How long does collection in your credit last? and does the effect reduces with time?

Answer 1

If you are dealing with credit cards or most bank loans, it will take 7 years for them to fall off of your reports.

If the account was sold to a collection agency they cannot legally reage the account and report it longer than the original 7 years.

The reduction of damage to your reports due to time is very minimal.

Some of the posters were right, if the account IS reporting correctly, you have nothing to dispute it off with. If it is reporting inaccurately, you have every legal right to dispute the inaccuracies and if the data furnisher will not correct the inaccuracies, by law, the tradeline must be removed.

If you are still within the collecting SOL, or not, and want to pay, you should send the collection agency a debt validation letter and after they respond send them a pay for delete letter. Requesting the negative account be removed upon payment. YES, collection agencys do make deals like that everyday.

A paid negative is no better than an unpaid negative.

If you are out of the collecting SOL, you have every legal right to send them a SOL letter - which basically tells them the debt is time barred for collections.

Answer 2

It stays on your credit report for 7 years. How much it effects your credit score depends on what you've done recently to improve your score.

If you have one bad debt from 5 years ago but you've been paying every thing on time for the last couple years, the one problem from 5 years ago isn't going to look that bad.

If everything on your report is negative, you have a problem and will need to get some secured credit cards, pay everything on time and keep your debt low. Your score will gradually start to improve. But it takes longer to improve your score than it does to mess it up in the first place so don't expect a great improvement overnight.

Contrary to what someone else said, you can't have an item removed from your credit report unless it is incorrect. Paying off a debt that is in collections shows that you have paid the debt which is a good thing. It does NOT, however, remove it from your report. Your report will still show the debt that was late or unpaid but it will also show that you have now paid it.

One late payment stays on your report for a long time so pay bills on time. It keeps your credit report clean.

Answer 3

Collection on credit can last for up to 7 years, but if you make a payment after the time the account falls behind, it obligates you for 7 years from the date that payment was received on that account. The effect can reduce over time, as long as you start making on-time payments with your accounts again, your credit score will start to increase. The best way to regain your way to a better credit score is to pay on time each month, pay more than the minimum payment listed on your statement, and pay your debts down to about 30% of the credit limit for each account. If you are unable to put that much money down (as most people live payday to payday) increase your minimum payment by as much as you can to pay down your debt. I would suggest looking at your statements to see your minimum monthly payment and add at least $10 to the amount of finance charges it shows for that current statement and factor that into your monthly payment.

Answer 4

The effect of EVERYTHING on your credit report is reduced by age. Under US law, negative information must be removed after 7 years, or 10 years for bankruptcy.

Answer 5

Qoute:

Reporting Accurate Negative Information

When negative information in your report is accurate, only the passage of time can assure its removal. A consumer reporting company can report most accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy information for 10 years. Information about an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer. There is no time limit on reporting: information about criminal convictions; information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year; and information reported because you’ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance. There is a standard method for calculating the seven-year reporting period. Generally, the period runs from the date that the event took place.

For more information, see Building a Better Credit Report at http://www.ftc.gov/credit

end qoute

Answer 6

I believe the answer to your first question is 7yrs. and as far as I know the damage is done until the debt is paid at which point you can then have it removed from your credit if you are willing to go through all the paperwork

Answer 7

I think six or seven years. If it was me I would talk to creditor if you have not paid them and make a deal that would include removal off your credit report.