Status on your Credit Report after debt paid off.?

Question

I recently made settlements with collection agencies to pay off the debts i owed. I made them send me letters indicating that a settlement was made. I paid with electronic check debit so I have proof from my bank indicating that the accounts have been paid but i want to know what's the best way these accounts can be listed on my credit report that will postively impact my score. Can the collection agencies delete these items from my credit report after the settlement payments were processed? Also how do you get the collection or Credit bureaus to change the status of accounts, or delete accts that have already been paid.

Answer 1

I agree with Studly and Steven.



You should read the FCRA. Learn what constitutes violations in reporting. If any of the trade lines are reporting with violations, dispute them. Use paid reports from each CRA to dispute from, that way the disputes must be investigated within 30 days. If you use the free reports, they would have 45 days to investigate.

If the collector corrects the inaccuracies instead of allowing the trade line to be deleted, you might do as Studly said and try writing them and asking them to delete.

As Steven said, they now know your bank account number - close that account and open a new one.

edit+++++
They cannot illegally re-age the account and make it report longer that the original length of time. Paid or unpaid the account will fall off the reports at the original obsolescence date from the original creditor.

Answer 2

Unless the settlement agreement you received BEFORE paying the settlement includes an agreement to remove the account from your report, it won't happen. The account should indicate a balance of ZERO and state Settled for less than original amount. You should not have paid directly from you checking account. If the collectors happen to be lying scum, which is not uncommon in the field, the now have your account number and may try debiting the account for more. If there is a next time, pay by money order or official check. That a copy of the check provides better documentation that the electronic check, and the collection agency never sees your account number.

Answer 3

No, you don't need a lawyer. It wouldn't help.

You need to read the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The fact is you goofed, it's now too late.

Once you have paid a debt, all the creditor is required to do is show "paid" or "settled for lessor amount" on your credit report. However, all notations about late payments, collections, or charge-off's is still there.....it's still a bad item and it's still hurting your score.

What you needed to do was negotiate with the creditor BEFORE you paid them a dime, and demand that once the debt was paid they would DELETE the item. You always get this agreement in writing.

The problem is...now the creditor has all your money, and you have no leverage over them. You can ask them politely to help you with your credit report, but it's very unlikely they will do it.

Good luck.

Answer 4

The other posters are right on. You should have made the removal of all negative items a condition of the settlement. What happens now is the creditors will mark the account paid and it resets the date of last activity on the account. The negative items on your credit report will remain for 7 years from the date you paid it off.

Answer 5

You almost need a lawyer for this question. I charged about $25,000 on different credit cards when I was 20 or so, I paid the last of it off in 2000 and still at age 35 most of these points against me are still on my record. It can take many years for your credit report to change unless you contact each and every collection agency that filed against you and force them to contact each of the 3 or 4 or how ever many credit report giants there are now. Even my friend whos ID was stolen years ago still has not resolved her situation, a person created not only a bank account but a fraudulant business under her name and put her into about $50,000 of debt. and fees. She had the police and feds on her side and still the credit system in this country has not forgiven her. My advise, die with bad credit, and have a good co-signer when you need to buy something you cant afford.