I have been told to write a letter asking my creditors to take the negative remarks off of my Credit report...

Question

and in turn I will pay off the outstanding debt. If they agree to this and then I pay them, what if they don't follow through with removing it with the credit agencies? Are they legally obligated once they agree to my terms? Obviously they won't do it before the payment is sent to them.

This debt is not yet with a collection agency. It is still an open account that I am trying to catch up on. They are bombarding me with over the limit fees every month and it is already been past due. I am trying to keep up with at least the monthly payments but I feel like I am beeing buried. Do I let it go to collections at this point and then try to fight it or if I try to pay it off completely before it does go to collections? Either way, the big fat negative will still be stuck on my report unless they will possibly delete it with payment in full.

Answer 1

Sure, you can write all you want and request them to take it off your report; however, I wouldn't hold your breath. The liklihood of this occurring is very low. If you want to give it a shot, you must receive a statement in writing from the collection agency. If there is no written document stating they will take it off, they most likely won't.

What you need to do is validate the debt with the collection agency. Is it even yours? http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml If they can validate it, what's your state's statute of limitations. Can they legally make you pay for it? http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/statuteLimitations.shtml

Answer 2

The short answer is they may be legally obligated depending on how you handle the agreement. Your success also depends on the nature of the delinquency and who the account is presently being collected by.

First, creditors are under no obligation to remove derogatory credit information. Second, creditors will mistakenly tell you that they cannot remove or amend credit reporting they have filed and Third, getting creditors to remove derogatory credit reporting depends, in large part, on what leverage you have to motivate them.

For your purposes the third element will be the most important. Once you have overcome a creditors misinformation (they routinely say they cannot amend a report) about not being able to amend a report you will need to convince them to do so in your case. If you are current on your bill and simply want an old mark removed they are less likely to cooperate. Adversely, if you are delinquent and you offer to come current in consideration of them removing the delinquent mark you are in a position of leverage and may well succeed.

Basically, you are entering into a contract with the creditor to remove a derogatory remark in consideration of you brining your account current or paying your delinquent account. Legally such a contract is not enforceable because you already have a contract to pay the bill and paying what you already owe furnishes no new considerataion which is needed to make a binding contract. However, if your sister, brother, mother, father is the person entering into the contract i.e. they will pay the delinquent balance in consideration of the creditor removing the delinquent mark there is an enforceable contract with consideration. But the letter from the creditor needs to be addressed to the "third party" saying that in consideration of the "third party" paying XXX on your bill they will remove XXXX from your credit so your credit will then show XXXX.

However, most creditors that do agree to remove derogatory marks will do so without regard to the legal letter of the law requirements. BUT, be sure you get the agreement to remove such derogatory credit reporting in writing. Most creditors have automated systems which report from the historical data on your account. It often requires additional levels of approval to "block" the creditors computer from providing these historical reports to the credit bureaus. It is possible but without a written agreement from the creditor you can plan on the system re-reporting your delinquency 30-90 days later and the creditor then denying an agreement. GET IT IN WRIITING!

Finally, if you are dealing with a collection agency they to can agree to remove items from your report as pertains to their own reporting. It is a seperate agreement for the original creditor to remove and most collection agencies either cannot or will not get such agreements from the principal creidtor. But, the amount of cooperation you will receive when you have been double reported by both a principle creditor and a collection agency is typically directly related to the amount you owe (the larger amount the more consideration) and the percentage of the debt you are willing to pay. (In these cases total removal of any reporting by the creditor/agency is best in that they wont report you were curent when you were not and they will want to report the matter settled or settled for less than full value which doesn't help your credit either).

Answer 3

Are they obligated? Well, if you write it as a contract, it is not an illegal request (as in against the law), and they voluntarily enter into the agreement (sign the contract), then why not? That is what a contract is all about. You ask them for action and you respond with fair compensation. If they don't follow through then you can sue for "specific performance."

Just be careful of what you ask for... They may take off what you perceive to be a negative remark but leave other comments that will render the change moot. Here is an example of a negative remark:

"Balance paid in full for less than amount owed."

Also, creditors are discouraged by the repositories from altering their remarks that speak of historical issues. Basically, if you are late beyond 30, 60, or 90 days, they will not remove those remarks on a whim. Note, I didn't say it can't be done, but it may prove a sincere challenge.

Beware of anyone who claims that there is an easy solution to credit repair. It just isn't so.

Best of luck

Answer 4

Before I became a credit advisor, I was a bill collector for one of the largest collection agencies in the US. I can tell you this much, you will be promised the moon if you will agree to pay them some money. You will be intimidated and harrassed if you don't.

Here is the answer to your question: Collection agencies will not ever remove negative information from your credit report. I know because this was a tactic that our company employed. The fact is that they cannot remove the negative information from your report. It is up to you to do so. Doing so is, contrary to another poster's opinion, relatively easy to do. You will have to put time and effort into doing so or you will have to hire professionals to do so for you. Also, if you agree to pay the collection agency any amount less than what is owed to satisfy the debt, it will be reported as "settled in full" which is NOT "paid in full." The fact that you have an account in collections will negatively affect your FICO score and credit report. It will have less of an impact if it is paid in full and more of a negative impact if it is settled in full.

If you believe the debt invalid, you have the right to dispute the debt. It is NOT up to you to prove the debt invalid, it is up to THEM to prove the debt valid. Don't let them try to convince you otherwise. The same applies to the credit reporting agencies, it is up to them to prove that a disputed line item on your credit report is 100% complete and 100% accurate. If they cannot then the Fair Credit Reporting Act (passed by Congress) requires them to remove the negative information from your report.

If you have any questions regarding your credit issues, you may email me at [e-mail]

Answer 5

Unlike what some here are saying or implying, it is perfectly legal for a creditor to delete your tradeline by agreement.

Howeyer, "pay for delete" (PFD) is generally frowned upon by creditors and few will play along. In addition the agreements that Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA's) (Equifax, Experian,TransUnion) have with creditors also forbid this practice.

Nevertheless PFD does happen, especially in order to avoid a lawsuit in which both sides have a good chance of winning.

Answer 6

i do not understand of a pattern letter. purely put in writing precisely what you suggested above. supply the dates once you've been with out well being care(thanks, Bush!) and element out the medical expenditures were component of that difficulty. see you later as something else of your credit is in good structure, you'd be positive. maximum mortgage lenders do not count number medical expenditures as a severe project, they purely want some documentation. they're a lot more suitable worried about previous due funds on charge playing cards or different expenditures. I once observed a private loan be declined as a results of a $a million.fifty 2 library positive that become grew to change into over to a collection corporation!

Answer 7

There seems to be other posters here who have more exprience than I do regarding credit repair, but I would be extremely surprised if it were legal for a creditor to amend a legitimate negative record in order to receive funds. That would be similar to lying and making false statements to potential future creditors who use your report to make decisions on your creditworthiness....If I were a creditor who relied on a credit report to make a lending decision and I later found out that another creditor amended and deleted a legitimate past derogatory item that would have altered my decsion on whether to lend the applicant money, I would absolutely sue the creditor for falsely amending the report and I bet I would win.... .sure they may amend your report to show "paid in full" once they receive the agreed upon payment but that's what they are obligated to do anyways once you pay them the amount in arrears.

Answer 8

I don't think they are going to let you call the shots. You can not tell them to remove negative remarks THEN you will pay them. You have to pay them first, then they will do something about the negative remarks. Don't worry about them following through because they have to or they will be in big trouble. If you have the money to pay if off then that is what you should do.

Answer 9

They can, but they are not obligated to remove negative information if the information is true. When you pay off your creditors, the tradeline will mostly likely still be there, but marked as paid.

Answer 10

Get it in writing on there letter head........................