@Anonymous wrote:
With all due respect, dony, your post seems rather judgy. Those "baddies" as you call them include an ambulence bill, a credit card taken out so I can get new glasses, dental work, etc. I didn't pay my taxes, because I was young and stupid. It has been almost ten years. My student loans were on hold, because I was still in school. I made mistakes, but I don't expect judgement. Most of the charge offs are anywhere between three to five years old. Nobody ever calls me. I don't mind paying them, but I want to make sure that they are eliminated from my credit report once they're paid. As I said, my credit report is a mess. There are multiple entires. Making sense out of it is near impossible. I don't mind making payments and I'm doing my best to clear it up, but I want to make sure I have a clear picture what is going before I do anything. I'm asking for suggestions. Are there credit recovery services? Does anyone have any suggestions.
This is actually some of the info we need. If these are charge offs which have turned into collections, these are your possible scenarios:
1. The original creditor charges it off as a loss and doesn't sell it to a collection agency. Depending on state law (statute of limitations), the original debt becomes uncollectible and you're home free on the debt, but the bad reporting can stay on your credit report until the reporting agency removes it or you dispute it to be removed. Over time, the impact to your credit score diminishes.
2. The original creditor charges it off and then sells it to a collection agency. When the collection agency gets it, they report it as a new collection and it dings your credit. They may send letters or call you and they may give up. Sometimes this happens multiple times with different collection agencies. Your scores get hit every time. Keep in mind, the clock for the statute of limitations is based on the original creditor. (This is what typically happens and puts your reports in credit hell.)
3. The original creditor charges it off and then sells it to a collection agency. When the collection agency gets it, they report it as a new collection and it dings your credit. They may send letters or call you and they may give up. Or they may sue you and seek a judgment. If you ignore the lawsuit, they'll get a default judgment against you. This is the worst case scenario as your credit gets dinged from the lates by the original creditor, the collections AND the judgment. With a judgment, the creditor can now garnish your wages or attach your bank accounts. (This doesn't happen as much as the other scenarios but it happens.) Even if you pay the judgment, it can remain on your credit for 7-10 years.
You have a lot of leverage in scenario 2. The collection agency has paid pennies on the dollar for the debt. The original creditor is out of the picture. It's not their debt to collect any more and they've been paid something for it and written off the rest. Negotiate with the collection agency and get them to agree to either never report the collection or delete the collection if it's been reported. Once you successfully negotiate this, you can ask the original creditor to delete lates or delete the account all together. Remember, you've already taken the hit to your credit. You don't want any new collection attempts dinging it and you certainly don't want to get sued.
So when you say you're "thinking of letting it go," please understand that could be seven to ten years of hoping someone doesn't sue you, suffering from low credit scores which will cause you to be denied for credit or pay too much for it. And no one here is judging you. "Baddies" refers to bad marks on your credit and I've been through all three of these scenarios and am bouncing back. Good luck!
