Repair your credit without making these mistakes

Don't make these mistakes while you are repairing your credit:

• Never give information more than required. Unknowingly, some verifications will be done that might put a negative impact and will be tough to remove later.
  
• Do not close your accounts unless it is urgently required. These open unused accounts may be helpful to you later.
  
• Do not dispute with positive information. They may get deleted faster.
  
• Don't make correspondence with debt collectors, creditors or the credit bureaus over the phone. Always prefer a written contact.
  
• Don't put your signature on any document to a CA. they may move from one document to another.
  
• Always have a check on the SOL in your state.
  
• Don't not send a complete cease and desist letter if you have a legitimate past debt. Leave some room to contact you otherwise they may end up suing you. Give them in writing the option to send you a mail. This will be a better approach.
  
• Don't pay collection accounts with the though that they will increase your credit scores. Make payments on collections with a though that the negative information will be removed from your file.
  
• Don't believe them who say that negative information will be completely removed from your credit file before the 7 years reporting period.
  
• Do not give your personal financial information to the collection agencies
  
• Don't send your bank statement to a collection agency just to prove that you have made the payment in the past.
  
• Always send your correspondence through certified mail with return receipt requested. There will be legal proof of what you have notified.
  
• Do not use your home phone if a collection agency is not having your phone number. If you want to call them, use a pay phone to contact them. Your phone number will remain safe. ( a small tip – if you are using your home phone, dial *67 before you dial their number. Your number will get blocked and prevents *69)

Ben - Thank you for these tips. This is a great list to print out and keep with my credit reports as I work on cleaning it all up!

Another thing is to be careful which website you go to if you choose to check your credit online. Some of them are scams, like the one that suckered my husband.

This is all very good information Ben! and Ari that is a good point. That has happened to me several times. Now I go directly to the credit bureaus.

I have a few questions if someone can help me out.

I'm now able to start paying off some debts of mine (Dell, Chase, Citibank), and I also just moved from Mississippi to Texas. How would that affect the SOL, if at all? Also, from this website, SOL only concerns lawsuits, but not collection agencies or credit reports. Is that true?

I'm looking at a report for one of my credit cards that says:

Status:
Paid,Closed/Current, was past due 60 days.

Last Reported Date:
08/2003

Your Statement:
Account closed at consumer's request

There is a 0 for the recent balance. What does all that mean exactly? Should I call the credit card company to pay off the last balance on there? There's no credit collection agency listed that is seeking funds for this. Should I try to dispute the potentially negative item?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Link deleted as per forum rules - Mike

Hi JustinD

The SOL of that state will only be taken into consideration where your account originally took place. If you had this account opened in Mississippi, the date of last payment should be 3 years before any activity took place. The debt will be considered out of SOL.

Credit card companies sell off the accounts to some collection agencies when they are unable to collect the money from you. In such a case, the accounts are marked off with a zero balance. The CA holding your accounts will thereafter make the collection attempts.

You might be contacted by some CA requesting for the payment on this account. Get the details of your debt in writing so that you are sure of them making legitimate collections. Check the SOL before making any payment. The date of last activity will get renewed once there is any payment towards the account.

Thanks, John. I have a few more questions.

Is the date of status what you mean when you say, "the date of last payment should be 3 years before any activity took place"? Since the date of status is 08/2003, would it be a stupid thing to wait until the end of August or beginning of September and then try to dispute the debt as SOL? If I dispute the debt as SOL, can I request the removal of a negative remark on my credit report? Or should I contact the credit card company to find out what collection agency they've given it to, since it's most likely gone to one by now, and then pay it off to request the negative mark's removal from my credit report? Thanks for any help. It's very much appreciated.

Justin, when I say, date of last payment, I mean the date when you last paid anything towards the account. Date of status can keep changing but your last payment made towards the account will always remain the same. That should have to be somewhere before May 2003 in case you are considering the expiry of SOL.

You can't get the negative information removed from your file before 7 years calculated from the date you first became delinquent on this account.

So... I won't have to worry about paying it if the last payment was on or before May, 2003, but it may be until 2009 or 2010 before negative info can be removed from my file?

Even if I do pay it now, I still can't get the negative info removed? Would I at least get positive information to help balance it out?

In case you do not want to pay the account, the date of last payment should be on or before May 2003. You can't get this item removed from your file before 7 years from the date this account first turned delinquent.

Now, the debt is past the SOL period and you can't be forced to pay it. Still, if you wish to pay it, make sure that you have money to pay it one time. A single payment will renew the SOL back from the beginning and legal actions will be enforced. Once the account is paid off, it will be reported in your file giving the positive effect. Your scores will also rise up.

If the item was reported on your Credit report(check it first ) then they should update it to at least "Paid Collection" or "paid Charge Off", though a simple "paid" would be better. Any paid status looks better than an open collection or open charge off.

I put forward the link to the FCRA laws mentioned in the FTC. Your credit information is vital in front of the future lenders. Your credit worthiness will be evaluated based on this info. Check your file thoroughly and see all information posted in it is correct. Incorrect entries lower the credit scores and hurt your ratings.

Thanks, John and Clay. I'll contact Chase and Dell soon and pay off the account as I'd rather have less money in the bank now to have a higher credit score in the future than more money in the bank and a lower score now.

Now, I just to get some of these false addresses removed.

Slowly, but surely. . . .

Is there anyway to get my finance rates lowered on all three cards that I pay on diligently that CONTINUE to raise their finance charges. I have not used any of the cards probably a year. I am retired disabled and on a fixed income. I am getting to the point calling them doesn't help. I want to pay them off asap. I don't want a bankrupsy or a consolidating company. Is there any hope? Drowning.....

If you have money, pay off the accounts at once. You can negotiate with the company for a reduced amount. Show them your money and they will offer you a suitable settlement. If you are facing limited cash, you might have to negotiate hard or take some professional help and keep the charges within control.

Negotiate with the company and pay them at once