Paying derogatory credit report items improves score how much?

Question

Right now my credit score is about 610 due to a couple derogatory items which are about two years old. I plan to dispute the items but may consider simply paying them if the improvement would be enough. What would my credit score be if I were to pay them off?

Answer 1

The reporting SOL cannot legally be re-aged as the first poster claims - it does not matter if you pay or not.

Paying a negative account without requesting the account be removed on payment, and it does remain, will only hurt your scores. The account will be updated (updating is not re-aging) to make it look newer than it actually is.
And, a paid negative is still a negative.

If you don't plan on paying, since it has only been 2 years you are more than likely still within the collecting SOL for your state. Disputing with the CRA's will probably only result in the original creditor or collection agencies re-starting collection activities - if you hadn't heard from them in awhile.

If you plan on paying and the accounts are with collection agencies - send a debt validation letter first. (original creditors are not required to "validate" but you can request "verification" from an original creditor)

Send everything certified mail return receipt

Look over your reports to see if they are reporting inaccurately. If they are, after you receive the green card back from sending your validation requests, file disputes with the CRA's for the inaccurate information.

After the collection agencies have properly validated the account, send a pay for delete letter requesting they remove the trade line upon payment. You can also request that they agree to take a portion of the account as payment in full.

If they agree, make sure everything is in writing, and send your payment by money order or cashiers check - never send a personal check.

You might click on my profile and do some reading in the links I have provided - to the FDCPA, FCRA, etc.

Answer 2

Absolutely YES! Now that you have paid your debts, all you need to do is purchase a copy of your credit report (online) WITH SCORE. Next, use the online feature "dispute this account" to initiate an investigation of the debt. %99 of the time, the debtor never bothers to respond/dispute the account because it is not worth their response time. Their efforts are best spent working to collect on truly bad accounts with high amounts owed. When a company does not respond within 30 days, the negative information is automatically removed from your credit report. It's beautiful! Of course, if the company later disputes this (which is rare), and can prove the negative information is true the worst that can happen is they put it back on your report. Again, this takes way too much time and effort when dealing with someone who has already paid their account off - so dispute away, it's free to do so! You only pay for the credit report with score.

Answer 3

If you pay the deragatory items, your credit score will drop due to the 7 year clock starting over.

If disputing does not work, negotiate with the creditors/collectors for payment in exchange for immediate removal off the credit report. If they are not willing to do this or say they are, but refuse to put the agreement in writing, leave the debts alone.

As time goes by, the derogatory items have less impact on your score.