Is there a difference between Charge-off and Settled status?

They're both considered derogatory but a settled account is slightly less so.

Hey guys, I have the same question here. I have on my credit report a charged off account. I owed 11,500 on it. I made a settlement payment of 5,000. On my current report it says that I have a balance of 6,500 and it says charged off account. However, on my other settlements they say account settled. And the balance is 0. Does this make a difference. It seems like it does since my balance doesn't read 0. If it is wrong then do I send a dispute letter. Also how do dispute letters work? Any ifo on that, I guess I can look at the forums in detail to find them.

I see that some accounts in one credit report say settled and on other reports they are still in collections without it saying settled. Any help on these problems as well.

Also when I file a dispute letter and they do not return a letter with a response are they obligated to take it off my report? Thanks Guys.

yes there is a difference between balance owing and settled. dispute w/credit bureau..best case scenerio the creditor does not respond-it will be deleted..worst case scenerio, they update it to reflect settled w/$0.00 balance..both of which are better than its reporting now..dispute!!!

i agree with the guest. I went to work on my credit report in October of last year. My credit combo was around a 575, but according to a report i seen on GMA, i pulled a compy of my credit report and started calling them. I asked them each if the info could be removed. Most of them removed the negitive info in just a few phone calls (even got a car repo off from US Bank). I worked on it weekly for about 3 months. moved my credit score up about 150-200 pts in that time frame.

The funny thing about the whole situation is that about 2 yrs ago, i paid some "legal service" to do the same thing i did but paid them like 76.00 per month and got no where. As far is i know they took the money and sent letters to a few of the creditors and that was it. I got more of a result doing it on my own in 3 months, than the one and half years the other guys did.

Long and short. call the creditors that are listed as settled and ask them to take it off your report, do it in writting and they only have 30 days to respond, if they don't then the credit agencies must remove it.

Hey 9669. You actually called all of your accounts. For instance I would call each of the accounts that I settled with asking them to remove it from my credit report?

Also when you dispute something on your credit report do you send it to the account you paid the settlement to or do you send it to the the credit bearu's? I don't really know how that all works. I have citi, chase, 2hsbc, usaa, wellsfargo, that I settled with. Do I send dispute letters to them or call them asking it be removed from my credit report? Thanks Guys

There is hope for me yet. I have a credit report of 543. I hope to get it up so i can buy a house. All I have is a car payment.

I had joined a settlement program and stop making payments to these accounts for one year. I went from 750 -490. man, that sucks. But if i can get rid of these settlement accounts man that would be awesome.

I got a copy of my credit report from www(dot)freecredeitreport(dot)com, then looked for all errors on the accts. From there i started a massive calling campaign, calling each on of the creditors, asking if the accts could be moved to good standing or if they would remove the negative remarks on the report. it was hard work, but it did pay off in the end.

Before i took any settlement offer, i also insisted, that as part of the settlement, any remarks be removed from my file. Creditors most often said no, but after a few talks to supervisors and other higher ups, they were happy to get their money, and i didn't hurt them to have any remarks removed, it was a win win for both parties involved. It takes persistence, but just stay after, Rome wasn't built in a day, so just take your time.

What if I already made the settlements? Do I still go back and call them to have it removed? Do I call the companies or do I call the creditors who I settled with? Thanks again for the help.

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that the original creditor lists the debt as "Charged off" when they send it to a collection agency. You then owe the collection agency and not the originial creditor. Then the collection agency lists the debt as "Settled." Is that right?

Yes, But for some reason it has it listed under USAA still. It doesn't have to seperate agencies. All of the other accounts have different agencies and says settled but not the usaa one. Do I call the companys or the actual creditors that I settled with?