@bspitt wrote:
I am new to the forum I have a question. I have so-so credit (EX 657) and I have always made my payments on time. There has not been one missed payment on my entire credit history. However back in August of 2008, I moved and cancelled my cable with Time Warner. I paid them to what I believed was needed to zero out the account. Apparently that was for the previous month and they charged me an extra month because I was a day over the time limit to cancel without incurring another months payment. So long story short, I get a call from CMI that November telling me that there is a collection on my account for $86. I paid it on the first call because I didnt want it to negatively affect my credit. They said that if I took care of it, it wouldn't hurt my credit as bad (I was naive and didn't know the process). Now two years later I still have the paid collection of $86 and it is hurting my credit. I have just become resolved to boosting my scores, but I don't even know how to start. Any help?
Hello and welcome to myFICO.
You are one of the many (including myself) that did not know that paying a collection will not help your score. The damage is the same whether paid or unpaid. Although it always looks better to someone reviewing your reports that you were willing to pay your debts.
Since this is paid your only recourse as far as I know is to attempt what is called a GW (Good Will) letter approach. This is exactly what the name implies. You're asking for the goodwill of a creditor to remove a negative item early from your credit reports. They are under no legal obligation to do so and there are no guarantees but it does happen with varying degrees of success often based upon the creditor.
If you do a search onsite here for "GW letters" or perhaps "Time Warner collections" you can see examples of what has worked (or not worked) for others as they try a GW deletion.
Good luck in your effort and please come back and tell others what you tried and how it worked out for you.
One more thing. When asking that the collection be removed early you need to emphasize that you are not asking that the entire TL (Trade Line) be removed; only the late payments that led to the collection and the collection itself. Also there is usually a charge off that happens before a collection. So you need to request that any and all negative information be removed. (Late payments, CO's, collection).
From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".
