3 years ago I hit a rough stretch and defaulted on a cell phone bill and a few doctors bills. I want to know if I paid these Items now, If it helps or hurts my credit score. All four are listed as charge offs. My concern is that If I paid them now, They would show for another seven years. Also is there a major difference score wise between (charge off) and (Paid charge Off). I thank you fine folks in advance for helping me out.
2006-06-21 02:28:27 · 11 answers · asked by poor no more 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
No, it will be better for you and your credit report if you pay them off instead of allowing them to continue on as unpaid debts. Also, the good thing about paying them off now is that they'll be willing to settle for a much smaller amount than what you actually owe.
2006-06-21 02:34:34 · answer #1 · answered by Ashley 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no if you let it go they will show as if you dont care.
you can do two things.
first pay off the full amount and get a letter stating paid in full, send that to the credit agencies and they will remove the negetive info.
As well you can pay the charge to the company for them to remove the item all together, by the company i mean is the cell phone company and other bills you might have. Sometimes they will do this if you pay there fee that they paid to have to tell the credit agencies to begin with cause that is not free to a company.
the second is similar to the first point.
You can make a settlement offer to the company and they will accept it because they buy these contracts at cents of the dollar from the original lender.
so if the bill is 400$ i would say offer 250$ to pay off in full. They will either say yes/or no.
from there they might say to pay $300 and they will call the bill quits for you.
You get a letter once again of paid and send that to the credit agencies and they will remove the point that it was not paid. but it will show settled this time on the credit report.
Either way these options are better than just not paying it.
Last if you have any future problems with alot of bills your best bet is to get a consolodation company that you see on tv to pay one monthly low bill and they will make the payments for you.
You will not be able to use what ever credit that you have on the program at the time, but they will get paid and that is and shows good on the credit reports.
Hope this all helps.
if you need any more help with this stuff, contact me via email on this system.
take care
2006-06-21 02:35:08 · answer #2 · answered by twism 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The answer depends on whether the charge offs are accurate or not and whether the creditor in fact charged off your debt. If the above exceptions apply to you, the creditor reports the debt as charged off notwithstanding, and creditors who obtained your credit report while the charge-offs were being reported caused a denial of credit or an adverse credit rating, you can utilize the Fair Credit Reporting Act to have the charge-offs removed and potentially obtain compensatory and punitive damages. Immediately write a letter to the credit reporting agencies demanding they remove the charge-offs (if they are improper) and carbon copy the letter to the creditor. If they do not remove the improper charge-offs and you sustain damages as a result thereof, you may want to consult a lawyer regarding that issue. Be aware of the FCRA's statute of limitations. Also, there are rules regarding the reporting of outstanding doctor bills, the violation of which you can use to persuade the CRAs and creditors to remove the charge-offs.
As to the credit score difference between charge offs and paid charge offs, the CRAs keep their credit scoring system very secret so most could not answer that question. The credit scoring system should not be private for many reasons which I will not get into here.
2006-06-21 03:37:45 · answer #3 · answered by Frank 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When you pay off a debt, it is generally reported to the CRA's as "paid", but it will also show it's been in default or collections. Therefore, it's still a negative report and it will hurt your credit score. Paying it off DOES NOT fix your credit score! Only completely removing the negative information will do that.
What you need to do is negotiate a settlement with the creditor, but demand IN WRITING that if you pay the bill, they must remove all negative information from your report, or list it as "paid as agreed".
Remember, you are trying to fix your credit. It does you no good to pay the bill and still have negative information in your report. What's the point?
About the reporting time...information on your credit report stays on for 7 years, starting on the day of the delinquency. NOT the day of last activity or the date of the charge off. If you pay this bill, it does NOT extend the report for 7 years.
Doing so is called "re-aging" and is illegal. They can be sued easily in small claims court for $1000 if they do.
2006-06-21 04:12:52 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
A charge off will remain a charge off always. However, paying it off, will help as far as getting credit in the future, as many will not extend credit for major purchases, home mortgages, etc, without these debts being taken care of, pay them off.
2006-06-21 02:34:14 · answer #5 · answered by DollyLama 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Studly is right.
As for the medicals, how you deal with them depends on if insurance was supposed to pay, if you had no insurance etc.
I'm including a link to a site that you can find alot of great info on how to deal with the debts you listed.
For your medicals, I would suggest going into the medical forum on that site and read on how to deal with them using HIPAA.
For the cell phone, if it is with a collection agency, you should send them a debt validation letter and after they have properly validated, send them a pay for delete letter. If it is still with the original creditor (which I doubt after 3 years) you would send a debt verification letter and then a PFD.
If you go to the site I listed, you can read about how to do that in the regular credit forum.
2006-06-21 10:35:13 · answer #6 · answered by echo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First off - never directly pay a creditor!
Always have them verify the debt first. You can search creditboards.com and creditnet.com for information on how to send a DV (debt validation) letter.
Paying them can hurt your score worse... start reading those forums on the links above to help repair your score. Lots of good info on them. I got my score raised 100 points in about 6 months as well as got all my collections removed from my reports!
Good Luck.
2006-06-21 15:42:49 · answer #7 · answered by eloriarl 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If I'm not mistaken, once you pay an item off it will remain in your credit history for seven years but it will show paid in full. From what I understand, credit history is cleared off every seven years.
2006-06-21 03:53:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to check out this video on how to increase your credit score by using a 100% legal loophole. Here is the video URL: http://www.creditscoresecret.org
I was able to get to 595 from 489 in just one day and from 489 to 748 in just a few week; that's pretty fast in my book. Good luck!
2014-09-12 00:38:45 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here is what you do.
Go to the place where the charge off is. Ask them if they will agree to remove it from your credit if you pay. They will usually say yes. Then pay with check but get the agreement in writing first.
If they still don't remove it then send the agreement and receipt and or cancelled check to credit bureaus.
Otherwise no it won't come off
10 points please.
2006-06-21 09:20:24 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋