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Child Support Arrears HELP!

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AtmyOffice
Regular Contributor

Child Support Arrears HELP!

I've done all the research, and all I can find is information on arrears that have balances on them. DH has an account showing up as installment with Monthly Payment of $0 and a $0 balance that keeps reporting every month. He has been done with these arrears since 04/09 but it keeps showing up in his "Negative Accounts" portion of the CR. 

 

Will writing a letter to Support Enforcement be of any help? 

2/2011
Experian: 658
Equifax: 653
Transunion: 670
Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Child Support Arrears HELP!

The FICO payment history  portion of credit scoring is not based on current debt, it is a prediction of the liklihood for future delinquencies based on the record of occurance of prior delinquencies. 

As such, remaining debt, or even paying it off, does not remove the prior derog from its continued inclusion in your CR and in your credit scoring.

 

Message 2 of 3
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Child Support Arrears HELP!


@AtmyOffice wrote:

I've done all the research, and all I can find is information on arrears that have balances on them. DH has an account showing up as installment with Monthly Payment of $0 and a $0 balance that keeps reporting every month. He has been done with these arrears since 04/09 but it keeps showing up in his "Negative Accounts" portion of the CR. 

 

Will writing a letter to Support Enforcement be of any help? 


CSEU is the only entity that can help so writing or calling them would be appropriate.

 

Before you do, there are a few things to understand.  Child support, for credit reporting purposes, is handled very differently than other consumer debts.  The vast majority use credit reporting on a routine basis and amongst those states there is often different policy applications. 

 

Many states only report once there are or have been more than 30 days arrears.  Of those states, about 1/2 will drop the tradeline once the arrears have been paid and the account continues to be paid satisfactority for a certain period of time -- usually 3 to 6 months.  The other 1/2 will continue to report forever once there have been arrears.  The account will usually be considered negative until 7 years from the date the arrears have been paid in full and the account then continues being paid satisfactorily.

 

Because there are still some lenders who do not look at child support delinquency as particularly negative in spite of how it is reported on one's credit report and, on the other hand, there are those lenders who even look at child support without arrearages as negative, some states are experimenting with reporting the tradeline as a type of consumer loan -- especially when the spouse who receives child support is on any form of public assistance. 

 

 

Message 3 of 3
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