report once the creditor realizes that the item was removed.
- This site has all the info you could want for disputing and settling debts...it also has the SOL info if you need it (although SOL only dictates how long they can sue you, it doesn't force them to stop trying to collect). http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/
- You will need to pay them off to stop the harrassing calls and letters from the collection agencies. It is easy to have 0 balance negative items removed from your report after the fact. If you can scrape some cash together, a debt settlement company could likely save you thousands off your total outstanding balance. Check out the free evaluation form at the source website. Good luck.
- If you haven't been paying on these old debts, it may not be your best solution to start paying now. Reason being: your credit report only contains debts within the last seven years. If you haven't been paying on these debts and start now, the accounts become current, potentially affecting your score even more and will also remain on your credit report for another seven years, also affecting your score. That's not to say that you shouldn't take care of these old debts however. I'd try calling a credit repair service and see what advice they can give you. But be vigilant; many credit repair agencies charge a large fee to help you, and some can actually end up hurting your credit more. In the meantime, make sure to pay your current debts on time every month and at least the minimum monthly payment due. If you are doing what you say you're doing -- and trying to be financially responsible -- in a few years, you'll have something to show for it (maybe you still have those old debts on your credit report, but your recent past shows creditors and lenders that you're making strides to be responsible). Credit takes time to establish, as well as a consistent demonstration that you're financially responsible.
