I ordered my bank statements from 2 years ago so I can dispute them. I know they are paid off and they say that they are in collections. I have no open credit cards and Sprint put seomthing on my report for 80.00 6 years ago. That I never knew existed.
My question is... I do have 2 closed acounts that I owe 2,000. on, 1 is a charge off. If I cleared off the errors and paid the 80.00 from 2000, will this up my score???? anyinfo..... will help!
2007-01-20 14:45:38 · 6 answers · asked by losingmymnd 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Do NOT pay the 80.00 bill. Do NOT contact the collection agency that is reporting that account. They will update your credit report when the bill is paid and you will have to wait another seven years for the collection to go off. Leave it as it is now, and let it be removed from your report next year. Bad reports will be removed seven years from the date of last activity.
I made the mistake of contacting a collection agency about a debt last week. It was just a 30.00 medical collection. The lady at the collection agency was so rude that I told her I would pay the debt to the original biller(hospital). That same day, she updated my credit report and brought a two year old bill current(which put a dent in my score) and out of spite, she pulled a "hard" inquiry from her collection agency on my credit report(also hurts the score). I made the mistake of telling the lady that I was about to buy a car and wanted to pay off the collection to improve my score. She did everything that she could to lower my score. I did pay the collection to the hospital and they sent me a letter saying that it was paid so that I can dispute it with the credit agency.
Despite what another answer says, pulling your own credit does NOT hurt your score. I have been pulling mine every day with all three agencys over the last month(I subscribed to their service for a few months while I work to increase my score).
As far as the charge-off's go, just file a dispute saying that you "want the account verified". Don't give them any specific information about the accounts on your first dispute. Chances are, they may not verify it and will remove it.
If you can't pay the debt to the original account holder, don't pay it. Never deal with the collection agencies.
I've been doing alot of reading about this stuff. Just do some searches on "how to raise my credit score". Check out some of the many websites that help people improve their credit.
2007-01-20 15:30:19 · answer #1 · answered by JustLookinAround 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Okay. Here we go. Since the Sprint collection is 6 years old, you can let it run its course and fall off your report if you'd like. Be advised that just because it falls off the report, the creditors still have the legal right to come after you and ask you for that money. If it's not yours, dispute it. Show proof. If it is yours try to settle and pay it off.
Paying off collections are not going to raise your score. If that was the case, everyone who corrected their terrible credit would have awesome scores. You have to establish and then maintain your credit. The only two things that will raise your scores are 1) paying your bills on time and 2) reducing your debt ratio.
Someone motioned that it will take a while to get your account information updated. When you dispute and item on your credit report, the bureaus have exactly 30 days to investigate your issue. They either need to remove the item(s) in question and provide you with an updated report or they need to show you proof that the items are correct.
I have a great dispute letter if you are interested. Good luck!
2007-01-21 11:49:29 · answer #2 · answered by YSIC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, I'm a pro at this.
Your score is low for a combination of reasons, primarily because you don't have any open lines of credit. I hope you didn't close lines of credit, that will hurt.
Credit scoring is based mostly on Debt ratio. Since you have no available credit, you have no ratio.
The 6 year old sprint probably isn't hurting that much because it's old and only $80.00.
The charge off is definitely hurting you. That is what you need to payoff but you only mentioned the $80.00. I'm not sure where your bank statements from 2 years ago come in.
Advice: Get rid of the charge off and open a line of credit.
PS: the more times you access or inquire about your credit, the more your score goes down. it's a catch 22. you need to apply for credit to get new lines but in the meantime your score will go down due to creditors checking. it should be a valuable lesson to you to pay your bills.
2007-01-20 14:56:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. This will raise your score. You want to pay off all your debts that you have open. You also do not want to have any lates on anything. If you write to the companies, send them the proof and ask for them to contact the 3 credit bureaus and report that you have paid that particular debt off. It usually takes about 30 days to 60 days. If they do not clear it, write a letter to your attorney general stating that you have paid in full the debt owed on your credit report and report that the company is not reporting the debt paid in full.
2007-01-20 14:53:12 · answer #4 · answered by Weasel Girl 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You have to contact all the credit reporting companies and tell them about the mistakes and have proof (it's got to be all 3 you tell and it's going to take awhile for them to get it off your credit.)
It might up your score, but maybe not for a yr or more..
2007-01-20 14:50:40 · answer #5 · answered by Chrys 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes, especially the charge-off. If both of these are erased, you're score will go up even higher.
2007-01-20 15:54:44 · answer #6 · answered by Mariposa 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋