i have a charge off on my credit if i pay will they remove it from my credit?

Question

i have a charge off on my credit report for $68. if i pay it off i can i get the company to remove the charge off from my credit report . if they dont remove it what is my motavation to pay it off.i understand that they can keep it on there. it was last reproted in 02/2002. i read it can stay there for 7 years after being reported. can any one help me out with any ideas

Answer 1

Paying an old debt without having the orginal creditor or the owner of the debt not reflect the changed status and leaving the charged-off debt on your credit report is not good.

First of all, a little education about charged-off debt. Normally, the original creditor will keep the debt and try to collect for about 3 to 12 months. They may hire a third party collector who will receive a percentage of any amount recovered. The original creditor after attempting to collect the debt can "charge-off" the debt to bad debt as an accounting practice and take a deduction against earned income for that period. If you pay on the debt this simply is found money and goes to there profitability. So companies readily do this because in essence it is a good tax deduction. There are a multitude of individuals and companies that are in the business of purchasing your debt. Your debt is usually bought for 5 cents on the dollar, after six months. So your sixty-eight dollar debt is usually worth $3.40 within half a year. If you paid half the debt to settle the account they would be making a profit of ten times what they paid.

You are correct accurate information can remain on your credit report for seven years after the debt was charged-off. However, you have a couple of avenues to pursue now rather than wait another couple of years.

My advice would be to first dispute something that is inaccurate regarding the debt directly with the credit bureau(s) that are reporting it. Send the letter certified mail with return receipt requested via the United States Post Office Mail (this will costs you about $4.64). The credit bureaus have 30 days to confirm the accuracy of the debt, from the date they receive your letter. (This is why you are sending certified, to confirm when they receive your dispute letter.) If it cannot be verified or is inaccurate then it will be removed according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If that doesn't work and the debt was bought or the original creditor retains it then you can negotiate payment of the debt. Any payment you make you must secure from the original creditor or holder of the debt that they will reflect to the credit bureaus that the debt has been paid as agreed or paid satisfactorily. You want this in writing before any money changes hands. Any other rating on your credit report is negative including was charged-off but now paid. That just means you did not pay and now four years later you did.

Also keep in mind that every state has a statue of limitations for debt. It depends on the type of debt and your residency at the time account was open. However, if you pay on and old account then the statute of limitations begins fresh. This is why collection agencies will attempt to get a nominal fee of say $5.00 from you. They get past the statute of limitations. Now they may have another five years to collect on the debt or however long the statute of limitations is for that debt. You can find the statute of limitations in your state's legal code or at credit.boards.com or creditinfocenter.com.

Good luck

Answer 2

Whatever you do, don't pay it. The 7 years run from the date of last activity. If you make a payment, the clock starts again. This small amount is not worth the creditor's time, but if you can get them to agree in writing to remove this item if you pay it, you can send that paper to the credit bureau and they will remove it if you did what you agreed to. I would dispute it by certified mail. The creditor probably has this old debt filed away in some warehouse across town and won't spend the time to reply to the credit bureau since it is such a small amount. After 30 days the credit bureau has to remove it if the creditor doesn't respond. Keep filing a dispute. It will go away.

Answer 3

If you pay it off, the charge will still appear on your credit report for ANOTHER 7 years. Leave it be. Don't contact the company about it or the same will happen. You only have a litte over 2 1/2 more years to go. As for it affecting your credit- most companies won't worry about 68 dollars. They will only charge you a bit higher on the interest!

Answer 4

Hi - I work in loans for a bank. A charge off is usually done if you don't pay a company or credit card for an extended period of time and they have not been able to collect the funds - they, in effect "charge it off" because they have no way to collect it. With 4 years gone by, I don't know if they would still allow you to pay that debt down. You should contact the person who placed the item on your credit report to ask if it is still possible. Once that has occurred, you can ask them to remove it from your credit report, but it still takes time to do that. You should contact both main credit reporting agencies, TransUnion @ 610-690-4909 and Equifax @ 800-685-1111 because they don't always share information, regardless of what they say they do. Good luck.

Answer 5

I agree with teenriodoll

As for the last reported date of 2/02, that is not the date that you go by to learn when it should fall off of you reports.

You can find out how long it will remain by looking at what the original creditor shows as your date of last activity (if they are reporting that date correctly)

The first time you went delinquent for 30 days and never caught up is called "date of first delinquency" (DOFD). It should report for 7 years and 180 days from DOFD.
But, on the credit reports they normally show the "date of last activity" (DOLA) which is 180 days after DOFD. It should report for 7 years from DOLA.

You need to find out what your statute of limitations (SOL) is for your state. See if you are past the time for them to legally collect.
Your SOL will start running from your DOFD.

If you are past the time for them to legally collect, you have two options, either pay it or you can legally tell them to buzz off.

If you should decide to pay, you definately need to send them a debt validation letter. After you have recieved validation, send them a pay for delete letter.

I would suggest going to the site that I've listed and do some reading in the newbie forum and the credit forum.
You will be able to locate your states SOL. And you will find information on how to deal with the collection agency, credit bureaus etc.

It is a "free" site. Never use a site that requires a fee for this information.

Answer 6

if the amount is showing as a default it stays on your credit report for 6 years, if the amount has not defaulted pay it off and it will show on your credit report as settled

Answer 7

It will be a paid charge off and that will look better on the report than unpaid but it will still be there.

Answer 8

if you pay off your charge off account better send satisfaction letter with zero balance to credit bureaus by your self and ask to close that account and upgrade your credit score