Not 100% true, Meijer counts for me

Bump for question

Checked my credit report recently and it took a huge hit with a collections account added. I was in the high 700s with no negative information and this brought me down to 650. It's for a cable bill that I thought I resolved a couple years ago. I had closed my account prior to going to Afghanistan, got a zero balance, tried to reconnect a year later when I got home and they said I still owed them for the last month of service. Talking to the cable company we determined that it was a legitimate charge that hadn't been billed yet when I left, but because I was trying to return as a customer and because they believed me when I said I had confirmed with customer service I was paid up when I left, they waived the charge and I continued for the next two years paying my bills on time.

Now it looks like the charge never got waived and I just never saw it again because they gave me a new account number when I signed up again. So they've been trying to collect for the last 2-3 years but I had no idea. Tried to work it out with the cable company but they said the account's been sold to the collection agency so they have nothing to do with it anymore.

My main concern is how do I get rid of this? It's only $95 so I wouldn't even mind paying it (although the principle of that annoys me a bit). But this is killing my credit score and I might want to buy a house in the next 6 months. I want it removed completely. Does this happen if I pay it or will there still be a record? I know I could dispute it but it's been so many years since it happened I have no evidence to back me up, so that seems like a lot of work and not 100% that it will even fix the problem.

D10, I had a similar problem and I just disputed it online. It was removed quickly and wasn't a hassle at all.

D10- If the dispute doesn't work I'd do some digging at credit boards. this derog could seriously f up your home buying plans.

Couple questions ...
There's 110 point difference between creditsesame and credit karma for me. Is that normal? Appears higher score has a dispute I requested that went through and had it taken off my record, can 1 negative thing really drop a score that much?
My mom was someone who put me on her credit when I was young but turns out she doesn't have the greatest credit score, 2 particularly that are on my score, can she remove my name from those? She put me on when I was 16 and it's 12 years later. How much will that affect my score?

Luckily for you, I doubt it. Sorry to be a dick but pay off some of your existing debt first for god's sake.

I have a bit more in debt and a little less income but with a better credit score and was approved for quite a bit of monies for a housing loan. FHA loans are pretty easy to get but have some restrictions like town size and stuff so that might be an option depending on where you live.

Is student loan debt a bigger problem than the auto loan?

Student loan amounts don't really affect anything AFAICT, as long as you're paying them. Income/Debt yea but payments usually aren't that much since interest rates on them are usually fairly low.

I have a feeling that it is in the sense that it is 100% undischargeable by statute, though that is a guess. It's obviously a bigger number. My truck payment is $298 a month, but I have always paid $300 since I bought it, and last month I started paying $400 a month so it will be paid off before the three years left on the note.

Your ex sounds like a great person, jfc

I'm sure you could qualify for something, it might not be enough to get the house you want though and it definitely won't be at the lowest interest rate.

Do people around here use CreditKarma? It's really sweet IMO. Would have warned you when things were going through, like credit checks and new accounts and such.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34...redit-1361074/

He is right. You should not be buying a house in your situation. I wonder how you afford to do anything other than pay required bills.

Yeah again, this is something better answered by creditboards. According to gtpitch earlier in the thread, collections for small amounts aren't usually weighted too heavily on an otherwise "collection-free" report. However, it seems like it's affecting your FAKO score quite a bit.

No that's definitely not normal. Negatives can drop your score a lot, especially if it's the only one on your report.

She can call and have your AU account cancelled but I don't know if that removes it from your account and how quickly. If the accounts are paid as agreed then they are not harming you anyway.

Yep, a friend of mine had mediocre credit (low-mid 600s) with outstanding collections and loans. Before the bank would give him a mortgage though they made him pay off his collection accounts.

I think this is pretty standard and has to do with debt age and the effect in foreclosures, where the collection agencies could say their debt is older and they get paid first if he foreclosed on the house.

I hope everyone does. As well as CreditSesame, as CK only covers one Bureau. I also use Citi IdentityMonitor which monitors all 3 bureaus.

ASH- A paid charge off is still a charge off, still reports, and helps your score not one bit. You can try for a pay for delete, but you're gonna want that in writing before sending the check (and you better specify all 3 CRAs). I don't mean there's a chance they tell you they'll delete and not do it, I mean there's precious little chance they'll follow through.


Payment plans can cause a few problems, like re-aging the acct (bumping an old charge off to the top as if it were a brand new charge off) and re-setting the statue of limitations.

But as JL said above, the bank might make you pay the collection accts as a condition of giving you a mortgage. IMO that's the only reason to even consider paying an old charge off, especially a bogus one.


Also your car/student loans don't hurt your credit at all (the car loan helps, not sure about SL), unless they make you look overextended, and it doesn't sound like that's an issue for you.


How old are the charge offs? They fall off your report 7 years after last payment, sometimes earlier. You can most likely kill them with a dispute barrage, but it might require some effort.

This is why just filing a dispute worries me. From what I hear it's likely a dispute removes the information but it's also likely they'll add it back.

Bolded is incorrect. It will no longer show as in collections on your credit reports and will either show as settled or paid in full. The charge off will still be on the report, but it will CERTAINLY be much higher than it was when it was unpaid. Pay for delete is obviously the best option, but sometimes it isn't possible.

It's my understanding that the scoring models read paid/unpaid collections/charge offs the same way. At any rate paying off old collections isn't a common strategy in credit repair. Like I've never read anyone who knows what they're talking about suggesting it or reporting great success by doing it.


D10- I don't think that's likely at all, it could happen but the biggest issue with the tough ones is usually getting them off in the first place. Even if it comes back it should come back with the old date, and old drop off date. Setting up a payment plan is a whole different (and stupid) can of worms.

When I left college I was out of a job for about 3 months and didn't pay my credit card bill. About 3 years later I called capitol one and said 'hey I've been on time since that happened, can you remove the late mark from my report?'. They agreed with no hassle and a month later I even got a refund of the late fee I had paid then.

I've had a complete bs charge off on my credit for 5 years or so. Disputed, contacted credit agencies, even reported them to the government. For an AT&T bill when I've never had an AT&T account. The system is absolutely terrible, this phantom $50 bill screws up my credit despite having otherwise perfect pay history.

Bolded is incorrect. You are correct that a pay for delete is the best, but paying your delinquencies and chareoffs has a huge impact on your credit. You are seeing the term success as an absolute. What would be a successful credit rating to you is probably not possible for somebody who already has accounts in collections and accounts charged off.
Paying off old debts is 100% part of credit repair.

Simple arithmetic. I have over $1000/month left over after all my bills are paid. I would have more if my ex's child support would actually get enforced.