Credit Repair - Self Help

I have been asked several times about paying collection accounts. Let me say this first off, a paid collection is no better than an unpaid collection when it comes to your credit report and credit scores. Paid collections will remain on your credit report as long as unpaid ones will. Not that I condone stealing or fraud, but you really have more leverage for removal if it is an unpaid collection.

If the debt is past the statute of limitations for collecting in your state (check laws of your state), then you really can leverage this to get the item removed from your credit report. You can negotiate with the collection agency in WRITING, try to get them to settle for less money with an agreement that they will delete the item from your credit reports. Make sure any agreements you make are in writing. Never settle for anything less than deletion and a less amount of money. Now keep in mind, I am talking about debts that are basically noncollectable because they are past the statute of limitations.

Here is an explanation of what I mean by statute of limitations so that there is no confusion between that and how long they can report an item to the credit bureaus. The statute of limitations for Texas is 4 years for collecting on a debt (your state will be different), but creditors are allowed to report negative information to the credit bureaus for 7 years from the date the account went into delinquency, which is the date of your last payment.

If you are in a situation where you have already paid a collection and want to remove it from your credit report, you are not as lucky. For one, the collection agency has already collected their money so any negotiation on that is out the window. Secondly, they will tell you sometimes that they are not allowed to delete accurate information from your credit report because it is against the law. That is a true statement. Creditors have to report complete and accurate information to the credit bureaus. This brings us to the way to get rid of paid collections.

The older the paid collection is, the more likely it will be removed by disputing it with the credit bureaus. Dispute it with the credit bureaus in the hopes that the collection agency has purged their files of older accounts. Sometimes they purge them immediately after the account is settled.

If you are unable to get the item removed in this matter you may try writing to the higher ups in the collection agency and attempt to get it removed.

There are some more advanced techniques you can read about in the Credit secrets Bible.